October 22, 2023
At the start of this project, we had gone through about seven topics and cultures within art history. Taking what we’ve learned about contextualizing an artwork, we were tasked to choose one object from the units we’ve gone through and from what was available to view at the Metropolitan Museum of Art and create a guide for the piece. With both visual and written components, the work was supposed to detail the object’s story, or narrative.
I chose Woman Riding 2 Brahman Bulls. This piece is a bronze sculpture from the Late Harappan Civilization in the Indus Valley. Because it’s an Indian artwork, I wanted to utilize the subtle Indian art form of classic comic books from the 20th century, in which the panels are thickly inked and there’s a lot of text. I chose to make an infographic with this style. It depicts five panels of varying sizes, telling the story of where and when the sculpture was found, the meaning behind its symbols, and where it is today. I used smooth bristol paper, a mechanical pencil for the initial penciling, and ink and nibs for the inking process.
Above is my sketchbook page where I first sketched the sculpture at the Met Museum itself, as well as my plans for putting my ideas into a final work. Below is the finished piece, as well as some detail shots with up-close views of the text.
Overall, I really enjoyed this project because I was able to deep dive into a culture that I can relate to, as well as explore more forms of representation. The research aspect was slightly difficult because most of the information on various sites was similar, but it made me explore outside of simply searching up the name of the artwork; I researched the symbolism of certain elements such as the Brahman bulls, and was able to connect compositional elements across time periods. The fact that we were also able to see these objects in person at the Met was a game changer as well because when you’re looking at an object through a textbook, it’s hard to realize the weight that it truly holds. It was an eye-opening project.