Rome brief

Bill
12/13/17

As one of the most luxurious resort community of Roman Empire, Pompeii was filled with the population of 25000. The city was destroyed by lava because of the close-by volcanic action and was buried under the ash and pumice for about 1700 years. Pompeii was unearthed in the mid 1800s; the carbonized objects were discovered initially, followed by the interiors of the village and walls that were painted with landscapes and still lifes. Artist who were working on recreating the style of the wall paintings that were excavated mastered the skill of light and shadow via the process; the interior decor were mostly made of mosaic that covered the floor and ceilings, including walls. The entrance of a construction always included a mosaic of dog.

Roman architecture-
the basic idea of Roman city construction were took from Greece, therefore Roman architecture used Greek form and they developed different techniques from the basis. Roman architect widely used more creative structures like dome and vault (a example would be Pantheon, no poles inside the construction and a huge dome over the top). Concrete were especially popular and became more flexible in the period of Roman architecture; Roman architect developed concrete to be fit in more curved structures like arch.

 The Colosseum was the largest public entertainment facility that seated over 50000 audiences. Like the theatron of ancient Greek theater, the huge uptrend circle construction was a classic example of such structure of Rome at that period. Each seat for the audience connected to a certain gate, the design was to allow the certain level of crowd flow. It is still one of the largest buildings in the world. The performances at The Colosseum happened to be a combat between men, and to reach the purpose of entertainment , fighters such gladiators or boxers, were going to fight to death. Up to forty gladiators died per day. It performed the execution of criminals and the combat of men and animals besides the gladiators battle; Men had to fight lions, bears or even elephants at close, until one of them was slaughtered.

Roman sculpture pics

Bill
12/5/17

                                                       Hands of Constantine I

                                     Commodus (Roman counterpart of Hercules)

ARA PACIS

The Ara Pacis (the Ara Pacis Augustae) is altar made of marble in Rome; it is dedicated to the Roman goddess of peace, Pax. The construction was commissioned by the Roman Senate in 13 BCE in to honor the return of first Roman emperor, Augustus. Before homecoming Augustus spent about three years in the provinces of Gaul. The symbolic structure reflects the importance and the belief of peace of Rome and the achievement of Roman Empire. The Rome Senate hold a ritual at the Ara Pacis to celebrate the Augustus's victory of the war.

 The entire construction is composed by an altar at the center place surrounded by walls and a stairwell connected to the entrance. The walls and the central altar are sculpted in marble.

The walls and the altar are carved with images depicting Augustus's greatness and the ritual performed at it, and some walls have images of royal family members and nobles.

Alex Webb brief

Bill
11/1/17

Alex Webb, one of my favorite American street photographers known for his magical composition he has been showing in his works, and he is a associate member of Magnum Photos as well. Webb documented the everyday life of suburb at southern United States with black-and-white films in the mid of '70s but he became famous when he began to use color films and went on trip to different countries for his works in 1978.

CUBA. 2001. Havana. Street scene

Webb wanders on the streets like all street photographers do, but he certainly have a sense of how to compose massive elements in one small frame. The Composition in every picture stands out strong and the each background itself is really interesting without the figure in the picture. Webb's photo always precisely capture the moment that is sort of surreal or super natural in the reality; the using of colors is absolutely dramatic (contrast of cold and warm tones).

2001. Istanbul. Outside of the Blue Mosque during Ramadan.

USA.1989. Fort Pierce, FL.

GRENADA. 1979. GOUAYAVE. BAR.

HAITI. 1987. Port-au-Prince. Elections

HAITI. 1986. Cite Soleil

PANAMA. 2004. Pinogana. Along the river.

Masks

Bill
10/25/17

Greek Tragedy masks

 Greek masks are very distinctive, their facial features are extremely exaggerated for actors' dramatic performance.

The mouths of Greek masks are usually limited to certain sizes because they have to be small enough to hide actors' mouth.

Greek Comedy Masks

Laocoon Brief

Bill
10/17/17

Laocoon is a Greek statue made of marbles and it is considered to one of the greatest and most ancient statue that is unearthed in Rome. The statue is life-size and done by three Greek sculptors, depicting the scene in which the Trojan priest Laocoon and his two sons, Antiphantes and Thymbraeus, being twisted by sea serpents. The body movements and facial expressions of the human figures of the statue highly emphasize the suffering, especially for Laocoon himself: his body parts are twisting and straining. Multiple versions of the history behind are various; it is not mentioned by Homer. Laocoon, in Virgil's Aeneid (which actually came out later than the statue), is Poseidon's priest who is punished to death be after he trying to expose the Trojan Horse tactic. Another version goes that he is killed because he had sex in the temple of Poseidon. Moreover, in Greek tragedian Sophocles's play, Laocoon is the priest of Apollo who is supposed to stay celibate but he get married. Therefore his sons are killed for the punishment and he is left alone suffering.  

                                         Laocoon, 1504 (excavated) 6'10'' × 5' 4'' × 3'8''

                                                         Laocoon's head

                                               Head of Laocoon's son, Antiphantes

                                                        Head of the younger son, Thymbraeus

Greek Theater brief

Bill
10/10/17

Greek Theater originated in Athens initially from dances performed in the purpose of worshiping the god called Dionysos; The other two main dramatic genres, Greek Tragedy and Greek Comedy then emerged and flourished in late 500 BC. Dramatic performances in the city of Athens were usually held in a uptrend semi-circle space known as orchestra, where the chorus danced and performed the plays with music.

The round-shape plate designed to create acoustics so that actors voices could be heard clearly. The theatron (where audience seat) was created in the idea of "gathering"people, bringing them together to the play, which happened in the center. 

The visual art emergence came from the mask; It was significant to Athenian's cult of Dionysus and it was also important to actors who play certain roles on the stage. Moreover, when actors put on the masks, the audience could sense the emotional movement--panic, dread, tragic--through those very expressive facial expression and exaggerated features on the masks. A Mask was made of light-weight materials, and the mouth opening size was small enough in order to hide the actor's mouth while the whole area of the mask was big enough to cover the actor's entire face. By that It allowed actors to immerse in their roles.   

                                  Mosaic, theatrical mask for tragedy and comedy

                                                        Mask samples
The theater of ancient Greece represents the earliest form of theatrical performing art in western civilization; its cultural influence affect the military and politic power and the social interactions of people. Greek shared the theater culture in the form of festival celebration (Dionysus cult) to its colonies and surrounding city states; the theater was their ways of speaking and communicating.

Ares Pics

Bill
10/2/17

Ares, Head 

Mars, Head, Roman counterpart.

Mars, muscular male statue.

Ares. 

Ares, 5.5" W X 4" D X 12.5" H

Mars.

Ares, Sat Statue