3rd Art Blog

Art to me is anything that catches my eye and makes me want to learn more about that certain piece of artwork. There is so much beauty in our lives, from looking into a mirror to catching a glance at a wonderful skyline as the sun sets. I was fascinated with a print done in 1936 during the Great Depression. This picture shows a beautiful women hopeless with two young children hiding on each of her shoulders, and a baby in her arms.

Artist: Dorothea Lange
Title:  Migrant Mother
Date: March 1936
Location:  Nipomo, California
           
Process:
The images were made using a Graflex camera. Digital file was made from the original nitrate negative for "Migrant Mother" (LC-USF34-009058-C). The negative was retouched in the 1930s to erase the thumb holding a tent pole in lower right hand corner. The original negatives are 4x5" film.

The image's formal qualities:
This black and white photo shows the shadowing from the tent, and the wrinkles on the subjects clothing. This image beautifully displays a young women in her thirties who has been through some rough times. Her face shows well earned wrinkles, worry lines, and as she squints from the sun the lines deepen around her eyes. She has torn clothing, unkempt hair, and rests her soiled hand on her chin.The woman seems ashamed as do the children resting their faces against their mothers shoulders.

Subject:
The identity of the subject in the photo was not known for 40 years. Her identity was discovered when  a letter Florence leona Thompson wrote was published in The Modesto Bee and the Associated Press sent a story around entitled "Woman Fighting Mad Over Famous Depression Photo." Florence was quoted as saying "I wish she [Lange] hadn't taken my picture. I can't get a penny out of it. She didn't ask my name. She said she wouldn't sell the pictures. She said she'd send me a copy and she never did."Thompson's daughter Katherine (to the left of the frame) said in a December 2008 interview that the photo's fame made the family feel shame at their poverty.




Meaning:   
This photo became the icon of the Great Depression. It displays a real life experience of poverty, hunger, and despair. This is what poor economy does to Americans.  Florence's husband had lost his job, and as they traveled along with others looking for hope of jobs, he became ill and died. Knowing she had to feed her children and there was nothing where she was at, she move on, she drove until the car broke down and there was no hope of driving further, hence the name "Migrant Mother." No work, no food, no hope, this picture exhibits the loss and hoplessness during the great depression.


Artist: 
Dorthea Lange  (May 26, 1895 – October 11, 1965)
A photographer who captured the impact of the Great Depression in her photos. Educated in New York City then moved to San Franscico and opened her own studio. Her studies of unemployed and homeless people captured the attention of local photographers and led to her employment with the federal Resettlement Administration (RA), later called the Farm Security Administration (FSA). When the Great depression began she searched for photos of real life families, and found 'Migrant Mother'.

 My Response:
Being a mother myself I can almost feel Florence's' pain in this picture. I have been fortunate that I have always had a home and never had to live on the streets. I think it would have to be terrifying to live under a tent and know you have nothing to eat. This photo is so beautiful in so many ways. It has the deep feeling of fear that is in-bedded on her face. The details of the photo are so vivid, the wrinkles on the clothes and the mothers face is genuine.
 

3rd Concept Blog

My third Concept blog is about military poems. I feel poems about military experiences are genuine, true pictures of the circumstances experienced by people brave enough to express the misfortune of war. I was deeply disturbed when I read Wilfred Owen 's poem DULCE ET DECORUM EST, it was beautiful, yet emotionally touching. The poem was written by a military soldier during World War I, he demonstrates the fear and realization of what is really happening to our young military lives. The poem expresses fear and enlightening which also haunts his dreams clearly influenced by Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. He states toward the end of the poem 'Dulce et Decorum est Pro Mori', which means it is sweet and right to die for your country. The poem is one of many written called "war poems"most popular during WWI. Wilfred's previous poems were different compared to the poems he wrote about during the war. Influenced by his doctor to write about his experiences and nightmares, his poems draw pictures of mental anguish for those who were not involved with the war, and comprehensive details for those that had been touched by the pain of war.

 His poem unfortunately sounds a lot like the poems written about any war since WWI. Young soldiers fighting over seas, at home and for freedom some do not even understand.  Expressing fear and loneliness like this Vietnam war poem.  Poems are a way to express feelings you sometimes can not put to words through speaking. There are many examples of soldiers crying out for help through poetry. This poem seems to have the same pattern as the one written during WWI. Scared young men expressing their experience on paper.  So much emotion expressed for so many military lives.

 

SOLDIER'S ROLE

The sun burns down with scorching breath As trudging men seek out their death
Which lies ahead.  In single file They hump the jungle, mile on mile
In halting, cautious tread. The fuzz-cheeked leader up ahead
Guides them on. The heavy packs Rub and chafe their aching backs

The wet boots suck from clinging mud And rub great blisters full of blood
On swollen feet.  The thrill is gone!

War no one wants to be in it, and no one wants to talk about it. Yet war seems to always be present some where. The generations of poem writing about war has a familiar ring to it indeed, what soldiers see and feel have not changed, the faces may be different, uniform may have evolved, but war remains the same. We are more aware of PTSD now involving young men and women, because there is so many with it returning from battles.  Military equipment changes, but still lives are broken, and displaced. War becomes news, topic of discussion at offices, different branches of military men and women are deployed across the sea, parents raise children to fight for our country.

Dulce et decorum est pro Patria Mori....it is sweet and right to die for your country............Times haven't changed much when it comes to war.