ART AND YOU - Continental Academycontinentalacademy.net/pdfs/fa10_art_text.pdfPaintings of a field...
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Transcript of ART AND YOU - Continental Academycontinentalacademy.net/pdfs/fa10_art_text.pdfPaintings of a field...
ART AND YOU
I N S T R U C T I O N S
Welcome to your Continental Academy course “Art and You”. It is made up of 7 individual lessons, as listed in the Table of Contents. Each lesson includes practice questions with answers. You will progress through this course one lesson at a time, at your own pace. First, study the lesson thoroughly. Then, complete the lesson reviews at the end of the lesson and carefully check your answers. Sometimes, those answers will contain information that you will need on the graded lesson assignments. When you are ready, complete the 10-question, multiple choice lesson assignment. At the end of each lesson, you will find notes to help you prepare for the online assignments. All lesson assignments are open-book. Continue working on the lessons at your own pace until you have finished all lesson assignments for this course. When you have completed and passed all lesson assignments for this course, complete the End of Course Examination. If you need help understanding any part of the lesson, practice questions, or this procedure:
Click on the “Send a Message” link on the left side of the home page
Select “Academic Guidance” in the “To” field Type your question in the field provided Then, click on the “Send” button You will receive a response within ONE BUSINESS DAY
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About the Author…
Mrs. Alena Bowers earned her Bachelor of Science degree in Visual Arts from Florida State University and her Masters in Education degree with a Specialization in Fine Arts from Portland State University. She graduated from both Universities with Honors and received academic scholarships for her efforts as well. For the past nine years, Mrs. Bowers has been working with a diverse group of students in a variety of educational settings. Mrs. Bowers is also a nationally exhibiting artist and has worked on public art projects, such as city murals, with inner city youth. Alena makes her home in Miami, Florida, with her husband Andrew and their dog Harvest.
Art And You FA10 Editor: Mary Liken
Copyright 2008 Home School of America, Inc.
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED
The Continental Academy National Standard Curriculum Series
Published by:
Continental Academy 3241 Executive Way Miramar, FL, 33025
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Elements, principles, and vocabulary of art and the tools of artists are examined alongside the great themes in art history. Critical analysis of the diverse, fascinating works of art is also practiced.
Student will understand and apply media, techniques, and process
Student will use knowledge of structures and functions
Student will choose and evaluate a range of subject-matter,
symbols, and ideas
Student will understand the visual arts in relation to history and
cultures
Student will reflect upon and assess the characteristics and merits
of their work and the work of others
Student will make connections between visual arts and other
disciplines
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TABLE OF CONTENTS
LESSON 1: WHAT IS ART? …………………………………………….7
LESSON 2: LANGUAGE OF VISUAL ARTS ……………………….19
LESSON 3: THE BEGINNING OF ART ………………………………29
LESSON 4: MODERN ART ………………………………………….. 49
LESSON 5: ELEMENTS AND PRINCIPLES OF ART …………….. 65
LESSON 6: ART CRITICISM AND AESTHETICS ……………… …. 79
LESSON 7: THE VALUE OF ART ……………………………….…… 89
END OF COURSE REVIEW…………. ………………………………. 101
REFERENCES……………………………………………………………105
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LESSON 1: WHAT IS ART? In this lesson, you learn about some of the meanings of art. We also
introduce some of the terms used to describe art using visual language and
vocabulary.
The purpose of this lesson is to give you a general introduction on the topic
of art that will provide you with a foundation to further understand and
discuss the subject of art.
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WHAT IS ART?
Art has long been a subject of much intrigue and debate. We know that
people have been making art since the primitive times, and art making is
still alive and well today. Everyday art affects our daily lives. Not only from
the museums or galleries that we may visit, but also by the billboards we
pass while driving, or how the skyscrapers line up on the horizon. Art and
design are everywhere. It is of much value for all of us to learn how to
communicate our ideas about art.
So, what is art ? There have been disagreements on the exact definition of
art for centuries and this debate continues today. It seems that everyone
has an opinion about art- what he or she likes, or what he or she dislikes.
Often times, with modern or contemporary art, you will hear people say, “Is
that supposed to be art? Even I could do that.” On the other hand,
sometimes someone will remark, “I just don’t get it. What is this supposed
to be about?”
These questions are completely commonplace and valid. It is the goal of
this course to help you gain a better understanding about what art is and
why artists create it.
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MEANINGS OF ART
Art is many things to many people. However, there are three concepts
about art that most people agree to be true. Those three things are:
capability, process, and outcome (Fichner-Rathus, 1986).
o Capability: To create art ,one has to have the capability to do
so. It is the human capacity and desire to create things.
o Process: This is the actual act and the steps that take place to
make a piece of art.
o Outcome: This is the completed work of art. You can view
these works at a museum or gallery.
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Below are some popular examples of the many different meanings of art.
(Fichner-Rathus, 1986).
Art as Beauty
For many centuries, artists have been obsessed with portraying that which
is beautiful. A popular subject of painting can be a young maiden frolicking
in a field, or a sunset with colors that reflect on every window of a
cityscape. Artists have long admired the beauty that they see in the
everyday worlds and have had a longing to reflect it in their work.
Art as Truth
H can represent “Hungry” or “Homeless”
Sometimes artists create to reveal the truth about a
subject, not just a great thing of beauty. In contemporary art,
there has been a trend to show life as it really is, not just are hopeful
dreams. For example, a photographer may go out and take pictures of
homeless people or hungry children in Third World countries. Artists, as
early as Caravaggio, have also depicted the truth of the way humans
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actually look -not just stylized beauty. Therefore, art can often be an
honest commentary on the truth of the world around us.
Art as Universal Feeling
Art can show us how common our human experience
can be. Universal themes such as love, faith, and fear are popular subjects
in many works of art. While looking at a painting of two lovers dancing,
many people can relate to what it feels like to be in love.
Art as Social Commentary
Many artists of today choose to comment on our social and political society.
Whether it is re-examining a story in the news or something that took place
in history, artists like to express their opinions and political beliefs in their
work. Further, art can comment on the values of our society in ways we
may not have thought about before.
Art as the Product of the Human Spirit
Many people believe that art requires the use of hand, mind, and heart.
With one’s hands, artists can physically make a work of art, with one’s
mind, an artist can think up an idea of why they want to make it, and with
one’s heart, an artist can pour out emotions and feelings that goes into
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Art as Harmony
H
often see artists striving to achieve the balance that we find in nature, the
perfect order of things. Artists have long been inspired to recreate that
harmony found in nature but in their own way.
armony is something that artists continually strive to achieve. In art, we
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JOBS IN THE ARTS
This discussion is about different job descriptions in visual creativity and
the arts. Art-related careers fall into a variety of industries and
environments. These all can connect to the field of visual art.
There are many opportunities. Some are very competitive. It is amazing
how an artist can carry knowledge and apply it to a variety of work
environments. A designer or museum curator needs to know about the
elements and principles and the historical context of art.
Learning the elements and principles of visual design is the same as
beginning to draw. Design is everywhere. All of these things require
someone to create them. An academic advisor or career journal can
provide more information if you are interested in an art career.
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BUSINESS AND THE ARTS
In the business world, creative minds need to come up with the design of
products. This includes the layout of advertising. Magazines, newspapers,
and books all need creative and skilled people to help sell their publication.
There are also many people who create or design products for profit. The
business world is full of creative talent that helps make and support ideas,
products, and services (Mittler, 1994).
Graphic Design
Think of major corporations or businesses that you often see in magazines,
television, or on web sites. What are the most well known businesses that
you can think of? What did you think of when you thought of the business?
Chances are if you thought of a certain business, you thought of their logo,
or symbol that represents that business
(Mittler, 1994).
For example, one of the reasons that Nike has been so successful is
because of their logo, the “swoosh” sewn on every shoe. Graphic designers
create logos for businesses, along with laying out pages in newspapers or
magazines.
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Every month a magazine comes up with their theme and articles. It is a
graphic designer who works with that information and helps create the
magazine look. These designers make creative choices with computer
programs and images on file.
Lesson 1 Review
1. Which of the following words can you use to define art?
A. Capability
B. Ability
C. Outcome
D. None of the Above
E. A, B, and C
2. True or False: There is one clear definition on what art is.
A. True B. False
3. How long have people been making art?
A. Since the Middle Ages B. Since the Renaissance
C. Since the Primitive Times D. In the last 100 years
4. An artist travels to a poor country to photograph the issue of world
hunger. What meaning do you think best fits that photograph?
A. Art as Harmony B. Art as a Universal Feeling
C. Art as Beauty D. Art as Social Commentary
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5. What example below shows how art (and design) affects our lives?
A. Admiring the design of a tall building
B. Flipping through a magazine
C. Receiving a postcard in the mail from a someone who is traveling
D. All of the Above
Answers 1. E 2. B 3. C 4. D 5. D
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LESSON 1 THINGS TO REMEMBER
Capability, process, and outcome are words you can use to define art
There is more than one clear definition of what art is
An example of Art as Social Commentary is a photograph of world
hunger taken in a poor country
Paintings of a field of colorful flowers, or a cityscape showing the
sunset reflected on the building windows are examples of art as
beauty
Admiring the design of a tall building, flipping through a magazine, or
receiving a postcard in the mail from someone who is traveling is an
example of how art and design affect our lives
Graphic designers play two roles; they design logos for businesses
and the layout of a publication
A museum curator must know about the elements of art, the
principles of art, and the historical context of art
The business world is full of creative talent that helps make and
support ideas, products, and services
Art related careers fall into a variety of industries and environments that can all connect to the field of visual art.
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LESSON 2: LANGUAGE OF VISUAL ARTS
The language of visual arts is a unique and special one. To understand art
we must also know how to discuss our thoughts and feelings about art. For
example, art can communicate to us through its subject matter, colors, and
style. Often when we look at a piece of art, we project our own feelings and
ideas onto it. The way we look at a particular piece may be completely
different than the way someone else sees it- and what’s more; the artist
may have had a different idea altogether.
STYLES OF ART
In the visual arts, style refers to the characteristic or personal ways in which
artists express feelings or ideas. Throughout history, different styles of art
have flourished and we have seen a gradual change of artist’s style as our
culture and society change.
Art historians are also able to recognize an artist’s personal style as they
continue to create a series of work.
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For example, a particular artist might use bold black lines continually in his
or her paintings. They may also use thick paint, deep red and dark colors.
Particular elements can define the artist’s style and historians can describe
that style by using certain adjectives.
Georges Rouault was such an artist. Art historians or critics may describe
Rouault’s work as bold, with a dramatic use of dark line and warm colors.
Historians may also try to figure out the content of Rouault’s work, or the
message the artist is trying to communicate in a work of art. Rouault’s
technique is the way in which he uses his technical skills in a given
medium.
Medium is the art material that an artist uses to create, such as oil paints,
drawing pencils, or stone for sculpture.
Stone
pencils
Oil paints Expressionistic art refers to a movement in art where the artist uses
distortions in form and color to achieve an emotional impact.
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Another style of art is that of Realism. Realism or realistic art was also an
art movement that was very popular at one time, as it still is sometimes
today. Yet, as a style, it means portraying people and nature the way they
exactly are in life, without distortion.
In Abstract art, artists take things that we know from life and significantly
change or alter them. Nonobjective art refers to art that does not portray
anything recognizable. It does not have subject matter.
ACTIVITY: Think about a rose growing in a garden.
Imagine drawing and painting it on a piece of paper.
What kind of lines would you use to draw a rose?
Now think about an aluminum door.
It is grand in scale and very heavy to open.
How are these two objects different from one another?
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The rose is an organic shape, or shapes that reflect things found in
nature. Most organic shapes in art are soft and curvilinear.
The door, however, is a geometric shape. Geometric shapes are
regular and precise, such as triangles and rectangles.
Which of those two objects (the rose or the door) has a greater mass?
In science actual mass means the object’s determined weight. However, in art we think of mass in terms of implied mass, or the
apparent mass of an object.
In other words, we innately know that the rose weighs less than the
door. Nevertheless, what if that rose happened to be a steel sculpture
that was about 8 feet tall? In addition, the door was a tiny sculpture
made of just paper. Our understanding of implied mass of these
objects would then greatly change.
Now picture three images in your mind: a butterfly, a stop sign,
and a human being. What do they have in common?
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Symmetry means a mirror image -- one side is the mirror image of the
other.
Unbelievably, even people are symmetrical. Symmetry can occur in any
orientation as long as the image is the same on either side of the central
axis. Therefore, if you were to take a dividing line straight down the middle
of all three of these images, the same mirror image is on the other side.
Asymmetry means without symmetry or that no mirror images are in a
composition.
More Art Vocabulary:
Aesthetics - a type of philosophy that focuses on the
nature and value of art and beauty.
Arts disciplines - Studies within the arts such as dance, music, theatre,
and visual arts.
Collage - A collection of materials arranged for a composition on a two-
dimensional surface.
Color - The element of art derived from reflected light which has three
properties: hue, value, and intensity.
Decorative - Works of art created for the purpose of aesthetics or visual
harmony.
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Exhibitions - an organized display of works of art.
Kinetic - art that can move.
Mixed Media - the use of different materials in the same work of art.
Modeling - shaded and highlighted forms on a flat surface that appear three-
dimensional.
Negative space - the space around and through a shape or object.
Perspective - the representation of three-dimensional objects on a flat, two-
dimensional surface.
Portfolio - a complete collection or body of artistic work.
Positive space - the space in a composition occupied by the subject or
objects.
EDUCATION AND OTHER ART FIELDS
People can work in many settings that help support the role of art in our
community. Schools, universities, hospitals, and museums all provide ways
to support art.
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Art Educators
People who believe in art and enjoy working with
children and youth can become art teachers.
To become an art teacher: o attend a university.
o study about art techniques, materials,
history and theories of art.
Art teachers must know how to educate children. They must be able to
write curriculum that includes daily lesson plans. Art teachers work in schools. They also can work in museums and other public and recreational centers. Teaching is another art form which can be exciting
for many individuals. Teachers enjoy presenting this diverse subject to
young minds.
Curators Art museums collect, preserve, present and educate the public on art of the
past and art of today. They educate people with the importance of art in our
society. They explain how it is linked to history in a unique and special way.
Museum curators are people who select and exhibit artworks for all of us to
view. Curators can also work for a gallery, or own a gallery.
As our society continues to develop and unfold, we will see the different
roles and careers that artists can take.
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Lesson 2 Review
1. What defines an artist’s technique?
A. The artist’s chosen medium.
B. The artist’s style or the personal ways in which the artist expresses
feelings or ideas.
C. The way an artist uses the technical skills of a given medium.
D. How abstract or real an artwork is.
2. If you were to take a photograph of your neighborhood and not alter it in
any way, what style of art would it be?
A. Abstract B. Nonobjective
C. Realistic D. Expressive
3. Which of the following things are symmetrical?
A. A Butterfly B. A Human Face
C. An Open Book D. All of the Above
4. True or False:
In art, Positive space means the space around or through an object.
A. True B. False
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5. You are visiting a museum and are looking at a painting of trees with
deep blue and green colors. A possible way to describe the painting
would be. The painting is full of:
A. geometric shapes and warm colors.
B. geometric shapes and cool colors.
C. organic shapes and warm colors.
D. organic shapes and cool colors.
Answers
1. C 2. C 3. D 4. B 5. D
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LESSON 2 THINGS TO REMEMBER
The way an artist uses the technical skills of a given medium defines
an artist’s technique
An example of a realistic style of art would be a photograph of your
neighborhood
A butterfly, a human face, and an open book are examples of things
that are symmetrical
Positive space is the space in a composition occupied by the subject
or objects
An example of a painting full of organic shapes and cool colors would
be a painting of trees with deep blue and green colors
One would need to attend a college or university to become an art
teacher
An art teacher must learn about art techniques and materials, and the
history and theories of art
Art teachers can work in the following environments; schools,
museums and public recreation centers
Curators can work in museums and in their own galleries
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LESSON 3: THE BEGINNING OF ART
To understand art we have to understand its history. Art has a long and
vast history that has inspired many artists and art historians. They have
often looked at it for ideas and understanding.
In this lesson, you learn about the masters in Art History. The works of
these artists and architects continue to influence and inspire present day
artists. This lesson also includes those artists’ famous masterworks or art
pieces.
ACTIVITY: There are numerous resources where you can find much more
of an in depth look at art history. To gain a fuller understanding, check out an art history book from the library, or look up some of the artists on the Internet. The information that you find can supplement this text with
the visuals.
The Beginning of Art
The oldest recording that historians and archeologists have of art if from
the Stone Age. These humans focused on survival, spending their days
hunting and gathering food and finding shelter and warmth. Who would
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have known they also made images? These people made cave paintings,
reliefs, and sculptures with stone. Since hunting was so important, their
subject matter consisted mostly of animals.
One of the great paintings of the Stone Age is located on the border
between northern Spain and the south of France. Two boys were chasing a
ball after their dog in Lascaux, France. They discovered cave paintings of
bison, horses, and cattle that were made more than 15,000 years old.
Egyptian Art
Now let us jump far ahead in time to the continent of Africa. There, we can
find the Ancient Egyptians producing incredible feats of the imagination.
Early Egyptian art was based on religious beliefs and it had a strong link to
the afterlife.
The art of Ancient Egypt spans three periods dating from 2680 B.C. to 1342
B.C. The most dynamic period was that of the Old Kingdom, when the
Great Pyramids of Giza and Saqqara were created.
These people were masters at stone and building. The structure of a
pyramid is an amazing achievement in any time or civilization. The
pyramids were grand in size-with a base of about 750 feet and 450 feet tall.
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Slaves devoted painstaking efforts in lifting limestone blocks. This process
possibly took many generations before the pyramids were completed.
They consisted of the King and Queen’s chambers, along with airshafts.
Why did the Egyptians build such massive structures when they were
mostly full of limestone blocks?
What exactly was the purpose of the King and Queen’s chambers
contained in these pyramids?
As stated earlier, the Egyptians put great value of the soul and spirit after
death. This soul, or ka, as they called it, was part of the body during life.
The soul would leave the body upon death and then return to it for a new
life and immortality. Therefore, it was very important to protect the bodies of
the deceased. Therefore, the King, or Pharaoh, and Queen, who were the
most important people in Egyptian culture, had the pyramids built to protect
their bodies after death (Mittler, 1994).
Egyptians also created the first life size structure of the human form along
with portraiture in wood and stone. They carved intricate relief drawings
with a strict set of rules.
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All of these works acted as symbols or substitutes for the human body, and
a complete and beautiful drawing was vital, as it concerned them with what
would happen to that person after death.
Classical Art
The influence that the country of Ancient Greece had on the rest of the
Western world cannot be overstated. The Greeks inspired many people in
the fields of art, science, philosophy, and so on. One of the most important
concerns of these people was the belief that human beings are the center
of their own universe, and that rational thought is incredibly valuable. They
had a love for the natural world and the human body, and considered it a
reflection of the deep ways of the universe. The Egyptian's admiration of
beauty is very much a part of sculptures of human figures during this
period.
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One area in which the Greeks thrived was in architecture. The buildings
that they created in honor of their gods were like nothing that history had
seen before. They consisted of a large, central room called a cella. The
cella served as a dedication to a god or goddess. Columns also existed
around the room.
The three styles of Greek architecture were the Doric, Ionic, and Corinthian.
o The earliest and most often used style was the Doric order. It was
simple in design and the columns were cylindrical, sleek, and without
ornate details.
o The Ionic, used mainly for
smaller buildings, had columns
that were slightly more ornate
than the Doric style. They
contained a circular base with a
curvilinear decorative piece at
the top.
o The Corinthian period was the least used and the simplest in design (Mittler, 1994).
The Greek’s most prized art form was that of sculpture. They created
many huge marble sculptures of human beings. They paid great attention
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to detail and realism, yet certain things were highly stylized to show their
love for perfect beauty. The Greek’s sculpture started out rigid in form with
humans standing straight up and then, as things evolved, the Greeks
started to show movement. Myron’s Discobolus (Disc Thrower) created
around 450 B.C., shows a life size nude male getting ready to throw a disc.
His muscles protrude as he glances back at his right arm that extends
straight back from his body. His knees are bent and his other arm rests on
one knee. It is displaying a moment in time, where movement is about to
take place. It was a true breakthrough in the history of art.
Myron’s Discobolus (Disc Thrower)
Ancient Rome
The Roman republic existed around 500 B.C., and the Greeks inspired
much of their art and architecture. Yet, Roman sculpture is much more
realistic than that of Greece with the purpose to record men as they were.
Roman architecture was a huge accomplishment and, although inspired by
the Ionic period from Greece, there were original qualities to it as well. They
were less concerned with beauty and more with the purpose of the building.
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One of their premiere inventions was that of the use of concrete instead of
stone. One of the most amazing examples of all time is that of the
Coliseum, completed in 80 A.D. Its purpose was to hold many visitors in the
stadium where gladiator events took place. It has three rows or tiers on
arches with columns in between each arch. The arches are Doric in style.
The Medieval Period
The Roman Empire seemed to have it made, with its power stretching
across Western Europe, North Africa, Greece, and some of the Near East.
Yet the rise of Christianity and the internal problems of the empire
eventually caused it to crumble.
The Medieval period, or Middle Ages, was born and it existed from
approximately 500 to 1500 A. D. The Middle Ages was a period of growth
and change, as Christianity began to flourish in all modes of expression.
Unlike today, artists of the Middle Ages remained nameless because their
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work was essentially religious in nature. To have one’s name on a work
was not important. The artists’ purpose was for God, and not for
themselves.
St. Peter’s Cathedral in Rome is an important church built in that time. The
construction of the cathedral began between 326 and 333 A. D. and lasted
about thirty years. The church was completed during the reign of the
Roman emperor Constantine. The five aisles in the cathedral resemble a
cross when looking at them from above, and it is an example of the Latin
Cross plan (Mittler, 1994). The church was full of mosaics, although none
of them has survived.
Romanesque and Gothic Architecture
The Romanesque period shows the continued use of the Latin Cross plan
in the design of churches. However, the structure continued to evolve
during this period. The architects got away from wood ceilings, and they
started to develop stone ceilings with buttresses for support. The weight of
the stone was heavy, so support of many stones, or buttresses, were
placed alongside the walls so the ceilings would not collapse.
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These churches were still very dark, because it was difficult to build large
windows with stone walls and ceilings. The windows were small so the
walls would not collapse (Mittler, 1994).
During the twelfth and thirteenth centuries, the Gothic period developed.
Out went the heaviness, low, and thick walled Romanesque churches, as
the Gothic period came in.
During this period, many innovations of
architecture were developed. A great
discovery was that of the flying
buttresses, which allowed builders to
reduce pressure on the walls. These
buttresses counteracted the weight by
reaching from one side to the other side
of the aisles of the church. This
eliminated the need for solid walls and
more light was able to come into the church.
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Stained glass windows displayed scenes from the life of Christ, the Virgin
Mary, and the saints.
One of the great examples of the Gothic period was that of the Notre Dame, a cathedral located in Paris. The flying buttresses support the
walls and the exterior shows a High Gothic style with some older elements
as well.
The Renaissance
Now we see the cultural center of Europe shift from the Gothic style of
France to that of Italy. Renaissance is a French word that means rebirth, and the study of humanism, along with philosophical ideals, were
of much importance. A Classical style reemerged in the city of
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Florence. An artist named Giotto lived and worked in Florence during this
time. Giotto would forever change the course of painting.
Giotto created murals painted in a medium called fresco.
Fresco is a type of painting where the artist applies pigments to a wet
plastered wall. These pigments become part of the wall surface. Giotto
was an amazing artist in the fact that he was concerned with depicting
human emotion and realistic figures.
In his mural “Lamentation”, created around 1305 in Padua, Italy, he showed
figures of deep sorrow as they surround the dead Christ. His painting is
dramatic, as the diagonal composition shows overlapping figures full of
movement in the foreground, the front of the painting, and background, the
back area of the painting.
This style was very new to painting. Giotto’s work has been a great
influence to all artists ever since.
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People were discovering their role in the world and how they, as humans,
had a vital purpose to live and learn, not only to prepare for heaven.
Perspective and modeling began to show figures as they looked in real life.
Painters began to use deeper and richer colors, with intense hues that
created a sense of space. Artistic talent seemed to be abundant and a few
great masters were Leonardo da Vinci and Michelangelo Buonarroti
Both men lived in Italy and emerged as two of the most famous artists of
that time.
Leonardo created amazing sketches of
the human figure and anatomy.
Not only was he interested in nature, but
also completed wonderful religious
works. The Last Supper, a mural create
from 1495-98 A. D., was an examp
Renaissance values. Christ is seen in the
center of the mural, showing a peaceful state, along with the implied lines
of perspective that center to him. The twelve apostles that surround him at
the table exhibit a flurry of emotion, as they have just found out that one of
them will betray Christ. Leonardo da Vinci was a true Renaissance man,
with many interests including poetry, music, science and mathematics.
d
le of
Michelangelo shared the same passion as Leonardo, His genius is shown
in the sculpture “Pieta”, about 1500 A. D., where a life-size Virgin Mary is
seen holding the crucified Christ. Her beautiful and youthful face is full of
40
ART AND YOU
deep feeling as she looks down to the body of Christ. The realism sculpted
from marble is amazing to look at, as the draped clothes of Mary have such
accurate detail that the marble appears soft. Christ’s lifeless body is shown
with unbelievable care and it is hard to imagine how someone could sculpt
such a realistic masterpiece out of stone.
Another astounding work by
Michelangelo was that of the
painting on the ceiling of the
Sistine Chapel. He lay on his
back on a tall scaffold that
stretched to the ceiling of the
chapel. The mural has nine
sections that show the story of
humanity. The figures are hyper-realistic, modeled with light and shadow to
how their muscular form.
to walk upright again. He was driven, intense,
and his passion for art and
erfection forever left a mark on history.
s
Stopping only to sleep and eat, it took him four years to complete.
Michelangelo was never able
and at times easily angered.
His works are like nothing we have seen
p
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ART AND YOU
The Baroque Peri d
space Baroque period.
rtist Titian, who appeared just
efore the beginning of the Baroque period.
enetian Art
ble
lor
t of color, where an artist could create layers
f glossy and subtle glazes.
be
s a
ws.
o
From 1600 to 1750, the Baroque period emerged from
the Renaissance. The classic and natural style of the
Renaissance became a more colorful and dynamic style
in the Baroque Period. Action, time, light, andwere important themes in the
Included in this section is also the Venetian a
b
V
Titian, a master painter from the city of Venice, provided an understanda
shift from the Renaissance to the Baroque. Titian was less interested in
painstaking detail and realism, and more into dramatic composition of co
and painterly technique. Titian used the medium of oil paints instead of
tempera. Artists painted on canvas instead of wood. Oil painting provided a
more dramatic and bold effec
o
Titian’s figures were also full of emotion and mood, something that could
created with rich color contrast. The painting, Venus of Urbino, show
reclining Venus, a youthful beauty, who lays in the foreground of the
painting. Value contrast is the lightness of the figure that contrasts with the
dark background of the room. The roundness of the figure contrasts with
the geometric, linear shapes in the background, like the wall and windo
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ART AND YOU
The painting portrays softness and abundance of mood, as a little dog
sleeps at her feet. All the colors and
textures seem to harmonize and
alance each other in a new way.
culpture in the Baroque
g with the height
of drama and animation.
a, carved out of
t.
l
on
s down from them from a
oncealed window from above (Mittler, 1994).
m
kes on a new form that has not ever been seen before in art making.
b
S
Sculptors very much took on the themes of the Baroque period. Mood and
intense passion provided great value to these artists alon
of the moment, which was full
Gianlorenzo Bernini’s sculptural altar, The Ecstasy of St. Theresa, is a
great example of this style. Bernini’s figure of St. Theres
dramatic marble, has flowing and rippling drapery. The
sculpture depicts the biblical scene of the moment when S
Theresa is visited by an angel who pierces her heart with
God’s love. Dramatic golden rays made from golden meta
rods flow down onto the scene of the two marble figures.
The angel holds a golden arrow and has a sweet smile
his face as St. Theresa swoons with emotion. The two
figures seem to be moving in time, as light shine
c
Bernini shows a moment in time, with mixed media (golden rods, light fro
window, marble) and dramatic and real movement. This sculptural altar
ta
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ART AND YOU
Painting in the Baroque In sculpture the forms twist and turn in single moments in time, but wha
about painting? Caravaggio was a Baroque painter who captured dramatic
moments in time with realistic and flawed fi
t
gures. This style made his
aintings seem very realistic, along with his extremely dramatic use of light
e
mysterious man, are in realistic detail. The painting consists of
ramatic lights and darks and up close compositional elements (Mittler,
f
e Baroque style. In each country, the style
e his
Rembrandt used lots of paint and implied thick strokes, or impasto.
p
and shadow contrast, called chiaroscuro.
The Conversion of St. Paul, completed in 1601, is an oil painting on
canvas. The painting depicts St. Paul after he has fallen from his horse.
He is lying on his back with his body pushed against the picture plane. His
arms are outstretched reflecting the confusion of the moment. There is a
mysterious man in the background. The three figures, St. Paul, the hors
and the
d
1994).
The Baroque Outside of Italy Outside of Italy, artists in Spain, France,
England, and Holland developed elements o
th
developed differently. The Holland painter
Rembrandt van Rijn, for example, painted the inner emotion or psychology
of his subjects, with careful detail and golden sepia tones.
Rembrandt also painted many self-portraits, where he began to explor
inner emotion and identity. The contrast of light and dark was also used.
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ART AND YOU
Rembrandt was a master of th
unrecognized (Mittler, 1994).
e Dutch Baroque, yet died penniless and
___________________________________________
1.
s possible.
C. That the representations of the King and Queen were always in
D. the set of rules followed to
ensure a safe return from the afterlife.
2. Greek Architecture, to whom or what was the cella
form.
. The architect and his builders.
3. artists or architects tend to remain nameless in the Middle
B. Their name was not important because art was a reflection of their
D. The names have been lost over time.
________________
Lesson 3 Review What was an important aspect of art to the Egyptians?
A. That they depict the human figure as real a
B. That they show that their race is superior.
stone.
That forms of the human body depicted
In Classical
dedicated?
A. The beauty of the human
B. The gods or goddesses.
C. The scholars and scientists.
D
Why did
Ages?
A. Their government believed it to be public works.
faith.
C. It was a rule of the Christian Church.
45
ART AND YOU
4.
B. To allow more windows to be built so that more light could come
lt.
D. The supporting wall between two arches.
5. otto.
. Human emotion, realism, foreground, background.
6.
is ine C ape
. The Last Supper. D. All of the Above.
7. ribes the Baroque period?
line, and realism.
D. None of the Above
nswers
1. D 2. B 3. B 4. A 5. D 6. A 7. B
In architecture, what is the purpose of a buttress?
A. To provide support so that the ceilings would not collapse.
into the church.
C. To allow more narrow cathedrals to be bui
Name four things that interested the artist Gi
A. Human emotion, color, line, and religion.
B. Foreground, background, color, and emotion.
C. Human emotion, religion, color, and symbolism.
D
Michelangelo came down to eat for only one art piece:
A. the ceiling of The S t h l. B. The Pieta.
C
Which of the following options best desc
A. Full of color, drama, space, and line.
B. Full of action, time, light, and space.
C. Full of mood, color,
A
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ART AND YOU
LESSON 3 THINGS TO REMEMBER
The art created hundreds of years ago can influence and inspire
artists working today
Art created in the Stone Age contains animals as subject matter
The Stone Age cave paintings discovered in Lascaux, France are
estimated to be 15,000 years old
The important aspect of art to the Egyptians was that forms of the
human body depicted the set of rules followed to ensure a safe return
from the afterlife
In classical Greek architecture the cella was dedicated to the gods or
goddesses
Artists or architects tended to remain nameless in the Middle Ages.
Their names were not important because art was a reflection of their
faith
In architecture, the purpose of a buttress is to provide support so the
ceilings would not collapse
The artist Giotto was interested in human emotion, realism,
foreground, and background
Michelangelo worked without stopping, except to sleep and eat when
he was painting the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel
The Baroque period was not full or color, drama, line, mood, or
realism. It was full of action, time, light, and space
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ART AND YOU
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LESSON 4: MODERN ART
Significant Artists, Architects and Masterworks in History
It is true that many art historians cannot agree when the period that we call
modern art began. What is modern art exactly? Art reinvents itself and has
been groundbreaking for its time.
After the Baroque period, artists formed styles like Neoclassicism and Romanticism.
o Neoclassicism was about lack of emotion and strong linear forms with
a lack of bold colors. Its purpose was to inspire morality in the public
o Romanticism, on the other hand, sought different ways to express
emotion with dramatic colors.
Realism The realists began to change painting in fundamental ways. The artists that
were a part of this movement wanted to depict subject matter as it really
was, not in a romantic sense like their predecessors.
They turned their attention more to the medium of paint itself, bringing
attention to the process of painting, the medium, and the canvas.
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ART AND YOU
Edouard Manet worked hard to create luminosity in his painting, and to
show the beauty of actual light. He used a flatter and broader manner to
apply paint to the canvas.
Manet’s Luncheon on the Grass, c. 1863, shows a picnic in the woods with
three figures- two clothed men, and one nude woman with a woman
crouching in the background. The big question, of course, is why is the
woman nude when there are two clothed men talking to one another right
beside her? This alarmed the onlookers, along with the fact that the seated
woman stared directly to the viewer. The salons in Paris rejected this
painting.
Manet was interested in attacking traditional
themes in art and ended up exhibiting his work with
other rejected artists. New ideas about the
traditions of art began to form in France.
Impressionism A group of young artists, who were poor because no one paid them to
paint, began a style that would radically change the art world forever. Each
artist in this group varied its subject matter and interests, yet wanted to see
a real change in the art world. They were interested in painting outside, and
capturing the impressions of light and color. Their strokes were short,
strong and painterly. Their radical use of color was groundbreaking. Reds
and greens were next to one another, along with blues and oranges.
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ART AND YOU
The painters often used colors like blues and violets to shadow, instead of
grays and blacks.
One of the most famous Impressionists was Claude Monet. He painted
façades of churches, haystacks, water lilies, and other scenes in nature. He
painted the brilliance of sunlight and its effect on objects in nature.
Haystacks in open fields showed the different phases of light and the bright
colors that existed all around.
Another well know Impressionist was Pierre Auguste Renoir. He painted
the amiable side of life, with joyous scenes of nature and people. His
brushstrokes were loose and his subject matter happy.
Edgar Degas was a painter who was very skilled in his depiction of the
human form. He was also quite captivated with painting dancers and the
ballet.
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ART AND YOU
Degas' work was unique due to the influence of Japanese prints. This
included depicting forms in flat ways and directing the viewers’ eye around
the composition, with implied lines, or the outside lines of the subject matter
(Mittler, 1994). In addition, Degas’ subject matter was sometimes
incomplete. Think of a photograph that has something missing from the
composition, like a part of tree. The camera, invented during this time, was
a major influence on the work of Degas and other painters.
Post-Impressionism The art movements continued to evolve and rebel against one another. In
the case of the Post-Impressionists, they were rebelling against the
Impressionists’ desire to capture fleeing light and color. Because the Post-
Impressionists used many various styles, it is hard to group the movement
by certain elements.
Many consider Paul Cézanne to be the “Father of Modernism”. He
began to disregard space and focus more on compositional elements. In a
painting entitled Still Life with Apples and Oranges, he showed no example
of space or depth and instead pushed the imagery flat up against the
picture plane. The entire top of the table looks as if it is vertical, yet all the
apples and oranges lie on it. This technique allows the viewer to see the
objects more clearly. However, it is not realistic because the fruit would be
rolling off the table. Cézanne also depicted his subject matter with flat and
blocky color. The fruit had dark outlines and were painted with broader
strokes. Yet, despite all the unrealistic imagery, the painting was
harmonious.
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ART AND YOU
It was because there was a shift from painting some sort of reality to
placing value on the elements of design.
Vincent Van Gogh is probably the most well known
figure of Modern art. His tormented life, along with
his brilliant paintings, have brought much attention to
him. In addition, his art was unappreciated during his
lifetime, and it was not until after death that he
became famous.
The Starry Night, painted in
1889, shows a dramatic
display of the night sky with
swirling lines and bold
blues, yellows, and greens.
Broad and long strokes,
along with shorter ones, fill
the canvas, and create a feeling of movement and deepness.
Paul Gaugin was another breakthrough artist. He too used deep, pure
colors to express his emotion and to create a newfound harmony in his
painting. His painting “Vision after the Sermon” (Jacob Wresting with the
Angel), done in 1888, was one of the first canvases in history that shows
real use of unnatural color and symbolism. For instance, in this painting,
Gaugin painted the ground or grass a deep brick red. This brave step broke
open a passage for artists to use color in a symbolic and new way. More of
this will be examined in the section on Abstract Expressionism.
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ART AND YOU
The Fauves
This group of artists, just like the Post-Impressionists, used a bold and
bright color palette and emotional, expressive brush strokes. Their work
was inspired by the art from Polynesia, Africa, and other cultures.
The most famous Fauvist was Henri Matisse, who is still widely popular
today. He was an artist whose main passion was color and
line, as seen in his painting Red Room (Harmony in Red).
The painting is of a simple scene-a living room with some fruit and candles
on the table. A woman is shown placing down a basket of fruit and there is
a window showing a pastoral landscape to the left. Yet, it is a dramatic and
bold statement because the entire table, along with the wall, is painted in a
deep red color, seemingly bleeding into one another. Organic, curvilinear
shapes and fruit baskets are repeated on the tablecloth and the wall. The
shapes and the baskets appear to float between the tablecloth and the wall,
and back again.
Matisse wanted the joy of his painting to come across, like a musical
symphony. He continued to make art while he was old and hospitalized. It
was said that he had an extended brush so that he could paint and draw on
the ceilings when he was too weak to sit up.
Cubism
Pablo Picasso, a name recognized by people from all over the world, was
the ringleader of the Cubist movement. Cubism was a movement that was
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ART AND YOU
interested in abandoning real perspective and wanted to show shapes and
forms in a geometric fashion.
Without question, the work of Cézanne had influenced this movement,
because he began to abandon all real perspective and instead began
painting forms that were more geometrical in nature.
Picasso did explore other methods and styles of painting besides Cubism,
however. His Blue Period was when he decided to paint most of his canvas
with overall blue tones. That was then followed by his Rose Period, and so
on.
Yet in his work “Les Demoiselles d’Avignon”, c. 1907, the public saw a
dramatic shift in his work. The painting is of five female nudes, yet the
figures are severely angular in style and show multiple views of each figure.
The painting is also very flat. There is no illusion of space, and the
background is full of angular shapes that somehow mirror that of the
figures. This work was the beginning of Cubism and it exemplified the
values of that movement.
Dada and Surrealism
The art began to change from an interest in radical design to more
conceptual ways of thinking about it. The movement Dada was just that, for
it was art made to make fun of art in a way that rebelled against all the
beliefs that were followed thus far.
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ART AND YOU
Due to World War I, this was a tortuous time in history. The Dada artists
believed that art-making did not make sense during a time of war. A
famous example of this was Marcel Duchamp’s “Fountain”; an actual urinal
turned upside down and then placed in a gallery.
Surrealism was a movement that came after the war. It was somewhat
influenced by the absurdity of the Dada’s, yet also wanted to express the
unconscious mind and dreams (Fichner-Rathus, 1986). The artist Salvador
Dali, from Spain, is the best-known Surrealist. His paintings are often eerie
in feeling and symbolized the dark unconsciousness of the mind. Some
people believed him to be mad, as his life was also bizarre.
TWENTIETH CENTURY ARCHITECTURE
Architecture was also influenced by the way the art
world was continuing to change. American architect
Frank Lloyd Wright, who lived from 1867-1959,
forever changed architecture.
His work is in a Naturalistic style, which was more organic in form than
basic geometric buildings. Wright wanted to create a sense of harmony
between his buildings and nature, and therefore create buildings that
imitated the surrounding landscape (Fichner-Rathus, 1986). The domestic
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ART AND YOU
house called Fallingwater is such an example, where the open rooms and
large deck were on top of a waterfall. They somehow all merged as one
unit. Wright’s many buildings influenced many architects to come, for his
work exists all over America.
CONTEMPORARY ART The center of the art world shifted from Paris to New York and, along with
that, a dozen or so radical movements of art popped up with frenzy. This
period was from the end of World War II to the art of recent times.
There may even be a few artists discussed who are still alive today! Artists
now freely experiment with materials and concepts like never before, and
they have expressed their creative instincts with no boundaries.
It is a time when art stirred great intrigue and controversy. It is a time that is
still presently affecting young artists of today.
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ART AND YOU
Abstract Expressionism
In New York, many interests were popping up during the mid 1900’s.
Things like Zen Buddhism and the Japanese style of art were inspiring
artists. Surrealism was also not forgotten. The world seemed more
accessible and this influenced all art forms. Abstract Expressionism is
characterized by instinctual imagery, large fields of color and spontaneous
brushwork.
d
of
Artists like Hans Hofmann, actually born in Bavaria,
worked in New York during this time. Many movements
and artists before him, like Matisse and Picasso,
influenced him. His paintings were of large blocks of
colors varying in size and length. Bright blues, yellows,
and oranges make up his canvas in The Golden Wall (1961). He studie
color theory and understood that all cool colors would recede while warm
colors would push forward. He wanted to create a harmony and balance
his flat colorful shapes. Think about how dramatically different this was from anything that was created before. His work was nonobjective, for
did not have any subject matter other than color
Jackson Pollock was another tragic figure in art and has recently been
popularized through Hollywood cinema. He is most well known for ‘dancing’
around his canvases, flicking paint in all directions. Movement and frenzied
brushwork, along with the uncontrolled outcome, became the primary
themes of his work. He dripped, splattered, and brushed all over his
canvases.
it
and design.
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ART AND YOU
Robert Motherwell, Mark Rothko, and Barnett Newman were all artists
whose interests were more on flat and vibrating fields of color than on loose
brushwork. It was offered as a pure expression of beauty where the viewer
could relax in the massive fields of color. They all had varied approaches to
their painting, yet each was strong in his communications about the
simplicity and power of color.
Pop Art
This contemporary art movement was truly unique in its ideas. The term
Pop comes from the words popular culture; Pop artists exploit and use
images from commercial sources. They want to challenge viewers’
concepts about art and culture and show the common images that our
culture has come to admire. Advertisements and movie posters were often
common inspirations to these artists, like in Andy Warhol’s famous prints
of Campbell’s Soups and Marilyn Monroe. His “Marilyn Diptych” shows fifty
or so exact portraits of Monroe, with some partially blacked out on one
side. The colors of Monroe are bright and overstated, and it shows how her
image is of a commercial value, not of a real person.
Contemporary Sculpture
Henry Moore is a well known contemporary sculptor
who worked in stone. His abstract, large figures are
similar to Native American art. This also is true of
Pablo Picasso. Often his figures reclined. The organic
shapes had much fluidity (Fichner-Rathus, 1986).
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ART AND YOU
60
Alexander Calder is another famous sculptor in modern history. He
conceived mobiles, or a type of moving sculpture that hangs in the air.
These mobiles came to be massive in size with a presence that soars
above the viewer, sometimes over 90 feet in the air.
Duane Hanson, another influential sculptor, created life-like human figures
that can sometimes be mistaken for real people. His technique is so exact
that the polyester resin he uses actually resembles real skin. Hanson uses
real clothes and accessories and these methods actually confuse viewers
who cannot tell if they are real or not (Fichner-Rathus, 1986).
ART OF TODAY AND BEYOND THE WESTERN WORLD
Art of today continues to develop in new and different ways. More and
more, artists are using video, performance, and other technology to create
contemporary works of art.
The nature of artists is to experiment and explore reflections of our culture
and society to create lasting recorded impressions. As technology develops
and as our society advances, art will follow suit.
Further, as citizens of the United States and the Western world, we are
most familiar with the artwork made here in America
and Europe. However, there is a vast array of art
and history in all parts of the world. Artists from
Africa, the East, the Oceania, and all over have
created works that have influenced many artists.
ART AND YOU
Sometimes these works are more functional and serve as an integral and
symbolic way into their spirituality and culture. Art is a language that can
communicate and transcend all boundaries and belief systems and
customs. By studying the art of the Western civilization, we can begin to
understand the language of other cultures.
Lesson 4 Review 1. Which of the following influenced Edgar Degas’ work?
A. Light, color, and the natural world.
B. Eastern art and Claude Monet.
C. The camera and the Japanese print.
D. Classical art and beauty.
2. Who is sometimes called the “Father of Modernism”?
A. Vincent Van Gogh. B. Giotto.
C. Claude Monet. D. Paul Cézanne.
3. What three periods did Picasso work in?
A. The Blue Period, The Rose Period, and Cubism.
B. Impressionism, Fauvism and Cubism.
C. The Blue Period, The Rose Period, and Fauvism.
D. All of the Above.
4. True or False: The architect Frank Lloyd Wright wanted to continue
with the modern style of artists, and began creating works that
resembled the natural world.
A. True B. False
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ART AND YOU
5. True or False: Hans Hofmann, Jackson Pollock, Mark Rothko,
Barnett Newman, and Andy Warhol were all Abstract Expressionists.
A. True B. False
6. Which artist created large-scale mobiles?
A. Alexander Calder. B. Henry Moore.
C. Duane Hanson. D. Frank Lloyd Wright.
7. Which of the following art forms are artists more commonly using
today?
A. Installations. B. Video.
C. Performance. D. All of the Above.
Answers 1. C 2. D 3. B 4. A 5. B 6. A 7. D
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ART AND YOU
LESSON 4 THINGS TO REMEMBER
Modern Art appears after the Baroque Period on a historical timeline
The artists who create in the Neoclassic style use strong linear forms
without bold colors or emotion to inspire morality in public
Romanticism is a style of art that uses dramatic colors to express
emotion
Edgar Degas was influenced by the camera and the Japanese print
Paul Cezanne is sometimes called the “Father of Modernism”
Picasso worked in three periods of art; Impressionism, Fauvism and
Cubism
The architect Frank Lloyd Wright wanted to continue with the modern
style of artists and began creating works that resembled the natural
world
Hoffman, Pollock, Rothko, Newman, and Warhol were not all Abstract
Expressionists
Alexander Calder created large-scale mobiles
Artists of today are more commonly using installations, video, and
performance as art forms
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LESSON 5: ELEMENTS AND PRINCIPLES OF ART In this lesson, you will learn about the language of art and design. One of
the most important things to learn about works of art is their design and
planning. To understand this, you have to learn about the elements and
principles of art.
One of the most important aspects to learn about art and aesthetics is the
different ways that the art pieces are organized or designed. To do this, you
must learn about the foundation of visual language, which first includes
the elements and principles of art.
The elements of art are the building blocks of an art piece.
They include color, value, line, shape, form, texture, and space. Artists utilize these
elements to help further express
their visual ideas (Mittler, 1994).
These elements give artists
ways to arrange and form
compositions. Composition
refers to the organization of the
elements of art on an art piece.
What exactly are the principles of art? They are the different ways the
elements are used in works of art.
their
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ART AND YOU
The principles of art include
• balance,
• unity,
• emphasis,
• harmony,
• variety,
• movement,
• rhythm, and
• proportion (Mittler, 1994).
In other words, the elements make the principles or, you cannot have the
principles without the elements.
Just as writers or musicians compose their ideas, so do artists. Writers learn
ways to express their ideas through certain arrangements and organization,
as do artists. It has been said that artists inherently use the elements and
principles of art and do not need to study or practice them.
COLOR Color has three components: hue, intensity, and value (Mittler, 1994).
o Hue is simply a color’s given name, for example,
red, yellow, or blue.
o Intensity refers to the quality of brightness or pureness of a color. The
most intense colors are colors in their true form-or colors that have
been unaltered.
o value refers to a hue’s degree of lightness or darkness. An artist can
change a color’s value by adding white or black to it.
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ART AND YOU
Value
We just learned about value as a component of color, but value also stands
alone as an important element of art. Value simply refers to dark and light. It is the range of darkness and lightness in a drawing. Value helps to
describe form and space, along with helping to create a focal center of
interest. Artists can show a range of value from the lightest light (no dark
value) to the darkest dark (all dark values). A black and white photograph
or drawing can show a range of value on an object, which would reveal its
highlights and shadows. These highlights and shadows help define the
object’s form, which makes it look three-dimensional.
Line
Line is essential to most works of art. Simply put, line is a continuous mark made by a moving point. We can make lines by moving our pen,
pencil, or paintbrush across a surface. A sculptor can create lines with his
fingers on the clay or it can be the perceived edges of the piece. There are
all kinds of lines. Lines can be straight, curvy, thick, or thin. . They can help
create forms, movement, and can show many emotions. For example, try
drawing a delicate line. Now try drawing a line full of force and assertion.
As you can gather, lines help create the mood that an artist is trying to
create.
Shape and Form
Shape and form are two elements that can easily be confused. However,
they have distinct properties that set them apart. Shape is an area that is
limited to two-dimensional qualities.
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ART AND YOU
Shapes are flat and contain only height and width. Form is an object with
three-dimensional qualities; it not only shows height and width but also
depth (Mittler, 1994).
Forms are shapes. Yet they have the depth to make them look three-
dimensional.
Texture Texture refers to the surface quality of the way things look or feel. Texture
is the way that an object actually feels, such as a stone sculpture that is
roughly cut can have a bumpy texture. In painting, an artist can create
implied texture or the illusion of texture through technique and content. For
example, if an artist paints a dress that looks soft and shiny as if it were
made of satin, that is implied texture. The artist used specific techniques
and media to produce that effect.
Space
Space is the distance or area between, around, above, below, or within things. Artists create the
illusion of space through value,
perspective, and the arrangement of objects. Perspective is a technique
that artists use to show distance and to make objects look three-
dimensional.
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ART AND YOU
When an artist
demonstrates perspective,
objects in the foreground, or
front of the picture, are
larger, and subsequently
objects get smaller and
smaller as they fade into
the background.
In art, space can be as two-dimensional or three-dimensional. If space
is just two-dimensional then the artist utilized only height and width. If the
space in a work of art is three-dimensional then the artist also used depth,
plus height and width.
Principles of Art As stated earlier, artists create compositions by organizing the elements
into certain designs. We can examine works of art by looking at how artists
used the elements of design to create certain principles of art. Again, the
principles of art are balance, unity, emphasis, harmony, variety,
movement, rhythm, and proportion.
When artists add certain elements to a picture, they deliberately or
instinctively decide how this element will help create certain
principles of art. There are millions of possibilities associated
with this. For example, an artist may decide to add
bright red and yellow colors to a rather cool and
dark background to create emphasis or balance.
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ART AND YOU
Alternatively, if there is a drawing full of geometric shapes and lines, an
artist may add organic forms to the foreground to help
create variety. Artists can also repeat a motif, or a unit of
design, to create pattern.
Balance Balance refers to a way an artist uses the elements to create a feeling of equilibrium in a work. Symmetrical
balance occurs when there are identical images on both sides of the art
piece.
Asymmetrical balance occurs when different
elements of art do not mirror one another on
each side but find a way to balance out the
artwork. Radial balance occurs when
elements of art spiral out from a central point.
Think of the center of a flower and the way that each petal radiates from the center. Unity Unity simply refers to the overall look of an artwork that has a feeling of wholeness or oneness (Mittler, 1994). A work of art can achieve unity
when each element seems to be an essential part of the composition. Unity
often works with harmony to show how each element and principle work
together to make an art piece feel complete.
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Emphasis Emphasis occurs when elements accentuate the differences or contrasts between those elements. Artists create emphasis to grab the
viewer’s attention; to show the most important part of the work.
How would an artist like Vincent Van Gogh emphasize a church in a
painting? He could emphasize it in many ways, including creating a
contrast between the organic and angular shapes. Organic
shapes would be things like clouds, grasses, bushes,
etc. The church itself could be angular and
therefore standout against the organic shapes.
He could also create the church in a large scale compared to the rest of the
painting. The church could become much larger than any other figures in
the foreground.
Harmony Harmony refers to a way of using like or similar elements to create a piece that utilizes their likeness (Mittler, 1994). Repetition and slight or
gradual change is one way to create harmony.
Imagine a painting that repeats the same shapes,
like squares, but maybe slightly changes each
square’s dimension.
The painting may also consist of three repeated colors, like blue, white, and
yellow. This painting would be an example of how the two elements color
and shape create a sense of harmony.
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ART AND YOU
Variety Variety is achieved through differences and changes in the elements (Mittler, 1994). It is a way of combining elements to create unlike qualities
that can capture the viewer’s attention. For example, a bunch of round
forms can contrast with angular lines. Some of the shapes may have
smooth textures while others appear rough. The hues of the shapes can be
a variety of different colors; some may be warm while others are cool. Yet
artists need to be careful to not use too much variety within the elements,
for this can distract or confuse the viewer.
Movement Movement is a principle of art that creates a sense of action that guides the eye through an art piece (Mittler, 1994). Artists can easily
show movement with lines or shapes on a certain path, or on many paths.
Repeated colors, the outline of shapes or forms, and texture are elements
used to create movement.
Movement became a much more
popular principle of art when artists
began experimenting with
abstraction, as in the Abstract
Expressionist movement.
Rhythm Rhythm occurs with repeated elements in a work of art. Rhythm in art is
similar to rhythm in music. Similar repeated elements in an artwork
produce a visual beat.
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These elements cause the viewer to examine a painting by glancing from
one repeated element to the next, and it can cause a movement or unity in
an art piece.
Proportion
Proportion is a principle of art that is concerned with certain elements relating to the whole and to each other. It is a comparative relationship
where certain elements, like a shape for example, can emphasize other
shapes. For example, artists can show objects in larger natural proportion
so that those objects stand out more in a painting. If a figure is largely in
the foreground, and may look a little out of natural proportion, we can
assume that the artist wanted to emphasize that figure. Think back to Van
Gogh’s church painting. Imagine there is a small figure in the foreground
that looks incredibly small in comparison with the large church. We know
that the artist wanted to emphasize that church by using the principle of
proportion.
WORKING WITH THE ELEMENTS AND PRINCIPLES
Color Value Line Shape Form Texture Space Balance Emphasis Harmony Variety Movement Rhythm Proportion The above chart is an essential resource for learning about the aesthetics
of art (Mittler, 1994). It will help you identify the many
possible relationships that occur between the elem
(top row) and principles (bottoments
row) of art.
To use it, begin with the first element, color, and identify if
that element helps achieve the above principle, the first one being balance.
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Find a work of art that you can examine during this exercise (on the
Internet, in books).
1. Ask yourself “Is there evidence of color in this work?”
2. If yes, then ask, “Does color help achieve balance in the painting?”
3. If yes again, then check the box where color and balance intersect.
4. Next, go on to the box where color and unity intersect.
5. Ask yourself “Does color help achieve unity in this painting?”
6. Check if yes.
Then follow through with all the principles of art in relationship to color.
Go to the next element, value, and do the same thing.
Remember, if the painting was black and white, color is not evident and you
would simply move on to value.
What results did you find? It is quite common that people find different
results for the same painting. Try doing this with a friend or family member
and see what you both come up with and then compare results.
Lesson 5 Review True or False: 1. Value is a component or quality of color and an element of art.
A. True B. False
2. Lines can be evident in sculpture.
A. True B. False
3. Shape and form are similar elements in art; it is just that shape has a
third dimension, which is depth.
A. True B. False
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4. You notice the texture of a collage that contains sandpaper and
buttons. This texture is implied texture.
A. True B. False
5. Space can only be evident in art through perspective, or elements
receding into the background.
A. True B. False
Multiple Choice: 6. A good example of radial balance would be:
A. A butterfly B. A wedding ring
C. A daisy D. An eye
7. An example of emphasis would be:
A. Seven lines of the same width and height placed along the center
of the painting.
B. A blue and a red square side by side.
C. A large red flower that contrasts with a dark background.
D. A woman sitting on a chair wearing light hued dress and is largely
out of proportion with the small room.
E. C & D
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ART AND YOU
8. Do you think movement would be more apparent in a realist portrait
painting or in an abstract painting with lots of textures and linear
shapes?
A. It would be more apparent in the abstract painting.
B. It could be more apparent in both; it depends on the style of the
portrait.
C. I do not think movement could be apparent it either.
D. It would be more apparent in the portrait painting.
9. Artists can use the following principles to create rhythm:
A. Line B. Texture C. Shapes D. Color E. All of the Above
True or False: 10. If there were one dominant element in an artwork, that element
would help achieve many principles.
A. True B. False
11. The design chart can help determine if there is an overall sense of
unity in an art piece.
A. True B. False
Answers 1.A 2.A 3.B 4.B 5.B 6.C 7.E 8.A 9.E 10. A 11. A
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LESSON 5 THINGS TO REMEMBER
Value is a component of quality of color and an element of art
Lines can be evident in sculpture
Shape does not have depth, form does
The texture of a collage that contains sandpaper and buttons is
rough, not implied texture
Space can be evident in art through perspective or elements receding
into the background and other aspects
A good example of radial balance would be a daisy
A good example of emphasis would be a large red flower that
contrasts with a dark background or a woman sitting on a chair
wearing a light hued dress and being largely out of proportion with the
small room
Movement would be more apparent in an abstract painting with lots of
textures and linear shapes
Artists can use line, texture, shapes and color to create rhythm
One dominant element in an artwork can help to achieve many
principles
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LESSON 6: ART CRITICISM AND AESTHETICS
In this lesson, you will study the ways to discuss art. You will examine the
three theories of judging art to enhance your understanding of art
criticism.
Art criticism is a lot like playing detective. We are
searching for clues and meanings to find out the
message of a work of art.
Art criticism helps you open your mind to find ways of communicating about
works of art. It also aids in discovering information within works of art.
However, in order to find hidden meanings or messages, you must know
what to look for. Then, you must know how to do it.
You will end your search by deciding if a work of art succeeds or fails in
your eyes. In order to make that decision, have supporting details to back
you up. In this lesson, find a magazine, photographs, or an art book so that you can look at images to practice these methods. (Note: For the
internet, use some well known search engines and enter in artist’s names,
like “Picasso”, or enter famous art movements, for example “Pop Art”.
Aesthetic Scanning
As Brutger stated (2005), in 1972, an art educator and theorist named
Harry Broudy published a book about the art of aesthetics. Aesthetic
scanning means cues or clues that contribute to the overall design and
beauty in a work of art.
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ART AND YOU
An art viewer needs a certain framework of ideas when looking at a work of
art. This helps becoming knowledgeable about how to view works of art.
This model will help you be analytical while making distinctions when
viewing images. Using your sensory perception, you will develop a richer
sense of art ideas and images.
Now locate an art image and examine it. The first step is identifying the
Sensory Properties. These include the art elements of color, value, line, shape, form, texture, and space. The questions to ask will relate to these
properties. For example:
What colors do you see?
Do you see any lines?
Is there deep or shallow space in the picture?
Are there more dark colors or bright colors?
What kind of shapes does the picture have in it?
Is texture evident?
What kind of texture is it, smooth, rough?
Ask these types of questions for each element.
Next, look at the Formal Properties. Use the principles of design to look at
the organization of an art piece. The principles include balance, unity, emphasis, harmony, variety, movement, rhythm, and proportion.
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ART AND YOU
Now ask questions like: Is the picture balanced? What makes it balanced?
What is the focus? Is there rhythm?
What element gives it rhythm? Are there repeated shapes?
What would help this piece? Is there color needed over there?
Do you see any movement, if so, where does it exist?
What gives it movement?
Is there anything that distracts you in this picture?
Be able to ask yourself questions about every kind of design principle in
different kinds of ways.
Now look at the artwork and begin to come up with your own interpretation.
What do you think the overall feeling or mood is of the work? This step is interpreting the Expressive Properties of a work.
For example: Is this a sad or happy work?
What may the artist be trying to tell us?
Is it bold or timid, peaceful or chaotic?
Does it remind you of something particular?
How does it make you feel when you look at it?
Would you hang it in your house, why or why not?
Finally, in an aesthetic scan, we need to examine the Technical Properties.
Decide what medium was used to create this work.
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ART AND YOU
Is it a painting, sculpture, print, photograph, etc?
What kind of material did the artist use?
How well did the artist succeed with this particular medium?
Why do you think he or she chose to use that medium?
Answering all these questions is formally examining the aesthetic qualities
in a work. This method is helpful when doing it with other friends or family.
By answering all these questions, you can just admire or observe it from an
aesthetic point of view.
The Four Steps to Art Criticism Now find a different work of art or image. Look at this work of
art using four steps but in somewhat of a different way. This is
the most well known form of art criticism. It includes
description, analysis, interpretation, and judgment. Use
these to help you gain information about a work of art (Mittler, 1994). Try
writing your answers down on a sheet of paper.
Description: In the first step, simply describe exactly what you see in an
artwork. Do this as neutrally as possible. Again, use sensory properties to
gain information. Identify all the lines, shapes, colors, textures, values, etc.
Also, discuss the subject matter, but still just state it with no opinion.
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Analysis: Now explain how the parts are organized. Which principles of
design seem important? Do these principles work well together, why or why
not? Refer back to the design chart. Analyze how things effect
and influence each other. Describe the relationships that
you see.
Interpretation: Now you need to decide the meaning or idea of this work.
What is it symbolizing? What is the feeling or mood of the work? What does
this work mean? What adjectives would you use to describe this work?
Your interpretation is a personal one and there is
no right or wrong answer here.
Judgment:
Finally, you get to decide if you think this art piece
is successful or not. What makes it successful?
What areas need improvement? Be able to explain why or why not. Be
mindful of the steps you have just completed.
To make a solid judgment as an art critic, consider what aesthetic qualities
are in this artwork. What aesthetics criteria was the artist using? This leads
us into the three theories of art.
The Three Art Theories The following three theories are what critics have found to categorize art
(Mittler, 1994).
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ART AND YOU
Imitationalism: is when the artist seems primarily concerned with imitating
the real world as he or she sees it. The subject matter is presented in a
realist way and the artist is imitating life. Think of an exact portrait of a
famous King or Queen, or a landscape painting of a beautiful field of
flowers, done as real to life as possible.
Emotionalism: is when the artist seems primarily concerned with showing
or communicating a mood, feeling, or ideas to the viewer. Simply put, the
artist wants to express an emotion. Think about the way an artist makes his
or her brush strokes; is the artist calm or chaotic? If it is a
painting of a woman and she looks sad, then the painting
is expressing a sorrowful emotion.
Both realistic and abstract work can be full of emotion.
Formalism: when an artist seems interested in showing an effective
organization of the elements of art using of the principles of design. An
artist may want the viewer to be aware of lines, shapes, colors, etc. There
are many works of art with this interest nowadays. A painting full of color
harmonies with lines and shapes, like a Kandinsky, for example, would be
a good example of Formalism.
Now, lets refer back to that painting of a the sad looking woman. Imagine
she is in a dark room, with muted colors and tones. Maybe she is sitting on
her bedside looking down. It is painted with exact details as the light shines
through her bedroom window. It almost looks like a photograph because it
is so realistically painted.
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ART AND YOU
This piece is an example of what theory? The truth is, you can pick both
Emotionalism and Imitationalism, and it does not have to be one or the
other.
Maybe, to you, the artist was more concerned with showing the deep,
melancholy emotion of the unknown woman. Maybe the viewer was
supposed to wonder why she was sad. However, for someone else the
realistic painting style is what catches their eye. Both answers are right.
That is the beauty of art criticism; it is a personal choice.
The reason this step is so important when judging a work of art is that we
get to decide if the artwork were a successful example of its given theory.
What impressed you about the work? Was it the emotion displayed? What
are the design elements? Was it hard to decide between the three?
Maybe you see that an artist was trying to express
his or her emotions but it failed in your eyes.
Perhaps it was supposed to be imitating the
natural world but it did so poorly. The three
theories of art are just tools to use when judging a
work of art.
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ART AND YOU
Lesson 6 Review 1. Choose the best description of Formal Properties in an aesthetic
scan.
A. Lines are bold and short; the colors are complementary.
B. Emphasis is on the seated figure.
C. The feeling is joyous and light.
D. Shapes and forms are abundant.
2. Choose the best description of Technical Properties in an aesthetic
scan.
A. All the elements harmonize with one another.
B. The implied texture at the top looks soft and shiny.
C. The value contrasts are dramatic and create a feeling of mystery
and intrigue.
D. The stone is rough with a lot of detail.
3. Which of the following is an example of Description?
A. The artwork is successful because it is a wonderful example of
Imitationalism and all the elements harmonize with one another.
B. The right side of the picture does not balance with the left side. There is
too much variety and not enough unity.
C. There are several round shapes, or oranges in the center of the picture
with organic lines on the tablecloth.
D. The subject matter seems symbolic of the cycles of life.
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ART AND YOU
4. Which of the following is an example of Interpretation?
A. The picture feels calm, quiet, and reflective.
B. It shows several warm colors and flat shapes in the background.
C. There is a lot of movement going on in the foreground that unifies with
the still background.
D. It is not successful because it is not clear which theory it falls into and its
use of medium is poor.
Match the following:
5. Emotionalism A. True to life.
Formalism B. Full of mood and passion.
Imitationalism. C. Full of design elements.
Answers 1. B 2. D 3. C 4. A 5. B, C, A
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ART AND YOU
LESSON 6 THINGS TO REMEMBER
Art criticism can help the viewer decide if a work of art succeeds or
fails in their opinion
An aesthetic scan is used to discover the clues that contribute to the
overall design and beauty in a work of art
The Sensory Properties in an aesthetic scan contain color, value,
line, shape, form, texture, and space
Deciding if a work is happy or sad is part of an aesthetic scan
The viewer can not complete an aesthetic scan by looking at only one
of the Properties
Formal Properties in an aesthetic scan best be described by an
emphasis on the seated figure
The best description of Technical Properties in an aesthetic scan
would be the stone is rough with a lot of detail
An example of Description is there are several round shapes or
oranges in the center of the picture with organic lines on the
tablecloth
An example of interpretation could be as follows: the picture feels
calm, quiet, and reflective
Formalism can best be described as full of design elements
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ART AND YOU
LESSON 7: THE VALUE OF ART
In this lesson, you will learn the benefits
associated with the study of art and art
history. Learning about art aesthetics and
history can help you in many ways as a
student and as a citizen.
One cannot understate the value of art
appreciation and the creation of art to
those individuals who enjoy the process.
People have been making art since the beginning of time. Consider the
reason why they have been doing so. Why do people value art so much,
whether they are educators, art patrons or gallery owners? Why do people
believe that art is important? Scholars and p
th
To begin, art is a language that we can all understand. Art crosse
boundaries, whether cultural or racial. Through it, we can begin to
understand other people’s experiences. Art prov
hilosophers have long studied
ese questions. What is the value of art?
s
ides people with the mode
r self-expression, without the need to speak.
lete
.
fo
Art teaches us discipline and patience, it makes us begin and comp
a project that is truly our own. Sometimes art can help us understand
ourselves better, or can make us look and feel differently about a situation
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ART AND YOU
It teaches us higher order thinking skills. The analysis of symbolism
o
ome, . Art
he mind
nd quiets the outside world. That is some
communicate about your own art
r art that you see in a museum. You may want to draw, paint or create a
You may be surprised a
m
, what kind
is will
he
forces us to come up with our own visual s
Art can be a form of healing for sand a time of quiet reflection for others
does not discriminate; anyone can
appreciate and create art. Art can be
relaxing, a quiet time to break up the
routine of the day. Art stimulates t
a
lutions.
of the mystery and beauty of art.
Communicating through the arts As a student, it is important to be able to
o
collage when studying a history lesson.
t how much more you get out of that lesson when
plement it. For example, if you were making a
collage about the Harlem Renaissance
creating a visual to co
of elements would you use? What would be the
color scheme and overall mood of a piece?
Remember, when discussing works of art, it is quite
helpful to refer to the design chart and discuss how
the elements helped create the principles. Th
help you discover the design relationships between the elements and t
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ART AND YOU
principles of art. From there you can draw your conclusion: is this a
successful piece? Do the elements and principles of art help create a
feeling of unity? That is the million-dollar question. Be prepared to answer
why you do or do not think an art piece shows unity. Use the elements and
rinciples as reason for your opinion. You have just performed an aesthetic
rough art criticismf art. T
on works of art;
ome up with a conclusion
bout that work. These steps are the resources that you cannot be without
about aesthetic scan and art critiques
that it helps us understand what the artist had in mind. Further, it also
ve us with a feeling of unique individuality. We can
se these techniques to form sound opinions about many things in life and
p
scan of an artwork.
Another way to communicate about art is th . You now
know the four steps in reviewing a work o hese
steps help you make sound judgments
they go beyond liking or disliking a work. Again, the
four steps are description, analysis,
interpretation, and judgment. When talking about works
of art, rehearse these four steps to c
a
when commenting on a work of art.
The reason it is important to learn
is
helps us understand ourselves.
Art can provide a language that crosses barriers and provides critical and
analytical thinking into areas of politics and humanity. It can somehow link
us to the world yet lea
u
with many art forms.
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ART AND YOU
Making Connections As stated earlier, art helps us make connections between different sociological
nd economic elements. We have discuss
a soci
xamine some of the following ways art can
a ed how art exists as a universal
ety? expression. What reasons can art help us as
E
benefit our society and our world:
Art can
help us understand artists’ time and
lues, or opinions. It helps us understand
spiritual and religious
rks
idges.
Art can make us examine or reflect upon new issues.
As you can see, art c
beginning of humani ct.
When people were li
subject matter of the
place; it commemorates certain events in
history
Art shows artists’ disposition, va
humanity. There is a basic need for human expression and beauty.
Art helps us fulfill our potential
Art can educate the masses by showing personal,
beliefs. It can visually teach us why an artist may value a certain religion.
Art can catalyze change or exhibit social protest.
Art helps us make our world a more beautiful place. For example, wo
of art can brighten up a house, workplace, or school.
Art can provide collaboration between artists. It can create br
Art can help define a community, its values, and its people.
an benefit our culture in numerous ways. Since the
ty, the impulse to create has been a natural instin
ving in caves, they decorated their walls with the
ir daily lives.
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ART AND YOU
93
It is then of no surprise that the drawings and relief
were of what they valued in
e dancing around a big feast.
ave a strong odor, or require a large amount of space. Therefore,
any artists work in studios, places specifically designed for artists to
in their backyard. However, there can be specific
rtist studios that are located in a city. Sometimes there can be many artist
The first is the
Bakehouse Art Complex, s artists. These artists
mplexes allow visitors to come and look at the studios and
carvings that they created
life, like a scene of peopl
Artist Studios
Artists need places to create their work. Art materials can sometimes be
messy, h
m
create.
Sometimes artists may work out of their home. They can work in one room,
a garage, or a workshop
a
studios in one building.
For example, in Miami there are two of those places. which houses seventy plu
range from painters, to jewelry designers, to ceramists.
Artist’s Studio
Another studio complex located in Miami is Art Center/South Florida. Both of these co
galleries located within. If artists are working there, you may even be able
to look inside.
Visiting a professional artist’s studio is a wonderful learning experience. It
can teach you about the discipline and experimentation that goes into art
ART AND YOU
making. So, along w
th
find that there are.
Other resources
Because the visual arts are such an expression of humanity and culture
there are many more opportunities to be a part of an arts community. Art
festivals are another way to educate yourself about art and artis
fe
and crafts festivals that exhibit things like pottery and jewelry.
Volunteering is also a great way to meet individuals in the arts community
Museums and other non-profi
ith visiting art museums and galleries, check to see if
ere are any artist studio complexes in your area. You may be surprised to
,
ts. Art
stivals can have different themes, like contemporary art, commercial arts
.
t art organizations are always looking for
eople. This can lead to valuable work experience and get you ahead in
g a
rofessional artist. An experience like that can teach you about the different
aterials available and the processes that one has to take to use them.
p
the field of Museum Studies.
Well-known artists sometimes need studio assistants to help them. This
can put you into the local art community. There you can learn about bein
p
m
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ART AND YOU
THE INTENTIONS OF ARTISTS COMPARED TO THE ART WORLD
In this short discussion, you will explore ar
differ from the people involved in selling ibiting
works. To keep the process of exhibit and
admiring art, there has to be money behind it.
is of no secret that artists sometimes struggle to
become financially successful. That can depend on gallery su
tists’ intentions and how that can
and exh
ing
It
pport.
useums need significant funding. This is for the large buildings that they
.
or
ion, you will examine all these factors
nd questions and come to your own understanding of the relationship
and the art world.
f art
ely seek it out. Some do it as an investment standpoint. Others do
because they appreciate good art and the value that art adds to our
M
inhabit, and an esteemed collection of famous or quality artworks.
Art can be seen by some as purely investment, where Picasso and Monet
paintings can auction in New York City for millions upon millions of dollars
So, what does all this mean? How does money become such a key fact
in the making of art? In this discuss
a
between artists
Art collectors
Art collectors help support artists, art museums, art institutions, and
galleries. Many collectors have a taste for a certain period or periods o
and activ
it
culture.
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ART AND YOU
96
lf as an artist and
wish to help. Some art stitutions or museums rely on funding from these
e
on and preservation of art.
Yet some museums resist receiving funding from
llery
merging or established
rtist. Emerging artists are artists whose career is still being established or
is
ire to buy art
om that artist as well, which can dramatically change the artist’s career.
owever, the artist needs to be careful not to give in to collectors’ whims
They may also realize how hard it is to support onese
in
w does this affect the art world? ct to the collectors’ taste?
There is a field of work in the art world called art administrators. They take on many roles
surrounding the exhibiti
collectors. So, just hoIs the art world subj
major collectors, because there are usually strings
attached.
A collector may give his or her collection of art only if they name the ga
or a museum wing after them. This can sometimes take away from the
freedom of exhibiting other works. Yet, what can the collector do for artists?
Collectors can make or break a career for an e
a
recognized. Established artists are artists who have solid representation in
galleries and are well known to the art world.
If a collector decides to collect the work of a particular artist, that collector
able to support the artist’s work and make other collectors des
fr
H
and desires, thus changing the creative process of the artist.
ART AND YOU
97
MORE ON ARTISTS’ INTENTIONS AND THAT OF COLLECTORS It is true that art dated back in history is of great monetary value. In
addition, art from other cultures can be of much intrigue for art consumers
and add a unique decoration to a home. Do all artists
see their work in peoples’ homes when they are
creating it? Do you know that when some people of
the world create things they may not even think of
themselves as an artist? For example, in Africa the
people have made beautiful woodcarvings like masks and headdresses of
tricate design. Many of these carvings serve to honor their ancestors and
r
eate
ot think e
oney, they may not even have money or
that, bec
in
to keep the spirits happy so that their tribe can survive. There are certain
people of an African tribe who create these honorary objects; linked to thei
belief system and their well-being.
The Africans would have not known that one day all of these art pieces
would be in museums and worth thousands of dollars at art auctions. The
African people are not alone in their way of making art. Many other tribes
from other places than the Western world cr
certain purpose for that tribe. They did n
art pieces that serve a
of it as a way to mak
something like it in their tribe or
ause of the differences in
m
culture. Therefore, you can understand
cultural values and rules, art takes on very
different meanings to different people.
Some tribes could think it strange that
Americans would have all their ritual masks
ART AND YOU
hanging on their walls. They may think it strange because why would they
hang American paintings in their tribal villages, for example. Why do you
think people c
o
important analytical
a
ollect items from other cultures? Why do you think that
bjects dated back in history are of so much monetary value? These are
questions to ask yourself when studying the financial
spect of the art world.
Le 1. est help you perform an aesthetic scan?
ce in history.
B. Identifying the subject matter.
2.
B. If the viewer finds a piece successful through analysis.
C. If the elements and principles of art work together successfully.
D. If the mood and color scheme depict the subject matter in a unique
fashion.
sson 7 Review
Which of the following can b
A. The artwork’s pla
C. Critiquing a work of art.
D. A design chart.
How can an artist achieve unity in a work?
A. If all the elements harmonize with one element.
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ART AND YOU
3.
A. nization, interpreting the mood
B. ideas, analyzing its
king a judgment.
C. Interpreting the mood and ideas, analyzing its organization,
D. o Above.
can teach us about religious values.
False
5.
different cultures.
tween different artists.
C. A basic human need for expression and fulfillment.
ge in our society.
Answers . D 2. C 3. A 4. A 5. E
The steps to art criticism are:
Describing the work, analyzing its orga
and ideas, and making a judgment.
Describing the work, interpreting the mood and
organization, and ma
describing the work, and making a judgment.
N ne of the
4.True or False: Art
A. True B.
Art can provide:
A. Understanding between
B. Collaborations be
D. Chan
E. All of the Above.
1
99
ART AND YOU
LESSON 7 THINGS TO REMEMBER
Using a design chart is the best help to perform an aesthetic scan
An artist can achieve unity in a work if the elements and principles of
art work together successfully
The steps to art criticism are: describing the work, analyzing its
organization, interpreting the mood and ideas, and making a
judgment
Art can teach us about religious values
Art can provide: understanding between different cultures,
collaborations between different artists, show a basic human need for
expression and fulfillment, and changes in our society
Showing the difference between male and female artists, both young
and old, is not a previous listed benefit of becoming a part of an arts
community
Another word for docent is guide
A gallery usually represents a number of artists
Artists can work in various types of studios
A theatre is not generally considered to be a community visual arts
resource
100
ART AND YOU
END OF COURSE REVIEW
Capability, process, and outcome are words you can use to define art
There is more than one clear definition of what art is
An example of Art as Social Commentary is a photograph of world
hunger taken in a poor country
Admiring the design of a tall building, or flipping through a magazine, or
receiving a postcard in the mail from someone who is traveling is an
example of how art and design affect our lives
People have been making art since the Primitive times
The way an artist uses the technical skills of a given medium defines an
artist’s technique
An example of a realistic style of art would be a photograph of your
neighborhood
A butterfly, a human face, and an open book are examples of things that
are symmetrical
Positive space is not the space occupied by the subject or objects
An example of a painting full of organic shapes and cool colors would be
a painting of trees with deep blue and green colors
The important aspect of art to the Egyptians was that forms of the
human body depicted the set of rules followed to ensure a safe return
from the afterlife
In classical Greek architecture the cella was dedicated to the gods or
goddesses
Artists or architects tended to remain nameless in the Middle Ages.
Their names were not important because art was a reflections of their
faith
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ART AND YOU
In architecture, the purpose of a buttress is to provide support so the
ceilings would not collapse
The artist Giotto was interest in human emotion, realism, foreground,
and background
Michelangelo worked without stopping, except to eat, when he was
creating the Sistine the Chapel
The Baroque period was not full or color, drama, line, mood, or realism.
It was full of action, time, light, and space
Romanticism is a style of art that uses dramatic colors to express
emotion
Edgar Degas was influenced by the camera and the Japanese print
Paul Cezanne is sometimes called the ”Father of Modernism”
Picasso worked in three periods of art; Impressionism, Fauvism and
Cubism
The architect Frank Lloyd Wright wanted to continue with the modern
style of artists and began creating works that resembled the natural
world
Hoffman, Pollock, Rothko, Newman, and Warhol were not all Abstract
Expressionists
Alexander Calder created large-scale mobiles
Artists of today are more commonly using installations, video, and
performance as art
Value is a component of quality of color and an element of art.
Lines can be evident in sculpture
Shape does not have depth, form does
The texture of a collage that contains sandpaper and buttons is rough,
not implied texture
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ART AND YOU
Space can be evident in art through perspective or elements receding
into the background and other aspects
A good example of radial balance would be a daisy
A good example of emphasis would be a large red flower that contrasts
with a dark background or a woman sitting on a chair wearing a light
hued dress and being largely out of proportion with the small room
Movement would be more apparent in an abstract painting with lots of
textures and linear shapes
Artists can use line, texture, shapes and color to create rhythm.
One dominant element in an artwork can help to achieve many
principles
Formal Properties in an aesthetic scan best be described by an
emphasis on the seated figure
The best description of Technical Properties in an aesthetic scan would
be the stone is rough with a lot of detail
An example of Description is there are several round shapes or oranges
in the center of the picture with organic lines on the tablecloth
An example of interpretation could be as follows: the picture feels calm,
quiet, and reflective
Formalism can best be described as full of design elements.
Using a design chart is the best help to perform an aesthetic scan
An artist can achieve unity in a work if the elements and principles of art
work together successfully
The steps to art criticism are: describing the work, analyzing its
organization, interpreting the mood and ideas, and making a judgment
Art can teach us about religious values
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ART AND YOU
Art can provide: understanding between different cultures, collaborations
between different artists, show a basic human need for expression and
fulfillment, and changes in our society
Showing the difference between male and female artists, both young
and old, is not a previous listed benefit of becoming a part of an arts
community
Another word for docent is guide
A gallery usually represents a number of artists
Artists can work in various types of studios
A theatre is not generally considered to be a community visual arts
resource
104
ART AND YOU
REFERENCES
Artlex Art Dictionary. (2005, March 1). Electronic preference formats
recommended by the Artlex Art Dictionary. Retrieved March 1, 2005 from
the World Wide Web: HYPERLINK "http://www.artlex.com"
http://www.artlex.com.
Brutger, James H. (2005, March 8). Aesthetic Scanning. Retrieved March
7, 2005 from the World Wide Web: HYPERLINK
"http://www.d.umn.edu/artedu/scan.html"
http://www.d.umn.edu/artedu/scan.html.
Fichner-Rathus, Lois. (1986). Understanding Art. Englewood Cliffs, NJ:
Prentice-Hall.
Mittler, Gene A. (1994). Art in Focus. New York, NY: Macmillan/McGraw
Hill.
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