What is the green color made of in these Goryeo Dynasty stoneware pieces?
This glazing technique you see here is known as celadon and Korean potters have long been known for achieving jade-like colors.
The color is achieved through chemical reactions between iron in the clay, and iron oxide, manganese oxide, and quartz in the glaze when they are placed into a reduction kiln that removes oxygen during the firing process.
Which three women are the most influential?
That totally depends on what you think! There's no one correct answer to that question. I can tell you that one of the biggest influences on Chicago was Georgia O'Keeffe, the last plate at the table and the only person still alive when the work was completed.
O'Keeffe was also an artist and while she did not like to be designated a "woman painter" (preferring simply "painter"), Chicago saw her as a major figure in the movement toward women's increased individual creative expression.
How does The Dinner Party relate to feminism?
The artist who created this work, Judy Chicago, was in fact the first to coin the term “feminist art,” which she used to express the notion that women artists could and even should make work based on their gendered experiences and histories. With The Dinner Party, Chicago sought to identify and celebrate women who had contributed to history and, often, who in some way improved conditions for their fellow women. In its conception, content, and iconography, the work disrupts a male-dominated art world (and world in general) in a step towards equality.
Do you know why their hands are crossed like this?
The hand positions of shabties mimic those of ancient Egyptian mummies and mummiform coffins. These small statuettes were meant to follow their owner into the afterlife and act as servants. You'll notice that they even carry hoes and other agricultural tools to perform their duties like the way a king by be shown carrying a crook and flail, symbols of his office.
His eyes look unusual.
Yes! The eyes are obsidian circles set into alabaster, a typical technique of the Old Kingdom period.
They do appear rather large; enlarged features on an elongated head and body were typical of new style that emerged at end of the 5th Dynasty to the beginning of the 6th Dynasty, exactly when Metjetji lived.
Awesome, thank you for the additional info!
I was wondering if you could provide some more background information in this piece. I'm not familiar with the incident in the description.
Of course! Five Puget Sound Women's Peace Camp protesters were arrested inside Kent Boeing Aerospace Center's cruise missile facility in September of 1983.
They were part of a peace group that had been camped outside the facility since June and eventually they entered, unchallenged, using homemade Boeing identification badges.
Lesperance, the artist, seeks out women involved in campaigns wearing sweaters in archival footage and then recreates their garments.
Very cool! Thank you!
Why was this modern piece included in the Korean art exhibition which seems mostly historical?
This work demonstrates the continued evolution of Korean art.
Kang, like many contemporary Korean ceramicists, plays with traditional materials in new ways. He uses unglazed porcelain, a nod to the long tradition of porcelain work in Korea. The lack of glaze is a notable departure from even the most minimal ceramics of the Joseon Era.
There is a significant trend in contemporary Korean ceramics of looking back at and referencing traditional forms and techniques.
Yes, very interesting. Thanks so much.
We have this piece of art at home. Could you tell us more about it?
You are looking at the "Rocking Beauty" Hobby Horse by American artist Gloria Caranica.
In the past, this child’s rocking horse was often attributed to the influential American architect Philip Johnson. However, recent scholarship has revealed this to be a half-truth. In fact, it was the idea of another Philip Johnson, artistic director of the toy company Creative Playthings. He suggested it to Gloria Caranica, a recent graduate of Brooklyn’s Pratt Institute he had just hired.
Oh that’s surprising.
Is this a sarcophagus? The description says “cartonnage.”
This is not a sarcophagus. Though the word is quite popular when referring to ancient Egyptian coffins, technically, only coffins made of stone could be sarcophagi. This particular container is actually not even a coffin since it does not have a base and a lid and was instead formed around the mummy.
Cartonnage refers to a material made from linen or papyrus mixed with plaster, not unlike papier maché, which was used to form mummy masks and containers designed to be placed into larger sarcophagi.
Thank you.
Who is this?
The description for this object simply describes the front of the armrests as being carved with female busts. They're most likely non-specific decorative elements. The chair, made in the 1870s, is in the Renaissance revival style.
Alrighty. Thanks!
