Art Appreciation Introduction: A. Living With Art B. What is Art C. Themes in Art

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1 Art Appreciation 1113 Introduction: A. Living With Art B. What is Art C. Themes in Art

2 Living With Art Brancusi s studio, page 2 of text. Bird In Space

3 Your Life with Art Everyone has a unique experience with art and how they view it. Your frame of reference is unique, thus your interpretation will be unique.

4 Art generally means something that is man made or produced by humans, however, the etymology, going back to the 14 th century, means two things: man made and trickery. Plato: The Republic When speaking about the artist Plato says to his brother Glaucon: For this is he (the artist) who is able to make not only vessels of every kind, but plants and animals, himself and all other things --the earth and heaven, and the things which are in heaven or under the earth; he makes the gods also. Then if he does not make that which exists he cannot make true existence, but only some semblance of existence; and if any one were to say that the work of the maker of the bed, or of any other workman, has real existence, he could hardly be supposed to be speaking the truth.

5 Try to think of art as a nonverbal way of expressing thoughts and ideas. We think in terms of symbol and picture. All letters are merely symbols that you know relates to a sound.

6 Art Exists all around you. Though you may not see its influence and think ART, it exists in the designs of architecture you pass in your day or in the things that decorate your homes. Aesthetics - a branch of philosophy concerned with how we feel about the things we sense (mainly through the eyes, ears, and hands). The goal of this course is to deepen your appreciation & enjoyment of art and in your aesthetic experience.

7 The Impulse for Art Every record of human existence has shown remnants of some form of art. The desire to create and respond to art is ingrained in the human experience, even as deep as our ability and desire to use spoken language. Why? Because it is another form of communication.

8 The Chauvet Cave Evidence of human kinds desire to visual portray and interpret the world around us exists as far back as 25,000 17,000 B.C.E., shown here in images after the 1994 discovery of the Chauvet Cave. An etched shape of an owl located in the Chauvet Cave.

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12 The Chauvet Cave paintings date from a time as far back as 30,000 B.C.E. This is a time known as the Upper Paleoloithic Period which means Old Stone Age. Chauvet Cave paintings discovered 1994

13 Lascaux Caves Lascaux is the setting of a complex of caves in southwestern France famous for its Paleolithic cave paintings. The original caves are located near the village of Montignac. They contain some of the bestknown Upper Paleolithic art. These paintings are estimated to be 16,000 years old. They primarily consist of realistic images of large animals, most of which are known from fossil evidence to have lived in the area at the time. The Caves were found by four teenagers in 1940.

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17 It was once believe that it was for religions reasons to help them in their hunting. However, many animals depicted such as lions and rhinos were not in the diet of these people. Why did humans paint these images deep inside these caves? Expression, historic record, natural human tendency to think in form of image and symbol. Every image is not art but our ability and tendency to make images is a good place to begin to look at art.

18 Stonehenge Stonehenge is a Neolithic megalith construction which was built in several phases spanning centuries, beginning in 31,000 B.C.E. (neo new, litho stone, mega large) No one is quite sure why it was built, though most archeologists believe it was some form of calendar or used for public ritual and ceremony.

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21 Ancient art was created with simple tools. Stonehenge was created with simple tools used to hew large stones from places far away from the construction site. The cave paintings were made with charcoal and natural pigments mixed with animal fats. With the advancement of each new technology from fire and charcoal, up to the computer today, artists have looked at the tools available and found ways to create art from them.

22 What does an artist do? Create places for some human purpose Create extra ordinary versions of ordinary things Record and commemorate Give tangible form to the unknown Aid us to look at our existence in a new way

23 Create places for human purpose Maya Lin created the Vietnam War Memorial in Washington D.C. (page 7 & 8 in text). She created a space where visitors to the memorial would journey through a slow escalation to the war, to its dramatic peak (at the walls largest point), and back down to a few names as narrows down. Both ends of the memorial point towards monuments synonymous with America, the Washington Monument and the Lincoln Memorial. While looking into the Vietnam Memorial, the viewer is overcome with a mass of names from fallen soldiers. Then the viewer notices themselves staring back at the mirror-like reflective surface of the Memorial. The viewers are called to ponder themselves in the equation.

24 Create extra ordinary versions of ordinary things Fabergé Eggs

25 Kente Cloth s of Ghana The Asante people of West Africa create intricate patterns in a weaving textile known as Kente. Each symbol is has a uniquity of its own and a history it represents. Far beyond the ordinary or strictly utilitarian in nature, these are highly ornamental and elevate the cloth to something more than merely a cloth.

26 To Record and Commemorate

27 The Coronation of Napoleon. Here the artist David (Da-veed) has depicted Napoleons coronation as Emperor of France. Napoleon commissioned David for several of his portraits. Here we see Napoleon crowning his Empress Josephine. Of note is the scale of the painting. This reinforces that this was a grandiose event that took place. In this time it was the Pope s duty to crown a king or emperor. Napoleon supposedly (no actual written history, just eye witness accounts) took the crown from the Pope Pius VII and placed it on his own head. Symbolic that he was now above the Catholic Church itself. He then placed the crown on Josephine s head as well.

28 To give tangible form to the unknown Siva the Destroyer: Here an unknown Indian sculptor creates a real form of something that does not exist in actual form for humans. Here Siva as the Nataraja, lord of the dance. Destroys all that is and brings forth a new beginning. Artists throughout time have used their skills to bring forth the unknown into forms we as humans can relate to. People communicate so much with vision. If you were to buy a house but only had two methods of choice to inform you about the house (written and pictorial), would you be more comfortable being given a detailed account of the house or photos of the house. The house until that time is intangible, however given a visual representation of the house allows you to relate more personally with it.

29 Michelangelo Sistine Chapel ceiling St. Peters Basillica

30 Gives tangible form to feelings and emotions Vincent Van Gogh The Starry Night Oil on Canvas 1889

31 How often have you felt so strongly about something you could not find the word that could adequately describe it? Artists use abstraction of reality to show emotions. Humans share ideas and feelings about certain things such as colors, scale, movements. All these things are tools the artist uses to enhance expression visually, when words are not enough to explain emotion.

32 Refresh our vision and help us see the world in new ways Ernst Haas Peeling Paint on Iron Bench, Kyoto, 1981

33 Looking and Responding We all process what we see in different ways, for many different reasons. Selective perception- focusing on visual information we desire. If we are tasked to find a certain thing, we prioritize it and push all other aspects to the background. Very little is attributed to anything but the goal. Reference searching for a restaurant sign on a busy street.

34 Looking and Responding Perception is subjective and depends on the amount of information the viewer has about the subject matter along with the viewers own frame of reference (outlook, personality, life experiences). The artist makes attempts, given his own frame of reference, coupled with societal norms, to predict a response in the viewer. He then either attempts to appeal to, or affront the viewer and what he might expect from a viewer in regards to his subject.

35 As viewers of art, our job is to ask ourselves questions about the art and about our reactions to the art. We look at our past experiences and what we know about art and attempt to draw conclusions in the artwork. Like any with any vocabulary, the more we know about a subject the more vocabulary we learn, the more informed and more fluent we become in speaking, or in this case viewing.

36 The keys to looking at art are many. It starts with asking ourselves a few questions about the art. Color relationships and color meanings. How is the artwork rendered (speed of marks, scale of subject mater, tools used)? Sometimes location of artwork means something important. Placement of subjects in the work (are they centered or on the periphery). What is the history of the objects contained in the work?

37 What is Art? Art vs. Craft it was in the 1500 s that there began a movement to divide painting, sculpture, and architecture from the rest of the creative arts. Painting, sculpture and architecture became known as art and most other creative endeavors became known as crafts (pottery, textiles, etc.). Later, in the mid 18 th century, painting, sculpture, and architecture were merged with music and poetry into what is termed the fine arts.

38 An artist today is very different from an artist before Artists before the 1500 s made items that were requested. It was a business and they hired many students and aids to help craft their works. They often didn t make art because of expression, they created what their clients requested. Today artists create artwork that is of their own vision (as well as using the old model where they create work for clients called commissions). Today artists strive to have their works hung in galleries and museums (this was not the case before the 1500 s).

39 Today, artists and artwork have far fewer boundaries than before. While the term fine arts is still widely used, what is considered fine art has become much more subjective and the term artist, more widely used. Jeff Koons 2006 Girl with Dolphin and Monkey (The Whitney Museum of American Art 75th Anniversary Photography Portfolio)

40 Jeff Koons Balloon flower Magenta high chromium stainless steel with transparent color coating