By Aaron DiGiamarino

Monday, May 9, 2011

Need By Kathe Kollwitz





Need, by Kathe Kollwitz was painted in 1893 in response to seeing a play called The Weaver. (Kathe Kollwitz) The Weavers, which dramatized the oppression of the Silesian weavers in Langembielau and their failed revolt in 1842, inspired Kathe Kollwitz to create a series of six pieces on the themes of the play.(Kathe Kollwitz) The three themes were poverty, death, and conspiracy. (Kathe Kollwitz) This series based on The Weavers became her most widely proclaimed paintings.


            Stylistically, it was innovative at the time it was painted in 1893. It is drawn with many lines and the picture is not picturesque or perfect. (Impressionism) The painting itself is not in excruciating detail, but that was the style at this time. Impressionism really took off at this time and it was created to show the realities in life, but in a subjective way. So, people in poverty were shown in little or no detail and the beholder could fill in the blanks. In Need, by Kathe Kollwitz, you can barely make out the baby’s face, and the back of the room is so dark that you can hardly tell that it is a room. Thematically, the painting was meant to express the hardships of poverty. You can tell the family is poor because the house is damaged and raggedy, and they are tending over a sick baby, who will most likely not be able to get better because the family does not have enough money to get the baby well.



Old Beggar with a Boy By Pablo Picasso


Old Beggar with a Boy, by Pablo Picasso, was painted in 1903 and was in a series of paintings in response to Pablo Picasso’s trip through Spain and the suicide of a friend. (Pablo Picasso- Blue Period) During this time in Spain, they were under the monarchy of Alfonso XIII, and he was more concerned about the well-being of himself than the well-being of his people.(Alfonso XVIII of Spain) As a result, it led many people into a life of poverty.
            Pablo Picasso was known for his variety of styles, but the painting Old Beggar with a Boy was painted during his blue period. His blue period was initially sparked by the suicide of his friend, Carlos Casagemas. (Pablo Picasso- Blue Period) His paintings during this time are painted with dark blue colors and dark green colors, like in Old Beggar with a Boy. They are represented as gloomy and hopeless. Thematically, poverty and lack of health are represented in Old Beggar with a Boy. The two people are depicted as low class citizens on the streets of Spain. The boy has a piece of bread, signifying that the piece of bread is a delicacy and not often received or had.



Holding a Bowl of Dust By Ashley Cecil



Holding a Bowl of Dust was painted in 2008, by Ashley Cecil, to get people to understand the hardships of poverty in Africa and around the world.(Anna Kramer, Holding a Bowl of Dust) As we know today Africa is the poorest continent on the planet. Africa is barren and dry, pretty much everywhere, which limits the cultivation of crops making many families and tribes subjected to little food and water. Poverty there has climbed to a preposterous level, and the painting by Ashley Cecil is trying to get people to see that people in Africa are much less fortunate than people in countries like the United States and Great Britain.
Ashley Cecil is an Activist painter. (Kimberly Mok, The Art of Activism) The painting is solely painted to get people to see the hardships of poverty and climate change. The setting takes place in a barren landscape, or Africa, and it portrays to young women who should have a bountiful basket of grain. Instead, they have a bowl of dust, signifying that the lack of food, which- is due to poverty and the climate change. Thematically, poverty is solely represented in the painting. The painting is symbolizing the struggle of impoverished families to feed themselves in a world that is getting poorer and poorer, because of the economic crisis and the lack of careers that people are no longer getting a chance at. (Anna Kramer, Holding a Bowl of Dust)

Sources

"Alfonso XIII of Spain - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia." Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. N.p., n.d. Web. 28 Apr. 2011. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alfonso_XIII_of_Spain

"Impressionism - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia." Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. N.p., n.d. Web. 28 Apr. 2011. <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Impressionism

Kramer, Anna . "First Person: Voices, video, and photos » Blog Archive » Holding a Bowl of Dust." First Person: Voices, video, and photos . N.p., n.d. Web. 28 Apr. 2011. http://blogs.oxfamamerica.org/index.php/2008/10/15/holding-a-bowl-of-dust

"Käthe Kollwitz - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia." Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. N.p., n.d. Web. 28 Apr. 2011. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/K%C3%A4the_Kollwitz

Mok, Kimberley. "The Art of Activism: Painting The Faces of Social & Climate Change : TreeHugger." TreeHugger. N.p., n.d. Web. 28 Apr. 2011. http://www.treehugger.com/files/2008/11/oxfam-america-climate-change-on-canvas.php

"Pablo Picasso - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia." Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. N.p., n.d. Web. 28 Apr. 2011. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pablo_Picasso#Blue_Period