African American Art Mural

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African-American Art
A mural is an artwork of painting that is applied on the wall, permanent surface or ceiling. One of the distinguishing elements of a given mural is the architectural feature that is harmoniously attached on the image. Wall paintings are sometimes painted on canvases and then attached on walls. However, this is subject to controversy in the field of art. There are two types of murals in African and American setting. They include; Photographic mural and painted or image murals. Artist using photography mural can design their photographs in different styles. Materials that can be used in photography mural are aluminum, canvas, vinyl and board materials. Photographic mural does not
require any protective material to cover the pictures. Image murals need an artist to use framing and matting in their work. Image murals are popular in outdoor decorations, in cities and memorials. Many people communicate their ideas or taste through image murals. An example is an individual who pays an artist to design and create a piece of art and uses it in his house. The quality that an artist can provide depends on the amount of fee and details the owner of the art is willing to pay. Different walls require different types of image murals. For example, a child room can be decorated with images that show creativity (Prigoff). For the photograph mural, there has to be adequate consultations between an artist and client. The client has to approve the pictures before the artist starts doing the work. However, in most cases pictures to be used in painting are provided by the client. In other cases, the artist draws the picture using a pencil before painting begins. Images can be scaled before painting is done. A group of artist specializes in photographic techniques paint without prior sketching. After completion, the artist uses a thin coat of varnish to cover the work from direct sunlight (UV light) or surface damage. Murals play an important role in bringing art to the public domain. Individuals who cannot go to an art gallery get the chance to view an artist work (Tse). The star dancer on pointe is an allegorical piece of artwork by French artist Edgar Degas.
The painting is in the Norton Simon Museum at 411 W Colorado Blvd, in Pasadena at the corner of Colorado Boulevard and Orange Groove. This piece of art stems from the period of 1878 to 1880 found under the European Art 19th century collection. The star is an oil painting on pastel and gouache mounted on board measuring (56.5 × 75.6 centimeters). The young girl in the painting probably fifteen years of age is performing a ballet dance. The dancer has worn a light blue dress decorated with orange flowers and orange hair band. The impression is of a live performance by experienced dancer pulling “a dancer on pointe” move.
As portrayed in the scenery, the dancer gestures to an empty side on the right side of the stage with her left arm. The painting is a unique balance of color, figure and movement. It has a fine composition fashioned from six different pieces of paper of which Degas added as he supposedly changed and enlarged the painting design.
Degas had noticed that the steps ballerinas took were of high ballet dancing skills. Through this painting, he powerfully expressed this discovery through the girl’s posture showing movement by rough brushstrokes and space on the right side of the stage. The young dancer strikes a position that is hard and almost impossible to sustain for more than a few seconds thus the name “on pointe”.
Formal elements in the
picture
The painting has used bright color shades of strokes reflected upstage. Bright colors in the picture bring out an energetic mood. There is a carefully blending of the dancer and her stage with the introduction of bright colors in the background to match her light blue dress. The dancer’s dress has shades of bright light blue color fading at the ages depicting movement on the stage.
The breaking and thick brushstrokes show a rough texture. Use of unfinished brushstrokes also depict movement and bring life to the dancer. The painting shows the stage and the ballet dancer from a two dimensions perspective. The patterns of the brushstrokes are uniform to bring out the movement upstage by the dancer. The balance of movement and color brings out harmony in the painting (Prigoff).
What the artist is trying to communicate
The artist is trying to illustrate the skill and beauty of ballet dance in his piece of work. He captures the skill of the dancer in a different position that is hard to maintain while performing. This is a clear indication of how ballet dancers trained and perfected the art of dance during the 19th century. Degas calls the dancer, a dancer on Pointe; this matches with how he tries to illustrate the skill of the dancer in his picture.
The beautiful light blue dress worn by the dancer shows the beauty of ballet dancing tradition. The dress carefully decorated with orange flowers and hair band blending with the mixture of color in the stage background. The application of movement and bright colors in the picture shows realism impressionists portrayed bringing out life in the picture. The artist final impression is of a live performance in one of the Operas he used to attend.
Historical content of the star and Edgar Degas
Degas was born in 1835, Paris France, in a large family with three brothers and his two sisters. He later on went to study in Ecole des Beaux Arts, in France, during his time in school, he made frequent visits to the Louvre museum to look and have an idea of the work of other masters the of art of which he inspirationally considered.
Degas became famous as one of the artists who produced the new modern painting of real life scenes in their pieces of art. Instead of painting historical mythology on historical events in the 17th to 18th century, Degas was easily stricken by the modern lifestyle. In most of his paintings, he used bright colors accompanied by broken brushwork to bring out the real impressions in his paintings.
Due to his style of painting, Louis Leroy a commentator and critique of artwork called artists like Degas impressionists. According to him, their pieces of work appeared sketchy depicting vivid movements unlike their fellow artists who used fine brush lines in their pieces of work. Degas organized the first ever impressionists exhibition with his group of artists in 1874, in Paris, bringing six of his artworks in the show. From his sketches, Degas was a very independent minded artist whose work he memorized to bring out the real picture as visualized from an outdoor activity. His effects of movement and light in most of his work at that time brought out his impressionist nature as depicted from his day in day out encounters.
In his Paris hometown, a hub of music, art and theatre, Degas went to see ballet dance as often. At the Opera in Paris, he watched ballet classes and opera performances making sketches on his notebook. He sketched the ballet dancers from preparation to performance so that he would remember details when painting. Degas would often invite dancers to his studio to sketch, sculpt and paint them.
Later on, he was allowed to backstage sketching rehearsals for performances. He enjoyed drawing the beautiful costumes the dancers wore, their movements, and effects of lights on stage and sets; this is how Degas came up with the painting of a young dancer the star; dance on Pointe, an artistic impression of a performance in the Opera.

John Biggers impressionists’ artwork In the early 20th century and 19th century, impressionists revolutionized artwork with their style of images depicting fleeting light and color.
Impressionism can be said to be one of the first modern art movement in painting as started and developed in Paris in the period of 1860. Its influence was significant as it spread in Europe and the United States. These artists were turning away from the old artistic impressions of fine finish and detail that inspired most artists at that time.
Impressionists aim was to capture the immediate effect of the scene to the attention of the seer. This style referred to as representational art because it did not necessarily portray a realistic depiction despite it dealing with real life scenes. Moreover, science in the 19th century began to discover that the human eye perception and understanding in the person’s brain were two very different things. These artists then capitalized in this discovery and chose to capture the impact of a scene as seen by the
eye. These artists loosened their brushwork lightening their palettes with very intense pure colors. They had abandoned traditional art view by avoiding the clarity of form that served to bring out the move from the least important elements of a picture as shown in the traditional view. At their debut, this style resulted to criticism accusing their work as unfinished and amateurish. Another artist who embraced this style apart from Degas is Edouard Manet. His pieces of work considered to be among the first pieces of modern artwork due to rough painting style. John Bigger’s work bridged the gap between impressionism and what Degas called realism. Realism as seen in Manet’s work inspired a whole generation of impressionists that embraced everyday life subject matters. Uses of unorthodox and bold approaches to express traditional subjects like placing nude women in a garden scene with fully clothed men were prominent in his work (Prigoff). Moreover, John Biggers is one of the greatest impressionists. He mastered natural light, painting in different times of the day capturing changing conditions. Simple impressions or subtle hints were prominent as his subject using soft brushstrokes and unmixed colors for the creation of vibrating natural effects. This style brought life in nature on canvas. In his painting, he did not wait for the paint to dry, instead applied successive layers on wet paint producing softer edges, and blurred boundaries three-dimensional plane.
Works of art that show impressionism include Vetheuil in the fog by John Biggers. The painting offered a subtle, distinct impression of a figurative form of artwork expressed by quick brush application on canvas to capture a landscape image before the change of sunlight.
Conclusion

Murals are used in achieving political objectives in countries across Africa and America. They are also used in enticing the public towards some business or social place. In other societies, murals are used in creating propaganda and control the masses. Murals provide income to the artist besides giving the public an aesthetic environment. In times of crisis or disaster, murals are used as a mean of communication thus bringing the affected communities together. In the long run murals are used in dialogues and conferences. They preserve a community’s culture from one generation to another. The story below shows the importance of mural’s work

Work Cited
Prigoff, James. Walls of Heritage, Walls of Pride. New York: Pomegranate, 2000.
Tse, Theodore. Painting Murals Fast & Easy. Georgia: North Light Books, 2005.