WP3 Pre-Writing 4

The sculpture I am using for Writing Project 3 is based on a painting by Sandro Botticelli with the same name, "Birth of Venus." The painting shows a woman, the goddess Venus, standing in a shell next to the ocean with angels flying around her. The painting depicts the myth that Venus was born when she emerged from the sea as a grown woman.

This painting draws heavily on Roman mythology. Venus was the Roman goddess of love. She was also associated with beauty and fertility, and is the equivalent of the Greek goddess Aphrodite. She is often shown in art as a beautiful young naked woman with cherubs and doves flying around her, and the Botticelli painting is a prime example of this. Venus is also shown in a similar fashion as the famous sculptures "Venus de Medici" (shown at right) and "Venus de Melo," large marble sculptures of the Greek goddess Aphrodite, made in the first century B.C. All these early examples of Venus show the typical ideal of beauty.

Reuben Nakian, born in 1897 in New York, was the artist that created the sculpture "Birth of Venus," and like Botticelli, a central theme of his is mythology. Many of his works are based on and named after references to mythology, but unlike Botticelli's works, they are not the traditional depiction of the mythological legends. As his "Birth of Venus" shows, Nakian's works are a sharp contrast to the paintings and figures they are referencing. They are "based on the radical abstraction of the female form as a way to transcend mere appearance to address more primal, essential issues." (http://rogallery.com/Nakian_Reuben/nakian-biography.htm) They are drastically different that the "normal" perceptions of women and beauty, but doing this undermines the perfection of the ancient goddesses. The abstraction draws attention to and normalizes human flaws, showing that not everyone is flawless and perfect.

Wp3 Pre-Writing 3

The sculpture "Birth of Venus" has a lot of interesting characteristics that employ rhetorical concepts and appeals within the art object. The sculpture is a very complex and intriguing piece with a lot going on visually, and as a result, the audience has to think about it more in order to really understand it.

One concept that is important in this sculpture is perspective. This affects the audience in that the structure of the sculpture provides an appeal to pathos. Because of the complicated structure of "Birth of Venus" and the many pieces that make up the sculpture, the audience can see it differently from varying angles. Since it is a three-dimensional piece of art, it looks different depending on where the audience is looking at it from. Certain parts are only visible from certain points, and as the viewer moves around the sculpture, different things come into view. This is important if one is to really take in and try to understand the sculpture as a whole. How the audience perceives the sculpture might affect how they see and understand it.

Another appeal is that the form of the sculpture itself evokes pathos within the audience. It is not the perfect image of beauty, as the Roman goddess Venus is depicted in the painting "Birth of Venus." Instead, the sculpture is imperfect and grotesque. Its flaws are magnified and very obvious to anyone who looks at the art, and that creates an emotional appeal with the audience because people, like the sculpture, are far from perfect. The Venus depicted in the painting is not realistic at all, so the sculpture provides a stronger connection with the audience because it is a more realistic demonstration of life, and it is something the audience can better relate to. Because the audience can relate to this piece of art, they may be more likely to appreciate it and enjoy it.

WP3 Pre-Writing 2

"Birth of Venus" is a bronze sculpture created by Reuben Nakian from 1963 to 1966, and was cast in 1969. It was based off a painting by the same name by Sandro Botticelli that was done circa 1486. The painting shows a woman, the goddess Venus, standing in an open shell. According to Roman mythology, Venus was born when she emerged from the sea as a grown woman. The Botticelli painting and the Nakian sculpture both incorporate this story, although the sculpture is much more abstract.

This sculpture is pretty interesting to look at because there are a lot of details. At first, it doesn't look like much is going on--it appears to be depicting just a pile of rocks or something. It is a really abstract sculpture, so it's hard to tell what it is exactly, but after looking at it for a while, it's easy to notice a lot of different things.

One of the first things I noticed was the color of the sculpture. It is made of bronze, so it is mostly brownish, but looking at it closer, there are a lot of greenish hues. These green hues stand out a lot more and are more noticeable later in the day when it is getting dark. In the afternoon when it is sunny, the sun reflects off the sculpture, making it look bright and shiny.

Another unique aspect of the sculpture is that it is made of several different sections and pieces that are all different. There are many levels and depths to the sculpture, but everything is connected. You can even see the bars that provide the framework for the sculpture at the bottom and behind it, almost like scaffolding. At first I wasn't sure if the bars were part of the sculpture or if they were just help to support it, but when looking at the back of the sculpture, I think they are mostly for framework. From the back of the sculpture, you can see that all the pieces are open and hollow, not enclosed and all the bars are clearly visible.

Among the different levels, there is a piece that is clearly above the rest of the sculpture. Because of this break in the alignment, there is a visual hierarchy in the sculpture. The viewer notices this part first, and this emphasizes the importance of this part. It appears to be "rising" out of the bottom part of the sculpture, and if compared to the painting, this part represents Venus that is coming from the water.

The texture of the sculpture is another important aspect of the art. It is very rough, and at first glance, it looks like it's made of bronze rocks. There are holes in the bronze all over the sculpture, and some of them look almost accidental, as if they're there as a result of the sculpture being outside for a long time. This gives "Birth of Venus" the appearance of being old and worn. It is not flawless art, but appears to be weathered and imperfect.