This picture reminds me of our class discussion today on Tom Outland's journey. City or nature? I think it's pretty obvious that this picture is depicting the greatness of a city. Since the view is so steep, it gives the imagery of being on completely different levels from the building; being trapped in a canyon for example. The view reminds me of Tom and his companions in the vastness of the canyons. I think that that fact alone is proof at how this image, as well as the scene in "The Professor's House," can be interpreted bin both ways. Also, even though I personally believe that the image is a city, it doesn't show the natural chaos of a city, which also leads me to believe it has similarities of a canyon's seeming emptiness. Therefore, there is no exact "right" or "wrong" as the canyons representing city or nature.
I partially agree with you that the canyons can represent city or nature, but in the book. I think that in this painting, the painter is geared more towards showing the city in a negative light. The painting uses darker colors, and the buildings seem to be looming over the person looking at the painting, as if the buildings are looking down on you. It's really a grim looking scene, but its not Ashtray-Yekl-The Ghetto era. The buildings look a lot more sleek and detailed and clean, despite the colors being darker. This painting and some of the others Dr. Devine has posted really have that 1920's Lost Generation kind of feel to it, which is where Professor's House is leading us. The paintings that have been posted recently look like they belong on the cover of an F. Scott Fitzgerald book.
The monolithic city buildings in this painting tower like dark cliff walls, at the bottom of which runs a long rigid chasm of street. The dark starry sky is cut up and fragmented by the tall, rigidly straight towers. The painter assumes a deliberately minimized perspective of the buildings; a close-up view reveals the true enormity of these structures. The close-up perspective of an already enormous figment is a theme we can easily detect in Willa Cather's, The Professor's House. Much of Cather's novel is concerned with the subliminal, yet substantial forces that dictate the individual's consciousness. While these forces are pervasive, they do not make themselves readily apparent; only after reflection does the professor realize the influence of his surroundings: "'I was thinking' he answered absently 'about Euripides; how, when he was an old man, he went and lived in a cave by the sea, and it was thought queer, at the time. It seems that houses had become insupportable to him. I wonder whether it was because he had observed women so closely his whole life'" (136). Women and The Home seem to be coupled by Cather as they impose on St. Peter a sagacity and understanding of his own life circumstances. His impression of domesticity correlates with his impression of female; such that his life as a domestic professional is dominated by his entirely female family and, of course, by the home he lives in. Eventually, both the home and the female own him.
I agree that the painting does reflect a negative light of the city however, I beliieve that the building in the background as well as the light which looks like the sun represent a sort of light at the end of the tunnel so to speak. There is a light vs. darkness theme that seems to be happening in the painting. The painting also seems to be focused on the dark buildings in the foreground as the main feature of the painting. You have a hidden light that is hard to find but it is still within reach.
This picture reminds me of our class discussion today on Tom Outland's journey. City or nature? I think it's pretty obvious that this picture is depicting the greatness of a city. Since the view is so steep, it gives the imagery of being on completely different levels from the building; being trapped in a canyon for example. The view reminds me of Tom and his companions in the vastness of the canyons. I think that that fact alone is proof at how this image, as well as the scene in "The Professor's House," can be interpreted bin both ways. Also, even though I personally believe that the image is a city, it doesn't show the natural chaos of a city, which also leads me to believe it has similarities of a canyon's seeming emptiness. Therefore, there is no exact "right" or "wrong" as the canyons representing city or nature.
ReplyDeleteI partially agree with you that the canyons can represent city or nature, but in the book. I think that in this painting, the painter is geared more towards showing the city in a negative light. The painting uses darker colors, and the buildings seem to be looming over the person looking at the painting, as if the buildings are looking down on you. It's really a grim looking scene, but its not Ashtray-Yekl-The Ghetto era. The buildings look a lot more sleek and detailed and clean, despite the colors being darker. This painting and some of the others Dr. Devine has posted really have that 1920's Lost Generation kind of feel to it, which is where Professor's House is leading us. The paintings that have been posted recently look like they belong on the cover of an F. Scott Fitzgerald book.
DeleteThe monolithic city buildings in this painting tower like dark cliff walls, at the bottom of which runs a long rigid chasm of street. The dark starry sky is cut up and fragmented by the tall, rigidly straight towers. The painter assumes a deliberately minimized perspective of the buildings; a close-up view reveals the true enormity of these structures. The close-up perspective of an already enormous figment is a theme we can easily detect in Willa Cather's, The Professor's House. Much of Cather's novel is concerned with the subliminal, yet substantial forces that dictate the individual's consciousness. While these forces are pervasive, they do not make themselves readily apparent; only after reflection does the professor realize the influence of his surroundings:
ReplyDelete"'I was thinking' he answered absently 'about Euripides; how, when he was an old man, he went and lived in a cave by the sea, and it was thought queer, at the time. It seems that houses had become insupportable to him. I wonder whether it was because he had observed women so closely his whole life'" (136).
Women and The Home seem to be coupled by Cather as they impose on St. Peter a sagacity and understanding of his own life circumstances. His impression of domesticity correlates with his impression of female; such that his life as a domestic professional is dominated by his entirely female family and, of course, by the home he lives in. Eventually, both the home and the female own him.
I agree that the painting does reflect a negative light of the city however, I beliieve that the building in the background as well as the light which looks like the sun represent a sort of light at the end of the tunnel so to speak. There is a light vs. darkness theme that seems to be happening in the painting. The painting also seems to be focused on the dark buildings in the foreground as the main feature of the painting. You have a hidden light that is hard to find but it is still within reach.
ReplyDelete