UVCModule03.1
-
Upload
jennifer-burns -
Category
Education
-
view
498 -
download
1
Transcript of UVCModule03.1
What is art?
STRICT DEFINITION
• A relatively modern invention.
• Something that is made for “pure, disinterested contemplation.”
• Something that is appreciated for its sensuous qualities (for example, its form, its coloring, its tactile appeal, its sound).
• An invention of the West, though we have appropriated objects from around the world to join this category
agenda
Our goal today: understanding art through its uses.
ritual in which a whole community participates
decoration of people and dwellings for beauty, interest, status
statements of power that impress and intimidate
stockpiling of material wealth in the form of gold and gems
expressions of artistic skill in transforming paint and canvas into a wealth of illusions
the “art” context
As John Dewey warned us, context can easily get in the way of our actual connection with art.
Every object, even the most prestigious, prized possession of a great museum, was made by a human with the intent of communicating with other humans.
Historians speculate: this is not “art” but may be a magical technique used as part of rituals preparing for the hunt.
An ordered representation of a chaotic and often hostile universe, expressing our wish for a desired outcome.
decoration
So if art finds one set of origins in ritual, it finds another in the human tendency to decorate anything and everything that we make.
The Indian Ocean, seen from inside the cave. Layers of sandbags areprotecting the surface from the excavators walking in and out.
BLOMBOS CAVE, SOUTH AFRICA
excavation at work, note the meticulously flagged layers
http://cogweb.ucla.edu/ep/Blombos.html
Marine shell bead excavated at Blombos Cave, South Africa,dating to 70,000 years ago (string of beads at bottom is a reconstruction
useful objects: combs
Jade comb,China,c. 400 BCE
Ivory comb,Etruscan (ancient Italian)6-5th century BCE
useful objects: swords
Ancient Persia, , c. 750-650 BCEsword hilt, silver, (iron blade)
Ancient Korea, Bronze Age sword hilt,Between 900-300 BCE
Chuck Close, William Jefferson Clinton, 2006, oil on canvasinstalled at the National Portrait Gallery, Washington, DC
Precious courtly objects
The original blinghttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v
=TSyLLWZ5jp8
Precious courtly objects
Objects like these were created to impress and intimidate.
Crown Jewels,Tower of LondonEngland
Status and power
“I’m the king, and you are not.”
“This are the symbols of my worldly power and wealth.”
Reliquary Statue of Sainte Foy Abbey Church of ConquesConques, France Late 9th or 10th century with later additions
Simone Martini (and Lippo Memmi), The Annunciation, tempera on
panel with gold leaf, c. 1333, 10’1” x 8’8”
Fra Angelico, The Annunciation, fresco in cell 3, Convent of San Marco, Florence , c. 1440
Jan van Eyck, Mary Crowned, detail of the Ghent Altarpiece, completed 1432, Cathedral of St. Bavo, Ghent, Belgium