Personal Narrative: My Visit To De Young Museum

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18 November 2011 Historic Site Visit (de Young Museum) My visit to the de Young Museum was quite an interesting one. Not only did I see numerous paintings, furniture, and decorative art on the second floor, but I also learned some fascinating historical information about each piece and the different periods each artwork originated from, starting with the colonial period till 1900. All the different types of art from different periods in the ten galleries range from the 16th to the 19th century and are comprised of objects by our Native Americans and their cultures, immigrants and their descendants, and all the colonists from Europe. These ten galleries exhibit different visions of America, ideas from different cultures, and the diversity…show more content…
After the Civil War, United States commenced the greatest territorial, economic, and population expansion in the nation’s history. Following the manifest destiny and America’s expansion, natural resources and industrial factories proved to be essential in the economic growth of United States. This Gilded Age period was to capture the extraordinary material success and excess of the time when America was beginning to bring in foreign tastes in the form of art and designs. In this period a division between urban and rural life and the difference between the poor and the wealthy was seen as a dark period. Women were being portrayed as exotic and erotic while men were viewed as a warrior or hunter in their various professions. This gallery offered some exciting paintings and some silver objects that emphasized the artists’ intentions about the Gilded Age. The Sphinx of the Seashore by Elihu Vedder shows a female sphinx lying by the seashore with mountains and ruins in the background and pieces of debris lying on the seashore. The all-devouring sphinx seems like she’s lying over the remains of creation which typifies the destructive side of nature. This portrays female power during the Gilded Age and shows that men themselves with all their inventions must one day disappear from the face of the earth. The Sonata by Irving Ramsay Wiles portrays two females in beautiful dresses, one playing the piano and the other a violin. It portrays women with talent and charisma and gives us a sense that women shouldn’t be underestimated under any circumstances. Males from the Gilded Age were also portrayed in a number of paintings. The Lone Scout by Albert Pinkham Ryder showed strength and skill in a man on a horse. It portrays the man as a hunter and he looks very warrior-like. Study for Indians Hunting Buffalo by Albert Bierstadt was another powerful portrayal of
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