Blanton ODB

Visiting the Blanton Art Museum was one of my favorite places we have visited in this class. I found many interesting paintings and sculptures that I learned a lot from. I learned about leadership through the artists who created the objects, as well, I was able to relate many of the actual paintings and sculptures to the leadership qualities I hope to attain. This concept illustrates the main purpose of this class, unity. I was able to unify things in an art museum created many years ago to our lives in the present and future.

The first artist I came across while walking around the Blanton was Albert Durer, a German painter and mathematician. He was born and died in Nuremberg, Germany, and one of his greatest accomplishments is being known as one of the greatest creators of old master prints. He would often create his prints in series. Some of his works include the Crucifixion, shown to the left, and St. Jerome, shown to the right. His hard work and determination paid off as his reputation across Europe became well known while he was still in his twenties. Durer is also known for being the greatest artist of the Renaissance in Northern Europe. He did a great job conveying the mood of the time in his work, especially in a time of famine, plague, and social and religious conflict. This shows how he relates to his audience and the common folk by showing his empathy for them through his works. Great leaders must also do a good job at relating to their audience and seeing things their followers’ perspective in order to be successful in accomplishing their goals.

Another artist I was able to witness the works of was Antonio Berni. He was a neofigurative artist, which is described as an expressionist revival in modern form of figurative art, from Argentina. Berni was a painter, an illustrator, and an engraver. When learning about Berni, a great characteristic that stood out to me was his creativity. He did not just look at the style of the time and paint similar styles to what others were painting. Instead he took influence from others such as Giogio de Chirico and Rene Magritte but created his own idea out of these influences. This is also an extremely important skill for leaders to acquire. Leaders must be able to be creative and take a risk to make something new and different to keep their followers with them. They also must use the skill Berni did of combining many ideas together. When leaders are leading a group and everyone does not have the same opinion, the leader must be able to find a medium and make compromises. Some of Antonio Berni’s works include Ramona, to the left, and Curtain, to the right.

One last artist also featured in the Blanton that stood out as a leader to me was Cildo Meireles, a Brazilian artist and sculptor. I loved his sculpture titled Missão, how to build cathedrals. This work was created in 1987 with 600,000 coins, 800 communion wafers, 2000 cattle bones, 80 paving stones, and black cloth. This creation is not only very interesting to look at but is very symbolic. He makes references to missions in South America as an attempt to convert the citizens to Catholicism. Meireles also establishes the relationship between wealth, religion, and agricultural exploitation. The tower of communion wafers represents religion connecting the lands and the heavens. I found this work to be intriguing because, again, it captures an aspect that is extremely important to the common person. He expresses the feelings of the people on the missions, and anyone can relate in the present day as well because religion is a popular subject. Meireles demonstrates his willingness to take a risk. This sculpture is not something you would commonly see in a museum, but he decided to take a risk and put himself out there and it paid off. His works gained him a widely accredited reputation across the world. The ability to take risks is also a great leadership quality. You won’t always know the outcomes, but taking risks occasionally is a necessity.

As you can see, from visiting the Blanton Art Museum, I learned many things from various works and the artists. I learned important leadership qualities such as relating to your followers, being creative, and having the ability to take risks.