Art Appreciation
Chapter 1
A Human Phenomenon
TOWARD A DEFINITION OF ART.
Quote from text:
“Art is a primarily visual media that is used to express ideas about our human experience and the world around us.”
Function
Visual Form
Content: Content is the mass of ideas associated with a work of art.
Aesthetics: Aesthetics is the branch of Western philosophy that deals with art, its creative sources, its various forms, and its effects on individuals and cultures.
Chapter 1
A Human Phenomenon
TOWARD A DEFINITION OF ART.
Quote from text:
“Art is a primarily visual media that is used to express ideas about our human experience and the world around us.”
Function
Visual Form
Content: Content is the mass of ideas associated with a work of art.
Aesthetics: Aesthetics is the branch of Western philosophy that deals with art, its creative sources, its various forms, and its effects on individuals and cultures.
Théodore Géricault - The Raft of Medusa, 1819
Gericault was a leader in the “French Realistic
School
he painted in a very “realistic” way (naturalistic/representational).
he painted in a very “realistic” way (naturalistic/representational).
The Raft of Medusa wasn’t well received
in 1819 because it was too realistic, too much like life
and not enough like “art”.
THE FORMAL ELEMENTS
- Line
- Light and value
- Color
- Texture and pattern
- Shape and Volume
- Space
- Time and motion
- Chance, improvisation, and spontaneity
- Engaging all the senses
The Color Wheel
Harmony can be defined as a pleasing arrangement of parts, whether it be music, poetry, color, or even an ice cream sundae.
Hue, value and
intensity are properties of color.
Colors that are
adjacent to each other on the color wheel, such as orange, yellowish-orange,
and yellow are referred to as analogous.
Analogous are colors that are
adjacent to each other on the color wheel, such as orange, yellowish-orange,
and yellow
Intaglio is not a
type of perspective system
Etching and engraving is not
considered to be a principle of composition
Red and green are example of
complementary colors
Notre Dame, Paris
Some of basic designs of a gothic
cathedral are: Towers, arches, buttresses, and arcades create vertical lines
that continue from ground to roof.
The plan of the cathedral is symmetrical, while its shape is a cross,
symbolizing Jesus’ crucifixion.
Flying buttresses at the Washington National Cathedral
Flying buttress at Lincoln Cathedral, England
Consider how time and motion may be incorporated in visual art, usually understood as static, by examining issues of Marcel Duchamp’s Nude Descending a Staircase.
Marcel Duchamp - Nude Descending a Staircase (No. 2), 1912
Color Harmony
Harmony can be defined as a
pleasing arrangement of parts, whether it be music, poetry, color, or even an
ice cream sundae.
Media can be defined as the material substances used to create an artwork
Disciplines are the various branches of art making activity, like painting or video
Media in Two-Dimensional Art
Drawing
Supports and grounds
Dry Media
Wet Media
Leonardo Da Vinci, Study for Head of Angel in “Virgin of the Rocks,”
Hatching and cross-hatching lines to create areas of light and shadow
Single hatch: all the lines in the drawing go in the same direction.
This simple sketch was the basis for the angel’s face in “Virgin of the Rocks.” Preliminary drawings like this allowed da Vinci to work out problems of shading and modelling prior to attempting a painting. It also shows the extent of his preparation prior to translating his visions into oil paints.
In this drawing, da Vinci again demonstrated his mastery of chiaroscuro. Value changes from light to dark were accomplished by closely spaced hatching and cross-hatching lines to create areas of light and shadow. These value changes define the features of the face and give it a three-dimensional quality.
Leonardo Da Vinci, Study of Hands
This drawing shows two alternative positions for the hands: da Vinci places them togeth- er in a lap, and also shows the right arm and hand raised toward the breast, as if holding a sprig of blossoms.
This drawing demonstrates da Vinci’s mastery of chiaroscuro. The hands are given their three-dimensional quality by the changes of value, from light to dark, using only hatch- ing and cross-hatching pen lines. Highlights of white chalk also reflect the effects of light upon the hands.
Single hatch
Named because all the lines in the drawing go in the same direction.
Printmaking
Relief
Intaglio
Lithography
Serigraphy
Monotype
Andy Warhol - Green Marilyn, 1962
Andy Warhol.
David Hockney - A Bigger Splash, 1967
Painting
Encaustic
Fresco
Tempera, Gouache, and Watercolor
Oil, Acrylic and Sprayed paint
Marcel Duchamp - Fountain, 1917
Marcel Duchamp created ready made art.
Ready made are ordinary manufactured objects that the artist selected and modified
Methods and Media in Three-Dimensional Art
Van Gogh’s style of painting is unique from other artists of his time
Ways we encounter art
Structuralist-Based Criticism
Smithson's provocative and seminal works, made in the mid-sixties to early seventies, redefined the language of sculpture. He was one of the founders of the art form known as earthworks or land art. The Spiral Jetty embodied one of his goals which was to place work in the land rather than situated on the land. Smithson's earthworks defined an entirely original notion of landscape.
Who Makes Art?
Fresco
Tempera, Gouache, and Watercolor
Oil, Acrylic and Sprayed paint
Leonardo DaVinci, Mona Lisa c. 1503–1519
Leonardo DaVinci The Mona Lisa - Documentary
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4TckJwAV81k
Pablo Picasso, Demoiselles d’Avignon
Jacques Louis David, Oath of the horatii-1784
Marcel Duchamp - Fountain, 1917
Marcel Duchamp created ready made art.
Ready made are ordinary manufactured objects that the artist selected and modified
Methods and Media in Three-Dimensional Art
- Carving
- Modeling
- Assembling
- Ready-mades, Assemblage, and Fabrication
- Installation
- Performance
- Technology based media
- Crafts
Van Gogh - The Starry Night, June 1889, The Museum of Modern Art, New York
Van Gogh’s style of painting is unique from other artists of his time
Van Gogh became obsessed by the symbolic and expressive
values of colors and began to use them for this purpose rather than, as did the
Impressionists, for the reproduction of visual appearances, atmosphere, and
light.
`Instead of trying to reproduce exactly what I have before
my eyes,' he wrote, `I use color more arbitrarily so as to express myself more
forcibly'.
Writings about Art
Formal Analysis
Content: is an artwork’s theme or message.
Content is conveyed through the artworks’s subject matter, iconography, and the written materials related to the cultural background.
Content is conveyed through the artworks’s subject matter, iconography, and the written materials related to the cultural background.
Iconography: iconography is the symbolism or ‘hidden’ meaning behind what is seen
Personal interpretation.
Context: interrelated social and political conditions that surround a work of art. Context includes a host of factors, such as historical events, economical trends, contemporary cultural developments religious attitudes, other art works of the time, and so on.
Ways we encounter art
We encounter art in all kinds of ways. in newspaper, in museums, out on the street, at religious sites, in public park, in government or corporate buildings in school, at festivals, art fair, art gallery and so on.
Art critics describe works of art and evaluate their
significance.
Current approaches to writing about art are: formalist criticism, ideological criticism, structuralist based
criticism, psychoanalyst and feminist criticism, writings on visual culture and
personal interpretation.
Criticism: formalist criticism, ideological criticism, structuralist-based criticism, psychoanalytic and feminist criticism.
Criticism: formalist criticism, ideological criticism, structuralist-based criticism, psychoanalytic and feminist criticism.
Formalist Criticism
Examines the formal qualities of the art
Line, shape, space, color are all formal qualities
The design principles are also formal qualities
Media, ground, materials are also considered
Ideological Criticism
Rooted in writings of Karl Marx
All art supports particular political agenda, cultural
structure, or economic/class hierarchy
Jean Auguste Dominique Ingres. La Grande Odalisque, 1814
Guerrilla Girls.
Do Women Have to be Naked to Get into the Met. Museum? 1986. Street Poster.
Structuralist-Based Criticism
Structuralism & Semiotics
Social and cultural structures influence the meaning of art
As study of language, Structuralism was called Semiotics
The study of signs in verbal or written communication
Late 20th Century Semiotics came to be applied to all forms
of communication, including art
Deconstruction
Seeks to undermine or reveal myths, clichés, and stereotypes
embedded in Western systems of signs.
Cindy Sherman’s Untitled Film Still #35
Psychoanalytic & Feminist Criticism
Psychoanalytic criticism is most appropriate when applied to
works dealing with strong emotional content, dream imagery, or fantasy
Surrealism
Assigns meaning to imagery
Feminist Criticism
Representation of gender in art
Can support male-dominated social structures
Borrows from structuralism, deconstruction, and
psychoanalytic approaches to criticism
The Guerilla Girls use artwork as feminist criticism
Robert Smithson - The Spiral Jetty, 1970
Smithson's provocative and seminal works, made in the mid-sixties to early seventies, redefined the language of sculpture. He was one of the founders of the art form known as earthworks or land art. The Spiral Jetty embodied one of his goals which was to place work in the land rather than situated on the land. Smithson's earthworks defined an entirely original notion of landscape.
Who Makes Art?
Art Production as a social activity
Artists operate within the framework of their own culture
Teachers and manufacturers supply materials
Various people provide support
Leaders in society set standards
About artists
The role of artists in various cultures
Support for art making
workshops
community art making
fabricators, assistants, and technicians
the artist as object-maker
collaborations
Difference between fine artists and a medical illustrator or a graphic artists
Fine artists typically display their work in museums, commercial art galleries, corporate collections, and private homes. Some of their artwork may be commissioned (done on request from clients), but most is sold by the artist or through private art galleries or dealers.
Medical and scientific illustrators combine drawing skills with knowledge of biology or other sciences. Medical illustrators must have both a demonstrated artistic ability and a detailed knowledge of living organisms, surgical and medical procedures, and human and animal anatomy.
Fine artists typically display their work in museums, commercial art galleries, corporate collections, and private homes. Some of their artwork may be commissioned (done on request from clients), but most is sold by the artist or through private art galleries or dealers.
Medical and scientific illustrators combine drawing skills with knowledge of biology or other sciences. Medical illustrators must have both a demonstrated artistic ability and a detailed knowledge of living organisms, surgical and medical procedures, and human and animal anatomy.
a recurring attribute of "style" cuold be
- formal elements
- medium and manner of execution
- content or function
The "content" of art refers to meaning or mass of ideas.
Sandro Botticelli, Birth venus. 1484
Beauty
What one finds true beauty someone else might find outrageous, weird or even ugly. There is no such thing as ultimate true beauty because you cannot compare beauty. We do not live all following the same standards or principles; we do not have the same ideals. We are different, so is beauty.
In Asia for example the standards for beauty differ from country to country, from culture to culture.
In the Far East, in Japan, a century old tradition offers an original beauty recipe treatment: nightingale droppings. These are transformed into a powder, mixed with soap and used as a face wash. The facial is supposed to make the face look young.
The female members of the Kayan tribe (situated on the border between Burma and Thailand) have another ideal of beauty. Also known as “long necks”, they measure a woman’s beauty according to the brass rings wore around the neck. As they grow older they increase the number of rings, which gives them an elongated neck appearance. They start this ritual as early as the age of 5 and their neck is absolutely transformed by the heavy rings. The elongated neck is a result of the pressure the rings put on their shoulders, clavicles and chest. The shoulders are being pushed down, that’s how the elongated neck appearance is achieved.
In India the long hair, the jewellery worn excessively especially at weddings, the colored saris and the home made remedies take beauty to another level.
In Africa the idea of beauty varies from one side of the continent to the other. In Ethiopia, the women of the Karo tribe wear scars on their stomachs meant to attract a husband. The scarring process starts in childhood and once finished it means that the woman can get married and have children.
In Mauritania being skinny is definitely not a sign of beauty. Here a beautiful woman is a woman with curves…big curves. Nowadays forbidden, the gavage is in many cases the way of achieving a true, Mauritanian beauty. Through gavage young girls are being force fed in order to fatten them up. A “heavy” lady is more likely to be desirable and get a husband.
In the Middle East beauty is sometimes not connected with what ones sees, but with one does not see, or with what one smells or catches a glimpse of. From the head to toe black covers women wear (called abaya) that sometimes reveal only the eyes, to the dark eye kohl pencil, henna tattoos and colored fabrics, scarves and jewellery.
The Polynesian women are considered to be beautiful if they wear traditional tattoos on their lips and on their chins.
In the Western World the standards are different; the means of achieving beauty are sometimes extreme as well. From plastic surgery, implants, hair extensions, hair color to fitness, diet and cosmetics, the beauty has a different meaning. Whatever nature has not given, the knife can solve. The Western ideal of beauty is a skinny, tall, good-looking lady (90-60-90 if possible) with perfect teeth, perfect hair and perfect fashion. A 24 hour working lady if possible, who never complaints, who is up to date with the latest fashion trends, is a fighter, considers herself a “Superwoman” because she can achieve whatever she desires, all by herself.
kitsch is a term used to classify some visual culture that is often described as shallow, pretentious and lacking in originality
When tax dollars are used to support art, whose “taste” in art should be funded?
In Asia for example the standards for beauty differ from country to country, from culture to culture.
In the Far East, in Japan, a century old tradition offers an original beauty recipe treatment: nightingale droppings. These are transformed into a powder, mixed with soap and used as a face wash. The facial is supposed to make the face look young.
The female members of the Kayan tribe (situated on the border between Burma and Thailand) have another ideal of beauty. Also known as “long necks”, they measure a woman’s beauty according to the brass rings wore around the neck. As they grow older they increase the number of rings, which gives them an elongated neck appearance. They start this ritual as early as the age of 5 and their neck is absolutely transformed by the heavy rings. The elongated neck is a result of the pressure the rings put on their shoulders, clavicles and chest. The shoulders are being pushed down, that’s how the elongated neck appearance is achieved.
In India the long hair, the jewellery worn excessively especially at weddings, the colored saris and the home made remedies take beauty to another level.
In Africa the idea of beauty varies from one side of the continent to the other. In Ethiopia, the women of the Karo tribe wear scars on their stomachs meant to attract a husband. The scarring process starts in childhood and once finished it means that the woman can get married and have children.
In Mauritania being skinny is definitely not a sign of beauty. Here a beautiful woman is a woman with curves…big curves. Nowadays forbidden, the gavage is in many cases the way of achieving a true, Mauritanian beauty. Through gavage young girls are being force fed in order to fatten them up. A “heavy” lady is more likely to be desirable and get a husband.
In the Middle East beauty is sometimes not connected with what ones sees, but with one does not see, or with what one smells or catches a glimpse of. From the head to toe black covers women wear (called abaya) that sometimes reveal only the eyes, to the dark eye kohl pencil, henna tattoos and colored fabrics, scarves and jewellery.
The Polynesian women are considered to be beautiful if they wear traditional tattoos on their lips and on their chins.
Orlan, The Draped-the Baroque. 1983
In the Western World the standards are different; the means of achieving beauty are sometimes extreme as well. From plastic surgery, implants, hair extensions, hair color to fitness, diet and cosmetics, the beauty has a different meaning. Whatever nature has not given, the knife can solve. The Western ideal of beauty is a skinny, tall, good-looking lady (90-60-90 if possible) with perfect teeth, perfect hair and perfect fashion. A 24 hour working lady if possible, who never complaints, who is up to date with the latest fashion trends, is a fighter, considers herself a “Superwoman” because she can achieve whatever she desires, all by herself.
Orlan, Triptych Opera Operation. 1993
kitsch is a term used to classify some visual culture that is often described as shallow, pretentious and lacking in originality
When tax dollars are used to support art, whose “taste” in art should be funded?
Robert Mapplethorpe - Ken, Lydia and Tyler, 1985
Van Gogh and Gauguin
The individual artist styles of van Gogh and Gauguin.
Paul Gauguin. Woman in a coffeehouse. Madame Ginoux in the Café de la Gare in Arles. 1888.
Vincent van Gogh. Portrait of Mme. Ginoux (L’Arlesienne). 1889.
Van Gogh and Gauguin left Paris in early 1888, both in
search of destinations that would inspire creative impulses, crystallize their
emerging artistic identities, and help them to realize their aims for a
"new art." Gauguin moved to Brittany, where the rugged landscape and
peasant life appealed to his desire for a simpler, more "primitive"
existence far removed from urban Paris. Van Gogh left Paris’s cold, gray
weather and followed the sun to the south of France, where the light and warmth
offered an opportunity to explore his interest in color.
Once settled in the town of Arles, van Gogh embarked upon a
project to establish a community of artists: he rented a home he called the
"Yellow House," which would serve as a "Studio of the
South" and invited Gauguin to join him there. In the months preceding
Gauguin’s arrival, the two artists both exchanged letters outlining their
creative strategies and painted prolifically, producing works such as van
Gogh’s The Poet’s Garden and Gauguin’s The Vision of the Sermon. Both artists
began to experiment with compositional techniques derived from Japanese art as
well as the symbolic language of color, emphasizing subjective feelings and
ideas over naturalistic representation. In the unfolding dialogue between them,
each artist allowed his identity to emerge, their relationship developed, and a
budding creative competition was born. Van Gogh viewed himself as a monk or
disciple, spreading the word about a "new art," and looking to the
older artist for leadership, while Gauguin perceived himself as a rebellious
bohemian, a victim of society.
Vincent van Gogh, Self-Portrait Dedicated to Paul Gauguin
(Bonze), 1888
Fogg Art Museum, Harvard University Art Museums, Cambridge, Mass.
In October 1888, van Gogh and Gauguin exchanged
self-portraits that revealed a great deal about how they perceived themselves
and wished to be seen by others. In van Gogh’s austere portrait, his gaunt
face, short hair, and beard allude to his belief in a monastic lifestyle and
refer to his role as a monk (bonze) or humble disciple to Gauguin. The contrast
of blue and yellow in the portrait echoes the colors in van Gogh’s painting of
the yellow house and "the symphony in blue and yellow" in his sunflowers
series.
Paul Gauguin, Self-Portrait Dedicated to Vincent van Gogh
(Les Misérables), 1888
Van Gogh Museum, Amsterdam (Vincent van Gogh Foundation)
Gauguin presented himself as an "outlaw" in his
self-portrait, which specifically alludes to the noble character of Jean
Valjean in Victor Hugo's novel Les Misérables. The bold lines of the figure and
the vivid colors of the flowered wallpaper manifest Gauguin’s interest in
"an abstract, symbolic style." Van Gogh, however, was disappointed
when he received Gauguin’s Self-Portrait, believing that it expressed torment
while failing to offer any hope or consolation. He even suggested to his
brother Theo that the troubled Gauguin would benefit from a stay in the
reinvigorating environment of Arles.
Paul Gauguin, The Vision of the Sermon (Jacob Wrestling with
the Angel), 1888
National Galleries of Scotland, Edinburgh
Gauguin moved away from Impressionism in this breakthrough
painting from his Brittany period, a work that marks a high point in the
development of his mature style. In the foreground, a group of pious local
women and a priest experience an imaginary vision—the Old Testament story of
Jacob wrestling with an angel, depicted in the upper right. The bold color,
dramatic compositional devices (such as the diagonal tree trunk and tilted
ground), and the exaggerated shapes of the women’s bonnets reveal Gauguin’s
interest in abstraction, inspired by sources as varied as medieval stained
glass and the art of Japan.
Vincent van Gogh, The Poet’s Garden, 1888
The Art Institute of Chicago: Mr. and Mrs. Lewis Larned
Coburn Memorial Collection
One of several paintings intended for Gauguin’s bedroom in
Arles, The Poet’s Garden displays van Gogh’s brilliant use of color and texture
to express the character of Provence—the southern province in which Arles is
located. The thick, repetitive brush strokes that comprise the lemon-yellow sky
and the lush, green foliage infuse this view of the garden across from the
yellow house with great vitality. Van Gogh also hoped to imbue this picture
with allusions to the 14th century, the golden age of Provence, and specifically
to the famed Renaissance poet Petrarch (1304-1374), and the new
"poet" of Provence, Gauguin.
Van Gogh and Gauguin
Exhibition organized by The Art Institute of Chicago, 2001.
