It's been a while, my apologies. Been distracted with work and partying up now that exams have been over. Christmas and New Years has been a very busy period!
Also, I was very tempted to write a blog post weeks ago (very early morning), but I had to fight the urge off. I had just come back from the Coldplay concert in Auckland and I didn't trust myself to fully write about art without letting these amazing feelings take over. And in order to talk fully about the concert and the emotions that were tumbling through me, it'd have to take a hell of a lot more delving into personal issues than I'm willing to deal with at the moment. I mean, just being there, having the music moving through me... Wow. It's like being on a high, and man did they play a show. How they do it, I have no idea, absolutely amazing and worth it. Smiling just thinking about it, music begins where words end. It's like a sense of unity and togetherness with everyone and a sense of individuality, personal emotions and moments. And no matter what anyone says, Coldplay has got to be one of the best bands I've ever come across, both in music, and in attitude and energy. I hope I get to see them play again some day. Amazing.
Anyways, enough with that (even though I just want to keep going on about it, goddamn...) and onto Giotto. An Italian artist, often referred to as the Grandfather of the Renaissance, a part of the proto-Renaissance. Everyone gets wrapped up in Da Vinci and Botticelli and Raphael, and with good reason, but it's also important to look at what led up to them, and to me Giotto is a master in his own right.
Anyways, enough with that (even though I just want to keep going on about it, goddamn...) and onto Giotto. An Italian artist, often referred to as the Grandfather of the Renaissance, a part of the proto-Renaissance. Everyone gets wrapped up in Da Vinci and Botticelli and Raphael, and with good reason, but it's also important to look at what led up to them, and to me Giotto is a master in his own right.
This piece is part of the Scrovegni Chapel, as artists were often commissioned to paint entire cycles for personal family chapels. The cycles that Giotti painted in this chapel is the life of Christ and the life of the Virgin Mary. I remember when studying this chapel that we talked about a couple of the scenes, but I have to say that this one stood out particularly for me.
 |
| Giotto, Kiss of Judas, 1304-06 Fresco 200 cm x 185 cm |
We have the scene where Judas is deceiving Jesus, pointing out for the guard which of them is Jesus in a seemingly subtle way, through a kiss.
We have the scene where Judas is deceiving Jesus, pointing out for the guard which of them is Jesus in a seemingly subtle way, through a kiss.
"Judas, are you betraying the son of man with a kiss?"
(Luke 22:47–48)
We see that Judas has lost the iconic halo, no longer to be considered divine. He's also interestingly wearing yellow robes, a colour most associated with cowardice. In the left of the painting is Peter in blue and red robes, attacking Malthus (a servant of the high priest) in a splash of violence. We have the defense on the left, with an imposing offense in the right. The central part, of course, is the kiss between Judas and Jesus which are emphasized by the lines created by the torches above their heads, and the lines of the drapery leading up to their faces.
Very much in class we were focused on the composition and arrangement Giotto undertook, as it created a more three dimensional space. The use of people halfway in the frame, or the man being pulled on the left shows that there is a world outside of the border. Layers of people that are being blocked by the ones in front (as opposed to tilting the space, as we were easily told to compare to Duccio di Buoninsegna who was considered more Byzantine), meaning there is space not only in the lateral plane, but giving depth into the painting.
The other thing that was always pointed out to us was the bulkiness of his figures. There's more of a sense of weight and life to the figures, easier to believe that they live in a world like our own instead of a ethereal one. The drapery folds around the curves of a body, not wisping around a delicate frame.
However incredible and innovative these things are, this is not what I love most about this painting. What first captured me, and still does to this day, is the contrast between calm and anarchy. We can hear the chaos and abruptness of the guards arrival in the scene. There's distinct splashes of fire, violence and confusion in the scene, not sure who's friendly or foe at first glance. It's a scene destined to be ruled by conflict. But then we have Jesus and Judas in the center. Amid all this chaos, this commotion, is this moment of stillness, quiet, intimacy. Not intimacy in sense of a romantic moment, but in the emotional betrayal between two men bound by something deeper than friendship. The way that Judas' cloak drapes around Jesus creates this barrier between them and the confusion around them, creates a special space for them. It's just this perfect bubble in the middle of chaos, and it's one of the most beautifully subtle spatial boundaries I've seen. This emotional pain and betrayal amid all the physical chaos, it's so perfectly done.
This is one of the pieces that sold me on Giotto, not only did he get the technical innovations right, there's this emotional connection to it too. It's like we can relate to the fact of a moment where a bombshell is dropped on you, and the entire world just fades away until it's just you in a quiet space of realization.
I feel a sort of awe looking at it, it's a 700 year old piece by a proto-renaissance painter with a completely religious subject, yet it's still in some way relatable. You just need to stop and actually look, instead of glossing over the subject, to really see what the painting means to you.
That ram's horn, I can hear it 700 years removed. A cluster of spears, flames, a disquieted sky, there's just so much bustle in a static portrayal! There is as much technical skill demonstrated as a medieval artist is capable of achieving. It is much more 3 dimensional than his mentor Cimabue had shown. A more subtle technique of perspective was yet a century in the offing.
ReplyDeleteWhy does Judas have such a low brow? He looks a bit ape like.
ReplyDeleteI will repeat my contrary argument that I made decades ago when I was an art student. I think this piece made me lose faith in the ability of many art critics to think for themselves. I also spent a good hour yelling at my teacher over this piece, as an 18 year old with a pregnant belly who only got A's in classes I felt were worth starting an argument in.
ReplyDeleteI think Giotto completely failed with this piece. If you think about it, Giotto was being paid a handsome sum to portray this scene, in whatever way was fashionable at the time. I am not a bible thumper by any means, but I've heard the stories, like most people alive today. Instead of getting inside the concept of light that the halo represented on Jesus, the primary focal point was the betrayal. Giotto portrays Judas as an ape-like monster, as the above commenter noticed. I noticed this as well. This portrayal automatically causes the viewer to cast judgement on this figure of Judas, as the writer of this blog and many other art critics have done. In my opinion, Judas, should have been portrayed as a hero. For Judas was willing to sacrifice the grace of Jesus, the one he loved, as he was fully expected to, in order to save his children and family. It was an act that Jesus needed Judas to carry out. Without the choice of Judas, there would have never been a crucifixion or a Christian religion started at all.
Naturally, the ones that people paid to be portrayed as saints, like St Patrick, are the ones who committed genocide and wiped out or absorbed the ideologies of hundreds of lost cultures.
So I say, screw Giotto. You've got to do more than show me a few pretty lines or the use of chiaroscuro to show depth or dimension to impress me, you sell out.