The Use of Mirrors in the Art - Essay Example

? Mirrors have been used in art to show the desire of personal grooming and the desire of inner growth. It is human nature to want to be physically appealing and attractive to the other sex. The symbolism of internal reflection has existed since the beginning of time. There can be no reflection without enlightenment and no reflection without light. "If thy want to know thyself, look into a mirror". From Egypt to Japan, from Greece to Christian Europe, mirrors have been symbolically important. The hieroglyphic texts on the pyramid walls show the use of mirrors (Lazzari & Schlessier 100). The Japanese used mirrors as a sign of fertility. There were pools of mirrors made as offering grounds. An ancient mirror found at a Japanese Shrine showed two cranes in a nest. This is still the symbol used today for long life and marital fidelity. When two people get married they are given 100 Japanese cranes. Greek mythology used the mirror as a sign of wisdom and inner truth. Apollo was known to ask others to use a mirror to see their inner soul. They were a symbol of inner knowledge. The Greek God Narcissist looked so often in a mirror that he thought he was perfect thus narcissistic. Mirrors have been made from the smoothness of hard stones to the polished metals of bronze, copper and gold up until the discovery of glassblowing in the 15th century when mirrors became popular. Mirrors were used in European art with the development of Christianity. The symbols of beauty, inner-knowledge, vanity, and fertility of the mirror are expressed. As they became more popular and more accessible, mirrors were used in self portraits and in paintings. It is an important point to make that might not be clear. As the church became the controlling facture in Europe, there started to be sub-cultures. It can be explained with music. All pieces of music were written for the church. "Folk songs" were written with the same music but with different words. As with music, the mirror was used to show two aspects: one aspect done for the church and a second aspect done for the people. The symbols and position of the mirror will be looked at in the 15 and 16th century then it will be compared to the 19th 20th century where the church no longer controlled culture across Europe. Van Eyck's, Marriage portrait of Giovanni Arnolfini and his wife (Lazzari & Schlesier 181). The mirror, showing 180° vision of the room, shows the full window and how bright it is outside. There is a third person in the mirror. Some say it is a self portrait of Van Eyck. The frame has the scenes of Christ. This is a perfect illustration of church, fertility, light, enlightenment and the mixture of society with the Church. Diego Velazquez, the Spanish painter born in 1656, painted the scene The Maids of Honor. It shows a group of children and their servants, the child of Philip IV, the king of Spain, is watching Velazquez paint an oil canvas. The viewer has to look carefully to find the secret of the painting. On the back wall, he can see the reflexion in the mirror of a couple. He notices that there are the children looking forward and someone in the hallway who is looking in. The man and woman in the mirror are the parents of the princess, the King and Queen of Spain. Philip IV was in the last years of his life and did not want to be painted. There is speculation as if it is the royal couple being painted. Vermeer's Girl with a Pearl Earring shows purity. Her earring is a sign of what is going on in her world. The women in his paintings are educated, knowledgeable and enlightened. The light displayed by the earring is bright as a mirror. One can imagine seeing his own reflexion. Most of the young women in his paintings wear pearl earrings. This one has a mirror like quality. Though Degas shows his danseurs in mirrors, he has not left the impressionist school in his later painting, At the Milliner, (Lazzari & Schlesier 60). It must be noted that the woman is looking into a mirror that we cannot see. We know it is a mirror because her friend is looking away. It would have been rude had there been a person present rather than a mirror. He has one painting , Mme Jeantaud at the Mirror, where she is visible but her surrounding are completely obliterated as though she has nothing in her life. He is playing with colour. For a moment the viewer only sees black. This is the beginning of existentialism in literature or the influence of cubism to come. The emotion of her life is sad and full of feeling. Manet also expresses this in his Before the Mirror. All sense of exterior emotion has been eliminated. The realistic sense of the inner feeling has become an impression. Just to introduce one modern painting, Picasso's The Pregnant woman in front of the mirror, represents fertility, inner peace, the duality of enlightenment. Emotions are expressed through shapes and color. Movement shows inner growth. Light is represented by the different uses of colors. He keeps the initial shape and outline of the mirror and the woman which keep the symbol of the mirror representing fertility. She is confronted with her own death as she reaches out. She is no longer a young girl but has reached adulthood. She is confronted with her own vanity as she sees the distortion of her body but is tranquil with the outcome of motherhood. Western early painting used the mirror as a symbol for giving more external and internal light as well as showing a part of the artists personality. With the start of realism artists have used mirrors to show the personality of the subject without having to worry about society. The symbolism has continued to remain the same as it has transformed from realism to modernism and cubism. Emotions and inner growth come from looking within. The mirror, representing the need of introspection, has existed since the creation of time and will continue existing. This has been a small introduction into the vast subject of looking within. References Degas, Edgar. Mme Jeantaud au mirroir. 1875. Musee d'Orsee, Paris Manet, Edouard. Before the Mirror.1876. Musee d'Orsay, Paris. Picasso, Pablo. Girl Before A Mirror.1932. Velazquez, Diego. Las Meninas.1656. Museo del Prado, Madrid. Vermeer, Johannes. Het Meisje met de Parel. Mauritshuis Gallery, Hague. Read More