History Of Art - Identity - critical readings

The Arnolfini Portrait

Panofsky - Van Eyck's signature implies it's a wedding portrait
Koster - memorial portrait
Carroll - Van Eyck plays upon the idea of a contract to highlight a legal event

Self-portrait along the borderline between Mexico and the USA

Deffenbach - USA stands in direct opposition to Mexico
Fernandez - the Mexican folk art conveys not "anatomical perfection but rather grace, character and the inventiveness of the artist"

Portrait Bust of Louis XIV

Simon Schama - "while Michelangelo made God-men, Bernini made men-men

Self (1991)

Will Self - the blood reflects the alcohol and the body, the bread, thus perhaps the piece also reflects the eucharist (it was also shown alongside pieces of Quinn's work made from bread).

La Grande Odalisque

Berger - men act and women appear
Beth Harris "this is a western idea of what a harem would be like... it's a French fantasy"

Alison Lapper Pregnant

Pissarro - praises Quinn for a "searching, sympathetic eye"
Josefson - critiques Quinn for not questioning why she need adapt
Quinn - "I saw people in the British Museum looking at fragmented statues (the Elgin marbles) [...] but if a someone whose real body looked like that came into this room, those same people wouldn't know how to react."

Benin Plaques

Jones - Made "in the spirit of community and faith by anonymous craftsmen"

No Woman, No Cry

Correia - "to show everything of the murder would blind viewers to the events beyond that moment"
Susan sontag - discusses desensitisation and normalisation of horror - thus Ofili's choice to not depict the murder almost has greater impact

Ghent Altarpiece

Panofsky - "it fuses the three persons, God the father, God the Son, and God the Holy Ghost into one Image which is dogmatically equivalent to the whole trinity"

Crucifixion

Dr Fox - blue was once used by the Catholic Church to represent heaven - perhaps adding to the sense of hope created by the not-black background

Süleymaniye Mosque

Babinger - the 'grand-master of the Turkish Renaissance"

“Turkish Michelangelo”

Heydar Aliyev Center

Wainwright - not a positive force for Baku as it "caused forced evictions"

MAXXI

Moore - "a modern interpretation on the many layers of history" of Rome