Introduction

My theme is about the struggles of mankind to become perfect through spiritual physical, and emotional ways. When the Catholic church fell many people struggled with their religious beliefs, because the church had become corrupt, people did not know what to believe in and so they were left confused. During the Enlightenment, people valued science more than religion. They believed that science could eventually lead to human immortality and perfection. It is shown in many arts the human attempt to become perfect. The enlightenment also made people aware of unfairness's such as equality and rights. This caused many revolutions and wars. Humans soon began to struggle for justice. Now, people still struggle to be perfect. We fight to have a Utopian world whether that means fighting others to fix them or fighting ourselves to become better. Humans are always looking for something more.

An Imperfect Body

This is a photo of an unnamed girl who is suffering from anorexia. It is shown through her skinny arms, the measuring tape, and the degrading words written on her body. The measuring tape signifies the problem she has with her weight. The words show how she has low self-esteem and how she feels about herself. Her eyes show how sad and hurt she is from her problem. The picture also does not use any color, sticking with the plain colors black, gray, and white.
This picture is a recent picture, representing this time and our lives today in the modern world. Many girls can easily be pressured into thinking they need to lose weight. Some girls say that thinner girls get more attention at school. Others are pressured by not only peers, but also family members. There are also many websites that encourage anorexia and bulimia. Some sites that encourage anorexia do it in a masked way like one called Starving For Perfection. The author of this site calls herself Mrs. Slim. She says, “Our websites are not aimed at drawing in innocent girls to kill themselves. We want control, power and something of our own” (Druley). She admits that she is anorexic and has an eating disorder, but claims her choices are a way of life to feel in control. Other young girls that suffer from this disorder include Shae Walker. After she quit gymnastics she began to have doubts about her weight, claiming that her mirror image revealed all of the imperfections of her body. She refused to eat many foods, exercised more, and hid her skinny body with big clothes (CBS). Many girls like Walker will do anything to be accepting and look perfect.
Throughout history, people have worked very hard to become perfect. This photo represents the modern struggle humans have to be the ideal. The general public looks at models and thinks that their skinny bodies are perfect and beautiful. Magazines tell us what to wear, do, and eat to lose that extra fat. Many people claim that if they just lost a little bit more then they would look good. There are constant ads like Lap-Band and Jenny Craig that give us ways to get thin quick. Many girls look at themselves in the mirror constantly checking if they look perfect to impress others. This struggle for perfection is not like our past struggles for perfection through immortality or spiritually, but it is more psychologically and just as important.

"Battle Outside the Hotel de Ville"

“Battle Outside the Hotel de Ville” is a painting by Jean Victor Schnetz. A French revolutionary stands in the center of this painting, on top of a hill holding a gun in his left hand and a fellow, injured revolutionary in his right. The injured man is holding the French flag high, which also consumes the center of the painting, behind the two center men. The flag waving gloriously shows how proud the revolutionaries were. The pride of the revolutionaries is also shown through the face of the center man standing on the hill. There is only one French counter revolutionary soldier shown and he is dead. This symbolizes how triumphant the revolutionaries were. The smoke behind the hill and the light shining on the hill continues to draw eyes to the center of the painting, the main focus which is the flag and the three proud looking revolutionaries.
Schnetz depicts a time in his painting where all of the lower classes were searching for equality. He specifically painted the Battle outside the Hotel de Ville of the French Revolution which took place in the late 1700’s. Before 1798, life was unfair for the lower classes. They were not equally represented, they had to pay more taxes and they could not claim property damage when their crops were ruined by hunting lords or hungry animals. Not only were the lower classes poor for aiding the Americans in their fight for independence with their taxes, but the young queen of France could not help herself to the many expense luxuries of being royal, causing much financial pain to France. This, along with the Enlightenment ideas of the 18th century, led to revolts and eventually the French Revolution (World History Center).
Schnetz’s painting connects to my overall theme of the human struggle to be perfect. To people, a perfect world has no class system and equality for everyone. The peasants of France are one of many other groups to literally go through blood, sweat, and tears for this perfect world. This painting shows the blood spilt for equality. The man carrying the flag being held by the center man is bleeding in the arm not holding the flag, but the one closest to the viewer’s eyes. This painting also relates to another piece in my collection of a revolution. The painting, “Washington Crossing the Delaware River” by Leutze is of the American Revolutionary War in the 1700’s. "Washington Crossing the Delaware River" and "Battle Outside the Hotel de Ville" show the pride the revolutionaries had in their country, and the heroism of the people who were thought of as nothing.

"Washington Crossing the Delaware River"

“Washington Crossing the Delaware River” is a painting done by Emanuel Leutze in 1851. The whole painting is consumed with a small boat carrying about 13 soldiers. The blankets, ice bergs, and grey clouds symbolize the hardships of the winter, and how cold the soldiers must have been at this time, but the way General Washington stands shows that he is the leader, a proud leader that will not surrender no matter what the hardships are. The flag and his face, being so clear, look very heroic as they slowly sail to their destination. The flag, held by Lieutenant James Monroe, also symbolizes the pride the soldiers had in their hoped to be country. The many different soldiers in the boats symbolize the diversity of the people who fought in the war. All of the light, details, and symbolism represent the patriotism and perseverance the colonists had.
Emanuel Leutze’s painting “Washington Crossing the Delaware River” depicts a time where the colonists of America were looking for their own independence. Tired of high taxes from the British monarchy so far away, the colonists began a revolt one that formed into The Revolutionary War. This painting is of the sneak attack General Washington led against the Hessian soldiers at the Battle of Trenton on the day after Christmas. During this time the colonists were not doing well. Britain had a well-organized and well-trained military, while the colonists did not. On the boat, the soldiers were tired, beat, and ill-prepared for war overall. Knowing this, General Washington kept encouraging his men to continue to push forward. The battle that followed the crossing, the Battle of Trenton, proved to be a very successful battle for the colonists and was a great turning point in the war for them (U.S. District Court).
This painting relates to my overall theme of the human struggle to be perfect similarly how Schnetz’s painting, “Battle Outside the Hotel de Ville” does. It too represents the fight for a perfect world, a world where everyone is not only equal, but independent. The patriots wanted to be free and felt the taxes put upon them were unequal and unfair. The patriots too went through literally blood, sweat, and tears to gain a perfect world that is free, equal, and fair.

"Plowing the Nivernais"

“Plowing the Nivernais” is a painting done by Rosa Bonheur in 1849. This painting looks so real it could be mistaken as a photograph. The group of oxen in the front is larger than the group in the back, giving the painting perspective, with the large foreground of dirt and small background of trees and hill. The way Bonheur painted the oxen’s fur, muscles, and facial features give it a very real and natural look. The shadows give a sense of where the sun is. The many years of studying and painting animals and nature also helped Bonheur to paint this piece with so much feeling and reality (Gokbudak). The fact that this painting looks so real shows the values of painters during this time.
Rosa Bonheur was a painter of the 19th century, after the Enlightenment period so many people of her time valued science and realism greatly. She painted the “Plowing in Nivernais” with years of studying animal and natural setting paintings along with science. Her father was part of a “utopian socialist Saint-movement” (Gokbudak). This movement supported equality for men and women, and a love-based society. Realist animal painting became popular in 1848 in France, where Rosa Bonheur was from. Bonheur was commissioned by the French government to paint this piece which was inspired by nature and the lives of peasants, a result from the French Revolution (Gokbudak).
“Plowing in Nivernais” relates to my theme of human perfection. As a result of the Enlightenment, people searched and fought for perfection. A period of realism paintings emerged from this. Many painters during this time studied and worked very hard to achieve what was thought to be perfect art. Their idea of perfect was something that looked real, like a photograph or even reality itself. They wanted to capture the perfection they had thought to achieve after the revolutions and create something that was absolutely perfect.

"St. Michael's Fight with the Dragon"

“St. Michael's Fight Against the Dragon” is a woodcut done by Albrecht Durer in 1498. It is a part of a series of woodcuts called the Revelation of St. John. In the center of this woodcut is St. Michael striking the dragon with is spear and behind him are other saints shooting the dragon with their arrows and spears. Underneath the heavenly battle is an uninterrupted, peaceful earth. The war in the sky signifies the fight between good and evil. It shows that all is not right in heaven (Gombrich 344-5).
During the time that Durer created this work of art, the Catholic church's corruption had been exposed. Many of the rich people were using indulgences to reduce their time in purgatory rather than actually having faith or performing good deeds. While this happened, the priests who received the indulgences, who were suppose to be using the money for the church, used it for personal gain and luxuries. People were losing faith and did not know what to believe in anymore. For so long people had looked to God for perfection and now that the people they once looked up to had failed them, they were lost. On top of that many of the people expected the apocalypse to take place during their lifetime. This woodcut represents not only that apocalyptic event, but the spiritual battle taking place in heaven between those who rightfully deserved their place in heaven, and those who bought their way to heaven (Gombrich 345).
For years, the people looked up to the church, especially because most were uneducated and did not think much for themselves. People looked to their church officials to help them gain perfection spiritually, essentially go to heaven. To do this usually they had to do good works. After a while, the church made the people purchase indulgences to gain spiritual perfection. When people started to realize this they began to doubt the church and God. People no longer looked to gain spiritual perfection, but they began to look within themselves once again and find human perfection. They looked to science to complete their every humanly possible goals, which they thought could eventually be immortality. This woodcut shows the breakdown of the goal to achieve spiritual perfection and the rise of human perfection seen through other paintings like “Plowing the Nivernais” by Rosa Bonheur.