WP 3: Pre-Writing Assignment 3

Continuing the analysis of Bather from pre-write 2, there are a few things I did not get to.  Following the prompt from the English 151 blog, I decided to look deeper into the material Bather is made of.  That material is bronze.  This metal of choice is actually an alloy.  The modern bronze composition is ninety percent copper and ten percent tin.  Older compounds varied only slightly from this bronze recipe. Bronze sculptures and statues are very common.  Bronze is chosen because it is a very strong material.  Another unique character of bronze that makes it a formidable material for statues and sculptures is its ability to expand just be for it cools.  This character allows the material to fill molds perfectly.  All of these characteristics allow bronze sculptures to last longer than any other medium for sculptures and statues.  We do not see as many older and more famous works in some parts of the world because of ancient wars.  When countries would be in a time of war, most of the bronze would be melted down to make armor, weapons, and other things that were needed.

Knowing some background information on bronze allowed me to look at why that particular material was used.  The artist wanted this to last.  It was known that bronze could weather anything mother nature could throw at it.  Not only that, but it would be able to withstand what ever mankind could throw at it, barring any wars that needed bronze.  The sculptor wanted this piece to be seen for a long time.

Another item that I touched on in the first analysis was the abstract properties of the sculpture.  This does not look like a bather that we would see in real life.  The rules of realism are broken to get to a deeper meaning in the art.  It can allow people to slow down and actually think about the sculpture.  It would not be hard to analyze a sculpture that looked exactly like someone bathing.  It would not make people stop and really think about what they are seeing.  This puts the sculpture in a position to appeal to more emotions of the audience members.

The only part that I have yet to really look at is the color.  It will take some extra thought and analysis to see if there is a great meaning to the color of the bronze and how there really is no control for color as with other methods and styles of art.

WP 3: Pre-Writing Assignment 2

The statue Bather was sculpted by Jacques Lipchitz.  It was sculpted from 1923 to 1925 and is made of bronze.  The front view can be seen on the left.  This sculpture is very abstract.  it is made of different shapes and the all flow and connect together.

One of the very first things I noticed about Bather, was that the sculpture does not have and sharp corners.  The outer surface of the entire sculpture is smooth.  There are, however, many sharp angles within the sculpture itself.  I also assigned "names" to different parts of the sculpture.  I first started by brainstorming things that are associated with bathing that I may see in the sculpture.  I saw things that resemble a shower head and a towel.  I then named things that I saw that pertain to people.  I see arms, legs, a head, hair, an eye, and a hand.  I labeled all of these things in sketches I made in my notebook.

I also thought of some questions coming from the pathos I felt.  Bathing is considered a private activity.  Why would an artist want to abstract this and make it public?  This is one question of many I found myself asking.  I then even questioned the title.  Bathing in what?  Is the title misleading me and making me form images and shapes I should not?  Maybe it is helping me to see the things I need to.  These questions will be analyzed further and hopefully I will be able to answer them.

The appeals to pathos, ethos, and logos will all be addressed in the analysis of Bather.  I will have to discuss and explore the context it was created in.  These things will lead me to the argument that the sculpture is making.  There are other techniques and ideas that can and will be applied to this analysis as I look into the sculpture more.

Writing Project 3 should be very interesting especially since I have to do Option 2.  I will still need to analyze all aspects of the sculpture to fulfill the requirements.  However, I must say that I feel that I would be able to write a better rhetorical analysis for this project than I have before.  In this case, it will just help me to analyze the necessary points to write the letter to my sculpture.
   

WP 3: Pre-Writing Assignment 1

I have always been a doodler.  By that, I mean that I am always drawing in my notebooks and pieces of scratch paper I have around.  That being said, one would assume that I am a great artist and love to draw, paint, sculpt, etc.  While I do enjoy drawing, I have never liked being made to do art work.  This came through in the required art classes I endured in junior and senior high school.  I always felt that art should be a way for someone to express themselves through a different medium.  Granted one needs to learn certain techniques and rules having to do with art, but I feel those will come with time if an artist wants to move in that direction.  In fact most popular and innovative artists are seen that way because they broke the rules.  Since I distanced myself from art in this way,  I never learned the rules and techniques.  This has me aprehensive about analyzing art.  However, I did learn a lot when we analyzed our paintings and I feel that it will help me in analyzing any form of art.