18th and 19th Centuries

For each video list/discuss the key concepts you learned. (please categorize the comments for each video/reading)

The video about early photography and Daguerreotype was very detailed and very confusing, as a person who doesnt have much experience with photography. It was interesting to learn how it all works and though I knew it required the subject to sit still for quite a while I didnt realize all of the steps that took place just to prepare the plate they used. Industrial age production made this a popular technique, and in the 1850s about 7.5 million dollars was made creating daguerrotypes. 

I did enjoy the video about the Death of Marat painting by Jacques Louis David. Marat was a hero, a political martyr and French Revolutionary. The letter hes holding days "My great unhappiness gives me a right to your kindness", and this Neo-Classical work shows a great contrast between light and dark as well as David's attention to detail when it comes to anatomy. 

The Great Wave by Katsushika Hokusai is a piece I've seen so many times but never knew much about. Hokusai is considered the most iconic Japanese artist and this piece is used today on everything from prints to coffee mugs and tshirts and I cant help but wonder what an artist with his wisdom and age would think of that now. 

Manet's A Bar at the Folies-Bergere shows great open brushwork and a real focus on space and dimension. The mirror in the background might not be something a casual art browser would ever noticing when passing this piece at a museum but the mirror really becomes the most important part of this painting. 

Liberty Leading the People was an important piece/idea during the French Revolution. Liberty was a personification of an idea and her anatomy and the angle of her face is a nod back to classical antiquity. Light and space really helps the viewers eye travel throughout this piece, as Liberty is clearly the main object but upon looking at the space around her we see how much more detail Delacroix added to create this "spectrum of human emotion"

Monet and Cassatt (Poplars and The Childs Bath) are both very different paintings though created around the same time. Monet was more focused on light brushwork, and the literal light in the painting, as he created pink tree that almost look like they're floating in a sunny breeze. Cassatt uses foreshortening to tell this story, of a mother bathing her child, with great attention paid to the childs skin and body and the interaction between mother and parent. 

How do the videos relate to the readings in the text?

The reading gives a more broad idea of what the videos talk about, describing the move from Enlightenment to Roccoco, to the French Revolution and Neo-classicism and breaks down what differentiates an Impressionist work from a Neo-classical work.

What is your opinion of the films? How do they add depth to understanding of the readings and art concepts?

For the most part I feel like these videos helped to further elaborate on the information in the readings, while focusing a little more on the actual themes and techniques in the artwork rather than just a history of the time period it took place in.