He is important.. cause he looks important

I had a few things that I did not get the chance to discuss during the class on Friday.

One thing that I really wanted to argue with was the opinion that people needed to know art to know that he was important. We later decided that the painting of George Washington could be analyzed with our extensive art knowledge and we would be able to tell he was vastily important.

I think you could know nothing about George Washington, and nothing about art and still tell that he was a rather important guy. You probably cannot tell he was president, but you could atleast tell he was important.

The painting showed a nice room. With a clean cut man wearing fancy clothing. He seems like a nobleperson of Europe. Sean discussed how we could look at the color scheme and realize that it was the color of royality. I think even if you were not an art expert, even on the subconcious level people get that feeling. There was a lot of gold in the painting and the frame was made from a gold-ish looking material.

Another topic I wanted to discuss but did not get the chance was Abe Lincoln painting with the crack in it. I think people made it into a very big deal that he was smiling. First of all, in a painting a subject can be set to look how ever the artist wants. Abe Lincoln dealt with a lot of serious things during his presidency. I think it would have been absurd to see a painting where Abe Lincoln is giving a thumbs up and smiling with everything that he had to go through.

The last thing I wanted to discuss was the museum its self. I have decided that Smithsonians are a different type of museum. They do not have a board of trustees who expect any sort of pay off if the mesuem is filled with visitors which means a bigger profit. Therefore I feel that the museums have a lot more leeway in what they feel like putting into an exhibit and the amount of dead space they have.