Lauren's Art Exploration Blog

Japan's Edo period has been referred to as their "early-modern" era in the arts. Edo, a city in Japan, which is now modern day Tokyo, was the center of the blossoming art style. While Edo period is a categorical time for the art style, due to the diversity and length of this period, there are multiple sub-periods. The Edo period spanned from 1615-1868. This was largely due to the ruling in Japan bringing prosperity and peace for the people. This is reflected in much of the art being produced during this time.   Above is a collaboration art work titled  Poems from the Kokin wakashū by  two prominent artists,  Tawaraya Sōtatsu  and  Hon’ami Kōetsu. This work is a handscroll created on paper, with ink, gold, silver, and mica.  Tawaraya Sōtatsu was a painter and contributed to the painting in this piece, and  Hon’ami Kōetsu was a calligrapher and ceramist. The painting/calligraphy/poem is an important aspect of the Edo period, as this was when there was an increase in visual

The AIDS epidemic was first reported as of June 5th, 1981. Little was known about the disease and severity of it at the time, but it would soon become a wide spread and isolating condition. AIDS stands for Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome. It is a life threatening disease evolved from contracting HIV, Human Immunodeficiency Virus. If HIV is left untreated, it can become AIDS. AIDS was prominently seen within LGBTQ+ men, especially young men. These groups had a higher risk of contracting the disease, and due to the lack of acceptance of LGBTQ+ people during this time period, this led to even more ostricization for many gay and bisexual men. Below we will see works of art from 3 different artists, some that lived and died with AIDS and others that witnessed the effects of the disease on the people around them.  Above we see a work of art by Felix Gonzalez-Torres, Untitled (Portrait of Ross in L.A.). This work was done in 1991. This installation is housed in the Art Institute of Chicago

Dada is an art form that was coined and created in Zurich, Switzerland in 1916.  A small group of artists hung out in Cabaret Voltaire and expressed and tried out new, absurd styles of art. It was here that the ideas were spread, influencing other artists around the world. Dada was an art movement that rejected traditional art forms because such traditionalist ideals had led to such a grand scale war. World War 1 was unfathomable to most people and artists were no different. The Dada art movement was started in the midst of WW1 and there are many works of art that were not only inspired by the horrors of war, but ridiculed it.  The artwork pictured below is   Two Children Are Threatened by a Nightingale by Max Ernst.  This piece is oil with painted wood elements and cut-and-pasted printed paper on wood with wood frame. It was made in 1924 and measures 69.8 x 57.1 x 11.4 cm. From what I have gathered it was created in Paris and is currently housed at The Museum of Modern Art in New York