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HISTORY OF BIG SUR COAST

  A new dawn:              Locals had long called for a road along the coast to aid shipwreck victims and improve access to isolated communities.  Construction started in 1919, and 18 years, 32 tonnes of dynamite and 33 bridges later, the Big Sur stretch of California Highway One was complete.               The implausible route, with its myriad twists and turns and dramatic drop-offs, became an instant classic.  The author and painter Henry Miller fled to Big Sur in 1944 and stayed for nearly two decades.  Photographer Edward Weston and Beat Generation bard Jack Kerouac fell under its spell.  By the late 1960’s San Francisco’s counterculture revolution had swept down to Big Sur, and the likes of Joan Baez and Joni Mitchell performed on the cliff tops.              ...
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Arena Chapel FRESCOES

 

Master Storyteller:

Arena Chapel FRESCOES


                 The powerful effect of the chapel lies more than anything in Giotto’s narrative skill.  He laid out the chosen scenes in chronological sequence, beginning at the top of the walls with the lives of Mary’s  mother and father, Anna and Joachim, and the Virgin’s early life.  The earthly life of Jesus is depicted along the central tier, finishing with the Passion cycle and Resurrection.  Giotto also placed thematically related scenes above and below each other: the miracle of Jesus raising Lazarus from the dead, for example, is above the resurrection of Christ, the first scene foreshadowing the second.

                  Selecting the key moment in each story – the reaction to a miracle, Judas’s betrayal of Jesus with a kiss – Giotto imagined how the characters must have acted and felt, and represented the emotion of the story through their facial expressions, physical gestures and postures.  In the lamentation, Jesus’s followers wring their hands, their faces tense with grief, as Mary holds the body of her dead son.  Elements such as folds in clothing, horizon lines, looks and gestures direct the viewer’s attention to the central event.  Giotto’s innovative use of light and shade to model solid figures, and the diagonal lines to create depth, added realism, as did the contemporary styles of dress and architecture, all helping to draw viewers into the drama unfolding on the walls around them.

The art of storytelling:

Arena Chapel FRESCOES


Giotto’s innovative style was an instant hit with visitors to the chapel, striking an emotional chord as well as an aesthetic one.  He laid out the story in almost cinematic style.

Location: Piazza Eremitani, 8, 35121 Padova PD, Italy

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