Topics covered in this Chapter:
What is art?
Where is art?
Who makes art?
The value of art
Censorship of art?
Why do we study art?
Note: The best way to see art is in person. Take advantage of opportunities you may have to see art for example while you art traveling or of course in your local area.
Art communicates ideas and emotions by visual means: it is a form of language
Art helps us see the world in new and exciting ways- can bring attention to the commonplace, or the controversial or ugly thruth.
Art is not made of a defined, prescribed set of media- new innovative uses of materials and processes. Art is redefining itself all the time.
Art has many purposes- creates beauty, enhances environment, immortalizes, expresses religious or spiritual beliefs, reveals truth, protests injustice and raises social consciousness, stimulates intellect and emotion, records events, reflects social and cultural context.
Another way to think about “Art”
Ability- the human capacity to make things of beauty and things that stir us. Creativity.
Process- acts such as drawing, painting, designing, etc.
Product- the completed work, a painting, sculpture etc.
Sun god Re in the underworld at night
Reflects importance of rivers in Egypt
Refers to Egyptian beliefs about the afterlife
1820. Hand-colored aquatint (print) from a watercolor
Painting by William G. Wall; print by John Hill
Landscape with one small human figure: a native American woman. Conveys the passing of the native American way of life as a result of the arrival of European settlers
Reflects nation-building and expansion of 19th-century America
Not an immediately recognizable portrayal of its subject: river or waterfall, and fish
By making us look closely, artist evokes sensations of water falling and fish swimming
Made by a construction worker, not a trained artist
Media: found materials (steel rods, pipes, wire mesh, mortar, broken glass, and pottery)
Named Nuestro Pueblo by Rodia but now called Watts Towers
Originally viewed as controversial, but now a National Historic Landmark
1785-8
Civic building modeled on Roman temple in Nîmes, France
Used symbolic power of ancient Rome to communicate strength of the Republic and its institutions
1986. Stainless steel
Jeff Koons had the idea
His employees made the artwork
“High art” or craft?
In Japan ceramic tea bowls highly valued
Appreciated for subtle variations of color and tactile sensations
Artist followed a long tradition and well-established methods of working and making
Mona Lisa
Made in an era and in a culture that valued individual ingenuity
Portrait not simply a likeness: a meditation on the human soul
Leonardo da Vinci (1452-1519)
Artist as genius: visual artist, engineer, scientist
Art may not be the result of the work of the artist alone: patrons, collectors, dealers, and critics all help determine what art is made
Isabella d’Este, Marchesa of the city of Mantua, Italy funded many artists
Her money and taste determined what art was produced
This portrait was painted when she was in her sixties but because of her influence the artist showed her flatteringly as a youthful beauty
Painted by famous artist: Gustav Klimt (1862-1918)
Wealthy patrons commissioned such portraits
Portrait sold for $135 million in 2006 (much more than artist was ever paid in his lifetime)
Value increased because of painting’s controversial history: looted by Nazis and became subject of a lawsuit
Also by 2006 had become rarer: artist no longer alive and fewer of his works available to buy
An artist’s achievement often comes to be better appreciated after his or her lifetime, as it is studied and stands the test of time
PERSPECTIVES ON ART: ROBERT WITTMANWHAT IS THE VALUE OF AN ARTWORK?
Monetary value of art = price paid by a willing buyer to a willing seller
Stolen art is worth much less: 10% or less of free market value (it is very hard to resell)
Rembrandt, Self-portrait
Stolen from Swedish National Museum in Stockholm in 2000
Painting was not only by great artist but also very rare: only known portrait by Rembrandt that is painted on copper
Thieves tried to resell it for $250,000 - less than one percent of its market value - in 2005; painting was thereby recovered by police
Memorial dedicated 1922. Statue made of marble
Lincoln Memorial
Honors a great president - Abraham Lincoln
Symbolizes and celebrates American values and identity
Work of three artists: architect Henry Bacon, sculptor Daniel Chester French, mural painter Jules Guerin
PERSPECTIVES ON ART: TRACY CHEVALIERART INSPIRES A NOVEL AND A MOVIE
Portrait titled Girl with a Pearl Earring, painted by Dutch artist Johannes Vermeer, c. 1665
Vermeer portrait inspired Tracy Chevalier’s novel of the same name, which was then made into a movie in 2003
Painting is mysterious: is the girl happy or sad?
A single, flickering moment captured in permanent oil paint on canvas
A static painting but girl never seems to remain the same
Self was part of 1999 Sensation exhibition at Brooklyn Museum, which showed controversial works
Many people objected to another work on show, Chris Ofili’s The Holy Virgin Mary, for religious reasons
Mayor Giuliani demanded that work be removed but the museum refused
Giuliani attempted to evict museum from its building and withhold funding
Federal court ruled for the museum
Otto Dix (1891-1969) served in the army during the World War I and recorded his grim experiences of war in his art
Nazi regime in 1930s Germany objected to modern art that did not promote its goals
Nazis
Confiscated 21,500 works of art and destroyed many
Fired artists and museum directors from jobs
Attempted to ridicule other works, including Dix’s drawing, in the “Degenerate Art” Exhibition in 1937
But five times more visitors went to Degenerate Art Exhibition than to a show of Nazi-approved “Great German Art” that was on at the same time
Visual analysis: how does the artist direct the viewer’s eye, what colors did he choose, and why?
How does the painting reflect its historical moment?
How does the painting reflect the artist’s views?
What can we learn by comparing it with other paintings of war?
Eugène Delacroix (1798-1863) was a French painter who worked in the Romantic style
Historical context: conflict between Greeks and Turks. The painting depicts a massacre of Greek people by Turks (the event was a reprisal for Greek destruction of Turkish mosques)
Is Delacroix’s painting objective or biased?
How does the painting reflect the opinions of its audience, who were Europeans?
How does the artist influence our own reaction to the painting?
Viewer’s eye directed downward to concentrate on the woman’s beauty
Made of rare materials for a wealthy king
Now displayed in a museum case but originally decoration on a king’s belt
Symbolism of Portuguese heads and mudfish carved around the top of the headdress, once we are aware of it, adds to our appreciation of the pendant