WP3: Statement of Purpose

The item I will be writing my rhetorical analysis on for writing project three will be a sculpture entitled "Pieta," created by Bruno Lucchesi. The statue itself is composed of copper, stands on a cement base, and is located just beside the University's art museum. The subject matter of the piece includes an old man who appears to be dead or dying, a younger woman lying over his legs who appears to be mourning his loss, and then about half the figure of a bed. The meaning of this piece is dictated by the similarities and differences between this Pieta, and the classic sculpture Pieta created by Michelangelo located in Vatican City. This point is made by the context surrounding the statue, so that is what I plan on being the main focus of my paper. My primary audience for this project will be my instructor and therefore my purpose for this paper should be to demonstrate my knowledge and skills with rhetorically analyzing objects. It should be written to specifications of the assignment to give me the best chance at a good grade. The most likely secondary audience will be my classmates as they all have links to my blog page on their own blogs and may look to mine in comparison with their own. This also means my paper should be composed in a style in which both my instructor and my fellow students can relate with. The context of this paper in general is the final writing project for my English class this year. It will be turned in right before Christmas break and will be worth a large amount of points out of my final grade.

WP3: Rough Draft

The sculpture I was asigned for this final writing project is entitled Pieta and was created by a man named Bruno Lucchesi in 1970. It is composed of bronze and rests upon an cement block base. At it's highest point, the sculpture stands anout five feet off the ground and is about six feet long. It is located to the side of the art gallary and is surrounded on three sides by shrubs about six feet tall. The subject matter of the sculpture itself includes what appears to be an old, sickly looking man, possibly dead, lying in a bed with a woman draped over his legs, face down, possibly crying, with her hand up sort of reaching towards him. Luccesi is trying to make the agrument through this piece that nomatter who we are or where we come from, we will one day lose those who mean the most to us so we must charish them while they are alive. He most strongly makes this point through the context surrounding the artwork itself including the sculpture's location, title and emotions.

I was able to get the theme of "loss of a loved one" on my own before I had done any furthur research on the piece. When I began to explore the meaning of the title Pieta, I discovered that not only did this sculpture convey a seen of "Loss of a loved one" but that it also mirrored the theme of a classic sculpture also entitled Pieta, located in Vatican City and composed by the great Michelangelo. His piece also included a woman mourning the loss of a man, but the man in this case was Jesus Christ after his crusifixion and the woman was his mother Marry. The simularities and matching titles ar too great to be just couincidences, but there are also several striking differences present, so I believe Luccesi wanted the audience to make the connection between these two sculptures, but then derive meaning from the differences between them. This is where I came up with the idea of "No matter who we are or where we come from" coupled with the obvious theme of loss presented by the subject matter itself. If we look at the dead men in each of the pieces, one is Jesus Christ, a young man who obviously meant the world to his mother Marry, and was brutally murdered. If we look at the man in Luccesi's Pieta, we see a much older individual who seems o have endured a much more peacefull death, likely due to age. The difference is who these men were in life, but the simularity is that they were both valued in life but are now no longer alive. There are also differences between the two women. The women in Michelangelo's Pieta if obviously the mans mother, and has jesus cradeled in her lap. The other sculpture instead has the wommen draped over the top of the dead man and also appears younger, which suggests that maybe she was his daughter. This shows a difference in relationship during these individuals lives, but none the less, they are both here mourning the death of these loved ones.

Prior to this project I have ben on campus for almost a full semester and walk by the art museum almost every day on the way to class. I had seen many of the sculptures my classmates were assigned many times, but oddly I had never even known th sculpture I was assigned, Pieta, even existed. This is completly due to the location of this piece of artwork. Most of the sculptures on camus are located out in the middle of open courtyards, visible from all sides and from long distances away. Pieta is tucked away right to the side of the art museum, surrounded on three sides by thick shrubs all standing about six feet high. The only way to see the statue completly is to actually walk off the sidewalk, up beside the building. I found this interesting, as it was obviously no accident that this one statue was put here like this. Whoever placed this statue here wanted the audience to have to make an effort in order to see the full content of this piece.

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My sculpture, Pieta, is by a sculptor by the name of Bruno Lucchesi. Lucchesi was born in 1926 in Lucca, Itally. He would later study at the Art Institute of Lucca and afterward worked as an assistant professor at Florence University. He moved to New York in 1958 and since held several teaching jobs and currently travels the nation giving workshops.

His sculpture Pieta was completed in 1970. The title "Pieta," is also the title of a sculpture by the famous artist Michelangelo, located in Vatican City. This statue depicts the body of Jesus Christ on the lap of his mother Mary after the crucifixion.

I was unable to find too much information on the background behind Lucchesi's Pieta, but I do believe that Lucchesi's piece is directly influenced by the classic work of Michelangelo due to several key similarities. Both pieces include a man who appears to be dead. Both pieces also include a young woman in grief of this loss and in some way in body contact with the lost one. Both women also have their heads in a down position and both men appear unresponsive. Because of the fact that Lucchesi named his sculpture identically to this very famous piece, I am guessing he wanted the audience to draw conclusions about his work based on the similarities and differences between the two pieces. If Michelangelo's work reflects the death of Jesus Christ, then we should look at the relationship between Jesus and Mary to determine the possible relationship between the man and the woman in Lucchesi's sculpture. For example we can infer that since Jesus and Mary were family and that Mary loved Jesus very much, that perhaps the man and the woman in Lucchesi's sculpture are also family and loved ones. The fact that Jesus died due to the pain of a crucifixion could also mean that the man in Luccesi's sculpture in some way died in an agonizing way or had been suffering. If we look at who Jesus was as a person, one could say that he gave himself for the world, so Lucchesi could also have intended this man to appear in the same light, that he was a selfless and giving person till the end.

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My sculpture, Pieta, seems to have a very high focus on reprresenting another object. The sculpture creates a scene, that in high detail depicts one person, mourning the recent loss of a loved one, likely due to age. It is important to note that almost anyone can take this message from the piece without any in depth analysis. This means that the artist wanted to place a higher emphasis on the message this piece sends rather than the artistic values it possesses. Lucchesi uses several mechanics to accomplish this. First, he uses a high level of detail on both people, so the audience is not just able to tell they are people, but also that one is an old man, one is a young woman, that the old man is dead or dying, and that the woman is crying. Next, Lucchesi chooses to limit the number of elements included. There is only the old man, the woman, and the bed. which almost appear to be floating in space. This acts to isolate the scene and eliminate all destractions in the audience's mind. Finnaly, he chooses to use a solid, neutral colored material which does not draw much attention. This puts the focus on the items it forms rather than the material itself.

Pieta is succesful as an art object too as it manages to incorporate several artistic values. Firstly, the piece includes a high sense of balance as the man is located on one edge of the bed and the woman is located on the other. Contrast is another element and is accomplished between the old man, and the young woman. Thirdly, visual heiarchy is used as Pieta tells a story, bringing the audience's eye from one object to the next. Lastly, we can also see that there is a tension present, as the womans hand is frozen in an akward position, reaching towards the man.

The location of this piece is of particular interest. Prior to this project, I personally had never even seen this piece of artwork, as it is located on the side of the art museum, surrounded on three sides by six foot high shrubs. It is likely that this sculpture was placed here for several reaasons. The first thing is that Pieta does convey a quite depressing message and it is likely the University did not just want to stick it out in the middle of a courtyard. Next, the sculpture has a very unique shape and the shrubs surrounding it on three sides act to limit the viewing opportunity to only one side. This possibly is to ensure that the audience see in the sculpture what the artist had intended. Lastly, the shrubs surrounding the sculpture almost always keep it in the shade, possibly playing furture on the already "dark" mood of the piece.

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This sculpture is entitled pieta, and is by Bruno Lucchesi finished in 1970. The sculpture stands at its highest point about five feet high. It is around six feet long and three feet wide. With the exception of its concrete base, pieta appears to be completly molded out of some sort of metal. Its texture is relatively smooth and holds sort of an extreemly faded dark green color. It is located to the side of the art gallary and is surrounded on three sides by shrubs about six feet tall. The subject matter of the sculpture itself includes what appears to be an old, sickly looking man, possibly dead, lying in a bed with a woman draped over his legs, face down, possibly crying, with her hand up sort of reaching towards him. Based on what I saw, I would say that the pieta sculpture is telling a narative of someone loosing a loved one. If I had to make an assumption based on the detail, I would guess this was a father and daughter, due to the wrinkles on the sitting individual, and the long hair of the person laying over him. What leads me to believe they are related is the closeness this girl must feel that she is laying over this person. What leads me to believe that he might be dead is that he appears to be unresponsive to the girl on his legs. I get the feeling that the daughter is crying based on the fact that her face is down while her hand is reaching up, like she cant deal with the grief from her loss. Rhetoricly, I feel Lucchesi is trying to convey some sort of message about either grief or loss. I would say something to the effect of, "All things come to an end," or "We will eventually lose even those who we are closest to." Due to the way in which the girl seems uncontrolably upset, we might even assume that she wasnt prepared for this to happen and that she wishes she had more time with him. The rhetorical message could then be something like. "spend time with your familly while you can." There had to be some motivation for Lucchesi to want to convey this message, so I would assume this sculpture relates to a personal experience. For rhetorical strategies, I think that vectors of attention, location, body positions and texture play key roles in conveying the argument.