Author Question: Discuss Ilya and Emilia Kabakov's The Happiest Man, considering the category of art it represents, ... (Read 64 times)

rl · **on:** Jun 23, 2018

Discuss Ilya and Emilia Kabakov's The Happiest Man, considering the category of art it represents, how it employs the space, and the concept of the work.

What will be an ideal response?

Question 2

Consider the statues of Menkaure and Khamerernebty and the Burghers of Calais. Describe the medium of each of these works and identify each by artist or culture. Then discuss the similarities and differences in these representations of the human form in relation to the themes of each work and its relationship to the viewer.

What will be an ideal response?

Zebsrer · **Reply #1 on:** Jun 23, 2018

Answer to Question 1

The room in Ilya and Emilia Kabakov's The Happiest Man is a space set apart from the rest of the world, a place of refuge, discovery, secrets, or even imprisonment. The Kabakovs transformed a vast space into a darkened movie theater, complete with rows of folding theater seats and a large screen on which footage from old films played nonstop. Within this theater they constructed and furnished a one-room living space. With this work, the Kabakovs created what they call a total installation, a work of art that can be entered so that viewers are immersed in the experience.

Answer to Question 2

The carved stone sculpture Menkaure and Khamerernebty depicts a pharaoh and his royal wife. Employing the conventions of Egyptian sculpture, the couple are portrayed with idealized, youthful bodies and similar facial features with stiff, frozen arms. This formal, frontal pose suggests the power of the rulers and their serene, eternal existence. In contrast, Rodin's cast bronze sculpture Burghers of Calais memorializes the heroic 14th-century townsmen, who offered their lives as a ransom during a siege. The sculpture is an emotional presentation of individuals facing death and defeat. They are arranged in an irregular circle, requiring the viewers to pace alongside of them, for there is not an angle from which all of their faces are visible.