Exoticism in Art: Picasso and Gauguin

Exoticism in Art: Picasso and Gauguin The Exoticism in the Work of Picasso and Gauguin Ask important critical questions in the text. Intricately merge discussion of the two images Write about two pages on each image Introduction Picasso and Gauguin frequently deal with the ideas and values associated with non-western culture. This dissertation looks at one manifestation of this process: what is often referred to as the ‘exotic. This dissertation will look at what the exotic means, specifically for Picasso and Gauguin. It will examine why they were drawn to the idea of the exotic and how they made it their own. How did they imagine it would make their work more vital, vibrant or vivid? By comparing the exotic nature of the work of Picasso and Gauguin it is possible to see the similarity inherent in their exotic ideals and ignorance of non-western culture, however they differ in relation to how their work evolves and their anarchist views. They heard about Africa through a European centred view which †¦.. This It will be shown that they lusted after an exotic world, and how this emerged from a limited Western society and artistic landscape. A Western society based on the reliance on the myths and colonialist ideals, shaped by the mass-media . media. Exoticism is the allure of a culture different from the artist or viewers own, it is about a fascination for the aesthetics of another culture and a yearning for difference. This notion of ‘difference in a Western artists work represents the fantasy of escape from all forms of Western culture and academic systems of art. Exoticism is a term derived from the location of the ‘Orient, a term used in 19th-century France to denote the Near East and the surrounding areas of Northern Africa and Western Asia.[1] Looking at the imperialist power relation between East and West at the time,[2] the ‘exotic does not merely convey information but actually constructs its subject.[3] It positions the Orient, or the exotic, as the lesser half of a dichotomy where the West holds the power and strength of being ‘normal, the Orient becomes the ‘other in relation to it. The Western artists who created exotic art had the problem not only of their own conventional understandings, but of having to represent non-Western culture and non-Western art itself for Western consumption.[4] French symbolists coped with this by appropriating the distant object of ‘the exotic, by describing it in a familiar language to their society.[5] Picasso was a great exoticist although he never travelled to Africa. He could be called a sedentary Gauguin because where Gauguin travelled himself, Picasso had the exotic nature of Eastern islands brought to him through photographs and writings, creating a type of ‘arm-chair exoticism.'[6] Picasso drew from other works and created his own interpretations. His art has an originality of a practical order, the search for correct material is an art of imitation and distorted variations upon the original.[7] Whereas, Gauguin expands on the myth of Tahiti,[8] emphasizing the ‘exotic and the French preconceptions with a foreign culture. For Gauguin the myth of Tahiti would bring his aims into sharp focus. [9] Picassos ‘African period is termed as falling between 1907-1909, however, after this period his later work was still strongly influenced by Iberian sculpture. Picassos work from the first two decades of the twentieth century will be the prominent focus of this debate, beginning with his first ventures into exoticism during his ‘African period, starting from his first inspirations through African art. Matisse claimed that it was he who introduced Picasso to African art in 1906 when he purchased an African mask [10] and brought it to a dinner party at Gertrude Steins home, who was a good friend of Picassos. Several This is impossible to prove but several of Picassos friends such as Max Jacob vividly remembered Picassos connection to African art: ‘fascinated by the black idols, he had been working all night. Cubism had been born (seckel, 233),.[11] And and in March 1907 there is evidence that he purchased two Iberian sculptured heads, starting his what would eventually grow into an wide extensive and varied collection of African art,.[12] including a large collection of African and Oceanic sculptures and masks. In 1907 he created Les Demoiselles dAvignon which appears to be heavily influenced by African sculpture and was possibly inspired by Picassos visit to the Musee de Trocadero in May or June 1907[13] which housed African masks and sculptures. [14] It is here he is said to have had a ‘revelation about African sculpture.[15] However, Picasso vehemently denied any African influence in his work. In the 1920s when asked if this had an influence on his work he replied â€Å"Lart negre? Connais pas!† (African art? Dont know it!†)[16] For Picasso, African influence was as much a part of social criticism as it was for as a search for a new art.[17] He amassed a large collection of African and Oceanic sculptures and masks†¦ D espite his taste for exoticism from an early age , It it was not until 1891 when Gauguin first arrived in Tahiti that he finally entered his Polynesian period.,[18] despite his taste for exoticism from an early age. In Gauguins day, race provided the predominant intellectual and practical framework in which cultural, linguistic and psychological differences could be examined and expressed; because of its adaptability it was also an effective colonial tool for substantiating any cultural or national hierachy. Gauguin mirrored the typical Nineteenth Century French attitude of Africa; expressing a preference for difference combined with a willful ignorance of historical and cultural practices, marking it as exoticism.[19] Gauguin pursued an interest in travelling and he appeared to have a great desire for difference but until he lived in Tahiti he seemed to have relatively little interest in learning much about the foreign lands and cultures he saw. [20] A lot of the inspiration and influence in their work, that delves into an exotic world was marred by Frances feelings on Eastern culture during this period and how they saw it as ‘primitive. Since the arrival of the European colonial power in Africa from the fifteenth century, the islands were sites of exoticism for Europeans, where fantasies about race, sex and utopian societies could be fulfilled. [21] The artists viewed ‘utopian societies as being about the search for an ideal world; in terms of social, moral and political aspects. In the early 1900s there were utopian visions of a liberal movement which merged with the symbolist movement in art. Anarcho-symbolist ideas helped Picasso form an idea of himself as an artist in a European society and about the virtues of unsophisticated ‘primitive art.[22] The liberation was a revolutionary new struggle for a new society.[23] The European artists first major source of images and information about Africa, would have come through the popular press, itself influenced by fantasy and prejudice. The European prejudice was based on the perceived threat of the minority forces to the tradition European values, coupled with the absence of positive feelings towards them.[24] Political interests also influence the press and this predated actual French contact with urban and tribal populations in Africa and were reinforced by novels and accounts by missionaries, and explorers, often accompanied by fantastic illustrations. To this were added the forced labour and fear in the two congos why, which dominated discussion in late 1905.[25] These elements culminated in modernists minds to form both political outrage and yet essentially romanticized notions about instinct and ‘fetish worship. Explain?! * Summary of each paras to be put at the end of intro. I shall begin by exploring the ‘lure of non-western culture for the artists, why they were inticedenticed by difference and how this influenced their work; the fantasy created by accounts of explorers and how European colonialism influenced their work. In my second chapter I shall explore why they desired sexually primitive women, how they saw them as accommodating the white male bourgeoisie and how they juxtaposed African sexuality against European bourgeois norms. I shall also explore the seemingly different sex codes of the East. In my final chapter I shall create a critical exploration as to what extent they found the exotic nature they were looking for, how it lived up to their expectations and whether it made their work more vital, vibrant and vivid. I shall also explore whether their work showed the ‘true nature of African culture. Chapter 1-The Lure of the Exotic The logic of exoticism is a cycle; the more one is immersed in a culture, the more one discovers sameness and seeks even greater difference. [26] The more Picasso and Gauguin found out about non-western society, the more enticed they became by this foreign culture, leading to it featuring predominantly in their work. The colonialism, fantasy and culture of non-western society offered new means of expression for the artists and are integral in assessing the lure of the exotic for Picasso and Gauguin. I shall also examine why they were enticed by Africa and how the accounts for explorers and knowledge of colonialism influenced them to explore Africa. For Gauguin, Tahiti was a place in which he could fulfill his fantasies, plunging into a free and exotic culture, free from the constraints of his own French culture. He described living in Tahiti as: ‘civilisation is leaving me little by little†¦ ‘I have all the pleasures of a free, animal and human life. I escape from the artificial; I enter into nature. Gauguin wrote this shortly after coming to the island paradise.[27] The anarchist background of Picasso meant that everything to do with Africa was charged with political meaning during this time and leant meaning to their force of Primitivism. The critic Leiris was close to Picasso, and as such strongly influenced and paralleled his thoughts on African Art. He explores the difficulties created by his own relationship as a European to non-European culture, especially Africa. Leiris, in his article ‘LOeil de lethnographe (The Eye of the Ethnographer) he explores the fashion for African art and the exoticism of the Africa of fiction and dreams to explore the absurdities and racial assumptions behind European negrophilia.[28] He feels that the European ideal of Africa will always be about exoticism and fantasy, the real and fantastic, confused between the contradictions of the objective and subjective.[29] Gauguin obviously identified himself in some way with what he imagined to be a ‘savage life. Gauguin saw himself both as the subjugated savage and the dominating conqueror. This is significant because of the period, a time of renewed European colonialism and vigorous debate about imperial policies.[30] Fantasy of the exotic; the traveler is constantly asking to recall the fabled exoticism of ‘primitive cultures. Travelers who ventured in to Africa in the early Nineteenth Century frequently returned with fantastical tales of human sacrifice, cannibalism, violence, sensuality and doom that were made much of in the French press, emphasizing the purported savagery of customs they misconstrued in accordance with their pre-conceptions.[31] Picassos art represented the naà ¯ve fantasy of the ‘Other and was possibly based on the fantastical tales and images brought to France by travelers who had ventured into Africa. Picassos ‘African period of art took inspiration solely from art objects which came to stand in for Africa itself. There is great irony in Picassos work because while he was obsessed with African imagery he never travelled to the continent.[32] African objects became kinds of forces, often unspoken and unlicensed, which he needed in order to break the constraints of modernity. Africa was most useful to Picasso when it was confined to the unconscious, mediating other needs and desires while not serving as a primary faction in itself. [33] Iconography was taken from African sculpture as an artistic device for distinguishing avant-garde art, and a conceptual tool for signifying anarchy and transgression.[34] Black imagery whether drawn from popular carvings or from African carvings, suited the arti sts need for inspiration, difference and subversion.[35] In pre-war Paris, African carvings entered the art market and fuelled the avant-gardes need for new forms of expression. African carvings that reached Paris at the turn of the century were generally and collectively referred to as ‘lart negre or ‘les fetishes.'[36] Europes avant-garde absorbed African imagery into cubism and expressionism, as part of an artists short-hand that stood for the exotic, authentic and spontaneous; sentiments sympathetic with their anarchist status. Expand on his anarchist status For instance even the African forms were not painstakingly represented, the primitive was implicit in depictions of the female nude and the aggressive manner in which the model was sexualized.[37] The French popular Press with mass illustrations such as le journal illustre, lillustration and Le Tour de Monde and the illustrated supplements of the newspapers Le Petit Journal and Le Petit Parisien, played up to fantastical tales, as part of a successful attempt to justify the French conquest. This largely influenced Picassos fantasy of the exotic through its subjugated view of Africa and political fluency. The press followed the war only superficially, concentrating instead on the legendary grotesque practices of the natives. [38] what war? explain Picasso may be seen as more greatly influenced by the French press because he never travelled to Africa, preferring to learn about it from texts and images, whereas Gauguin lived in Africa, immersing himself in the culture and seeing for himself the juxtaposition between fantasy and reality. With primitivism Picasso crossed a geo-political frontier and imported African bodies into Western salons during the peak of colonialism. Picasso may have drawn on the dialogue of postcards whose recurrent subject matter was female nudes[39]. Anne Baldassari drew upon an inventory of Picassos collection of picture postcards, they included postcards of ‘alien people and tribal groups. For example, Picasso possessed albumen prints (used as a photographic device in the early 1900s, it describes negatives exposed to sunlight and printed onto light sensitive albumen paper[40]) (it was the first commercially exploitable method of producing a photographic print-taken from wiki) dating from 1860-80 which included visiting card portraits of Polynesians and a series of postcards from West Africa mainly produced by Daker-based postcard publisher Edmund Frontier.[41] reword A photo-postcard by Edmund Frontier entitled ‘Femme Malinke (Malinke Woman) 1906 appears to directly inspire Picassos ‘Female Nude with Raised Arms 1908. In the images the women appear to situate themselves in an almost identical pose, standing upright with their arms raised above their heads. [42] Picasso uses cubist abstraction to accentuate the features into a more ‘Africanised style, accentuating her womanly curves; the shape of her buttocks and thighs. He also uses strong features that appear inspired by African masks; lozenge shaped eyes and a strong jaw. The postcard evokes a tribal woman, adorned with necklaces (possibly a symbol of her tribe?) ‘Female Nude with Raised Arms saw Picassos African art emerge into a cubist style[43], the feminine body is broken into feminine abstraction, similar to Picassos ‘Three Women 1908. Picassos seemingly primitive endevoursendeavours carried him beyond what many of the public admired about his rose and blue period.[44] Picassos transition from ‘Africanism into cubist proper for which Cezanne seems to be the dominant model.[45] expand Picassos cubism is an abstracting and reorganization classical constraints and a mediated representation of art up until this time.[46] The concepts of pathological distortion or symbolic syntax such as caricature supplies promoted Picasso to undertake a re-ordering and distortion of facial features.[47] The asymmetry of a womanswomans face is not normally part of any of the known mask traditions of Africa. However, the torso of the woman is quite clearly inconceivable without the precedent of non-European mask art.[48] When avant-garde artists such as Picasso began working with African sculptures, they did not make the distinction between curios and genuine ethnographic objects. They were more concerned with what the objects in their paintings would signify rather than their authenticity. [49] Few artists appreciated the African objects; such as masks and statues for their aesthetic beauty and instead were fascinated by their crudeness of expression. Picasso in ‘Female Nude with Raised Arms represents the more grotesque forms of African carvings, rather than depicting her feminine beauty because of their sharp contrast with European art.[50] Through artworks based on evoking a ‘tribal‘ life and art which he saw as violent and degenerate, Picasso is able to implicitly reject colonialism through pointedly revealing ethnic difference.[51] Tribal life was seen as collective or primitive socialism. Everything has become capitalist and liberal Western societies have vanished in the political and cultural milieu of the twentieth century. Therefore, tribal life represented a taboo form, which Picasso was keen to accentuate. Gauguin also drew inspiration from fabled stories and travelers, especially the traveller Moerenhaut. Gauguin read with considerable care the very detailed anthropological and historical accounts provided by Moerenhout, as well as the writings of other travelers.[52] Moerenhaut had clearly benefited from a good, classical French education[53] and found the lure of non-Western culture within the differences in civil law and religion which in turn inspired Gauguin to create such works as ‘There lies a temple (1892) Gauguin wanted to represent the original Tahiti, as it was before colonialism, to do so he had to look in accounts of travelers, those who had been fortunate enough to have seen or heard from the mouths of the elders accounts of travelers stories of ancient times,. But but Gauguin borrowed elements of the book by Moerenhaut to reconstruct a world through the texts he had read, interlinking it with his own experience.[54] Gauguin wrote his own account of his travels, part reality and part myth on which interpretation of a great many of his paintings can be based. In ‘There lies a Temple the composition reveals a conflict between reality and fiction.[55] It shows a composition based on the scene of Tahiti, with abundant vegetation rendered in green, pink-violet and orange which sets the tone; behind it runs a fence, its forms inspired by Asian models, which creates a barrier uninterrupted by openings anywhere. In the centre of the image is the sunrise, in radiant yellow, that dominates the overall composition of the painting. Gauguin, during his time in Tahiti maintained his penchant for complimentary complementary colours and still mostly applied them in an impressionist style. In Tahiti the dazzling light can produce hues that are unusual to the Western audience and therefore appear exotic with tropical intensity.[56] The inspiration for the titleeponymous temple lies in front of a mountain ran ge at the right-hand side of the painting, a monumental stone temple figure, at the foot of which rising smoke emanates. Yet there were no temples left standing in Tahiti, no stone images of gods and no fences marked the boundaries of sacred areas.[57] It is perhaps more inspired by Moerenhauts book in which is described the worship of the moon goddess Hina in the form of a ten-metre high stone statue located on distant Easter Island. Gauguins paintings therefore, like Picassos, may be considered an unauthentic and inaccurate ethnological report which does not benefit future European artists-p.38. Instead it expands on the myth of Africa, not due to Gauguins lack of knowledge, but perhaps to expand on the lure of the exotic and fulfill the expectations of his French audience, representing the world with which outsiders associated him. The religious aspect of the painting seems deliberately falsified, in all letter to his wife he explains the title ‘here lies the temple by sayi ng ‘there lies the temple, a place reserved for the cult of gods, and for human sacrifice (ref in text)[58] All from gs skirt-reword and relate to temple and raised arms painting Gauguins use of exoticism in his work and his preference for difference combined with an almost willful cultural and historical ignorance that was extremely common in 19th century France. [59] The violence and anarchy of an old Tahiti was apparent, but Gauguin preferred to stress the gentleness and compassion of the culture. Gauguin also expressed a willful and historical ignorance of Tahiti, a typical attitude in France at the time; expressing the barbarity of native lore and traditions yet the fundamental humanity of a culture that gave rise to them.[60] Gauguin was determined to develop new themes in keeping with his new surroundings and to adapt some old ones to a new context. [61] The history of the 19th Century French past is conjoined with the South Pacific; their religious beliefs, cultural and sexual? practices. Gs skirt-p.155 The women in Gauguins ‘Ta Matete, ‘The Market are prostitutes, posed like the figures in ancient Egyptian wall painting. The one in yellow at the right holds a cigarette between the fingers of her right hand; two others proudly display health inspection certificates as if they were the painted fans of the French society women. Such behaviour was inconsistent with order, stability, prosperity and the overall French mission civilitrice. -P.155 gs skirt-Anti-govermentalgovernmental sentiment was expressed in more thamthan just verbal form, natives flaunted laws and customs which promoted moral proprierty, physical health and industry. Relate to a painting by Picasso. Both used symbolism to enhance the viewers perceived idea of the debasement and cultural inferiority of another race. Chapter 2-The Desire for a Sexually ‘Exotic Culture Sex codes less rigidly defined-‘what! are you jealous? Concept of identity-the masculine, how Gauguin was seen as feminine. Male dominance, woman as prostitutes- Olympia, poses women posed to accommodate men-comparison of les demoiselles and spirit watching Caricatures of women-represent cultural ignorance? Gauguin and Picasso desire a sexually exotic woman because they are enticed by the schemata of difference and want to project fantasies of white masculinity on to the seemingly base woman. Often ignoring the beauty of women and concentrating on the historical and cultural example of subjectivity. [62]expand They use caricatures and stereotypes of African women in their artwork, Picasso often using features of African masks as inspiration while Gauguin situates his women in a suggestive and sexually enticing manner for the viewer. White male dominance Gauguin and Picasso create a conundrum of oppositions between the passivity of the black female and dominance of the white male conqueror. [63] The ‘primitive creates a paradox: it entices artists in the desire for an exotic nature and yet similataneouslysimultaneously repels them. The fantasy of the exotic woman is pressured to the point where often cracks start to appear and white masculinity prevails[64] crisis of masculinity-continued. P.76 expand 20.p.165. Although Gauguin sought to disparage masculine sexual impulses, in reality the dominating power of the masculine and exaggerated male sexual strength was also naturalised and secretly admired at the same time that it was condemned. Gauguins sympathy for, yet possessiveness over the women in his work sent a threatening message as did the depiction of dread and desire implicit in the female. 20. p.165 Although Gauguins texts such as Noa Noa sought to construct him as ‘savage rather than reveal his true self, he nevertheless exposed in such works culturally formed attitudes towards sexuality, nature and his own desires. Gauguin and Picasso in ‘Spirit of the Dead Watching and ‘Les Demoiselles dAvignon shows two different modes of representing woman as prostitutes, living up to mans desires. They mark a divide between the sexes: between men who can continually ask for sexual services and women who have no opportunity to dispute this. reword 22.p.598 These scenes bring up conundrums between European and other, white and black, female and male, pure and perverse and heterosexual and homosexual. (reword, taken from les dem essay) The subjects of Picasso and Gauguins work are often represented in a hazardous sexual directness, which non-western culture tended to avoid. The power of this sexual primitiveness therefore makes it unclear as to whether Picasso and Gauguin intended their masculine viewer to dominate the female figures or for the figures to dominate them. Women were posed to accommodate the viewer. The exotic nature of Picasso and Gauguins work merged with white masculine prejudice to create a threatening image which was at once desirable and yet hazardroushazardous in its sexual directness. Some of their paintings projectsproject the power of female sexuality onto a largely masculine culture. . Griselda Pollock; ‘Tehamanas body is appropriated to signify Gauguins desire as a white man and artist. [65] (put in about lack of acceptance of Gauguins work at the time?) In ‘Les Demoiselles dAvignon the second sex puts the male viewer at the advantage yet a moral disadvantage for men who exploit human beings. However, instead of letting her bathe in innocence the picture offers up a guilty thrill at viewing up close the ritual performed well away from the curious and censorious.[66] Similarly in ‘Spirit of the Dead Watching the man is put at an advantage through the cultural debasement of the women as prostitutes, exemplified through the male view of the womens indifference to the males subjectificationobjectification.[67] In a text attributed to Gauguin a Tahitian woman is compared to a cat in her savagery and impulsive vigour.[68] ‘She asks to be raped. She is totally indifferent to any consideration you might have for her. ‘She lives as [if] she will never be wanting and this prevents her from being unduly calculating.'[69] (p.214) It is in the debasement of Tehamana that he finds her the most beautiful. [70] Similarly in à ¢â‚¬ËœSpirit of the Dead Watching the woman is in a pose where she appears to seemingly ask to be raped. This differs from ‘Les Demoiselles dAvignon where the women seem sexually powerful in the poses, standing and posed facing the viewer as opposed to Spirit of the Dead watching where the woman is lying down with her back to the viewer. The sexually threatening undercurrents of Les Demoiselles is unlike ‘Spirit of the dead watching who appears fearful despite the sexual directness which Gauguin appropriates as an example of the cultural laxness of the society. Find a ref to back this up. ‘Les Demoiselles dAvignon lends force the power of exotic power through sexual directness. Rubin draws attention to the mesmerizing mesmerising and even terrifying caricatures expand of the masks, it is a transgressive confrontation that projects a trauma, ‘something that transcends our sense of civilized experience, something ominous and monstrous.'[71] ‘While Spirit of the Dead Watching, rather than lending force to the woman as prostitute instead depicts her with a submissive nature. ‘Les Demoiselles assumes the viewer to be male and heterosexual, it tells us what are desires are and marks a divide between the sexes: between men who can routinely contract for sexual services and women who have no opportunity to dispute this.[72] Gauguins ‘The Spirit of the Dead Watching or ‘Manao Tupapau as Gauguin refferedreferred to it, is a tropical version of the Olympia. The title ‘Manao Tupapau means ‘Thought or Belief and the Specter and can have two meanings: either she is thinking of the specter or the specter is thinking of her.[73] In itthe picture, the figure stares with open eyes at the viewer while the ubiquitous figure of the dead keeps watch.[74] The enduring theme of the young, nude Maori girl who has a great fear of the hooded spirit of the dead.[75] p117-gs skirt- Gauguin compares women to animals ‘All indeed wish to be ‘taken, brutally taken, without a single word. All have the secret desire for violence because this act of authority on the part of the male leaves to the woman-will its full share of irresponsibility. (ref citation in book) This appeals to mans desire of the submissive woman, for the dominating conquererconqueror. The woman lies on the bed, naked on her front, seemingly accommodating and enticing the viewer. Gauguin, perhaps to encourage and emphasize his claim that he had found ‘paradise on earth wanted an innate ability to love. [76] ‘Spirit of the Dead Watching, ‘In this position almost anything might make her look indecent, yet it is in this way I want her. [77] The woman represents the image of the prostitute through the flowers strewn in the background of the painting representing a type of ‘exotic and tropical version of Olympia in the mode of prostitute. Gauguin said of this image ‘ my‘my feeling for the decorative sense leads me to strew the background with flowers.'[78] ‘The Spirit of the Dead Watching conveys a new subject; ‘his savage identity to the old world. Foster, Hal, Prosthetic Gods; Primitive Scenes, MIT Press, 2004, p.6 ,like the savage identity represented in Picassos Les Demoiselles d Avignon. In these scenes Picasso and Gauguin challenge our conceptions of identity through the aesthetic and psychological conceptions of art and psyche challenged by colonial encounters. Sometimes these scenes bring up conundrums of Europeans identification with the East, and the conundrum opposition of female and male, ; pure versus and perverse; and heterosexual and homosexual. Taken from essay on les dem! There is no simple notion of a women as ‘pure or ‘peverseperverse as Gauguin and Picasso show women as both pure and perversewith both of these contradictory elements. With Picasso and Gauguins work there is no simple divide between the depiction of African women as pure and virginal, yet simultaneously images ofpotential prostitutionprostitutes. For instance, Gauguin painted his adorned mother in a darkly sensual Tahitian mode even though she was fair and fine, typically considered ‘European characteristics. He also used his mother as the muse for ‘exotic eve Eve (1890) And often presented Tahitian women as Virgin Marys, yet even as he depicts them as pure, he also used them as prostitutes.[79] In ‘Spirit of the Dead Watching it upholds male colonial prerogatives, yet it is equally, a hybrid artwork, which undercuts the paradigm of sexuality upon which European masculinialism, depends. . The posture and anatomy of Tehamana may be seen as boyish, it is possibly an assault on European sexual nudes. Charles Maurice a friend of Gauguins writes that Tehamana is depicted as an ‘androgynous little girl.p.121 sex in Tahiti in gs skirt-rewrite There is an interesting juxtaposition in the discourse between the notion of the ‘femme fatale that Picasso and Gauguin often depict, and yet a ‘womanly vulnerability which reasserts the masculine power of the European conquererconqueror. Gauguin introduced this conflict between womanly power and women as a ‘femme fatale and men as lacking in sexuasexual potency,lly lack and homoerotic.[80] On the theme of inc

Religion in Public Schools Essay -- Prayer In Public Schools

Religious Rights in Public Schools "JESUS in the classroom!" Are you feeling uncomfortable yet? Religion in the public school systems is among the top of the list of controversial topics in American society, We've long been advised to avoid this and other religiously politically intertwined subjects in polite conversation. If you're like most Americans, this topic makes you frustrated, high strung, or at least a little queasy. From the day the 1st amendment right appeared in the U.S. Constitution, to this present day, and surely into our nation's tomorrows, the proper role of religion in public schools has been, is, and will continue to be a subject of great debate. It is important for school officials, parents, and students to have a clear understanding of the 1st amendment and how it affects their religious rights and the religious rights of others in a public school setting. Unfortunately, most people are confused or misguided when it comes to this issue. The purpose of this paper is to guide the reader throu gh a clear understanding of the 1st amendment; the impact it has had in education, the religious freedoms it grants to students, and the religious freedoms it grants (or doesn't grant) to teachers. The Constitution exists precisely so that opinions and judgments, including can be formed, tested, and expressed. These judgments are for the individual to make, not for the Government to decree even with the mandate or approval of a majority (Supreme Court Justice Anthony M. Kennedy, 1999). In knowing that, the 1st amendment states, "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion or prohibiting free exercise thereof…" As you can see there are two clauses in this part of the amendment. ... ... First Amendment Court Cases. Schenck v. United States (1919). Riley, R. (1998). Secretary's statement on religious expression. Retrieved November 15, 2001, from, the World Wide Web: http://www.ed.gov/Speeches/08-1995/religion.html Staver, Mathew. Teachers' Rights on Public School Campuses. Retrieved November 16, 2001, from the World Wide Web: http://www.lc.org/OldResources/teachers_rights_0900.html United States Supreme Court. (1993). Lamb's Chapel v. Center. Washington DC. Government Printing Office. United States Supreme Court. (1994). Mozert v. Hawkins County Board of Education, 827 F.2d 1058 (6th Cir. 1987). Washington DC; US Government Printing Office. United States Supreme Court. (1969). Tinker v. Des Moines School Districk, 393 U.S. 503, 89 S. Ct. 733, 21 L. Ed. 2d. 731. Washington DC; US Government Printing Office.

We Real Cool by Gwendolyn Brooks Essay

The Poem We real cool. We Left school. We Lurk late. We Strike straight. We Sing sin. We Thin gin. We Jazz June. We Die soon. Summary: This poem was written in 1959, which was in the midst of the Civil Rights Movement. In the case of Brown v. Board of Education, in 1954, the Supreme Court ruled that it was unconstitutional to segregate schools; however, desegregation was slow and many African Americans became frustrated. Segregation caused more than just separation, it caused many youths to question their roles in society. Many youths gave up on the idea of having a future, because they were told that they had no future; so why try. The boys in the poem seem to be struggling with identity. This poem is only eight lines long, so you probably don’t need a summary. What isn’t included in the text of the poem, however, is a bit of background framing the lines we read. The poem lists off the thoughts of some young guys playing pool at a pool house called â€Å"The Golden Shovel,† that seems pretty straightforward. But it’s actually more complicated than that. In fact, the lines we read are what an outside observer thinks these boys might be feeling. So this observer, our speaker, thinks the boys might have dropped out of school, be drinking gin, staying out late at night, enjoying jazz, and will have short lives. How do we know all of this background information? From Gwendolyn Brooks, of course. You can listen to Brooks talk about â€Å"We Real Cool† (and listen to her read the poem, too) We Real Cool Theme of Identity The word â€Å"We† is repeated eight times in this eight-line poem as a signal that the boys have a group identity. The boys want to be defined by their rebellious actions, which place them at odds with polite society. We Real Cool Theme of Pride The young pool players seem to take pride in their aimless behavior, and critics have debated whether they may also take pride in the prophecy they will â€Å"die soon.† They live in a culture where even the most talented people find that economic and social opportunities are scarce. Dying early could seem like a badge of honor. On the other hand, the last line could be read as evidence of the speaker’s disapproval as she tries to pop the boys’ inflated sense of pride like a balloon. We Real Cool Theme of Mortality We never learn why the speaker thinks the young pool players will â€Å"die soon,† though it might have something to do with their enjoyment of sin, rum, and (perhaps) gambling. The speaker could also be thinking that the boys are living to the fullest, as though they might die tomorrow. Additionally, this moment could point to the boys’ fears, and the struggles and violence that they might encounter in their young lives. We Real Cool Theme of Language and Communication This poem is so full of music that we can easily imagine pool players reciting it while wearing sunglasses and snapping their fingers under soft, blue lighting. It’s jazz†¦in a poem. The seductive rhythm and the use of alliteration and internal rhyme might cause us to feel more sympathetic toward the pool players. The poem also leads us to ask whether their portrayal is meant to be satirical, or whether the pool players might be trying to trick us into celebrating their lifestyle. We Real Cool Analysis We Real Cool: Rhyme, Form & Meter We’ll show you the poem’s blueprints, and we’ll listen for the music behind the words. Couplets with Internal Rhyme Apart from its subtitle (â€Å"THE POOL PLAYERS/SEVEN AT THE GOLDEN SHOVEL†), â€Å"We  Real Cool† has four stanzas, each of which is a two-line couplet. Every word in the poem has only one syllable. While many traditional couplets in poetry have a rhyme at the end of the line, this poem takes rhyming to a new level: the couplets rhyme in the middle. Thus, â€Å"cool/school† in the first stanza, and â€Å"late/straight† in the second. But the pause after each rhyme word effectively makes itsound like the end of the line. It’s almost as if each line ends on a rhyme word, and â€Å"We† is tacked on as a grace note. (In musical terminology, a grace note is a short note that gets squeezed in before a beat.) The poem has a regular meter, with three beats and a pause, but these three beats can be pronounced in different ways. You could say, â€Å"We real cool,† or â€Å"We real cool,† or â€Å"We real cool,† or, even, â€Å"We real cool.† In the recording we listened to (hear it on Poets.org), Brooks lay the most emphasis on the second two beats: â€Å"We strike straight.† Speaker Point of View Who is the speaker, can she or he read minds, and, more importantly, can we trust her or him? Perhaps we’d better let Brooks speak for herself here: â€Å"I wrote [‘We Real Cool’] because I was passing by a pool hall in my community one afternoon during school time, and I saw, therein, a little bunch of boys – I say here in this poem, seven – and they were shooting pool. But instead of asking myself, ‘Why aren’t they in school?’ I asked myself, ‘I wonder how they feel about themselves?’ And just perhaps they might have considered themselves contemptuous of the establishment . . .† (source). The speaker is trying to imagine what the boys think of their own lives. She is concerned with the community, but unlike some critics, we don’t think her tone is harsh or judgmental. Rather, we think she’s curious and wants to get inside the heads of these kids. Maybe she even thinks the boys have good reason to be contemptuous of the powers that be. But what about those boys? What are their lives really like, apart from the momentary glimpse that we get through the door of â€Å"The Golden Shovel†? After  all, they are speakers, too, or at least they are spoken for. We Real Cool Setting Where It All Goes Down A Pool Hall in the South Side of Chicago, the late 1950s Brooks once said that she was thinking of a certain pool hall in her hometown of Chicago when she wrote this poem (source). As we read and hear â€Å"We Real Cool,† our imaginations are set on fire. We close our eyes and, suddenly, we are in a neighborhood of bungalows and old, brick buildings. At the corner of the street stands â€Å"The Golden Shovel.† It’s hot outside and cool inside the pool hall. In the dimly lit building, we see several billiard tables. There’s a bar in the back serving cheap gin, and an old-style radio plays scratchy jazz in the corner. Seven young guys are gathered around a couple of the tables. Two of them have made a bet on one of the games, and the money is down on the table, ready to be claimed by the winner. They’re competitive with one another, but they also spend most of their time together, hanging out as a group. A person walks by, and they stare at her vacantly until she passes. What’s Up With the Title? The title of this poem is the same as the first line. It lets us know that the speaker will be imitating the voice of a group of young men in Chicago. The title’s musical qualities make it particularly expressive. The vowel sounds go from high to low, like walking down three steps. â€Å"We† – high. â€Å"Real† – middle. â€Å"Cool† – low. You might also put a heavy emphasis on the word â€Å"real†: â€Å"We reeaaal cool.† After reading this poem, you might find yourself repeating the title over and over again, fiddling with different ways to say it. The poem also has a subtitle, which you can read about in our â€Å"Line-By-Line† walk though. Sound Check Read this poem aloud. What do you hear? Before reading this section, you’ve got to listen to Brooks reading the poem herself, which you can do at Poets.org. Is it different from how you imagined it? We could sit and listen to her say, â€Å"Seven at the Golden Shovel† all day long. Her voice produces deep  vibrations like a low saxophone. It may be obvious to say, but there’s no avoiding it: â€Å"We Real Cool† reads like the lyrics of a jazz tune. Brooks has even provided musical instructions to how it should be read, with the low, quiet, uncertain â€Å"We.† When you listen to the recording, the most obvious musical element is syncopation, or the uneven distribution of the rhythm. That’s why it’s so hard to talk about meter with this poem. A meter implies a regular rhythm, and, on the page, â€Å"We Real Cool† seems pretty regular, with three beats followed by a pause. But the arrangement of the words lends itself to wild swings of improvisation. Listen to how Brooks pronounces â€Å"strike straight,† by laying into the first word and backing off the second slightly. She literally â€Å"strikes† at the first word like a fist coming down on a piano. If you were reading the poem, you might be inclined to give both words the same amount of emphasis, but Brooks lengthens the first beat just a tad: that’s syncopation. Also, when she says, â€Å"Thin gin,† it sounds like a bunch of people shouting and clanking their glasses so hard they’re about the fall off their bar stools: â€Å"Thiinnnnn Ginnnn!† To some readers, â€Å"We real cool,† may sound like an ironic whisper saying, â€Å"No, you’re not. Stay in school!† But if you read it aloud like Brooks does, the irresistible pull of the rhythm can also lead us to sympathize with and relate to the boys. Gwendolyn Brooks’s Calling Card What is the poet’s signature style? Portraits of the Urban Poor Brooks’s poetry draws heavily on her native Chicago. It focuses attention on poor, simple city dwellers. In another one of her poems, â€Å"The Bean Eaters,† for example, describes a couple living in a rented room, and they can only afford to eat beans for dinner. â€Å"We Real Cool† describes urban youths, and for the most part, her tone is neither angry nor judgmental. She describes the way things are using straightforward, matter-of-fact language, and  allows the reader to draw his or her own conclusions. Tough-O-Meter We’ve got your back. With the Tough-O-Meter, you’ll know whether to bring extra layers or Swiss army knives as you summit the literary mountain. (10 = Toughest) (2) Sea Level â€Å"We Real Cool† is written in everyday language, and it achieves its effect primarily through its glittering, jazzy tone. There are ambiguities and questions, like exactly what â€Å"Jazz June† means, but to hear the poem is to understand it. We Real Cool Trivia Brain Snacks: Tasty Tidbits of Knowledge Brooks was born in Kansas but raised in Chicago. Her father was a janitor; her mother, a schoolteacher. (Source) Brooks said of the popularity of â€Å"We Real Cool†: â€Å"Most young people know me only by that poem. I don’t mean that I dislike it, but I would prefer it if the textbook compilers and the anthologists would assume I had written a few other poems.† (Source) In 1968, Brooks succeeded Carl Sandburg, who coined the phrase â€Å"City of Big Shoulders† to describe Chicago, as poet laureate of Illinois. (Source) Brooks won the Pulitzer Prize in 1950 for her experimental long poemAnnie Allen. She was the first African-American woman to win the award. (Source) Brooks was awarded more than 70 honorary doctorate degrees. (The walls of her office must have been completely covered.) We Real Cool Steaminess Rating Exactly how steamy is this poem? PG-13 We wonder what these boys are doing until â€Å"late† at night, and we’re curious about exactly which â€Å"sins† (5) they are celebrating. But Brooks isn’t going to give us any more than clues and innuendo. You might be able to push this up to an â€Å"R† rating if you bought the interpretation that â€Å"jazz† (7) is a slang word for sex. Brooks has said this wasn’t what she meant, but that she doesn’t mind if people want to take it that way We Real Cool Allusions & Cultural References When poets refer to other great works, people, and events, it’s usually not accidental. Put on your super-sleuth hat and figure out why. Pop Culture Jazz (line 7) We Real Cool Symbolism, Imagery & Wordplay Here’s more to a poem than meets the eye. Youth Symbol Analysis Despite the implication that these young guys are up to no good and should have better things to do, the poem might remind you of your own mischievous youth and of bored summers you spent hanging out in video game arcades even when it was a beautiful day outside. Nonetheless, there is something ominous about these boys who â€Å"lurk† and â€Å"strike.† Subtitle: The word â€Å"golden† is symbolic of summer, youth, and daytime. This is an ironic name for the pool hall, because the aimless lives of the pool players seem anything but golden. Line 7: Brooks has said that the month of June is â€Å"fragrant† and â€Å"non-controversial.† It represents polite society and authority figures. The boys rebel against June by â€Å"jazzing† it up. Music Symbol Analysis Chicago is the world capitol of the blues, and the city also played a major role in the rise of jazz as an art form. This poem has jazz themes and rhythms in its very bones. Its frequent use of alliteration has a percussive effect, like crashing symbols or the twang of a double bass. The pool players seem to know something about the deep jazz culture. Line 5: This poem has a lot of alliteration, and â€Å"sing sin† is one example. Line 7: â€Å"Jazz June.† You guessed it: alliteration. Pool Players Symbol Analysis Brooks has said she was intrigued by the mix of rebelliousness and insecurity she perceived in the boys she saw playing pool. They want to be noticed, but they also want to seem like they don’t give a darn either way. The repeated use of the word â€Å"We† reinforces their group identity, which could be interpreted as solidarity in the face of great social obstacles. Subtitle: â€Å"POOL PLAYERS† is the first example of alliteration in the poem. Lines 1-7: The word â€Å"We† is repeated at the end of these lines to create enjambment, or  a part of a sentence that carries over the line break. http://www.shmoop.com/we-real-cool/symbolism-imagery.html http://voices.yahoo.com/analysis-gwendolyn-brooks-poem-we-real-cool-5059520.html Gwendolyn Brooks’ poem â€Å"We Real Cool† sums up the reality that many youths faced if they chose to leave school. This poem was written in 1959, which was in the midst of the Civil Rights Movement. In the case of Brown v. Board of Education, in 1954, the Supreme Court ruled that it was unconstitutional to segregate schools; however, desegregation was slow and many African Americans became frustrated. Segregation caused more than just separation, it caused many youths to question their roles in society; if you are told enough times that you don’t belong, that you are different (in a bad way), or that you are less than others, then you will eventually start to believe it. Many youths gave up on the idea of having a future, because they were told that they had no future; so why try. The boys in the poem seem to be struggling with identity. The poem opens with the scene of seven boys at a pool hall named the Golden Shovel. Seven is a number that is typically associated with being lucky. The seven pool players can also be seen to represent a small gang, and they need luck on their side, in order to survive their various financial and risky endeavors. The name of the pool hall, the Golden Shovel, signifies the short life expectancy of those who choose a life of crime over education. The golden part of the title implies that these pool players are young; they should be in school instead of in a pool hall. The shovel is an image that is commonly associated with graves. Therefore, the significance of the name of the pool hall is that the pool players who hang out there are digging their own graves by conducting illegal business. The pool players have an air of mystery around them that makes them seem cool. They seem exciting, because they aren’t doing what they are supposed to be doing; they aren’t playing it s afe. In the second stanza, the narrator, who appears to be one of the pool players, says that they are cool because they left school. They are sabotaging themselves by not going to school and living up to their potential. These boys are in fact not cool. The monosyllabic diction of the poem promotes the idea that these boys are uneducated. Brooks has said that â€Å"the WEs in â€Å"We Real Cool† are tiny, wispy, weakly argumentative â€Å"Kilroy-is-here† announcements

Henry Clay and American System - Free Essay Example

Sample details Pages: 3 Words: 759 Downloads: 3 Date added: 2019/08/16 Category History Essay Level High school Tags: Missouri Compromise Essay Did you like this example? After the War of 1812, Republican Henry Clay, a congressional leader from Kentucky came up with an economic plan that called the American System. This plan has consisted of three important parts: promoting products in the American industry and support the tariffs; help finance more roads, bridges, and canals; create a national bank to regulate local banks and unstable state. However, shortly after things began to get worse when the southern and western farmers and the common people had to pay higher prices for the goods produced by the tariff industries. Don’t waste time! Our writers will create an original "Henry Clay and American System" essay for you Create order Many westerners and southerners also feared the Second Bank of the U.S. would become so powerful that it could destroy the nations economic future at the expenses from states rights. Follow by the Panic of 1819 that drowned the whole economic expansion created the first major financial struggle happened in America. It leads to a surprising rate of foreclosure and bank failures, a huge amount of increase in unemployed, and the downfall of agriculture and manufacturing. These depression panic tensions last about three years and many people blaming the B.U.S. Even though the panic has gone, many from the South and West of America still remained critical with banking issues. By 1819, the president and Congress faced another tough decision on the admission of Missouri state signed as a slave state. By the time, the country had 22 states with an equal number of eleven each of slave and free states. A brief summary from the document REFLECTIONS ON THE MISSOURI QUESTION (1820), JOHN QUINCY ADAMS by the author named Allan Nevins. Adamss belief that slavery settled widespread in the South and his worry for the image of slavery to the Union. Thomas Jeffersons dilemma reviews the conflict with slavery in creating a balance nation had been reflected in his concepts of building one. The slaveholding founder had also expressed a feeling for change in the corruption that slavery dangerously experienced in principle. Adams shared the same conceptions on the matters over slavery and willing to goes against its abolition. In his diary entry on the Missouri Compromise, he settled plans for the removal of slavery. After several weeks, he exposed to prove with a desire that he will stand up to speak with more powerful, efficient, and oratory showing slavery as the great creation from goodness God. Later, Adams became well known in Congress for his logic and oratory on the subject preventing th e slavery. In Adamss braveness to protect and presented as the voice on slavery, he established his great passion for creating the founding. Even though he never experienced the struggles with slavery as Jefferson been through, Adams shared the dilemma to a public servant with the compromises committed into the Constitution. Throughout all the debates Adams was very strong and stable on the abolition of slavery and hoped to freed African slaves, also willingness striving for the slaves rights. Adams respect the Africans at a certain distance with a doubt of their purposes as citizens. However, when other people go against the black people and looked down on them by any chance, Adams would defend them with the rights as human being. Throughout the slave petition it had created many objections which makes it more chaos in the House, Adams reprove to other representatives for against upholding equal right to anyone, no matter how differences they may have. On Washington, March 2, 1820, the legislative decision to accepted Missouri as a slave state and the condition of slavery had been prohibited in the rest of Louisiana Purchase north of latitude 36*30. Throughout the Unions chaos with the abolition of slavery, John Quincy Adams was mostly in public offices. He proved to American founders, mainly leaders see an improving on American views in the battle of rights that no others led to do or having the encouragement for making the convictions towards the end. Though he couldnt enforce for slavery totally banned, however, his sympathy and courageous in turning the nations past into brighter future for all citizens with more freedom and basic right as human beings had created a wave that represented the faith of the Constitution. On August 10, 1821, Missouri became the twenty-fourth state and the twelfth state allowed slavery. Henry Clay demanded Missouri accept the black people to have their own constitutional rights. The Congress decided to let Maine signed as a free state to balance slavery between a country. After all chaos and regulations, nationalists praised the Missouri Compromise on the abolition of slavery which settled the nation in positions between the North and the South.