Aman Elemanov

History of Art Class

Painting 1

The first painting is obviously related to the economics field as it represents a

straightforward relation to money. Money Changer by Rembrandt of 1627 belongs
to Baroque art period, as all Rembrandt’s paintings do. There is an evidence of
belonging to Baroque period: the use of tenebrism – the extreme contrast of light
and dark (https://www.britannica.com/art/tenebrism). In this work of art, a tax
collector is depicted as the central figure of the painting. Some people suggest that
it was Rembrandt’s farther who was a prototype of the tax collector. The man is
dressed in rich white-and-gold clothing and it represents his power and wealth.
Back in the days, the job of a tax collector was prestigious. Moreover, we can
almost see the background: it is quite visible that in an open cabinet there is a
bottle with liquid. It implies and confirms that the tax collect led quite a luxurious
life (https://www.1st-art-gallery.com/Rembrandt-Van-Rijn/The-Money-
Changer.html). The central part, on the contrary, is very detailed. We can see
man’s wrinkles on his face. There is a coin in his right arm and a candle in the left.
His strong facial expression demonstrates his focused attention on that coin. His
surroundings consist of numerous papers, ledgers and other notes. So, the artist
wanted to say that the tax collector was overloaded with work. I chose this painting
as a starting point for two reasons. The first is that when one talks about economy,
one immediately imagines money. The second reason is that this overloading with
work reminded me of the history of accounting (which is related to economics).
Several decades ago, before technological revolution and computerization,
accountants also spent a lot of time calculating numbers and posting those numbers
to numerous books and ledgers.
 Painting 2

The Banker’s Table (1877) by William Harnett is another painting which I

associated with the Economics field. William Harnett was an American realist
artist, whose specialization was depicting still life with fruits and vegetables.
However, on this painting one can observe the deviation of commonly-accepted
representation of still life. Harnett illustrated manufactured objects on the table
(https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/10994 ). We can see a couple
of thick books, the ink, the card, and feather pen. The currency is also depicted on
the painting. The coins are rolled in a row and paper bills are under these coins.
Probably, the coins and dollar bills refer us to the name of the painting because
there was no sufficient evidence that The Banker’s Table was commissioned by or
painted for a particular banker. One of the main technical characteristics of still-life
artist is the ability to illustrate different textures of the objects. On this painting,
Harnett depicted leather-bound volumes, stained ink bottle, and much-used quill
pen showing the effect of age.

Painting 3

The third, fourth, fifth, and sixth paintings selected by me for this presentation are
connected to each other. I will start describing The Gleaners by Jean-François
Millet. The painting was created in 1857, it belongs to Realism. Therefore, it
represents the reality of that times. Millet illustrated three peasant women in the
field. It is worthy to note that the artist managed to represent difficult state of lives
of those women using not restrained brush (https://smarthistory.org/millet-the-
gleaners/). The painting looks soft, but the story behind it is real and harsh. The
evening sky looks nice and gorgeous but those three figures are earthy (Laurie
Adams, Art Across Time, vol.2, p.741). Millet makes the viewer notice strong
shoulders and diagonal lines across women’s bodies. These details emphasize the
hard labor which was done by those peasants. Those women glean the rests of
grains after the field was harvested (https://www.theartstory.org/artist/millet-jean-
francois/artworks/#pnt_3). In fact, we can notice a huge pack of those grains in the
background and the field supervisor on a horse in the right corner. And nobody
pays attention to these tree women trying their best to provide their families with
some food. Moreover, the faces of those women are hidden. Maybe the artist
wanted to show that those peasants are not precise women in the countryside, but
the faces of all poor working-class society. I think this painting is related to
economics, or more precisely to social economics. The labor force is some of the
essential terms in the field of Economics. Never did economy function without
those who sells his or her labor. The harsh reality illustrated in this work of art can
describe how the society and economy were linked in those days: the big harvest
was then supplied to huge mills and then the flour was supplied to Parisian rich
people. At the same time, peasants were surviving with little food and bad working
conditions. In general, economics is the study of how society manages its scarce
resources. Labor and the product of labor (harvest) are also scarce recourses.
Nineteenth-century France was a land of peasant farms, with some handicraft
industry, as we can derive from this painting. Paris, on the other hand, already had
some industry. Throughout the years, the labor supply, working conditions and
working class as a whole changed, especially in urban areas significantly. And this
is the matter of the next painting.

Painting 4

(This work of art was already presented on the previous class. However, I chose it
because it emphasizes the point which I want to impress). Factories at Clichy
(1887) by Vincent van Gogh belongs to post-impressionism movement, which
usually is characterized by paintings which depict the world in a more subjective
way, in a way that artist sees the world. The artist depicted an expanse of factories
billowing smoke into the air in the industrial suburb of Clichy, northwest of Paris.
The scene is divided into three horizontal bands of fields, factories, and sky, while
in the middle distance, two tiny figures are visible in the field
(https://www.slam.org/collection/objects/3652/). Van Gogh’s ordered system of
brushwork is recognizable here. On the previous painting we observed non-
industrial France. On the other hand, Vincent van Gogh represents on his painting
what was going on during the late 18th – beginning of 19th centuries. The first
steps of industrial revolution can be noticed on this work of art. In my opinion, van
Gogh emphasizes the power of industrialization by depicting two tiny human
silhouettes in front of huge factories, whose smoke is rising to the clear sky.

Painting 5

Bathers at Asnieres (1884) by Georges Seurat is another post-impressionist

painting. Georges Seurat is known as the founder of the movement called
“pointillism”. His famous A Sunday on La Grande Jatte which is an example of
pointillism, was created a little after Bathers at Asniere. On this painting, the early
inclination of pointillism can be noticed. The work of art depicts leisure time,
which was often a theme in post-impressionist paintings. Looking at the figures,
one can notice that they are not dressed in fancy dresses and big hats. In fact,
Asnieres was an industrial suburb of Paris. Here we see more working-class and
lower-middle-class figures in shirtsleeves and straw hats or bowlers. In the
background the smokestacks of the factories at Clichy serve as a reminder of labor,
even during the men’s leisure time (https://smarthistory.org/introduction-to-neo-
impressionism-part-ii/). Above the buildings are six tall chimneys. It is the same
factories, which I discussed in the previous painting by van Gogh. On the both
sides of the bridge there are tall trees and, half hidden among them, a couple of
houses, white-walled, red-roofed. These houses and chimneys might indicate that
the life was going on while people were resting on the bank of the Seine river. On
Seurat’s painting, the people do not talk to each other, or somehow interact with
each other. Instead, being residents of industrial area of Paris, they are labor-
suppliers, in other words, they are workers. They just take their time and enjoy
their leisure before going back to work. It even looks time has stopped for them,
while the rest of the world functioning as before.

Painting 6

The Factory at Asnieres (1887) by Vincent van Gogh provides the viewer with
more insight look to the factory at industrial area of Paris. The mood of the
painting is no longer light, quiet, and calm, as was represented on Factories at
Clichy. Here the work of art depicts the backyard of a factory. On the sides, the
viewer can see, probably, packs of wool – the mean of production (which is also
the economic term). There are not precise descriptions of what was the production
mean illustrated on the painting. However, I assumed it was wool because the 18th
century has been marked by invention of a looming machine. And since then, the
loom was actively used in production. At the center of the painting, we can see a
human figure, probably the worker who prepares the production mean for being
processed into a produced good later. The gritty road, wooden barrels, low roofs –
all of these demonstrate that the artist depicted the early stage of factories
industrialization, which would reach its highest peak later in the 20th century.