Puryear's Art Analysis

Looking at sculptures and paintings in person or in a museum rather than looking at them on a flat screen can drastically change the way you take in the artwork in many different ways. One good example is the Ladder for Booker T. Washington by Martin Puryear, which, in person, was vastly larger than I expected. When looking at an artwork in the Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth, you get to observe details and witness different focal points that you would most likely miss looking at a computer. In Mart Puryear’s artwork, size, focal point, and surroundings can be wildly miscommunicated through a photograph. Size is a very important aspect in Ladder for Booker T. Washington, which is why I was astonished on how large the artwork was in person, compared to images that I’ve seen online. The photographs do not give the artwork justice when it comes to scale. The artwork is of a crooked, misshapen ladder that gets thinner as you go up to create an illusion of the ladder being taller than it actually is. Though …show more content…
This is true in the Ladder for Booker T. Washington as, when walking around you can see different aspects. One thing you can notice when standing behind is that the artwork is really slanted in order to make the artwork even taller than it actually is. This observation can make the viewer notice how Puryear thought of everything in order for the artwork to appear as tall as possible. In a photograph, one might think that the focal point is the top of the ladder is the main focal point, however, when seen in the museum, one can see that the real focal point is the light on the ceiling which represent that the goal the ladder is used to reach. The way the long, crooked ladder and the light above could be a metaphor on how hard it is to reach your