This was a successful additional personal statement to apply for Liberal Arts at Durham. I received an offer in 2022. Techniques could be used for any Liberal Arts course or humanities application.
“I find myself a President of a body of men who [] feel that there is something in this so-called
modern art. If you paint a tree, for God’s sake make it look like a tree!” This 1949 Munnings quote by
Munnings at the RA in 1949 appeared reactionary and pugnacious, bu. But he touched on some
important points in the creation and study of the arts. – Wwhat art is best, and what is the point of
art: to reflect our own imagination and perception of the world, or to present truth? If we
understand the philosophical paradigm of art to be what Plato called “mimesis”, meaning imitation,
we can understand truth to be found in imagination and in interpretation. My study of classical and
European history means I can recognise echoes through history that reverberate through all arts and
connect us to the past. I found the curator’s decision to include ancient pieces such as ‘The Borghese
Dancers’ in a recent exhibition on Poussin at the National Gallery heightened the effect of the
artwork, especially as subjects were often derived from ancient literature like Ovid’s, who also
chronicled the myth of ‘Orpheus and Eurydice’. This text and the restraints of classical portraiture
are reimagined for the female gaze in Sciamma’s ‘Portrait de la jeune fille en feu’‘Portrait of a Lady on
. Fire’. The FThis rench film makes the idea of truth irrelevant, and introduces the idea of re-
discovery of history. I found a contrastingly pastiche reinvention of antiquity when working at
Francis Terry and Associates architects, whose decidedly decidedly classicist newbuilds are near
identical reproductions of the ruins of Pompeii and Rome I have seenthat I travelled to see, only
modernised in the aspect of practicality. I have used work experience as an opportunity to
understand commercial aspects of the art world – a potential future career. Through working at
Reeman Dansie auctioneers I felt the joy of handling objects that captured a previous time and
place, whileyet also provided a gateway to providing make possible engaging parallels with the
context of our own era. I find that . I find that looking back helps us move forward.
Modernising and reacting to what came before is the basis of adaptation of genre in the arts. In
‘Wuthering Heights’, for example, Brontë imagines a radical proto-feminist protagonist in Cathy,
utilising Gothic influences on her childhood to inform her presentation of a Romantic display of
passion and women’s choices. Published in 1847, its style differs to the French exploration of
naturalism at the time, headed by Zola. His novel, ‘Nana’ seeks to portray subjective feeling and
insight, which is reflected in the Impressionist art that he supported. The novel deepened my
fascination for the artistic and social life of 19 th century Paris, so I wrote an EPQ on Bazille, a minor
artist who witnessed this zeitgeist. ‘Manet’s Studio’ by Fantin-Latour depictsshows Bazille alongside
more well-known artists and Zola, showing illustrating the importance of the collective approach to
art. Munnings’ comment was 63 years after the last impressionist exhibition. His own style
incorporates observation of light, colour and society, and is aesthetically like Impressionism.
However, while he viewed this as anti-modern, Impressionism was anything but; I admire Munnings
for voicing an ill-received opinion, but he ignored the advent of modernism and subsequently the
ability to paint what you feel, rather than simply what you see.
I enjoyed making cross-curricular and cross-cultural links in a comparative literature course on tales
of world myth, and again in as in a Politics, History and Philosophy discussion group. They ignited my
desire to expand my knowledge and skills beyond the restrictions of A-Level study, shown by my
participation in the NCH essay competition on repatriation.
Camus identified in 1957 that “to create now means to create dangerously”, and it remains true that
modernity brings many challenges for the arts with a live multiplicity of voices and criticism. My
motivation to study Liberal Arts is clear from the way I I wish to study Liberal Arts due to my innate
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