Week 3 | A Room with a View
Week three took us back to analyzing art, relics, and surprisingly, tourist attractions! The focus was on growing up as a traveller, and with this came many intriguing realizations that not only applied to Lucy in A Room with a View, but also to all of us as students and young adults.
Our first venture took us to Soane's collection, which was only a 15 minute walk from our flats! While no photography was allowed, I was able to capture just a few pieces of the seemingly endless collection of artifacts through sketch.
The focus on Greek, Egyptian, and Italian art throughout the collection exhibited the appreciation tourists, especially the British, had for those cultures in particular, and what they deemed the 'essential' parts of a country when touring it. For instance, even Soane's wife's tomb has elements of Greek architecture in its design, which is notable because even a great collector and connessuier of the arts will draw from pieces he fancies in particular.
At the National Gallery, we explored several artists whose depictions highlighted their views of Italy, whether positive or negative. My favorites were the Canalettos, which showed lively scenes of regattas in Venice. While the scenes were wide and expansive to show the view, they also would be nothing out of the ordinary without the masses of people conducting the boats; that is to say, it's not the landscape that makes a city, but the people.
Finally, at the Tate Britain, JMW Turner's works inspired discussion about perceptions of travelling destinations. I gathered the most insight from the St. Benedetto painting, where it described this vision of Italy as a fantasy, highlighting that travelling evokes feelings and memories, and that is what truly matters when abroad.
One of my personal tourist adventures consisted of finding an interactive butterfly tent in the Natural History Museum! Even the smallest of (imported) butterflies can be very impactful in one's journey, reminding us that things may not be so different from what we're used to.
Very Interesting, I liked how you sketched the images very smart idea !
ReplyDeleteYou win "Blog Post of the Week" for your incredible drawings. That was such a wonderful way to show us the John Soane Museum, since we couldn't take pictures. Also, your descriptions under all of the pictures are very insightful and thoughtful!
ReplyDeleteI really like your intro or synopsis of the week at the beginning of the post! It's also cool that you were able to incorporate your own drawings to help expand on the Soane Museum, and nice job highlighting specific parts of art work we saw to help better explain the theme.
ReplyDeleteI like how you made your blog unique with your hand drawn pictures and the Butterfly picture.
ReplyDeleteThis is a wonderful week! I admire so much: your synthesizing opening, your incorporation of your own drawings, which were finely done, and your extension beyond the class with the brief revelation of how you are coming of age as a traveler, too. Well done!
ReplyDeleteExcellent drawings! Once again you use your artistic ability to the fullest and that is honestly a gift. I wish we could all take in the world the way you do Mackenzie. Well done!
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