When visiting the MoMA I felt like I looked a lot not only at the art but also at the other people viewing the art in the museum. When reading Barnet’s writing on what art is and how we described it, I kept going back and thinking about the people at the museum. It was interesting to notice what pieces of art certain people would glance at and walk past and which ones people would stare at and crowd around. I related this to the way we view art and beauty. Many people would walk past abstract pieces and then stop in front of a piece that was more socially acceptable as beautiful. While doing this I realized that we all do this and it is somewhat due to our perceptions of what art is and what we believe is beautiful. At the MoMA we first went to look for the exhibit on cubism spend a good deal of time there. It was interesting to see the progression of Picasso’s work as he began dabbling into cubic designs before diving into the cubism movement. Many of these pieces weren’t on first glance beautiful. When viewed at a distance you could see the general outline of the subject and the mind began to connect the lines and create a better picture of what the eyes were seeing. When viewed up close you could see the detailed brushwork and intricate geometric designs of the pieces. While viewing these pieces I tried to ask myself questions about both the subjects of the works and the possible messages or ideas that could surface in the artwork. As I walked around the room and viewed the progression on pieces throughout the movement I began to get a better understanding as to what I was feeling. Each piece gave a distinct emotion or feeling to the viewer. While the viewer may not fully understand what is being represented in the piece they are able to get that message. Not everything has to be clearly shown for you to get your message across to an audience. Through the rest of the museum I tried to continue asking questions to myself about both the artists and the artworks. While I wasn’t one hundred percent engaged by the two readings I was able to use parts of them to open my mind to the different forms of artwork throughout the time periods shown. These readings also helped spark questions during the Night at the Museum event as I looked at the different pieces in the galleries.

I apologize again for my late posting.

Eli McClain