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Showing posts with the label art interpretation

John Berger's Ways of Seeing

"The way we see things is affected by what we know or what we believe"- John Berger. The book is one of the greats for understanding art and how perception makes all the difference in our lives. In any painting there are the perceptions of the painter and the perceptions of the audience. Each person sees something a little different from the painting based upon how they perceive the world around them. The concepts in his book have broader implications. We know this through this experience but his book helps highlight this for the artistic crowd. Most of us have experienced two people seeing the same thing but interpreting what they are seeing differently. This can lead to all types of arguments and discussions on whose interpretation of the version is real. To us our perceptions are real. What we see is real and what we feel is real. Despite this belief it is not necessarily true. Most of us have a single way of seeing the world and simply can't comprehend the ways ot

Art Review: The Lady with an Ermine by Leonardo da Vinci

The Lady with an Ermine is a remarkable early life portrait by Leonardo da Vinci. The subject is a teen mistress of the Duke of Milan known as Cecilia Gallerani (1473-1536) ( 1 ). She was considered extremely beautiful and was considered a poet, scholar, and lover of music. Most people found her to be funny and bubbly in personality bringing freshness of spirit to her lover. Her upbeat personality immortalized into a painting over 500 years ago.   At present the painting is hosted at the Wawel Castle in Krakow, Poland ( 2 ). It is 40.3 cm wide and 54.8 tall by dimension ( 3 ). The Lady with an Ermine is an oil painting on walnut board. It is a representation of craftsmanship that few artists experience in terms of quality, depth, simplicity and design. You can see an example in the lines that run from her arm and down the back of the animal. Leonardo was great at creating representations and symbols within his work which added to his legend.   Cecilia Gallerani is depicted l