GE 213 NOTES:
For Week One:
Click here for a Basic Timeline of Major Historical Events.
Aristotle (384 - 322 BCE) was one of the first folks to ever seriously contemplate what Art is and then commit those ideas into a structured text. In his "Poetics," Art according to Aristotle is all about truth and imitation and the pleasure involved. He has provided one of the essential definitions, but not the only one and perhaps not even a correct one. Art is inherently connected to any fundamental discussion of The Meaning of Life and that can be a different thing depending on who you are. You can debate forever about what Art is and is not, who it is for, and why we create it, so be open minded on the subject and try to reach your own conclusions. Those conclusions will be more satisfying the more you investigate. One of my favourite modern musings on the subject comes from Tom Schulman's screenplay for Dead Poet's Society (for which he won the Oscar):
"We don't read and write poetry because its cute. We read and write poetry because we are members of the human race. And the human race is full of passion. Medicine, law, business, engineering: these are noble pursuits necessary to sustain life but poetry, beauty, romance, love. These are what we stay alive for." - Tom Schulman
Other Definitions:
"Art deals with things forever beyond human definition." - Plotinus
"A pursuit or occupation in which skill is directed towards the gratification of taste or production of what is beautiful." - Oxford English Dictionary, def. #10
"Art is called art because it is not nature." - Goethe
"Art is but the employment of the powers of nature for an end." - John Stuart Mill
"Art is a human activity, consisting in this,
that one person consciously, by certain external signs,
conveys to others feelings he has experienced, and other people
are affected by these feelings and live them over in themselves." -
Tolstoy
"Art, as far as it is able, follows nature,
as a pupil imitates his master; thus your art must be,
as it were, God's grandchild." - Dante
"Art is man added to nature." - Bacon
What is art?
There are many ways to define a work of art...visual or performance.
BUT
The following DON’T really define anything.
‘what is art is what I choose to call art’
‘ what is art is just my opinion’
‘ art is what I like, what I don’t like is not art’
The above are not really very good definitions that lead us to a greater understanding of a work of art or expand our knowledge. In effect they say that ANYTHING is ART so then NOTHING is ART.
The above definitions are NOT shared by the vast majority of artists past and present, gallery curators, art dealers, academics, scholars etc.
SO THEN WHAT DEFINES A WORK OF ART?
[Life/nature] is like ,'a sketch that didn't come off.' (Van Gogh)
'Those things that are most real are the illusions I create in my paintings'. (Delacroix)
'Art completes what nature cannot bring forth.' (Aristotle)
'If the world were clear, art would not exist.' (Camus)
A great painting is like a highly charged, densely packed, powerfully thought provoking complete movie ...in a single frame.
Art is not merely a record of nature or nature itself. Yes a tree can be beautiful. Perhaps more beautiful than any work of art produced by human hands but it is not a work of art by our definition.
A work of Art is created from someone’s imagination. A work of Art is planned, organized, executed (like a film is)
Choices were made in a work of art
(see comparison Adam’s execution in saigon and Goya painting)
Consider:
1. Is the painting different than the photograph in the way the details work together?
2. Could any detail in the a painting be removed or changed without weakening the unity of the whole design. What about the photograph?
3. Is there anything you could do to the painting that would increase the power of what it reveals - human barbarity?
4. Is it as easy to sustain your attention on the photograph as on the Goya?
5. Are there details in the photograph that distract your attention?
6. Do the buildings in the background of the photograph add to or subtract from the power of the what is being represented. Compare the looming architecture in the painting.
7. Do the shadows on the street add anything to the significance of the photograph. Compare the shadows on the ground in the painting.
8. Does it make any significant difference that the Viet cong prisoner’s shirt is checkered? Compare the white shirt of the gesturing man in the painting. Which forced its attention on you first?
9. Is the facial expression of the soldier on the left of the photo appropriate to the situation? Compare the facial expressions in the painting.
10. Would the theme of human barbarity be more emphatic if General Loan's arm were stiff just on the point of firing rather than relaxing in the photo.
Pts on the Goya
desolate mt pushing in blocks escape soldiers thick legs like immovable pillars, planted wide apart and parallel another wall, shadow below line of soldiers, shadow in the street, angle of sabres and straps
Identifying Art Perceptually
whether objects or events possess artisitically identifiable qualities contained within themselves
artistic form:
· artistic form implies a high degree of perceptible unity, all works of art have unity
· artistic form implies that the parts have been organized for the most profound effect
· the elements and parts of the work must work together tightly [some art especially modern deliberately works against our expectation of unity]
· the elements ,details work together collectively to produce a total design
the Goya has a higher degree of artistic unity than the photo
Participation
· photo initially probably grabs our attention pulls us in more strongly butparticipation means sustained attention that draws us further and further into the work and to fully understand and appreciate a work we must participate in it
· the Goya requires our participation the photo does not
· sustained attention is unnecessary with the photo to grasp what is presented
· participation is not likely with weak form because weak form allows our attention to wander
· no detail in the Goya painting fails to play a part in the total design
· the photo has a large number of details that could be dispensed with
Content /meaning
· in the photo lies outside or beyond it , to get at the meaning we quickly begin to discuss issues outside of the frame as it were
· with Goya the background info though important [it adds to our appreciation] it is not essential
· the idea of human barbarity is imbedded in the lines, colors, masses, shapes lights, shadows of the painting itself ...form and content are fused
· in the photo the meaning is not merged with the form...idea and image break apart
A Masterpiece
A great painting is like a movie compressed into one frame. Everthing in it is there for a reason. Everything adds to the whole. Line, color, composition, subject matter are results of choices.
"any work that carries with it a surplus of meaning" i.e. not just technical or imaginative skill BUT the works very existence sums up the best of a certain age which spills over and inspires other ages.
THUS we need to examine the work in itself (formal elements, style, material, etc. the work in relation to history - in what historical context did it occur
How to Look at Art
" The history of art is nothing more than the record of how people have used their minds and their imaginations to symbolize who they are and what they value." John Reich
For what is this piece of art made? What setting? For what patron (a Communist government, a millionaire for his home, to make a point, to match the decor)
What , if anything is it trying to communicate? What is the emotional or intellectual context? Is it to illustrate the power of an idea (as most primitive art is)? To push the boundaries of artistic expression?
How was the piece of art made? The materials. The techniques?
What is the composition of this work? How are the formal elements organized, (line mass, color, etc.)
In SUMMARY - What elements do we notice about a work of art?
formal elements
symbolic elements - what's it says
social elements - what's the social context
See Also:
