Art Museum Critique

CristiRey Dittmar
Nov 17
1 Which museum did you visit? (check one) ___ Univ. of Utah ___ BYU
2 Describe at least one of the permanent collection exhibits on a theme, period,
geographic region, or topic) within the museum. {150 words}
One of the permanent collection exhibits in the Utah Museum of Fine Arts is the Imperial Roman
Period section. The theme of this collection is Roman art from the first and second centuries with
the geographic region of Roman, Italy. The two pieces from this collection that stood out the
most to me was Aphrodite with Eros on a dolphin at her side and Polykletian God or Athelete.
Aphrodite with Eros on a dolphin at her side is a Greek mainland marble statue of a women and
a small child to her left side. Like most Roman statues there are body parts broken off the
woman, she has only one third of both her arms, the bottom half of her legs are broken off and
she has no head. The child is also missing its feet and the dolphin is completely broken off. The
Polykletian God or Athelete is just a head that I assume broke off the body and its missing the
point of the nose and the back side of the head is broken on a slant.
3 Give a brief, one paragraph description of a special, temporary exhibit (for help, ask
museum staff what these are; they are usually in one of the first rooms). {100 words}
A special temporary exhibit in the Utah Museum of Fine Arts is the British Passion for
Landscape: Masterpieces from National Museum Wales. Its a decent size collection from British
artists dating around the 18th and 19th centuries. It is full of beautiful oil on canvas paintings with
a lot of greens, blues and natural colors. It has all sizes from bigger than the 60 inch flat screens
to small personal sizes that can fit on your 8 x 10 paper. This exhibit features Thomas
Gainsborough, Joseph Turner, John Constable, Thomas Jones and many other master artists.
4 What do you think the museum administration and/or exhibit curators want you to
learn or gain from the exhibits you viewed? {100 word minimum}
I think the museum administration and/or exhibit curators want me to learn art. When I say art I
mean diversity, new perceptions, history, new ways of understanding things. Another thing I
think they want me to learn is to be my own artist, an artist of our own age, to be creative and
keep the arts alive and learn from the best artists of all time and to be inspired by them and
incorporate all there styles into my own to achieve the best from myself.
5 What kind of information is provided about the works? Where might you look for
further information if you were interested? (Name three possibilities)
The kind of information that is provided is the artists names, the geographic regions they are
from, the dates they are from. There are also small paragraphs about the artist and the kind of
work they did. To look for further information you could visit the Museum website, the library,
or the museum administration might have more information.

6 Choose several works that particularly appealed to you. Explain why you were
drawn to these works. Comment on the subject, style, medium, time period, etc.
Who were the artists? What message do you think the artists were trying to convey
in the works you chose to discuss? This question must be answered in its entirety.
{This should be at least 500 words}
I enjoyed the British Passion for Landscape very much. Several pieces from this collection stuck
out to me. The reason for this I think is because of how much I love nature and beautiful
landscapes. I also like to photograph landscapes and to see how beautiful the landscapes were
perfectly put together and to be hand painted had to take much skill and patienc, I couldnt
imagine being able to do the same which is where the appreciation of all these great art works
come from and also why I do photography rather than paint. The very first painting I noticed was
an 18th century Thomas Gainsborough, Rocky wooded landscape with rustic lovers, herdsman
and cows. It is a massive painting with beautiful vintage colors that capture your attention from
across the room. It has a lovely sky with the light of just before the setting sun. giant droopy
trees from the left to right side and in the front of the painting is a small shady spring of water
with cows being herded by a man to drink. Just to the side of the water are two people, a girl and
a boy that seem as if they are just visiting. This paining has a very nostalgic essence about it, it
makes you long for a simpler time where humans were so much more connected to nature like
the people in the painting are. Another painting from the British Passion for Landscape collection
that I adore is Thomas Jones A view in Radnorshire from 1776. The simplicity of this painting is
was distracted me away from others and toward it. It is a fairly small painting that has the power
to hold the entire room. The paint is of a view looking out toward small hills with a big sky
above. The sky takes up about three fourths of the painting. A beautiful sky blue afternoon sky
with some fluffy cumulous clouds for miles and miles as far as the sky stretches. The colors used
are very natural pale blues, greens and browns which complement each other perfectly. When
looking at this painting it takes you away from wherever you are and places you at this view, like
if nothing in life matters, there are no problems and the only priority is to just take in and let the
view consume you which is what I think this artist, Thomas Jones wants his viewer to feel. I
think I connected immediately and entirely with this piece of art is my love for the sky and the
immense connection I feel I have, which I think all human beings have. It is the biggest thing we
know, has the greatest range and its what connects human beings together on this earth. The sky
has a powerful beauty and this painting projects it greatly
7 . How did the artworks you looked at relate to material we have discussed in class?
(They do relate in many ways, you just need to look for those relationships).
{Minimum of 150 words}
The artworks I looked at in the Art Museum related to the material we have discussed in class by
how art relates and indirectly tells what is going on in that certain time period. By the elements
used in the art work and whatever the subject of the art reflects the era of the art and what times
were like.
8 What was your personal reaction to this experience? Would you enjoy attending this
type of event again? Why or why not? {Minimum 100 words}

I very much enjoyed visiting the Utah Museum of Fine Arts. I hadnt realized until I walked in
that I had actually been there before years ago. I love seeing all the different kinds of art and
being able to see the hard work, the dedication and the love for the art coming forward from the
art pieces themselves from their artist. The first time I went I just looked at everything I didnt
really see and listen to the art. I was much more appreciative of everything in the museum. I
think art is amazing and funny. Art can be such different kinds of things whether its a painting, a
sculpture, a carving or recycled material put together. What is art is art, no question about it but I
think its interesting how everyone views art from a different perspective. One person can see
something ordinary and the other cant get over its perfect artistic beauty. I would most definitely
visit this art museum again, the art there may not change but I change and something I may have
not noticed before may capture my attention and have meaning relating to my life the next time I
go.