A Human Phenomenon

& The language OF ART &

ARCHITECTUREART201

Ms. Beka

Exploring Art: A Global Thematic Approach

Let’s Discuss…

What is art?

A Human Phenomenon

AGREE or DISAGREE?

• Art is strictly a human phenomenon. Only human beings make art to better understand life or to communicate emotions or ideas to others.

• phe•nom•e•non (n) an amazing person, thing, or event.

A Human Phenomenon

AGREE or DISAGREE?

• Art is strictly a human phenomenon. Only human beings make art to better understand life or to communicate emotions or ideas to others.

• Do art-producing animals make art “to better understand life or to communicate emotions or ideas to others”?

Towarda definition of art

•No single definition of art absolutely applies for all times and places. Generally, however…

• Art is a primarily visual medium that expresses ideas about our human experience and the world around us.

• Art engages our attention in a way that our everyday environment cannot.

Towarda Definition of Art

AGREE or DISAGREE?

•Art is whatever the artist says is art.

MARCEL DUCHAMP. Fountain, 1917.

Towarda definition of art

•Art is whatever a society or a culture says is art.

• The definition of art is not universal and fixed in all its details.

• It fluctuates, because cultures are alive and changing.

Towarda definition of art

•There are four major areas of art which culture defines…

• Function

• Visual Form

• Content

• Aesthetics |esˈθetiks|

Four major cultural areas of art: Function

Art has a job in culture. It can do many things. For example:

• Art assists (helps) us in rituals that promote our spiritual or physical well-being.

Four major cultural areas of art: Function

Art has a job in culture. It can do many things. For example:

• Art reflects customs related to food, shelter, and human reproduction.

• re•flect (v) in the case of mirrors–to show an image of

Four major cultural areas of art: Function

Art has a job in culture. It can do many things. For example:

• Art communicates thoughts, ideas, and emotions.

Four major cultural areas of art: Function

Art has a job in culture. It can do many things. For example:

• Art gives us pictures of deities, or helps us conceive of what divinity might be.

• deity/divinity (n) god or goddess

Four major cultural areas of art: Function

Art has a job in culture. It can do many things. For example:

• Art serves and/or commemorates the dead.

• com•mem•o•rate (v) recall or show respect

Four major cultural areas of art: Function

Art has a job in culture. It can do many things. For example:

• Art glorifies the power of the state and its rulers.

• glo•ri•fy (v) describe someone or something as admirable or worthy of worship

Four major cultural areas of art: Function

Art has a job in culture. It can do many things. For example:

• Art celebrates war and conquest, and sometimes peace.

Four major cultural areas of art: Function

Art has a job in culture. It can do many things. For example:

• Art is a means for protesting political and social injustice.

• in•jus•tice (n) lack of fairness or justice

Four major cultural areas of art: Function

Art has a job in culture. It can do many things. For example:

• Art promotes cohesion within a social group.

• co•he•sion (n) the action of becoming a united whole

Four major cultural areas of art: Function

Art has a job in culture. It can do many things. For example:

• Art records the likeness of individuals and their environment.

Four major cultural areas of art: Function

Art has a job in culture. It can do many things. For example:

• Art educates us about ourselves and the world around us.

Four major cultural areas of art: Function

Art has a job in culture. It can do many things. For example:

• Art entertains.

GROUP ACTIVITY: 12 Cultural Functions

In your teams, discuss your thoughts about3 cultural functions of art:

• Team A: Art assists…, Art reflects…, Art communicates…

• Team B: Art gives…, Art serves…, Art glorifies…• Team C: Art celebrates…, Art is a means for…, Art

promotes…• Team D: Art records…, Art educates…, Art

entertains…

Brainstorm examples of these cultural functions of art in the Vietnamese culture. If you can’t think of

anything in the Vietnamese culture, think of examples you know from around the world.

Use 1 sheet of paper to draw a simple sketch or write the name of the example for each cultural

function.

Four major cultural areas of art: Visual Form

• Art has visual form so we can see it, or touch it, and so its ideas can be communicated.

• The following are examples of visual form…

•Formal Elements•Overall Composition•Materials

Line

Shape

Color

Textu

re (and

Pattern

)

Volume

Mass

Space

Four major cultural areas of art: Visual Form

Formal Elements

• Line

Four major cultural areas of art: Visual Form

Formal Elements

• Line

Four major cultural areas of art: Visual Form

Formal Elements

• Line

Four major cultural areas of art: Visual Form

Formal Elements

• Line• What kind of line(s)

did you draw?• Draw several more

lines.• Try to create at

least 7 different kinds of lines.

Four major cultural areas of art: Visual Form

Formal Elements

• Shape

HENRI MATISSE. Sorrows of the King, 1952.

Four major cultural areas of art: Visual Form

Formal Elements

• Shape• Regular shapes:• Irregular shapes:

Four major cultural areas of art: Visual Form

Formal Elements

• Color• Hue (the pure

color’s name)

Red Orange Yellow Green Blue Indigo Violet

Four major cultural areas of art: Visual Form

Formal Elements

• Color• Value (lightness and

darkness, or tints and shades):• Hue + White =

Tint• Hue + Black =

Shade

Four major cultural areas of art: Visual Form

Formal Elements

• Color• Intensity (brightness

and dullness):• Neutral colors are

very low-intensity colors.

• Ex: Cream, tan, or beige

Four major cultural areas of art: Visual Form

Formal Elements

• Color• The

subtractive color system

• The additive color system

Four major cultural areas of art: Visual Form

Four major cultural areas of art: Visual Form

Formal Elements

• Time and Motion

MARCEL DUCHAMP, Nude Descending a Staircase (No.2), 1912

Four major cultural areas of art: Visual Form

Formal Elements

• Texture• Tactile Texture• Visual Texture

Four major cultural areas of art: Visual Form

Formal Elements

• Pattern• Natural Patterns• Geometric Patterns

Four major cultural areas of art: Visual Form

Formal Elements

• Volume

Four major cultural areas of art: Visual Form

Formal Elements

• Volume• Using BLOCK

LETTERS, write your name in the center of the paper.

• Leave space between the edge of the paper and your name.

• Draw parallel diagonal lines through the graph on the edges of your letters.

• Close the 3D letters by drawing the outer line of the letter.

Four major cultural areas of art: Visual Form

Formal Elements

• Mass

Four major cultural areas of art: Visual Form

Formal Elements

• Mass• Colors also have

weight.

Four major cultural areas of art: Visual Form

Formal Elements

• Space• 2D art has planar space

(height and width).• Perspective creates complex

illusions on a 2D canvas:• Atmospheric (or areal)

perspective• Linear perspective

(1-Point, 2-Point, 3-Point, etc.)

Four major cultural areas of art: Visual Form

Formal Elements

• Space• What kind of

perspective is this picture? Linear or Atmospheric?

• If Linear perspective, how many vanishing points does this picture have?

Four major cultural areas of art: Visual Form

Formal Elements

• Space• What kind of

perspective is this picture? Linear or Atmospheric?

• If Linear perspective, how many vanishing points does this picture have?

Four major cultural areas of art: Visual Form

Formal Elements

• Space• What kind of

perspective is this picture? Linear or Atmospheric?

• If Linear perspective, how many vanishing points does this picture have?

Four major cultural areas of art: Visual Form

Formal Elements

• Space• What kind of

perspective is this picture? Linear or Atmospheric?

• If Linear perspective, how many vanishing points does this picture have?

Four major cultural areas of art: Visual Form

Formal Elements

• Space: Linear Perspective

PRINCIPLES OF COMPOSITION

• Balance

• Rhythm

• Proportion and Scale

• Emphasis

• Unity and Variety

COMPOSITION: Balance

• Symmetrical Balance

• Asymmetrical Balance

• Radial Balance

COMPOSITION: Rhythm

• Regular Rhythm

• Alternating Rhythm

• Eccentric Rhythm

COMPOSITION: Proportion & Scale

• Proportion: the size of one part in relation to the whole.

• Scale: the size of something in relation to what we assume to be normal.

COMPOSITION: Emphasis• Emphasis: when there

ismore than one focal pointin an artwork.

• Accent: lesser focal points.

WAYNE THIEBAUD,Cakes, 1963.

COMPOSITION: Unity and Variety

• Unity: the quality of cohesion in an artwork.

• Variety: the elements of difference in an artwork.

FOUR MAJOR CULTURAL AREAS OF ART: CONTENT

Art has content, which communicates through:

• The art’s imagery

• Its symbolic meaning

• Its surroundings

• The customs, beliefs, and values of the culture

• Writings that help explain the work

FOUR MAJOR CULTURAL AREAS OF ART: CONTENT

•Imagery?

•Symbolism?

•Surroundings?

•Culture?

•Writings?

FOUR MAJOR CULTURAL AREAS OF ART: CONTENT

•SALVADOR DALI. Geopoliticus Child Watching the Birth of the New Man, 1943.

FOUR MAJOR CULTURAL AREAS OF ART: AESTHETICS

•Art is an aesthetic experience.

•Aesthetics is the branch of philosophy that deals with art, its sources, its forms, and its effects on individuals and cultures.

FOUR MAJOR CULTURAL AREAS OF ART: AESTHETICS

•18th and 19th centuries in the West

•standard = ancient Greek sculpture.

FOUR MAJOR CULTURAL AREAS OF ART: AESTHETICS

•aesthetics was only about beauty

•beauty = universally defined for all times and places

FOUR MAJOR CULTURAL AREAS OF ART: AESTHETICS

•universalist position = discredited

•no worldwide agreement

•many qualities other than beauty as significant attributes of art.

•DESCRIBE AN IDEALLY BEAUTIFUL VIETNAMESE WOMAN…

FOUR MAJOR CULTURAL AREAS OF ART: AESTHETICS

•An ideally beautiful American woman?

•Compare the two standards of beautiful women.

FOUR MAJOR CULTURAL AREAS OF ART: AESTHETICS

•Look at other places around the world:

•Mauritania, Africa

FOUR MAJOR CULTURAL AREAS OF ART: AESTHETICS

•Look at other places around the world:

•India

FOUR MAJOR CULTURAL AREAS OF ART: AESTHETICS

•Look at other places around the world:

•Karo Tribe, Ethiopia

FOUR MAJOR CULTURAL AREAS OF ART: AESTHETICS

•Look at other places around the world:

•Maori Tribe, New Zealand

FOUR MAJOR CULTURAL AREAS OF ART: AESTHETICS

•Look at other places around the world:

•Kayan Tribe, Burma and Thailand

FOUR MAJOR CULTURAL AREAS OF ART: AESTHETICS

•Look at other places around the world:

•Saudi Arabia

FOUR MAJOR CULTURAL AREAS OF ART: AESTHETICS

•Compare and contrast the two:

LET’S WRAP UP

READING ASSIGNMENT: Entire Course SyllabusTEAM ASSINGMENT: Assign Tasks