Welcome! ... and homework already (for january 26)
Hello!
In this course, we will supplement historic accounts with texts from the periods we will be studying, and cultural works (literature, visual arts, videos, etc.). To kick off, choose one of the paintings below, commenting on the historic representations and interpretations they offer.(You may articulate your answer with your first readings of Jill Lepore's book, or the recommended anthology pages for our second class).
Salvador Dali, "The Discovery of America" (1958-59)
Salvador Dali, "The Discovery of America" (1958-59)
Edward Lamson Henry, "Kept In", 1889
Edward Lamson Henry depicts a young coloured girl in the painting "Kept In," seated in what appears to be an empty classroom, looking out of the window with hands resting behind her head. Her expression is sad, the book lies on the floor, and the position of her arms seems to symbolize resignation towards the social restrictions and inequalities of that time. It's unclear what she is looking at outside the window-perhaps other children playing who, unlike her, have access to education and a normal life. Alternatively, it could be her classmates excluding her during a break because of her skin color, and she years to be like them, yet all she
ReplyDeletecan do is watch from afar and imagine being close to them.
This painting brings to mind the "Separate but equal" status of 1890, allowing racial segregation. People were divided in schools, hospitals, and public places
based on their skin color.
165944 - Raffaella Morelli
I've decided to pick the first painting by Salvador Dali, "The Discovery of America".
ReplyDeleteThis painting is a modern re-interpretation of the real event of the discovery and beginning of the colonization of the Americas in 1492. In the center, we see a boat with a flag associated with the Templar Knights, a military order affiliated to the catholic religion. Columbus' father was one, probably the reason for his boats looking like that. Columbus is also in the painting, dragging the boat forward, a literal interpretation of his leading of this exploration. He is drawn young, something often done in renaissance paintings, but also idealized in beauty, perhaps as a direct holy envoy. This is supported by how the female saint's clothes descend from the sky to serve as clothes for Columbus, appearing as a direct extension of holiness, sent to America to "civilize" it. This event really just represents the beginnings of the USA, as the Europeans/descendants of Europeans were the ones to found the country and justified all their atrocities with either claiming the inferiority of the indigenous, or the fact that the Christian religion just had to be spread there and that any casualties were not their fault. This disregard of the indigenous and overall anyone who wasn't a WASP (white Anglo-Saxon protestant) shapes America from the beginning and to this very day.
(Mason Branco)
Salvador Dali's "The Discovery of America" depicts the event of Christopher Columbus' arrival in America in 1492. At the center of the work is the figure of Christopher Columbus dragging a ship ashore, holding the figure of the Virgin Mary in his right hand. This has to do with the fact that he went to explore new lands in order to spread the Christian faith. There are also other elements alluding to religion in the work, such as the cross held by the man at the foot of the boat and the others scattered throughout the painting. Dalí's work certainly represents the arrival in the "New World" as a great event, fulfilled by the will of God.
ReplyDeleteI also find it curious how Columbus is represented, as he is only covered by a cloth. This could be linked to the idea that he himself was a kind of God (or a great hero as many see it) for the feat he had accomplished. I would also add that, although we are talking about the "discovery" of a new land, there are few, if any, elements that represent that culture, given that we already have a colonized perspective of the event.
Given these aspects, we conclude that Dalí’s representation of the arrival of Columbus has little to do with the depiction of the true event. It appears to be an exaltation of what was accomplished.
“The Discovery of America” was painted by Salvador Dalí in 1958/1959. The painting represents the arrival of Cristopher Columbus in America from a surrealist perspective. In the first plan, the viewer sees a brown sphere with some rings around it, which can symbolize an armillary sphere and, consequently, navigation and maritime expansion. Still at the bottom, an empty and brown soil can represent the vision of Columbus about the populations he found there. Jill Lepore claims that “he believed they lacked even a faith: “they appear to have no religion””. In opposition, after reading the excerpts about the populations, who lived in America before Columbus arrival, in “The Enduring Vision: a History of the American People” from Paul Boyer, we understand that there were multiple types of extremely advanced societies on several levels.
ReplyDeleteAt the center, there is a ship that is being pulled by Cristovão Colombo. The flags on the ship figure the crosses of the crusades, but the crosses of christianity are also spread throughout the painting, all of them represent the discovery of America as a religious mission to proliferate the Catholic religion. Columbus also mentions that he had this perspective on the letter he sent to Luis de Santangel “Regarding the First Voyage”, affirming that they “might become Christians and be inclined to the love and service of your highnesses and of the whole Castilan nation”.
In addition, on the right, there are multiple flags which may represent the nations’ supposed willingness to realize this expansion, which can raise an important point for reflexion, since, as it is stated by Howard Zinn, “the past is told from the point of view of governments, conquerors, diplomats, leaders. It is as if they, like Columbus, [...] represent the nation as a whole". The sacrifices/deaths that were originated by this “discovery”, which are represented in the blood on the crosses of the central flags, are usually represented as the necessary damage for a greater good and as the will of an entire nation, which provoke an “easy acceptance of atrocities as a deplorable but necessary price to pay for progress”.
In the painting “The Discovery of America” (1958-59), Salvador Dali depicts the arrival of Christopher Columbus in America, in 1492, and the expansion of the Christianity to the “New World”, with a surrealist point of view.
DeleteAnalyzing this painting can take hours, since it is filled with many different symbols. However, when looking at the painting, some of the representations stood out to me. For example, Columbus is not portrayed as a middle-aged man (he was around forty-one when he discovered America), but as a young man or as even as an adolescent, symbolizing the power of youth. Columbus is, probably, portrayed in this way to symbolize America as a young continent. Columbus is dressed in a cloth, like a classical figure, suggesting that he was a kind of God or, at least, as a hero. Moreover, something that stood out to me is the number of religious symbols and figures in this painting, used to symbolize the expansion of Christianity to the “New World”. For instance, we can see Columbus holding a banner with a feminine figure, Dali’s wife, that is embodied as the Virgin Mary. Here the figure of the Virgin Mary is not only a religious symbol, but also a symbol of purity and divine protection.
Furthermore, we can see many different crosses depicted in this painting. The young Columbus is even carrying a caravel with two sails with crosses. Columbus is carrying the sails with the crosses and is walking forward, which represents the movement and progress towards the expansion of the Empire and of Christianity. As Columbus mentions in the “Letter to Luis de Santangel Regarding the First Voyage”, the colonizers had the objective of spreading Christianity to the native people (“I gave them a thousand handsome good things, which I had brought, in order that they might conceive affection for us and, more than that, might become Christians and be inclined to the love and service of your highnesses and of the whole Castilian nation”).
In this painting, Dali takes a surrealist approach, including many different elements, with different meanings. There are a lot of different elements at the same time, but that if we look closely, they seem to fit the theme of the painting and to be coherent. The chaos represented in the painting probably represents the interior and internal tumult of the expedition. A lot of caravels were arriving in America, with many different people. Besides this, Columbus and colonizers, probably, also felt a rollercoaster of emotions when arriving, knowing they were making new discoveries and diving into a new land, which can be frightening, but also exciting. The mixture of white, greys, blues and black, gives of the impression of a cloudy, but heavenly environment, also associated with Christianity.
Lastly, I noticed how it seems that are not any representations of Indigenous people in the painting. Since Dali wants to depict the discovery of America and when the colonizer’s arrived, America was filled with Indigenous communities, it would be expected that some representation of Native Americans would be present. But, perhaps, we (the observer) are the natives, we are the ones receiving these “discoveries”. Movement and action are depicted in the painting and, especially, with the young Columbus that is walking, it seems like him and what he carries, an empire with its culture and religion, is walking towards the indigenous peoples and towards us.
All in all, in the painting “The Discovery of America”, Salvador Dali incorporates different elements to portray the arrival of Columbus to America. Using surrealist techniques, Dali gives us allusions to Christianity and to progress, showing how the arrival the arrival of Columbus was as a massive and holy accomplishment. This painting symbolizes all kinds of discoveries, spiritual and natural and invite us to reflect about the past, the present and the future.
- Beatriz Bicudo Cunha
Salvador Dali’s “The Discovery of America” depicts Christopher Columbus’s arrival in America in 1492. The central point of the painting is the main vessel “Santa Maria” and Christopher Columbus is dragging the boat toward the coast. One can even say he is dragging toward us. We are the shore. He is discovering us. The sails of the vessel have crosses representing the religious aspect of the enterprise. Those symbols are the main force of the imagery of Religion and the vessels represent the Welfare.
ReplyDeleteDali depicted the event metaphorically. Even though he was 41 years old when he “discovered” America, he is depicted as young man. It can be a symbol of the power of Youth and innocence of the “discoverers”. It can also be a symbol for America as a young continent erasing the fact that it had almost ten thousand centuries of history behind.
Colonizers view their mission as “the white man’s burden” like Rudyard Kipling said in his poem with that same title. This expression was used to justify the “civilizing mission”. They claimed to believe that they were bringing order, civilization, and Christianity to savages who lived in Chaos. It was their very hard mission to enlighten the natives.
(Bárbara Oliveira - 138100)
Salvador Dali's “The Discovery of America” stands out in his body of work due to its meticulous realism, reminiscent of his earlier pieces. Formerly titled “The Dream of Christopher Columbus”, the painting gains additional significance when considering Christopher Columbus's “Letter to Luis de Santangel Regarding His First Voyage”. In my interpretation, the painting emerges not from the point of view of the Natives but from the mind of Columbus himself. Columbus, influenced by his own victory and discovery, appears blinded to the fact that the Natives of the unknown land neither needed him nor his kingdom nor his God. Instead, he envisioned them as helpless creatures hoping to be saved, a delusional perspective. The painting portrays the Native Americans as seeing Columbus and the Spaniards as their saviors from the heavens, despite the fact that, realistically, the Native American people did not understand the concept of the “heavens”. Everything in the painting, from the crosses to the weather, is depicted as if coming from the heavens as well.
ReplyDeleteThis artwork, representing Columbus's successful introduction of Christianity to the New World as a great religious achievement, reveals Dalí's fusion of his love for his native country with his Catholic faith. Christopher is depicted as a young man carrying a banner. In my opinion, this young Columbus resembles Christ, bringing the ships into the New Land as if they were his cross, bearing the burden of victory and the sacrifices made to reach the unknown land. The point of view in the painting, likely that of a Native American, reflects a fantasized version that occurred in the minds of Columbus and the Spaniards, emphasizing the subjective nature of historical interpretation. In essence, 'The Discovery of America' becomes a canvas that captures not only the historical event but also the imaginative and sometimes distorted lens through which it was perceived by those who shaped its narrative.
- Margarida Barreiros nº161012