Welcome to the World of Art

Lecture 1

Lecture Overview

►What is Art Anyways?

►What are the roles of an Artist?

►What are the roles of the Viewer?

Picasso, Bather, 1930.

What Do You Think?

Take a moment and write down 2-3 ideas you have that answer the question “What is Art?”

It is OK to answer a question with a question. (But just this once).

What is Art Anyways?

►The word “art” means many things in many languages including Ability: creativity

Process: drawing/designing

Product: painting, building

►An appreciation for art can be achieved in part by understanding the roles of both artists and viewers.

Leonardo da Vinci, Mona Lisa, ca. 1503-1507

1. Artists help us see the world in new and innovative ways.

Ernst Haas, Peeling Paint on Iron Bench, Kyoto, 1981.

Yayoi Kusama. You Who Are Getting Obliterated in the Dancing Swarm of Fireflies. 2005.

2. Artists make a visual record of the people, places, and events of their time.

► Some artists are not interested in seeing things new…they want to record what they see.

► “A picture is worth a thousand words”

► Serves as a rich historical record also.

Mughal painting showing Jahangir

Receiving a cup from Khusrau.

Claude Monet. Le Pont de l’Europe, Gare Saint-Lazare. 1877.

3. Artists make functional objects (and structures) more pleasurable and give them meaning.

Olive Oil from Aldi, early 21st century.

3. Artists make functional objects and structures more pleasurable and give them meaning.

Red figure Greek amphora

with gymnasium scene, ca.

520 BCE.

Olive Oil from Aldi, early 21st century.

What kind of meaning do you think can be discerned from the image on this vase?

Joyce Kozloff,

Galla Placidia in Philadelphia and

inset of interior of the Mausoleum of

Galla Placidia in Italy.

Karaori kimono. Middle Edo Period, Japan, c. 1700. Brocaded silk.

4. Artists Create Places for Human Purposes

►Art, and architecture, creates spaces for people to gather for rituals, to contemplate, to worship, and to remember.

Top: Great Stupa at Sanchi, 3rd century BCE-1st century CE. Bottom: Maya Lin, Vietnam Veteran’s Memorial, 1982.

5. Artists give form to the unseen

► Art gives

form to important things we cannot see with our eyes but that we feel in our hearts: faith, the divine, emotions, and ideas.

Van Gogh, Starry Night, 1889.

Faces of the Divine

What is the role of the viewer?

►ASK QUESTIONS!!!!

What is the purpose of this work?

What does it mean?

What is my reaction? Why do I feel this way?

Who do the formal elements affect my reaction?

What do I value in works of art?

Things to keep in mind about the viewer…

► We are not video cameras. Seeing is a function of psychology!

► In other words…what we see is not objective but subjective. Visual input is interpreted by our brains, is put into a form that fits into our experiences, emotions, customs, and knowledge!

Through art we can learn to understand our own filters and learn to look more closely at the world

around us.

We ALL have an Impulse for Art

► All human societies have lived with art.

► Oldest known art tools date to 75,000 BCE.

► Whether we are drawn to the visual arts, literature, music, or science, whether we are the artist or the viewer, we are all creative and inquisitive beings.

Left section of the “Lion Panel”, Chauvet cave, France. Ca. 30,000 BCE.

Tools from Blombos Caves, Africa.