2. HOUSTON MUSEUM OF FINE ARTS
• The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, located in the Houston Museum District, Houston, is one of the
largest museums in the United States.
• The permanent collection of the museum spans more than 6,000 years of history with approximately
64,000 works from six continents
• The Museum Of Fine Arts, Houston (MFAH) is the oldest art museum in Texas. In 1917, the museum site
was dedicated by the Houston Public School Art League (later the Houston Art League) with the
intention of becoming a public art museum.
• There are a lot of different exhibitions that take place in the Museum of Fine Arts, when I went to visit
the Museum. These are some of the interesting stuff I got to see.
3.
4. Arts of Korea
The new gallery for the Arts of Korea opening November 16, 2012, showcases the collection’s
strengths in decorative arts, in 11th to 13th century celadon from the Hoyt collection, as well
as spectacular pieces of lacquer and metalwork.
Korean art, the painting, calligraphy, pottery, sculpture, lacquer ware, and other fine or
decorative visual arts produced by the peoples of Korea over the centuries.
5. DESCRIPTION
Describe the work/event without using value words such as “beautiful” or “ugly”:
- Simplistic
- Breathtaking
- Amazing calligraphy
- Astonishing
What is the written description on the label or in the program about the event?
-The first gallery completed in the suite of Arts of Asia galleries at the MFAH, the Arts of Korea Gallery is
the only museum gallery in the Southwest dedicated solely to Korean art. Showcasing some 5,000 years
of visual culture, the gallery features exclusive loans of ancient Korean artworks from the National
Museum of Korea and AMOREPACIFIC Museum of Art alongside works of contemporary Korean art from
the MFAH collection.
6. ANALYSIS
DESCRIBE HOW THE WORK/EVENT IS ORGANIZED AS A COMPLETE COMPOSITION:
The art produced by peoples living in the peninsula of Korea has traditionally shared aesthetic concepts, motifs, techniques, and
forms with the art of China and Japan. Yet it has developed a distinctive style of its own. The beauty of Korean art and the strength of
its artists lay in simplicity, spontaneity, and a feeling of harmony with nature.
If the work has subjects or characters, what are the relationships between or among them?
The basic trend of Korean art through the ages has been naturalistic, a characteristic already evident as early as the Three
Kingdoms period (c. 57 bce–668 ce) but fully established by the Unified, or Great, Silla (Korean: Shinla) period (668–935). The
traditional attitude of accepting nature as it is resulted in a highly developed appreciation for the simple and unadorned.
Korean artists, favored the unadorned beauty of raw materials, such as the natural patterns of wood grains. The Korean potter was
characteristically unconcerned about mechanical perfection of his surfaces, curves, or shapes. His concern was to bring out the
inherent or natural characteristics of his materials and the medium. Potters, therefore, were able to work unselfconsciously and
naturally, producing wares of engaging simplicity and artistic distinctiveness.
Simplicity was applied not only to economy of shape but also to the use of decorative motifs and devices. The intervention of the
human hand is restricted to a minimum in Korean art. A single stem of a flower, for instance, may be drawn in a subtle shade of blue
on the side of a white porcelain vase or bottle, but never merely from a desire to fill an empty space. The effect is rather to enlarge
the white background.
7.
8. INTERPRETATION
• Describe how the work/event makes you think or feel:
• Describe the expressive qualities you find in the work. What expressive language would you use to describe
the qualities (i.e., tragic, ugly, funny)?
- The basic trend of Korean art through the ages has been naturalistic.
- Korean art had qualities of simplify, natural like designs and the use of fine lines.
- Korean art, the painting, calligraphy, pottery, sculpture, lacquer ware, and other fine or decorative visual arts produced
by the peoples of Korea over the centuries.
• Does the work remind you of other things you have experienced (i.e., analogy or metaphor)?
- The art work of Korean reminds me of the art work of Islam. They tend to use fine lines, simplistic and
calligraphy.
• How does the work relate to other ideas or events in the world and/or in your other studies?
- This work relates to my other studies in which we look at the history and compare and contrast different
cultures and religions and how they work.
9.
10. The Bodhisattva Avalokiteśvara, or Chenrezig as
he is known in Tibet, is associated with the quality
of karuna or compassion. His name literally "Lord
who looks down", and is said to relate to his
looking upon the earth and it's suffering beings
with compassion. Avalokiteśvara comes in many
forms.
This was an interesting piece of art at the
Museum.
11.
12.
13.
14. Judgment or Evaluation
Present your opinion of the event/work’s success or failure:
•
What qualities of the work make you feel it is a success or failure?
-This has been a successful art work because of the unique style that was used in Korea.
•
Compare it with similar works that you think are good or bad.
-Some of the different art work that I saw at the museum included, The Gupta Empire and African
American art. All of them were very good.
•
What criteria can you list to help others judge this work?
- The time it took to create the sculpture
- The use of fine line ink compared to thick lines.
- The use of art on the vases.
•
How original is the work? Why do you feel this work is original or not original?
-The work is definitely original! It’s original because this work was done many years ago.
