Art Appreciation

Introduction--What is Art?

Amy Calvert, PhD2014

What is art?

Is art about skill or talent?

How important is originality?

What is the function of the work?

What does it communicate?

An appreciation of art is complex, but fundamentally human & built into our neurophysiology.

WATCH VIDEO -- How the brain sees art (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5oYmegXpu2k)

Iconography = visual language

Symbols and their meaning generally vary WIDELY by location and time period.

‘Strong’ symbols (= good memes) may persist through hundreds of years and spread, but many symbols are connected with a particular time and place.

Each element in most imagery through history MEANS something specific to the culture in which it was produced.

Iconography / Symbolism = visual elements that have addition meaning beyond the item itself (the peach is not just a peach, but an indicator of status as well as being a reminder of the temporary nature of life).

Highly contextual (e.g.--snakes are seen as symbols of regeneration in many cultures; viewed as a symbol of evil in western Christian tradition), but some symbols cross cultural boundaries.

For example, one of the meanings behind the presence of the dog in this image is the concept of loyalty and fidelity; we still refer to dogs as “Fido”.

Religious iconography is inherently exclusive.

Often, there are levels of understanding--the outsider knows little, the initiate knows some, the master recognizes all.

Some symbols are incomprehensible to those who don’t ‘know the language’.

To a non-Christian, this scene of a horrific execution is perplexing; a Christian sees something quite different.

To the modern eye, this nude fleshy female may appear pornographic, but to the people who crafted her in the Neolithic Period, she represented fertility and life, not sex.

Through the VAST majority of history, art has been primarily FUNCTIONAL, not decorative.

Images held power and were created to bring about a SPECIFIC result.

When is a horse not just a horse? When it is a symbol of hoped-for sustenance that would keep your clan alive, of course.

Note the flying arrows and spear in the animal’s back--it has already been ritually slaughtered and it’s luscious flesh symbolically available to the clan.

Much art is STILL primarily functional.

These Dogon masks aren’t just wonderfully beautiful (which they certainly are)--they are vehicles of transformation that allow the wearer to connect to the spirit world when worn in ceremony

Dogon ritual procession.

Note that, in addition to the masks, the participants wear large, colorful grass bands and skirts that mask their human form and transform them into otherworldly creatures.

Much art is intended to transport us--Gothic cathedrals were specifically designed to be the anithesis of the everyday in the medieval period. They were considered to be solidified slices of heaven; crossing the threshold = leaving the earthly realm and entering, literally, a divine space.

‘Decoration’ in cathedrals was certainly beautiful, but it was not there to be pretty. Fundamentally, such windows were used to reveal the divinity of light and reinforce the otherworldliness of the space. Remember that in this period, such rich colors were very expensive to produce and NOT part of daily experience (even for the wealthy).

These images were used to dazzle and also to convey dogmatic information to the illiterate population.

An image is worth 1000 words…

Conveying information through images can be very efficient!

This section of relief may look confusing to us, but to a contemporary local, this was an involved, evocative warning

When examining images from outside your culture, it is important to BEWARE ETHNOCENTRISM!

Ethnocentrism = viewing other cultures through the lens of your own

This portrait of a Maori chieftain by a European artist is an excellent example.

Portrayed in European clothing, tattoos de-emphasized, placed in the typical position for a portrait.

Self-portrait of the same man. The way he saw himself was clearly MUCH different than the outsider’s view.

Never forget when you look at imagery from another time or place that your cultural filter is likely completely different from the filter of those who created it.

WATCH VIDEO: Art and Context (http://smarthistory.khanacademy.org/art-and-context-monet-and-malevich.html)

Why is Art Made? Functions of Art

● Interact with the divine/mysteriouso present unknown in a tangible form

● Express terrestrial power & statuso present ideas in a tangible form

● Change perceptions or reinforce ideas

● Express fantasy and imagination

● Tell a story

● Commemorate or record an event/show daily life

● Transform the natural world

● Transform the ordinary

Interact with the divine--images of deities (below: a Greek god, Egyptian god Horus, and Mary with Christ child)

Interact with the mysterious--images related to the unknown (below: afterlife army of Qin and spirit-spouses)

The mysterious made manifest:

The garden of Eden, Earthly delights (sin, in all of its variety), and hell.

THE ideal of terrestial power in his time and place. Large, bold, richly dressed.

This portrait of Henry VIII hung in his throne room over the throne--the king loomed over those who came before him & this image reinforced his power.

Express terrestial power and status

Likewise, this sculpture of Mussolini is closely tied with his ideas of his rule.

He was connected with a movement in Italy known as Futerism, which focused on newness, exhilaration, speed, and forward-thinking. This sculpture, basically a 360 silhouette portrait of the Italian leader, captures this sense of movement.

Another ruler, another place & time, another ideal.

Jandahar--Mughal Emperor who inherited a massive, peaceful, very wealthy kingdom. Allowed him to devote efforts to learning and supporting the arts. Gathered artists together from all over the empire, funded their efforts, provided materials, encouraged artistic development.

Artists repaid him by portraying him as an extremely wise, devout, and just ruler.

In this image, he sits on a throne in the form of an hourglass (reminder of death) with angels recycling the sand to give him longer life while he receives a holy man before wealthy foreign rulers.

To change perceptions:

Is this an “explosion in a shingle factory”?

Or an artistic reaction to the new technology of photography? This painting, by Marcel Duchamp in 1912, was hated by his contemporaries, but is clearly connected to the 1880 series photograph in the lower left above = EXPERIMENTATION

Edouard Manet Dejeuner sur l’Herbe 1863

Despised by contemporaries, this image was the antithesis of the accepted artistic methods. This painting was viewed as unfinished and poorly done, but is now considered the spark of the Impressionism Period and a priceless masterpiece. Manet was trained in the ‘officially-accepted’ artistic mode, he was just not interested in following it. This work is a DELIBERATE break with accepted tradition.

Many works are initially disliked and are later appreciated. The Vietnam Memorial in Washington, DC is an excellent example.

Designed by a 21 yo student named Maya Lin.

● 200’ per side● sliced into hillside● black granite

Called a “dark slash in the earth”.

Now--one of the most visited monuments in DC. Intimate, engraved with 58,000+ names--provides a tangible connection and stark reminder of the horror of war.

Betty SaarLiberation of Aunt Jemimah1972

Directly challenges the viewer. In your face conflict of the ‘mammy’ image and the inherent aggression of any enslaved people. Forces viewer to consider cultural stereotypes against their personal experiences.

L.H.O.O.Q.1919Marcel Duchamp

A poster of the Mona Lisa, purchased from the Louvre,embellished by Duchamp with a moustache, goatee, and the letters.

Said en Francaise, LHOOQ translates to “She has a hot ass”.

By copying THE icon of ‘traditional’ art and adding graffiti and a lewd comment = direct break with accepted tradition.

The 20th century brings major questions in the art world.

Like...does art even have to be original?

Andy Warhol pushed this concept to the limit.

Watch VIDEO: Art as Concept (http://smarthistory.khanacademy.org/duchamps-shovel-art-as-concept.html)

Express fantasy and Imagination.

Art allows full freedom of expression

To tell a story, whether personal or mythical

To commemorate a historical event:Pablo Picasso, Guernica.

Silent testament to the lost knowledge of the Holocaust.

Memorial in Vienna, by Rachel Whitehead, 2000. This solid concrete block--depicting thousands of volumes with the spines turned in so we can’t even see the titles. No idea WHAT we lost in this horrific historical event

To present the everyday events of daily life.

To transform the way we see the natural world: through magnificent vistas...

...or incredibly tight details or the natural world.

Transformation of the natural world.

Interaction with the natural world ~ cyclical change

To transform the ordinary.

City-scapes created from industrial kitchen equipment--who knew buffet dishes could be so marvelous?

Buddhist Pharmacy

Sculpture of a traditional Buddha, but covered in medication.

Interesting statement of Eastern vs Western medicine.

Transformation of space into sculpture. What is more ordinary than empty space?

Artist used a home in a neighborhood being demolished as a concrete mold. Result is a permanent record of the space within a home tht no longer exists.

Masters of transforming the natural world and the everyday--Jean-Claude and Christo changed the way we viewed places we interact with on a daily basis.

WATCH VIDEO -- Realized projects (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z057rxwJXPo)

Much art is still functional and conveys data while being beautiful.

This lovely table is not just a nice decorator piece. It is drilled with 32,292 holes, the number of points Michael Jordan scored in his NBA career.

But does art HAVE to be beautiful?

No.

Art represents life, all aspects of life. As there is great variety in what experiences we have in the human condition, there must be great variety in the images we create.

Some images are hideous in appearance, but hold beautiful implications or meaning to those who understand the language that is being used.

Some art was considered quite unattractive in its own day--this work was sharply criticized as being poorly done--but is now viewed as a masterpiece.

As ‘ugly’ as it was considered to be, this painting sparked an entirely new direction in artistic expression.

This work captured the visual voice of a culture that was experiencing massive shifts against the established order.

Artists are often a powerful voice for their culture.

In our own era of big data, we have devised a new art form that captures our information-focused age in visual format.

infographics can be highly creative, visually pleasing, and witty, but their PRIMARY function is to convey a LOT of data in a very efficient, and effective manner.

WATCH VIDEO on data visualization (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AdSZJzb-aX8)