a Art as the Mirror of Everyday Life When children start to draw and paint, ideal with the images that they know best mother and father, sisters and brothers, the teacher, the house, the dog. Many artists never osc GW interest in everyday things, so much of ov finest ar depicts subjects that are close to the artist’s personal world. Art that depicts the moments of everyday life and its surroundings is known as gevre, Often, its purpose is a simple one~-to record, to please the ee, to make us smile. Images like this occur in all periods of the history of art, in ali cultures and parts of the world. A charming example from China is Court Ladies Preparing Newly Hore Silk. No grand political or sovial issues are presented here Instead, the artist has depicted a delightful scene of daily activity: Three women and a girl stretch and Figure 1: Couit Ladies Preparing Newly Woven Silk, from China, 12% century iron a'piece of silk, while a litle girl peeks underneath to see what is going on. The women’s pastel kimonos, juiet gestures, and the atmosphere of pleasant shared work give us a gentle masterpiece of Chinese genre Equally charming genre pieces occur in an early French manuscript, one page of which we shall study here. During the Middle Ages (about 1100-1500 a.D.), wealthy people paid artists to illuminate (hand-paint) books, especially prayer books. In the carly 15th century, the Limbourg Brothers illuminated one of the most famous books in the history of art, Les Tiés Riches Heures (“the very rich book of hours”)iilt contains a calendar, with each month’s painting showing a seasonal activity ‘The Rébrwary page, shown here, depicts a small hut with three people Figure 2: February page from Les Tes Rches Heures du Duc de Berry. Illumination. Musee Conde, Chantilly around a fire. QQHEP have pulled their clothes back to get maxirmum“ ss 6s 7 he fire. Outside warmth from the fire. O this small house, “ sce a now-covered landscap) There are sheep and birds and three men, One man is rushing toward the hut with cloak over his face to keep in the warm breath. Another man is chopping wood. The third is walking up a bill with a donkey. In the background there is a church. Among the earliest iniages of daily life to have come down to us are those in the ee remnbs of angent Bayne igure 3 ing the counting of livestock, from the tomb of afterlife to be the same as econ: Cake earthly life in every detail. To make sure that the person had a good afterlife, scenes of the pleasures of life in Egypt were painted on the tomb walls Sometimes models were used instead = ‘This model was one of many found in the tomb of an Egyptian official named Meketre, who died around 1900 8.c.f, Meketre himself is depicted at the center, seated on a chair in the shade. Seated on the floor to fills right is his son; to his left are several scribes (professional writers) with their writing materials ready. Overseers of Meketre’s estate stand by as men herd his cattle in front of Meketre so that the seribes can count them. The herders’ gestures are animated asi move the cattle along with their sticks, and the cattle themselves have beautiful markings. Artists have often turned to stories for subject matter. History has furnished artists with many Stories, for history itself is nothing more than a story we tell ourselves about the past, a story we write and rewrite. In his 19, calles \ ining ‘d Jol Broun Going to His é i. Horace Pippin took for subject an event from hist to which he had a personal Canegton. During the 1850s, the Mited States w i ‘ es was Politically and motional divided by thee a: conflict between peapte in favor of slavery and gt hated it, called abolitionis a Among the most fervent Figure John drown Going to His Hanging 142, by Horace Pippin. abolitioniss was a wren! OF the nite man The Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts, Philadelphia named John Brown, wt 1 Whose ho were mn,sometimes violent) activities 10 try to {ree the slaves cauised him to be arrested and put on trial in the state of Virginia, He was found guilty and put to death by hanging on December 2, 1859. The artist Horace Pippin, a descendant of black slaves, was not yet born, but his grandmother was present at the hanging of John Brown, and she pictured the scene, many times, in words, Her grandson later transformed the word-picture into this painting. We see Jolin Brown at center, against the white jailhouse in the background. His arms are ound to his sides. All the people on the wagon are dressed in black, but the wagon is drawn ly wwo white horses—surely symbolic of the black-white drama. Directly over Brown's head is bare (ree fimb—again, surely symbolic of the tree from which he will soon be hanged. Most of the people watching this are white. A lone black woman, at far right, turns{fi@iback on the scene and stares out fiercely, her arms crossed in anger. ‘his figure is the artist's grandmother. Sources: Living With Art ( , and Getlein, 6th ed)