Spotlight: Contemporary History Seen through J.M.W. Turner's Eyes

Joseph Mallord William Turner, Life-Boat and Manby Apparatus Going off to a Stranded Vessel Making Signal (Blue Lights) of Distress, Exhibited at the Royal Academy 1831, Oil on canvas, 36 x 48 in. (91.4 x 122 cm), Victoria & Albert Museum Collection

In addition to looking across history, through epic works such as Snow Storm: Hannibal and his Army Crossing the Alps (1812), British Romantic artist J.M.W. Turner frequently turned his painterly eye towards technologies and inventions shaping his own moment. The speeding railroad was a subject that particularly thrilled Turner. Another was the Manby apparatus, a lifesaving device consisting of a rope fired from a mortar, which we see featured in this dramatic maritime scene of a stranded vessel. The apparatus was invented by Captain George Manby, after a devastating shipwreck in 1807 at Great Yarmouth, Norfolk, and was responsible for saving hundreds of lives over the next several decades. Spurred by his concern for safety issues, the captain would go on to invent the first modern form of the fire extinguisher as well. In 1831, the year that Turner’s painting was exhibited at London’s Royal Academy, Manby was elected as a Fellow of the Royal Society, in recognition of his achievements and contributions to British society.

Spotlight: Trompe L'Oeil - The "Virtual Reality" of the 19th century

Joseph Decker, Upset, ca. 1887, Oil on canvas, 9 x 14 1/4 in. (22.9 x 36.2 cm), San Francisco, M.H. De Young Museum Collection

Trompe l’oeil (“fool the eye”) is a French term for paintings that attempt to fool the viewer into thinking that their subjects are real, rather than imitations of reality. Trompe l’oeil paintings thus render apparent a truth regarding all art—that it is an illusion. Sounds a lot like Virtual Reality, right?

Trompe l’oeil still life paintings date back to ancient times, when images of game, poultry, fruit, and vegetables appeared on the walls of Greek and Roman villas to symbolize the hospitality of the owners. The quality of still life painting was greatly enhanced by the invention of single-point perspective in 15th-century Italy and by new discoveries in the sciences of optics and biology in the 17th-century Netherlands.  Many of these innovations entered the United States through the 17th-century Dutch colony of Nieuw Amsterdam (New York City) and through 18th-century Philadelphia, the scientific capital of the American colonies. Table-top still lifes of fruits, which celebrated the natural abundance of the landscape and evoked the sensory pleasures of food consumption, were especially popular in 19th-century America, and provided appropriate decorative motifs for the living and dining rooms where their real-life counterparts appeared. 

One of German-born American artist Joseph Decker’s greatest specialties was the highly illusionistic representation of plentiful boxes or baskets displaying beautiful, fanciful content. Whether depicting dozens of apples or cherries, a variety of candy (as in Upset), or other trinkets intended to dazzle the eye and pique the senses, these pictures speak to the increased commodification of consumer tastes–for both sweets and painting–during the latter part of the 19th century. 

With Upset–it’s very title playfully confessing the conceit of an overturned container–the viewer is brought into close proximity with the spilled contents of a stark white, opened box. In this tightly compact, horizontal image, a dizzying variety of sweet delicacies are proffered for the viewer–mutli-colored and variously shaped, shiny, gellied, sugar-encrusted, caramelized, cubed and ovoid, candied, paper-wrapped, transparent, and opaque.

Decker’s candies appear so three-dimensional and illusionistic, it makes you want to just reach out and grab a piece or two! Reminds me of Boulevard Arts’ first VR experience around Edouard Manet’s painting “A Bar at the Folies-Bergère,” which–because it seems so absolutely and seamlessly real–still fools users into reaching out to take an orange from a bar maid within the experience.

Spotlight: Do You See a Fish? Maybe That's Not The Point Of Abstraction.

Helen Frankenthaler, For E.M., 1981, Acrylic on canvas, 71 ¼ x 115 ¼ in. (181 x 292.7 cm), Helen Frankenthaler Foundation. © 2016 Helen Frankenthaler Foundation, Inc./ARSNY

In this work, American abstractionist Helen Frankenthaler takes on the art of the past. With For E.M., the artist pays homage to French 19th-century painter Édouard Manet, reinterpreting his Still Life With Carp (1864). While keeping close to Manet’s overall tonality and relational palette, she intensifies her predecessor’s inky blacks and materializes the appearance of light itself. Detail is intentionally sloughed off, giving deepened significance to passages of painterly incident. The sensation of “object-ness” is strongly evoked, but then becomes mere memory, lost in the scumbled, stained support of the canvas. In linking herself to Manet and pushing the explicit material conditions and flatness of his practice, Frankenthaler insists upon her own place within the art historical continuum.

Spotlight: The Latest BLVRD Feature: “Blue’s ‘It’ Factor”

What do these three iconic art historical images - the “Trés Riches Heures de Duc de Berry,” the “Death Mask of Tutankhamen,” and (a detail from) the Sumerian “Standard of UR” have in common? A vibrant shade of blue derived from Lapis Lazuli.

Our latest BLVRD Feature: “Blue’s ‘It’ Factor” delves into the history of this vibrant, deep-blue color which obsessed the people of ancient civilizations for thousands of years, and continues to this day to inspire filmmakers, songwriters, performers, and visual artists.  While we don’t want to give everything away, this mini story covers a lot of cultural ground by tracing the importance, throughout the ancient world, of this rare, highly-revered semi-precious stone, which eventually made its way to Europe via the Silk Route.  C. 1300 in Venice, Italy, merchants and artisans discovered that Lapis could be turned into the most brilliant of pigments, which they aptly named ultramarine. For centuries to follow, European painters and patrons alike were willing to risk their fortunes to obtain this stunning color. Even after ultramarine could be produced synthetically, the legacy of this celestial color continues to grow! 

Whether you are interested in antiquity, the Renaissance period, contemporary pop culture, the color blue, or just the most recent tech, there is something for you in this Boulevard Features’ augmented reality episode! 

Boulevard Arts has more arts & culture augmented reality content coming soon. In the meantime, we encourage you to download our free app from the Apple store, and check out “Blue’s ‘It’ Factor.” 

Spotlight: A Look At Antibes Through Claude Monet's Eyes

Claude Monet, Antibes, 1888, Oil on canvas, 25 ¾ x 36 ⅓ in. (65.5 x 92.4 cm), London, The Courtauld Gallery Collection

French Impressionist painter Claude Monet spent February through May of 1888 in Antibes, on the Mediterranean coast, where he completed ten paintings for display back in Paris.  Challenged by the intensity of the Southern sun and the harsh wind, the artist arrived at an approach combining plein air (outdoor) painting with a more studied pictorial approach. The composition is asymmetrical and tightly locked, with the diagonal of the tree providing formal structure and specificity to the picture, while color is harmoniously synthesized and unified throughout the painting.

Spotlight: Tsangpa Karpo: One Fierce Worldly Protector

Unknown artist,Tsangpa Karpo, Tibet; 17th century, Thangka, Pigments on cloth, 19 ½ x 14 ¾ in., New York City, Rubin Museum of Art Collection

This stunning thangka, or scroll painting, appeared in a virtual reality experience we created with the Rubin Museum of Art called “Gateway to Himalayan Art.”

Because its dark background and compact composition are energized by myriad miniature and sinuously swirling lines., one needs to get really close to appreciate all the intricate and symbolic details.

The large central figure is a wrathful deity known as Tsangpa Karpo. While fierce in appearance, he is in fact a worldly protector, who serves to remove obstacles and counter negativity. Dressed as a warrior, Tsangpa holds a curved sword in his right, upraised hand and a vajra-tipped lasso and lance in his left. His head is crowned with a helmet topped with a white conch shell and peacock feathers. A golden mirror that adorns his chest repels foes. He is depicted riding a dark brown horse, surrounded by dark rolling smoke.  

Above and around Tsangpa Karpo are a number of smaller figures. At the top center is a figure holding a bowl with nectar; this is Buddha Amitabha, known as the Buddha of Infinite Light. His color is red, his symbol is the lotus, and his cardinal direction is west. Directly below Amitabha is a teacher (lama) of this practice. At top right appears an important 8th-century Indian Buddhist master, and to the left is the 5th Dalai Lama. Various retinue figures fill the foreground. 

Spotlight: A Look At The Past: Political Campaign Poster From 1860

H.C. Howard, For president, Abram Lincoln. For vice president, Hannibal Hamlin, 1860, Print on cotton: color, 58.9 x 89 cm, Washington, D.C., Library of Congress Collection.

Looking at objects like this 1860 campaign poster (housed in the Library of Congress and included in our virtual reality app “Boulevard presents American Experience”) can give us an interesting window on to the past.

The U.S. presidential election of 1860 was dramatic. A splintered Democratic Party, with two candidates on the ticket, resulted in a victory for the new Republican Party and its nominee, Abraham Lincoln. H.C. Howard of Philadelphia was asked to make banners for all three presidential campaigns. He made three similar banners — a large print of the U.S. flag with thirty-three stars (one for each state at the time). The Lincoln-Hamlin banner features a beardless image of Lincoln and no less than four different typefaces, typical of 19th-century printing. Distinctively, Lincoln’s name was shortened from Abraham to “Abram.” 

Spotlight: Pepón Osorio, "En La Barberia No Se Llora" ("No Crying Allowed in the Barbershop”), 1994

Photo: Installation Exterior, Pepón Osorio, “En La Barberia No Se Llora,” (No Crying Allowed in the Barbershop), 1994, mixed media, Real Art Ways, Park Street Community, Hartford, CT.

In honor of National Puerto Rico Day on June 9 (and the annual Puerto Rican Day parade typically held on the Sunday following), we are sharing a photo of “En La Barberia No Se Llora” (No Crying Allowed in the Barbershop), a 1994 mixed media installation by one of our favorite artists, Pepón Osorio.

Born in Puerto Rico, Pepón Osorio spent much of his adult life in the South Bronx, before moving to Philadelphia. As an artist and an educator, he has always been interested in exploring social and political issues around cultural identity and community dynamics.

Commissioned by Real Art Ways and located in the Park Street Puerto Rican community of Hartford, Connecticut, “En La Barberia” was based in part on the traumatic memory of a first haircut at a barbershop in Puerto Rico as a child, but also given much input from the local Park Street residents.

Stepping inside the 1994 installation (which after traveling around the world is now housed in El Museo de Arte de Puerto Rico), one encountered an overwhelming sense of time gone-by, of a barbershop from the 1980s or before, and of a particularly male-coded gathering space - with its heavy scent of cheap cologne; black & white tiled flooring and a detached car seat; dozens of framed photos of Latino icons from the past: movie stars, ballplayers, boxers, etc.; red barber chairs embellished with Puerto Rican flags, baseballs, and other chucherias; a life-sized statue of a martyred saint, pink walls decorated with dozens of car hubcaps; giant tattoo-like imagery; interspersed with a couple of videos of men crying (with no audio).

Typical of Osorio’s practice “En La Barberia” does not shy away from contradictions or abundant symbolism/imagery, instead it simultaneously celebrates Latino popular culture and aesthetic sensibilities, while interrogating the social construct of “machismo."

Spotlight: Richard Mayhew: A Landscape Painter to Know

Richard Mayhew (American, b. 1924), Rhapsody, 2002, Oil on canvas, 48 x 60 in. (121.9 x 152.4 cm), San Francisco, California, M.H. de Young Museum Collection.

Known for his vibrantly colored abstract landscapes, painter Richard Mayhew was a long-time arts educator and founding member of Spiral, an important collective of African-American artists, during the 1960s, that included Romare Bearden, Charles Alston, Norman Lewis, and Hale Woodruff, among others. 

Born in Amityville, New York, Mayhew experienced firsthand the complex interplay of water, earth, and sky along Long Island Sound. Of African American, Shinnecock, and Cherokee descent, Mayhew gained a deep appreciation for nature from his grandmother, who taught him Native American "nature lore, ways, and attitudes.” Rhapsody, which according to the Mayhew, “expresses the essence of nature, the unique spiritual mood of the land,” also riffs on an American Tonalist landscape tradition that remains resonant in California, where the 96-year-old artist currently lives. Mayhew’s extraordinary color harmonies, with their animated—even anthropomorphic—trees and fields, also reflect the artist’s early experiences as both an abstract expressionist painter and an improvisational jazz singer.

Spotlight: How Much Do You Know About Salisbury Cathedral?

Screenshot: Boulevard Art’s “Victoria & Albert Museum’s Romance and Nostalgia: Constable, Turner and the British Countryside” Virtual Experience with 3-D model of Salisbury Cathedral.

A few years ago, Boulevard Arts produced a virtually reality experience with the Victoria & Albert Museum entitled “Romance & Nostalgia: Constable, Turner and the British Countryside,” featuring seventeen early to mid 19th-century works by some of England’s greatest painters. We wanted users to enjoy moving around the museum’s gallery and looking at the art, as they would in real life. But we also wanted to leverage the unique possibilities of VR, so we developed a clue-based scavenger hunt within the experience.

Upon successful completion of this challenge (which was not easy, mind you), users were rewarded by the appearance of a large 3-D model of Salisbury Cathedral in the center of the room (in homage to one of the gallery’s famous paintings, John Constable’s Salisbury Cathedral, 1824).

We had to do a bunch of research to come up with these “Fun Facts” that pop up around the model (which turns in space, by the way). Hope you enjoy them…. and if you want to try out the virtual experience, view all seventeen paintings, challenge yourself with the scavenger hunt and see the 3-D model of Salisbury Cathedral appear out of nowhere–you can always download the Boulevard Arts app for free from the Oculus Store for use on the Oculus Go and the Rift.

SALISBURY CATHEDRAL FUN FACTS:

Fact 1: Today there is a 12-foot high copper cross atop the spire of Salisbury Cathedral. However, until 1921 a weather vane held this prestigious place. In order to keep the weather vane in good working order, each year someone would have to climb to the top to grease it. Keep in mind, this is the tallest spire in all of England. 

Fact 2: The foundation stones for Salisbury Cathedral were set in April of 1220. The entire structure is constructed of 70,000 tons of stone, 2,641 tons of oak, and 420 tons of lead. When the 404-foot tall spire was erected in the 1300s, this element alone added 6,500 tons. 

Fact 3: How many months are there in a year? 12.  How many days are there in a year? 365. How many hours in a year? 8,760. How many minutes in an hour? 60. How many seconds in a minute? 60.

 When the building was first built, it had 12 doors, 365 windows, 8,760 marble pillars, 60 sculptures, and 60 crosses. Does this ring any bells? Clearly, the Cathedral’s architects were well versed in the principles of sacred geometry, and the concept of the passage of time is deeply encoded in all aspects of its symbolism and design.

 Fact 4: Salisbury Cathedral possesses 1 of 4 original copies of the Magna Carta. What exactly is the Magna Carta? The Magna Carta, or The Great Charter, set forth in 1215 by King John of England, was a document mandating that everyone, even the king, was subject to the law. Its principles would have an enormous impact upon the relationships between rulers and their subjects throughout the world, and would ultimately inspire the authors of the U.S. Constitution.

Fact 5: Salisbury Cathedral is home to the oldest working clock in England, possibly the world, dating back to 1386. But, the clock has neither hands nor dial marks to show the time. Instead, the clock’s bells chime once an hour, on the hour. 

Fact 6: Creating fascinating dialogues between old and new and insuring that its own role in history is not static, Salisbury Cathedral frequently sponsors exhibitions of contemporary artists from around the world. 

Fact 7: Did you know that among the thousands of stones used to construct the Cathedral, no two are alike in shape or size?

Each stone was carved by hand and is given a special mark, or banker’s mark, by the mason who shaped it. Amazingly, it only took 38 years to build this beautifully ornate Gothic Cathedral. By comparison, the Cathedral of Notre Dame in Paris took almost 200 years to complete.

Spotlight: Portraying Modern Art Dealer Ambroise Vollard

Pierre-Auguste Renoir (French, 1841-1919), Portrait of Ambroise Vollard, 1908, Oil on canvas, 32 x 25 ½ in. (81.6 x 65.2 cm), Courtauld Gallery Collection

Ambroise Vollard was one of the most important art dealers of the late 19th and early 20th centuries, and a huge advocate for printmaking. A shrewd businessman and risk-taker, Vollard championed artists such as Pierre-Auguste Renoir, Paul Gauguin, Paul Cézanne, Henri Matisse, and Pablo Picasso. 

In this 1908 portrayal of Vollard, Renoir depicted the dealer in an idealized manner, as a connoisseur, examining a statuette of a kneeling female nude. The painting, now part of the Courtauld Gallery Collection, serves as a mutual celebration of the dealer and the artist’s talents. Chiaroscuro and modeling lend solidity to certain forms, especially the dealer’s face and hands, while bright touches of color and looser brushwork throughout other parts of the picture animate the surface, adding a gentle, radiant effect.

Renoir wasn’t the only artist to portray the dealer; Vollard was notably represented by the likes of Paul Cézanne, Pierre Bonnard, George Rouault, and Pablo Picasso, to name a few. As Picasso once stated, a bit exaggeratedly, “The most beautiful woman who ever lived never had her portrait painted, drawn, or engraved oftener than Vollard…”Of course, being Picasso, the Spanish artist ended his pronouncement by declaring, “But my (1910) Cubist portrait of him is the best one of all.”

Spotlight: An Ambrotype: Unidentified African American Soldier in Union Uniform with Wife and Two Daughters, photographed between 1863 and 1865

Unknown photographer, Unidentified African American soldier in Union uniform with wife and two daughters, between 1863 and 1865, Photograph: quarter-plate ambrotype, 13.9 x 16.4 cm, Library of Congress Collection

This photograph of an African American Union soldier and his family was taken during the Civil War. It is an example of an ambrotype, an early mode of photography slightly cheaper than a daguerreotype, which required a frame to protect the glass plate of the image.

The unidentified sitters embody the Victorian-era values of family and fiscal responsibility that were important to free African Americans in border communities during the Civil War. The image would have served as a record of military service, as much as a documentation of kinship. 

Spotlight: Democracy By Design: 1943 Poster Promoting the Right to Vote

L x. R Miller, Your right to vote is your opportunity to protect, over here the freedoms for which Americans fight over there, c. 1943, Print (poster): offset lithograph, color, Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division Collection

Printed in the colors of the American flag, this 1943 poster depicts a right hand pulling a lever in a voting booth. The caption, “Your Right to Vote is Your Opportunity to Protect Over Here the Freedoms for which Americans Fight Over There,” is written in everyday language and makes strategic use of the words “your,” “right,” “opportunity,” “protect,” “freedoms,” and “fight.” By equating voting with the war effort and the service of troops fighting abroad, the poster reminds US citizens that voting is both their civic duty and the “right” thing to do. In our contemporary moment, political propaganda is often considered “partisan”, or one-sided. This US poster from the Word War II era is agit prop meant to rally the entire US electorate behind the core ideals of the great US experiment in representative democracy: freedom of enterprise, freedom of worship, freedom of speech, and freedom of the press.

Spotlight: William Harnett's "After The Hunt": An Illusionistic Still-life as 19th-Century Sobriety Test

William Michael Harnett, After the Hunt, 1885, Oil on canvas, 71 1/2 in. x 48 1/2in. (181.6 x 123.2 cm.), San Francisco, California, M.H. de Young Museum Collection

In his interpretation of the heraldic huntsman’s genre, the Irish-American artist William Michael Harnett offers a large variety of sportsman’s gear: a well-crafted rifle, an antique sword, a brass horn, a crumpled hat, a horseshoe, and best of all, what appears to be a liquor flask hung on a barn door fitted with ornate, rusting brass hinges. The picture includes bounty as well: various upturned game birds and a handsome dead hare. Rendered life-size, almost 6 ft. high, and with uncanny attention to textures and material surfaces, After the Hunt is reminiscent of Dutch and Flemish works from the 17th century. Rife with masculine, vernacular, even nostalgic American associations, this type of still-life became increasingly popular in the mid-century and found particular resonance with affluent male businessmen of the East Coast, many of whom hunted or fished at expensive resorts in Upstate New York or parts of New England.

This particular painting hung in Theodore Stewart’s Warren Street Bar in New York City, where it served as a sobriety test for inebriated patrons who were asked by the saloon’s owner to determine whether what they were looking at was real–or not.

*Harnett’s wonderful trompe l’oeil painting can be viewed in person at the M. H. de Young Museum in San Francisco, or within Boulevard Art’s virtual reality experience: “M.H. de Young Museum: Trick of the Eye: 19th-century American Still Life,” as part of our free downloadable Boulevard app.

Spotlight: Need An Outdoor Escape - Look No Farther than Albert Bierstadt's Vision of the West

Albert Bierstadt, Mount Corcoran, c. 1876-1877, Oil on canvas, 60 11/16 × 95 7/8 in. (154.1 × 243.5 cm.), Corcoran Collection; National Gallery of Art, Washington Collection

Born and trained in Europe, the Hudson River School artist Albert Bierstadt became famous for his large-scale landscapes of the American West. After the Gold Rush and completion of the Transcontinental Railroad, East Coast patrons grew increasingly fascinated by the unique topography of the western frontier, which Bierstadt captured time and again in impeccable naturalistic detail.  

This depiction of a snowy peak, which towers above the clouds and trees that surround a tranquil lake below, is not entirely site-specific. Rather, it offers a composite of several views of the Sierra Nevadas that Bierstadt observed on his travels and later compiled and painted back in his studio on the East Coast. The artist journeyed extensively throughout the mountain ranges of the West, and his iconic canvases express a sense of the excitement and national pride felt for this majestic terrain.

Select facts derived from the www.NGA.gov collection object page: Mount Corcoran.

Spotlight: Dorothy Lange's "Migrant Mother": A Symbol of 1930s America

Dorothea Lange (American, 1895-1965), Migrant Mother, 1936, Photograph: nitrate film negative, 4 x 5 in., Washington, D.C., Library of Congress Collection

In honor of what would have been Dorothy Lange’s 125th birthday today, we are sharing one of the photographer’s most celebrated images, Migrant Mother. This print from the Library of Congress is included, along with 75 other historic objects, in our virtual reality app “Boulevard presents American Experience.”

Dorothea Lange was one of several photographers who documented the suffering of rural Americans during the 1930s. Many artists, like Lange, worked for the federal government under President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s New Deal programs. These programs sought to stabilize the nation’s troubled economy and provide relief to the millions of unemployed Americans. 

This photograph of a migrant farm worker, Florence Owens Thompson, and her children has become an enduring symbol of the Great Depression. Its power lies in its ability to evoke a sense of compassion and vulnerability, alongside a sense of hope for resilience in trying times.

Spotlight: Boulevard x ED: Increasing Student Engagement with AR

John Haberle (American, 1856–1933), The Slate: Memoranda, ca. 1895, Oil on canvas, 12 ⅛ x 9 ⅛ in. (30.8 x 23.2 cm.), H.M. de Young Museum Collection

Maybe because I’ve worked in education for much of my life, this amusing 19th-century trompe l’oeil painting by John Haberle is one of my all-time favorites. Not only does the artwork (painted in oil on canvas) give the illusion that we are looking at an old-fashioned slate board with suspended chalk, but further draws us into its fictive reality, through the apparent handiwork of a naughty, or at least disengaged, student named Fred. Ostensibly celebrating his impending liberation from school, our pupil has doodled a goofy stick figure before signing off, “My last slate at Wavertown. FRED.”

Ah, scholastic malaise… as students we’ve all been there, at one time or another, and some of us have faced this challenge from the other side as instructors.  Of course, pedagogy and instructional design in 2020 looks very little like it did back in 1895. But teachers still have to find ways to keep students engaged, and especially to connect with today’s “digital natives,” who seem almost inseparable from their smart phones. Augmented reality (AR) is proving to be an exciting, innovative solution.

Partnering with Edmentum, Inc. to create Boulevard x ED, an app with seven curriculum-aligned AR activities for Edmentum’s English 9A and 9B course, gave our Boulevard team deep insight into AR’s huge potential for K-12 learners (in classroom and remote). We’ve seen firsthand how AR innately encourages exploration, providing an immersive, self-directed, and personal experience for students. Being able to “place” objects in their own space (be it in a classroom or at home), study these things up close, and interact with them can offer students a more experiential, dimensional, and memorable experience than watching a video on a screen or reading a textbook. AR also lends itself well to cross-disciplinary learning; the language arts, history, social studies, art, and even the sciences can be woven together in dynamic, often unexpected ways, allowing for multiple entry points and layered experiences. And, finally, using AR turns out to be a pretty seamless transition for students already versed in typing, tapping, swiping, selecting, dragging and dropping, recording and listening on their phones throughout the day.

Boulevard Arts is deeply committed to finding meaningful ways to engage students by leveraging AR within the K-12 education space. If you are a teacher or a student, we would love to hear about your experience using augmented reality!

Spotlight: Green Tara, the “Buddha of Enlightened Action” in Himalayan Buddhist Tradition

Unknown Artist, Green Tara Protectress of Eight Fears, Tibet; 19th century, Pigments on cloth, 29 5/8 x 22 1/2 in., Rubin Museum of Art Collection

The imposing yet serene female figure found in this painting is known as Tara, the most prominent and beloved female deity in the Buddhist traditions of the Himalayas. She is the principle example of a female Bodhisattva in Mahayana Buddhism and is also considered a fully awakened Buddha in Tantric Buddhist traditions. 

It is said that when Tara first took the vow to achieve enlightenment eons ago, she promised that she would always appear in female form for the benefit of all living beings. As a fully awakened Buddha, Tara is looked to for protection and, depending on the tradition, has 21 manifestations, which are depicted with slight variations from each other in painted or sculptural form.

Here, she appears as Green Tara, the “Buddha of enlightened action.” She is surrounded by a radiant aura of light, and her crown and jewelry indicate her status as a deity. The moon disc upon which she sits is placed upon an elaborate lotus, relating to the story of her origins. Tara holds in her left hand the stem of a flowering lotus, a symbol of purity and wisdom, while her other hand is held in the gesture of gift giving. She sits majestically in the posture of “royal ease,” with one foot extended forward as if she is going to spring into action. The deity dominates the composition, which is separated into various vignettes by landscape details, such as mountain formations, clouds, and trees. 

Spotlight: Using AR(T) To Grab Students’ Attention

Utagawa Kuniyoshi, Yang Xiang (Yō Kō), from the series A Child’s Mirror of the Twenty-four Paragons of Filial Piety (Nijūshi kō dōji kagami), c. 1843, Polychrome woodblock print; ink and color on paper, 8 5/8” x 13 7/8 in. Metropolitan Museum of Art Collection

Admit it, we got your attention, right? Isn’t this print mesmerizing? It was created by Utagawa Kuniyoshi, a Japanese artist who specialized in illustrations of warriors, dreams, and mythic tales.

 What’s going on in it? What’s will happen next? While nature’s chaotic forces are evoked by the rustling leaves and water rushing through the scene, that huge tiger up in the tree sure looks hangry!  If the courageous boy uses all his might, will be able to hold off this enormous beast and save his father and himself? How will the story turn out?

Made over 150 years ago, this woodblock print still feels incredibly alive with drama, action, and suspense. That’s why Boulevard incorporated it into one of seven augmented reality activities we created for Edmentum’s English 9 course.  We figured the print’s stylized, energetic expression might even remind some students of today’s graphic novels or anime.

There’s no reason English courses have to be taught solely through written texts (though written texts can be used in an augmented reality experience. Check out our poetry activity!). Working with Edmentum’s instructional designers to make sure each of our activities would be completely aligned to their English Language Arts curriculum standards, our Boulevard education team developed multiple, innovative ways to leverage interdisciplinary AR engagement and drive home key concepts for English 9A and 9B, while at the same time supporting student choice and prompting personal connection and reflection.

This particular English 9 course activity, involving three very different artworks, centers on analyzing elements of plot, setting, tone, symbolism, point of view (similar to the way in which one might study three written texts, but also very differently obviously).  Imagine getting to explore these five literary devices through works of art you’ve placed in your own space, and being asked to share your responses with your teacher on a cork board that only exists in AR. That’s what Edmentum English 9 students can do with the Boulevard x ED app!

Spotlight: Reflecting On the Beauty and Economics of Oranges in a Late 19th-Century American Painting

William Joseph McCloskey, Oranges in Tissue Paper, ca. 1890, Oil on canvas, 10 x 17 in. (25.4 x 43.2 cm), M.H. de Young Museum Collection

Oranges had long been considered a precious luxury and were purchased in the Northeast at great expense. But by 1890, cultivation in Florida and California had reached a scale that allowed the exotic and visually impressive fruit to enter the homes of more modestly well-to-do citizens, where it became a symbol of status and hospitality. Artists were, of course, drawn to the chromatic intensity of the fruit, especially in contrast with the translucence of its inner segments, as seen in McCloskey’s treatment. The addition of the tissue paper in this picture gives the surfaces and tonalities another delicate element and is rooted in the actual practice of wrapping the fruit in this way before it was packed into boxes for interstate transport.

This painting is one the many stunning still-lifes featured in Boulevard Arts’ virtual reality experience: MH de Young Museum: Trick of the Eye: 19th-century American Still Life, available for download from the Oculus Store for use with Oculus Go and the Rift. And, don’t be surprised if you are tricked by how life-like these works appear!