Author: teamjustice5

Ruin has always been a part of life. Present in some form in all art forms, ruin can be seen in life and nature past, present, and future. Ruin, often thought of as being applied to old buildings and structures with ancient architecture, can also be applied to nature and humanity. For this project, ruin takes the form of a tree. This tree is picturesque, sublime, and ruined all at the same time. It is a blending and merging of the three that presents an overall ruined and bright image.

Picturesque consists in “uniting in one whole a variety of parts; and these parts can only be obtained from rough objects” (Gilpin 19).  This art form is concerned with inhabiting the honest beauty of nature; an object is simply beautiful when it is unaltered to show its true flaws. The base image of the tree, the start of the trunk, is an unaltered image. It suggests the highest start of beauty and picturesque of the tree. An image in the middle to the right is also unaltered. This offers the tree an even greater beauty. Picturesque is created through the merging of the rough and ruined parts into a whole, uniting them into a coarse and rugged image. Due to the variations in light surrounding and throughout the tree, the tree looks rugged and rough, almost harsh. This picture as a whole is what represents the ruined nature of the image. Picturesque brings the images of ruggedness and beauty together to form an image that is ruined-looking through its darkness. When you take the individual images of the tree, each is beautiful and rough looking in of itself; the picturesqueness of it. However, looking at the tree overall, it is ruined. The tree is dark and shadowy looking. The sky behind offers a brighter light, but still seems to make the tree look grim. The stick-like branches are bare and jagged, suggestion of a death not far off. The bark is dark and full of holes carved out by small animals that are no longer around. The surrounding vegetation is even darker and seemingly worse off. The small dark beauties of the tree lend its way to a more subtle sublimity.

“Sublime; it is productive of the strongest emotion which the mind is capable of feeling” (Burke – Of the Sublime). When sublime is mixed with picturesque, it creates a dark, beautiful, and strong feeling. The middle of the tree creates a dark strong feeling and with the surrounding glow of the sun around the tree, and the highlights and shadows of the clouds, the tree exhibits a beautiful aurora. The tree seems to grow up into infinity, “one of the most efficient causes of the sublime” (Price, Chapter IV). The tips of the branches seem to stretch out and want to grow further, almost as if they could continue forever. The tree demonstrates the succession and uniformity that Burke discusses about sublimity. All the images complied and merged together creates this sense of uniformity and succession. From the base of the tree to the tip of the branches, all of the images align and create a series of succession to display a full, well-developed tree. Each individual image draws itself into a connection with the surrounding images. One branch merges into the next. The images are so well merged and blended together that it encompasses the uniformity that creates sublimity. Examining the tree from afar, one would hardly notice that the tree is compiled of multiple images. However, all at the same time, it is ruined. The darkness in the heart of the tree suggests ruin, the same darkness that makes it sublime. The bright, awe-inspiring light around the outside branches of the tree create a beautiful picturesque ruin.

With a theory of ruin being a balance of sublime and picturesque together, we were able to create a ruined image of a campus tree with individual elements of sublime and picturesque. Without these features, a ruined tree would not be created. Taking the characteristics of sublime and picturesque, past and present representations is what allowed for an image of ruin to be exhibited in our visual poster. The darkness, beauty, infinity, and uniformity and succession all created, merged, and developed into our image and vision of ruin.

 

~Heather

 

Burke, Edmund. The Works of the Right Honourable Edmund Burke. I. Paul Murray, Michael Punch and the PG Online Distributed Proofreading Team, 2005. eBook. <http://www.gutenberg.org/files/15043/15043-h/15043-h.htm

Gilpin, William. Three essays: on picturesque beauty; on picturesque travel; and on sketching landscape: to which is added a poem, on landscape painting. Eighteenth Century Collections Online – Text Creation Partnership, 1724-1804. Print.

Price, Sir Uvedale. On the Picturesque. University Of Pennsylvania State, Web. <http://www.english.upenn.edu/~mgamer/Etexts/price.html>.

Natalie and I collaborated together for this new blog, Victorian Era Ideas. We both helped create each post and took turns between editing and researching. However, the four best posts that really stand out as some of our best work are the posts, Class Themes: Humanities 303, Ruined…A Different Perspective, The Kiss, and Symbolism, A New Way of Thinking. For the Class Themes: Humanities 303 post, we focused on the main themes that were prevalent in the class at that time and gave a little background on why it was a theme along with some context. For Ruined…A Different Perspective, the focus was on “The Ruined Maid” and a comparison of today’s ruined woman versus ancient ruin. The goal was to provide context for each in relation to “The Ruined Maid” text. In the post, The Kiss, we focused entirely on Auguste Rodin’s work and particularly his sculpture The Kiss.  With Symbolism, A New Way of Thinking, we wanted to develop a better understanding of Arthur Symons and the reasons behind some of his works, as he was prevalent throughout class in the time period that we were currently studying then.

While these posts reflect our best work, we, however, did experience a few shortcomings in relation to our blog. We did very much enjoy working together to collaborate on the blog and being able to have the chance to not have to rely on others. This worked out well for us as we like to get things done in a timely manner and often times before it is due, and working together really allowed us to do that. However, one big shortcoming was that we did not actually end up doing very much in regards to actually writing well detailed blogs. We both feel as if we should have probably written a few more, like I am sure all members of the class believe and you as well Dr. Hunter. So aside from wanting to have spent more time on creating more posts, we did focus highly on the posts that we wrote and believe them to reflect some of our best work.

Working with this blog was quite different from our first term blog. The first term blog involved a lot more teamwork and collaboration as compared to that of the second term blog. While this is also something that we wanted to focus less time on for the second term, the first term blog opened up our eyes to other possible ideas and we found it quite helpful with coming up with new ideas and learning new things. However, the second term blog is of a much higher quality and truly reflects much better work. Our posts are detailed, and yet, not too long. They provide background, and outside resources and seem to be a lot more interesting, at least to us, as they do include a wider range of knowledge and information.

We hope you find our blog as exciting and fun to read as we did in writing them!

Natalie and Heather

Today in class, we were inspired by Picasso’s image Woman in an Armchair. To bring this painting more into the 21st century, Natalie and I took a photo on the computer that swirled our faces around. I represented the white side of the woman in the armchair, and she the dark side of the woman in the armchair. We digitally enhanced the image to have a gold-green background and darkened/lighted each side of the photo.
We had believed that Picasso was trying to bring to life the many personalities and attitudes of life. Picasso seemed to be depicting people more and integrating them more into his works. For this work, he seemed to emphasize the darker side of the woman, so with ours, we did the same. He had a bright background that really emphasized the woman, which really draws your attention inward to the distortions and unproportional woman.

Background on Picasso:

Pablo Picasso is credited with a form of art described as Cubism. This form of art was a new and interesting style that developed in the late 1800′s, early 1900′s. Cubism is a very distinct form of geometric triangles and distortions. Picasso worked closely alongside another man, George Barque, who also helped him with the development and progression of Cubism. The painting that is interpreted here, was created by Picasso late in his career and shortly after he had developed inspiration from African art and had moved into more of an Analytic Cubism characterized by distortions and overlapping of pieces/triangles in his art.

Background: http://www.metmuseum.org/toah/hd/cube/hd_cube.htm

Within reading “Esther Kahn” by Arthur Symons, we took it upon ourselves to develop a better understanding of the author and his works. Arthur Symons, a British critic, poet, and magazine editor, believed in the power of detail. He once stated, “What we ask of him is, that he should find out for us more than we can find out for ourselves…. He must have the passion of a lover” (PoetHunter.com). As a result, people should seek out to pay attention to the little things in life. Performing this homework has given us great insight into how Symons thought and gave us some reasoning as to why he wrote his writings in the way that he did.

Born and raised in Milford Haven, Wales, Symons grew up in a fairly educated family. At a young age, he soon began to edit many works and contribute to the world of literature. For instance, “In 1884–1886 he edited four of Bernard Quaritch’s Shakespeare’s Quarto Facsimiles”(PoetHunter.com). Not to mention, “he became a member of the staff of the Athenaeum in 1891, and of the Saturday Review in 1894, but his major editorial feat was his work with the short-lived Savoy”(PoetHunter.com). As a result, Symons’ drive and passionate towards literature has been forever made staple in history today.

Symons is a well-known symbolist in England and has interpreted “French decadent poetry to the English through translations, criticism, and his own imitative poems” (Encyclopedia). He helped move the 19^th century art into the 20^th century, and some of the modern day humanities that are seen today. This artist concerned himself mostly with the “aesthetic, formal qualities of a work of art in addition [to] its ability to lead one to some kind of spirituality” (Porterfield). Symons critiqued many forms of art and humanities and this is what helped him shape the Symbolist artist that he is known for today. He sought to bring out the best in everything that he saw and it was through this symbolist artwork that he was able to achieve this.

Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia. Arthur Symons. Columbia University Press. 6^th Edition. 26 Oct. 2012.

Porterfield, Susan A. Arthur Symons as Critic of the Visual Arts. English Literature in Transition, 1880-1920. 26 Oct. 2012.

“Arthur Symons.” PoemHunter.com. N.p., 2012. Web. 26 Oct. 2012.

Within reading Gambling, Arthur Symons Rodin, and Elenora Duse, one can easily see the themes of capturing the raw beauty of nature and exploring the darkness of life in order to achieve the raw beauty of nature.  Elenora Duse is a prime example. She is an actor that has been “devoured by the life of the soul, by the life of the mind, by the life of the body” (Symons).  Elenora completely devotes herself to the real rawness of beauty through sharing her soul within her art. She enriches her many art forms. When reading Rodin, this rawness of beauty is truly captured within sculpture; Symons tries to obtain the natural beauty of nature through turning “sculpture into life” rather than life into sculpture like many different artists of the time (Symons). Symons, depending on “the power, balance, and beauty of the relief,” he watched and sculpted “the living movement from every angle…he must translate form, movement, light and shadow, softness, force, everything which exists in nature,” into his sculptures (Symons).  This further demonstrates each of the pieces’ dedication to capturing the rawness of nature and exploring it in many different lights. When examining Gambling, the darkness is seen throughout; “my heart was chilled with fear at envying wretches who, headlong, rush to be destroyed …seek anything” (Campbell). The character is fearful of envying something that does not acknowledge and represent the true beauty of the art forms that surround people in everyday life. What should be sought out is something that is natural and true to art and nature.

The Impressionists art period is characterized by its depiction of modern life and the natural beauty of nature it depicted. One especially creative artist of this time is Auguste Rodin. Rodin was an impressionist, French artist that was popular in the late 1800s. His most famous work was “The Gates of Hell” and the many pieces which came about from this work (auguste-rodin.com). One I would like to examine, is his work “The Kiss” sculpted in 1882. One particular characteristic that is quite prevalent in this piece of work is how the figures are “all in violent action…taken straight from nature” (Symons). When you look at this sculpture, the feelings you feel are so immense, and their passion for one another is so great that the only way to describe it is as violent. And I don’t mean violent as in fighting; but their passion for each other, their love is a violent, passionate love. This is what Rodin wanted to seek out in his sculpting. Rodin depending on “the power, balance, and beauty of the relief” he watched and sculpted “the living movement from every angle…he must translate form, movement, light and shadow, softness, force, everything which exists in nature” into his sculptures (Symons). This strongly correlates with Rodin’s examination of the Greeks art. The Greeks were highly focused on beauty and perfection of the human form. Rodin focused on capturing and perfecting the nature in his forms; creating as much beauty and emotion as possible. Rodin was a true Impressionist sculptor.

Up close of The Kiss

The Kiss

Another work, Fugit Amor

Landow, G. Kenneth Clark on Naked, Nude, and Ideal Form. Accessed October 16, 2012.

Auguste Rodin. http://www.auguste-rodin.com Accessed October 16, 2012.

Sculpture: Auguste Rodin, The Kiss (1882).

Within reading, “The Ruined Maid” by Thomas Hardy the word “ruined” appears to resemble a much different connotation than usual. Upon observing the Oxford English Dictionary the word “ruined” gathers a variety of meanings. For example, one perception of ruin is, “the physical destruction or disintegration of something or the state of disintegrating or being destroyed”(Oxford English Dictionary). This very definition can relate to the physical state of nearly anything. Essentially ruined could refer to such things as a building all the way to the economy. Yet, typically this word is used to define the natural state of a man made being. However, within the reading Thomas Hardy puts a spin on things.

Ancient Ruin Vs. Ruined Woman
 

Ruin Synonyms:

• wreck
• destruction
• ruination
• perdition
• downfall
• spoil
• demolish
• ravage
• devastate

Consequently, when reading “The Ruined Maid”, the word “ruin” contains a whole new denotation. O’melia, the main character within the reading, is left explaining to an acquaintance the fruits of her labor. However, rather than referring to herself as a prostitute she reveals herself as ruined. At the end of each paragraph O’melia basically explains what happens with being a prostitute (ruined). For instance she states, “yes: that’s how we dress when we’re ruined”(Hardy). Therefore, when O’melia refers to the word “ruined” she is essentially discussing what happens with the loss of ones virginity. The word “ruin” within this text depicts the fallen woman. Which in this case is somewhat of a tragedy. True, O’melia may appear to be well off her feet nevertheless, this is what has forever stapled her. This has ruined her life, with the fact that she can never go back. Sure, the lavish and frilly adornments do not hurt; yet, the loss of her virginity forever haunts her. Which deteriorates her inner self. She must live on with the fact that she is a prostitute. The word, “ruin” immediately becomes symbolic of her loss of virginity. Not to mention, brings upon a negative connotation. She herself even admits, “My dear—a raw country girl, such as you be,
Cannot quite expect that. You ain’t ruined”(Hardy). In conclusion, the word “ruin” fits within many instances but takes on a whole new meaning within this text.

Definition of “ruin” in text:

•  Loss of virginity
• Deflowered
• Spoiled
• Unworthy
• Fallen woman
• Impure
• Black listed
• Scared
• Labeled

Works Cited

Google images.

Hardy, Thomas. “The Victorian Web: An Overview.” The Victorian Web: An Overview. N.p., 24 Jan. 2006. Web. 15 Oct. 2012. <http://victorianweb.org/>.

“Oxford Dictionaries Online.” Oxford Dictionaries Online. N.p., n.d. Web. 15 Oct. 2012. <http://oxforddictionaries.com/?region=us>.

The main theme of this blog was highly focused on the class and labor issues posed in the 18th and 19th centuries. This theme was often related to various texts throughout our Humanities 303 class. However, here is a compilation of what we view to be the best representations of teamjustice.

With all of these pieces focused upon drawing the reader in through visual effects and pictorial representations, all of the following blogs were backed by quality sources from various websites such as the Victorian web and other reputable sites. We have chosen them also due to the great connections that were made to the readings from class.

 

And with that said, this blog “The 1832 Reform Act in Victorian Britain”, was focused on shedding light on the issues among parliament and the lower class and the injustices that went along with that.

http://teamjustice5.wordpress.com/2012/10/03/the-1832-reform-act-in-victorian-britain/

 

“William Hogarth: Courtship and Class” was a more fun post that related to a reading class. Relating etiquette and proper manners to paintings done by William Hogarth, this blog focused on the Rules of Courtship in that time period for Victorian woman.

http://teamjustice5.wordpress.com/2012/09/14/william-hogarth-courtship-and-class/

 

The theme of unfair and unjust treatment was further demonstrated with the blog of “The Awakening of the Classes”. In relation to the paintings Found Drowned and The Awakening Conscience, it was focused on bringing the issues and divisions between the middle/lower classes and the upper classes to the surface, while also hoping to empower future women.

http://teamjustice5.wordpress.com/2012/09/19/the-awakening-of-the-classes/

 

“Origins of the Harlot’s House” displays the history of the prostitute throughout its origins in the Victorian era. Focusing on “The Great Social Evil” and Oscar Wilde’s “The Harlot’s House” ties were made to the origins and development of the prostitute between the classes. This is also demonstrated with relations between this theme and “La Melinite: Moulin Rouge”.

http://teamjustice5.wordpress.com/2012/09/30/origins-of-the-harlots-house/

 

““The Ruined Maid”: From Rags to Riches” also makes further connections to prostitution and the classes. This post focuses upon the social advancement that some women could see through prostitution.

http://teamjustice5.wordpress.com/2012/09/26/the-ruined-maid-from-rags-to-riches/

 

Overall, teamjustice has achieved its goal of bringing the best of the Labor and Class Issues present throughout the 18^th and 19^th centuries to this blog. With many posts going through extensive editing for content and connections to the course theme, these posts are our best.

‘The Great Social Evil’ is a well-known controversial topic of the 19^th century. Having to do with prostitution and domestic morality, this time period became known as ‘The Great Social Evil’ as it was believed that prostitution was an immoral act that should not be a part of society. However, if this is the thought, then why and how did it become a part of the 19^th century? How did it affect women and the different social classes?

The Great Social Evil owes its origins to the French Revolution and its demoralizing effects (Shaw). The 19^th century saw the greatest rise in number of social problems predominantly among the rising middle class and this time was among one of the hardest for women. Women worked less favorable jobs and extremely long hours with low wages in jobs such as domestic servants, needle-trades, factory workers, and agricultural gangs and it was due to this, that they increasingly turned to prostitution (Shaw).

However, the perception of the harlot was one of great controversy for those of the times. In fact, for every one woman that was poorly-dressed and of a lower social class among the prostitutes, there were three women that were of a higher social class and a prostitute (Shaw). So while the conception is that many women are of a poor standing and highly diseased, harlots of the time were actually well taken care of and “generally pretty and elegant” (Shaw).

The Harlots Progress by William Hogarth (1697-1764)

Even though, many were quite attractive and well-kept, Oscar Wilde was unsure of how to perceive them. In Oscar Wilde’s poem “The Harlot’s House”, people of a whore house are depicted as “strange mechanical grotesques”, “ghostly dancers”, “slim silhouetted skeletons”, “phantom lover” (Wilde). Wilde seems unsure of how to describe them. They are a mix between skeletal and lovers. They play a song of love but are grotesque. Wilde seems split between love and lust, “love passed into the house of lust”. His own love leaves him and walks into the harlot’s house. This suggests that while prostitution is grotesque and immoral, there is something about it that fascinates and draws him and his lover in.

Another example arises when looking at Arthur Symons “La Melinite: Moulin Rouge”. The women are described as performing a “Waltz of Roses” but they have “mirrored, morbid grace”, “Her morbid, vague, ambiguous grace”. The female “dances in a dream…in the mysterious night, she dances for her own delight, a shadow smiling back to a shadow in the night.” (Symons). The poem is one of happiness and seems almost like a fairytale; however, parts of it are morbid and dark. While the girl dances, she dances “in ruddy flowers of flame that burn”. The woman is depicted as beautiful and graceful, while morbid and dark at the same time. She is a shadow that is looking back at herself as a shadow. She is dancing about, but yet, in a flower that is flaming. Symons describes them as something that is beautiful performing in something that is disgraceful.

Prostitution has its origins in the 19^th century due to the hardships brought onto the middle and lower classes after the French Revolution. While some were unsure of how to fully interpret the Great Social Evil, a majority of society agreed that it was immoral and should not have been an option for women. Several pieces of legislature were also passed even to help deal with such issues, such as the Contagious Diseases Act of 1864, 1866, and 1869. It was a gravely demoralizing and dehumanizing time for women that they should not have had to resort to.

England’s occupation of Inda in the late 18th and early 19th century

Weiss, Zoe. “Love, Lust, and Lies in “The Harlot’s House” by Oscar Wilde .” Victorian Web. (2009): n. page. Web. 30 Sep. 2012

Shaw, Rhianna. “The Great Social Evil: “The Harlot’s House” and Prostitutes in Victorian London.” Victorian Web. (2010): n. page. Web. 30 Sep. 2012.

Wilde, Oscar. “The Harlot’s House”. Victorian Web. n. page. Web. 30 Sep. 2012

Symons, Arthur. “La Melinite: Moulin Rouge”. Google. n. page. Web. 30 Sep. 2012

Found Drowned

 In the distance, one can faintly see the outline of a heavily industrialized south bank. Life and society carries on as an unknown drowned woman is lying underneath of the Waterloo Bridge; a bridge that was well known for illegal suicides at the time. In her hand, the woman holds a heart-shaped locket and her clothes convey poverty (Watts Gallery). With life carrying along so busily, this woman lays poor and dead, unnoticed underneath this bridge.

The 18^th and 19^th centuries was heavily marked with extreme poverties of the working/lower class and Watts’ painting only further demonstrates this. “Watts has the power to express what is suppressed and hidden, what is beneath the surface of experience” (Corbett). The poverty of this time is definitely some that was greatly suppressed and ignored throughout the Victorian era; the slums that the working class lived in and the ignorance and disapproval of the middle and upper classes was atrocious. The lower class was constantly ignored and moved away into the corners and far reaches of the cities so that they would not be a burden upon the rest of society. The woman underneath the Waterloo Bridge just further demonstrates this. She is removed from the heavily industrialized south bank and removed and forgotten about within society.

Watts “renders the invisible…visible” (Corbett). Many critics have stayed far away from Watts’ work and it was quite difficult to find outside sources on his writing that did not downplay and negatively critique his work. Watts is capable of bringing the negatives of society to light; bring your attention to the problems of the world. With the illuminating of the woman’s face, one can see this. She is marked in poverty and suicide, removed from society, however, her face is lite up, drawing in your attention. This brings to light the problems of society at the time. It was due to this that many critics did not enjoy Watt’s work.

 

 

The Awakening Conscience

At first glance of this picture, it is quite obvious that the man has entwined and holding captive the woman. “It is the ‘wealth’ of a ‘patrician’ which makes the woman a ‘victim’” (Landow). With closer analysis, one can fully comprehend that the man in this painting is one of great wealth and that the woman is being held captive by him. Much similar to the cat to the left of the man on the floor toying with a cat, the man is toying with his lover. The woman’s face however, is illuminated as she has just made a great discovery. The expression on her face seems far away as she has just come to terms that she must change; “it is the lover who unintentionally brings about this change in her” (Landow). This change is on of spiritual change.

Many of William Hunt’s paintings were centered on being “more a religious picture than a piece of social commentary” (Landow). While some of his paintings at first seem to deal with social issues, the 19^th century was marked with a “revival of religious activity unmatched since the days of the Puritans” and Hunt brought that forth in nearly all of his paintings (Altholz). That is why that the man’s arms, in this painting, are an “embodiment of death from whose arms [the woman] must struggle to reach Christ and new life” (Landow). This revival of religion that is depicted in Hunt’s paintings demonstrates a radical change in behavior that was characterized in all of the classes of the 18^th/19^th centuries. While more prominently displayed in the upper and middle classes, this change in behavior was known as “Victorainism” and was an infusion of all behavior with moralism (Altholz). The upper and middle class men and women became more conscious of their actions and their connections with God. They wanted to more fully develop their values and this is what is expressed in the woman’s face in Hunt’s painting. She was realizing that she needed to develop a sense of moralism and become one with God. She needed to free herself from her captor’s arms, leave her life of adultery behind, and become a better woman.

 

 

Althotz, Josef L. “The Warfare of Conscience with Theology.” Victorian Web. n. page. Web. 18 Sep. 2012. <http://www.victorianweb.org/religion/altholz/a2.html&gt;.

Landow, George P. “Replete with Meaning: William Holman Hunt and Typological Symbolism: The Awakening Conscience.” Victorian Webbook. n. page. Web. 18 Sep. 2012. <http://www.victorianweb.org

Hunt, William Holman. The Awakening Conscience. 1851-53. Oil on Canvas. A Victorian Webbook, Tate Gallery, London. Web. 18 Sep 2012. <http://www.victorianweb.org/painting/whh/replete/P10.html&gt;.

Corbett, David Peters. The World in Paint: Modern Art and Visuality in England, 1848-1914. Manchester Universtiy Press, 2005. 6. eBook.

Watts, George Fredric. Found Drowned. 1848-1850. Oil on Canvas. Weston GalleryWeb. 18 Sep 2012.