Monday, February 23, 2009

2b California Palace of the Legion of Honor


1. Contains a title using the format listed above .25 points

Response: Title above and reads "2b California Palace of the Legion of Honor"

2. Contains the sources you used with links to these sources .25 points
Response: I used two websites for this assignment:



3. Contains a brief paragraph how it connects to your study of humanities. 1 point

Response: The California Palace of the Legion of Honor connects to the study of humanities in several important ways. As a museum of fine art, it provides much insight into European art and critical art movements in general (like Impressionism, Post-Impressionism, Cubism, et cetera). These works of art and the movements that each represent are very critical for the understanding and interpretation of more specific areas in the humanities and interdisciplinary fields of study. Art is an important component of modern civilization and the Legion of Honor provides a viable means to view these fascinating pieces that serve as a pivotal conveyance of human emotion and expression. Overall, being able to appreciate and interpret art is a necessary component to fully understand the humanities. The California Palace of the Legion of Honor is an excellent place to develop and hone this appreciation.
4. Contains the following "analytical elements":

a. Observation: What did you choose? What do you see or hear or feel or think of in the choice you made? What is the subject of the work? If you chose a 'thing' what is the work made of and what techniques (colors, lines, shapes, textures)does the creator use? Be specific in your description. If you chose a place, be specific in your description of what you see or hear. Talk to your reader as though they cannot see the item but somehow must draw a painting of what you see or hear. 1 point

Response: I chose the California Palace of the Legion of Honor for my museum assignment. When I made this choice, I thought of the vast collection of art and history that the museum has available for people to observe. The artists featured are some of the worlds greatest and this respectable collection includes works from Monet, Rodin, David, Rubens, Degas, and El Greco for example. The subject of the work is very broad and includes the subjects of all the artist included within the museums confines. The 'thing' that I chose includes the utilization of many mediums, from the canvases that the paintings use to the bronze used in the construction of the various sculptures such as Auguste Rodin's The Thinker (image above). The museum itself is a ¾ scale emulation of the Palais de la Legion d'Honneur in Paris and is made of concrete, stone, and reinforcing bar. In front of the monolithic structure is a large fountain, and all of this (the museum, fountain, courtyard, et cetera) is situated prominently in Lincoln Park in the North West region of San Francisco. Depending on the day your there, you can see and hear different exhibits, from FabergĂ© collections to discussions about Domenikos Theotokopoulos.

b. Interpretation: What is your choice about? Give specific examples to support this statement in 2 sentences; do so in a way that teaches us something about your choice. Make Paulo Freire proud! .75 point

Response: My choice is about the museum and how it is a valuable outlet for the creative and intellectual mind. Many people these days don't bother to submerge themselves in the arts and classics. The California Palace of the Legion of Honor is an excellent place and provides many such opportunities to learn about the art of our world, something that many neglect to do.

c. Judgment: What led you to your choice? What do you think or feel about this choice? Why do you feel this way? Support your thoughts with specific observations. .5 point
Response: I had the opportunity to choose from many neat museums available to us in the state of California and out of all the choices, I decided to use the California Palace of the Legion of Honor as my subject. Considering the museum's close proximity to where I live, I thought it an excellent choice for my museum assignment. I also have an affinity for European art and this also helped in making my decision. I feel very strongly about my choice because its familiar to me and I know it has a lot to offer to people. The Legion of Honor was relatively simple to “visit” online and the tools that the website has available almost makes you feel like your actually there. Being “inside” the Legion of Honor proved to be very compelling, so I knew I had to choose this museum as my subject for this assignment.

d. Questioning: What else would you like to know about this choice? When completing the question section, lead your audience into the question by stating a fact you do know, yet you still have the related question. This way, both your audience and you will have an educational experience. Example: I learned that John Steinbeck's Grapes of Wrath was based on his personal experience working with farm workers. I would like to know if
the characters he used in that book are fictitious or are they people he met? .5 point

Response: I would like to know more about the specifics of the museum's contents. There is many paintings, pieces of furniture, and sculpture inside the museum and I would like to learn more about these. I learned much from all of this research about the Legion of Honor. Something that I found particularly interesting was how the museum also acts as the western terminus of the Lincoln Highway, the first highway to cross America. I wonder why they chose this specific location to terminate the highway rather than some other pacific region in California?

5. Using your classmates work from last week, tell us one thing you learned from 1 student. Is this one thing some common experience you share or some experience that is completely different than what you experienced? Is this one thing related to our class theoretical foundation and if so, how? Is that one thing related to historical or cultural context of this country or a different one? Link that persons blog to this entry (eg cut paste that blog entry here) . .5 point

Response: After reading Thida's blog regarding last weeks assignment (http://missthaiteeveeblog.blogspot.com/2009/02/2a-sonoma-county.html), I learned that the Salute of The Arts in Sonoma Valley is an art festival that takes place during the summer. I found this to be a good thing to mention for this week, especially since the subject is museums and this interesting fact was about an art festival. I do think that the recognition of the arts is a common experience that I share. Having such a perception of the things that people create and give life to – things that are very important to the humanities – is something that we all need to give more attention. This does relate to the theoretical foundation of the class because like I mentioned before, the arts – whether its a festival or a museum – are very important and substantial in relation to the study of humanities. I think that this one thing relates to a cultural context. Sonoma County has always been about festivities, and the art festival mentioned above and in Thida's blog is a cultural aspect of Sonoma in general.

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