Art Critique

Cameron Larson

1) Which museum did you visit? (check one) University of Utah

2) Describe at least one of the permanent collection exhibits on a theme, period,

geographic region, or topic) within the museum. {150 words}

The permanent exhibits at the University of Utah were on the second floor, looking at
these I like the Japanese section of the exhibits. The piece I’m choosing to describe is called
Kintai Bridge in Suo Province. ​This piece was created by Katsushika Hokusai (1760-1849). This
artist is mostly known for his famous painting, ​The Great Wave.​ This artwork is similar from his
series, ​Thirty-Six Views of Mount Fuji​, which includes The Great Wave. Instead, this series is
called ​Unusual Views .​ This artwork was created with Polychrome woodblock print between the
years 1831 and 1832. Something that I like about this artwork was the value technique used for
the sky and Mount Fuji. His artwork is simple but it tends to tell a story. I was also intrigued by
the design of the bridge and what looks to be like horizontal scratch marks on the surface of this
Japanese artwork.

3) Give a brief, one paragraph description of a special, temporary exhibit (for help, ask
museum staff what these are; they are usually in one of the first rooms). {100 words}

As far as the temporary exhibit goes, the picture I took of the one I wanted to do wasn’t
great quality so the information card wasn’t visible. I leu of that I decided to do the artwork called
Lo! The Poor Indian. The Native American man in this artwork seems to be sitting on a hill with
his dog, looking out into the distance. The artist who created this piece is William Holbrook
Beard, an American born artist who was born in the year 1824 and passed away at the turn of
the century in 1900. Lo! The Poor Indian was created in the year 1876.

4) What do you think the museum administration and/or exhibit curators want you to learn
or gain from the exhibits you viewed? {100 word minimum}

In the front of the museum, some of the first artworks were Utah based pieces. One was
a Union Pacific box car, and the other was a portrait of our beautiful mountains. I think that the
museum administration wanted the viewers to see what had come from Utah first, so they could
then see pieces from all over the world. The permanent exhibits on the upper level were more of
a trip through time and culture. Some examples would be the early mayan artifacts and the
roman christian artworks. Their temporary exhibits to me seemed to be a little more abstract,
seeing a lot of different sculptures and paintings, just to get a taste of what’s new.
5) What kind of information is provided about the works? Where might you look for further
information if you were interested? (Name three possibilities)

Right next to the artworks there were usually these little white information cards giving
details such as the name of the artist, when they died, the name of the artwork, when it was
made, and with some of the art, a description of what is going on in the piece.
● Read a biography of the artist
● Research the name of the artwork online
● Visit another museum that has that same artwork (research first)

6) Choose several works that particularly appealed to you. Explain why you were drawn to
these works. Comment on the subject, style, medium, time period, etc. Who were the artists?
What message do you think the artists were trying to convey in the works you chose to discuss?
This question must be answered in its entirety. {This should be ​at least ​500 words}

There were many artworks that appealed to me at this museum, I have one that I loved
from every exhibit. Upstairs in the permanent artwork exhibit, I liked the piece called, ​Crying
Figure​. This artwork just looks like a baby that was made from clay. It has these two weird
circular objects on its head, that was something that interested me. This is a very old exhibit,
dating back to 1200 to 400 BCE found in the Guerrero region of Mexico. For the age of this work
of art, it is still extremely intact. This was just one of my favorites from the North/Central
American portion of the exhibit. Another piece that I like was a mayan piece being created in the
years from 600 to 1200. This artwork is also made from what looked to be like painted
earthenware and seemed to be some kind of vase. What drew me in was the design of the
vase. There was an animal on the vase that me and my group decide was a bat given the shape
of the fangs, nose and ears. But the title of the piece is ​Jaguar Effigy Vessel/Incense Burner. I​ t
looks like the animal is painted with spots, but it has the physical appearance of a bat, which
threw us off. Another artwork from the permanent exhibit was a painting of Rome, Italy. The
painting consists of views of the Flavian Amphitheater (Colosseum), the pyramid of cause
cestius, and the Arch of Constantine. What’s cool about this piece is that if you go to Rome
today, you won’t see all of these structures in one view. The artist, Giovanni Paolo Panini,
scrunched some of the greatest architectural marvels at the time into just one view, and he used
interesting depth to make it that way. Giovanni was an Italian born artist who lived from the
years 1691 to 1765. The name of this beautiful piece is, ​Capriccio of Roman Ruins with Figures.
Another interesting thing about this work is that nobody knew when the artist had created it. This
is what they classify as an undated art piece. Coming a little closer to home is an artwork called,
Springtime on Bear Mountain. ​This artwork is just a picturesque view of what looks like the
Rocky Mountain range, possibly even the Wasatch mountains. The snowy tops of the
mountains roll down gently to a flat valley of sagebrush and grazing cattle, this reminds me of
the view just on the point of the mountain near Draper, but then again it doesn’t say that it’s a
Utah based artwork, but it was near some other Utah based pieces. The artist of this piece is
Maynard Dixon, an American artist born in 1875 and passed away in 1946. This artwork was
made in 1930, just sixteen years before the death of the artist. The last artwork that I liked was
was a picture of a Union Pacific boxcar traveling in northern Utah. This painting portrays the
vast valley grounds of Utah with the beautiful mountains in the background.

7) How​ did the artworks you looked at relate to material we have discussed in class? (They
do relate in many ways, you just need to look for those relationships). {Minimum of 150 words}

The artwork I looked at represented the change of humanity throughout time. The old
mayan sculptures showing how Central Americans expressed themselves before the Europeans
landed in the americas. The roman era paintings portray the religious influence in that region
and time period. The abstract art presenting new and unorthodox ways of creating art. Each
exhibit was like a unit or discussion in class. How time affects human action, thinking, doing.
How religion affects people's opinions and actions, how new ideas are being processed and
looked at in current situations. Humanities has taught me that people think different in different
parts of the world because their circumstances are different than the ones we face at home. Life
happens differently for everyone, so we learn about their ways not just to know about the things
they do, but to understand why they do them. This class was a healthy reminder that there are
always multiple perspectives on life. I’ve learned it's easier to communicate with people knowing
this.

8) What was your personal reaction to this experience? Would you enjoy attending this type
of event again? Why or why not? {Minimum 100 words}

I’ve always been an artistic person. Starting music when I was around 9 years old and
branching off to the different styles of art in middle and high school. It’s really just a way to
express an idea without having to say much (excluding music). Being able to see and analyse
how people from all over the world think and try to figure out their ‘why’ was interesting, some of
them were extremely hard to interpret. The beauty of art isn’t really supposed to be something
to look at or hear, it’s something you feel through all 5 senses. It’s neat to see how artists create
something based on emotion, or someone painting a historical event. I love seeing art in many
forms, so I would definitely go to a museum again. I love seeing other people’s art because it
inspires me to make more of my own and helps me build up a style of my very own.