Museum Visit

The museum was a safe haven for housing art and historical facts of the many cultures all round the world. The Creation Stories at the Michael Carols Museum were fascinating and interesting. My favorite was the â€Å"God Spoke the Earth: Stories of Genesis in Prints and Drawings†. The exhibition was narratives from the book of Genesis. Marc Chloral born in 1889 was a F-ranch artist who traveled to Palestine after a 1930. His work was to illustrate stories from the Old Testament. His Jewish heritage lined up with his immediate connection to the Holy Land.There were many in the Holy Land that spoke his native Yiddish and Russian. His lithograph, The Bible II, found in his 2nd series was an expression to accentuate a narrative to the creation story. The painting was that of blues, grays and subtle yellows that evoked the sense of light, water, earth and life emerging but of the firmament. Chloral depicts Adam pulling the forbidden fruit rather than Eve. His painting put emphasis into the virtues of womanhood and female figures. The female images appear in almost every image of the painting.At this time was Chloral's first exploration into art in a Biblical expression, Hitler came to power over Germany. The Nazi party opposed the work of Chloral and deemed it as a threat to the Western violation. Chloral had a lot at stake being an artist from France exploring Jewish theories. Due to the disapproval, Chloral had to flee to the United States and by the help of an American journalist; he was able to obtain forged Visas to make the journey to the United States. John Waddled Barnes, American artist, born in 1921 and deceased in 2008.His illustrations were in pen and ink wash. His artwork was of the story of Joseph. The art on display was his pieces that reflected the different pieces of Josephs story such as; Jacob interprets the moon devoting son, Joseph, Jacob consoles Rachel, Joseph awake after wedding night, Joseph tries on the coat, Joseph tells dream, Jose ph sojourn in the well, Traveling merchants rescue Joseph, Joseph before the Sphinx, The ladies party, Joseph feels from Potash's wife, Joseph interprets the dream, Meeting of Jacob and Joseph in Egypt. The artwork is beautiful with dark and light colors.The paintings are like sketching that have expressions very felt by the viewer. â€Å"Birth of Cain† was an engraving piece of art by a Dutch artist, Adrian Collars (1560-?1618). This artwork was at a time were the Protestant Reform in North Europe was occurring. The Council of Trend convened between 1545-?1563 in discussing the reform of the Catholic Church. The key topic was on sacred images being permissible only if it didn't mislead or corrupt the viewer. In an order for an imagery to be accepted it should encourage the viewer devotion in connection to scripture.The scenes of Genesis depicted a hard life of God's creations Adam and Eve. The art was to allow the viewer to experience the agony and hardship that Adam and Eve endured outside of paradise. This reflected God's punishment which was painful birth, short life spent in a dangerous and inhospitable land. The ewer was also made aware of the first time an act of violence and malice in the story of Able being murdered by his own brother Cain. Collars wanted the viewer to mediate and have a sense of responsibility and loss that Adam and Eve felt as a result of sin.John Martin (1789-?1854) fourth series print, Adam and Eve hearing the Judgment of the Almighty, was a Mezzanine from 1831. Martin took a series of prints illustrated from the Bible in an effort to repeat the series from that of John Million's Paradise Lost. Adam and Eve were rebuked by God represented by rays of light shining from trees at the right: Have you eaten from the tree of which commanded you not to eat? † (Gene. 1) The Seated Buddha of India Peak period was in black stone. It represented touching the earth calling upon the earth goddess as witness to his ability to attai n enlightenment.The tree above his halo is a branch of the Booth tree under which he has reached the final stage of spiritual advancement. His throne is a typical lion's throne which reflects two lions and an elephant at the base. The Egyptian coffin lid was beautifully detailed. It was from the Egyptian dynasty of 1190- 1075 BC- The coffin was of wood, geese, pigment bronze, calcite (Egyptian alabaster). This was uniquely carved. The artist was very artistic in all aspects of the facial features and the perfect carved hands.Tablet with an account Of a Deluge was from the late Babylonian period of 1699-?1600 BC, Nipper Mesopotamia, of clay. The lower portion of the fragment of the clay tablet was written in Sumerian cruciform script and it relates to a tale of flood that destroyed mankind and it's parallel to the story of Noah in the Bible. I found it fascinating that it reads; â€Å"A flood will I send which will affect all mankind at once. But seek the deliverance before the floo d breaks forth for over all living beings. However, many there are will I bring annihilation, destruction and ruin.