Palmer Museum of Art

On Friday, my English class went to the Palmer Museum of Art to look closely at the wonderful paintings and sculptures and to analyze them in a rhetorical way. It was my first time ever going to this museum, let alone any art museum so I was pretty fascinated. The downstairs of the museum was filled with Italian and Asian paintings and ceramic pots and vases. The Italian paintings were traditional and old and had the same idea. The Japanese paintings were different and smaller. Then upstairs, the art got more interesting – at least for me. Filled with much more modernized paintings by American artists. One artwork that stood out to me was a 1997 painting called Marilyn. The artist was by an American named Faith Ringold who was born in 1930. This painting drew my attention because it was obviously a portray of the famous and beautiful icon, Marilyn Monroe. Ringgold uses gouche, a type of painting, to create this masterpiece. This painting is not the average painting of Marilyn Monroe, because in this case her skin color is brown. After researching, I learned that Faith Ringgold is an African American artist. She was a big contributor and activist in feminist and anti-racist movements.

            Marilyn Monroe is seen as a major sex symbol in the 1950’s to 1960’s. She’s a white, blonde beauty that men drooled over and women aspired to be. I think Ringgold changes Marilyn’s skin color to emphasize that skin color does not affect beauty. I believe that this painting really reflects Ringgold’s strong attitude towards feminism and racism. She is making a claim that, African Americans can be just as beautiful and skin is simply just a color. This painting connects with my emotions because although I would not call myself a Marilyn Monroe fan, I am interested in pop culture. Ringgold creates a pop culture piecework that has a lot of meaning. She chose Marilyn because almost everyone has heard of her and she is primarily known for her looks. I think choosing Marilyn Monroe was a perfect example.

            I really enjoyed my visit to the Palmer Museum of Art. It was a fun way to do this assignment. I am a hands-on learner, and anything that is outside of the classroom, I usually enjoy. I definitely can see myself visiting the museum again in the future!