Art & Aesthetics

Welcome to Art 6H

Aesthetics - Beauty Aesthetics is a branch of philosophy that examines the nature of

art and our experience of it. It developed in England as philosophers grouped together such fields as poetry, sculpture, music, and dance. These fields were put into one category and called them les beaux arts or the fine arts.

Philosophers began to say that reason by itself could not explain beauty. Beauty may have some rational properties, such as “order, symmetry, and proportion,” but it is really an experience not explained by reason alone. It is understood through intuition and experienced with human feeling and emotion.

An aesthetic experience could include a mixture of feeling, such as pleasure, rage, grief, suffering, and joy.

Introduction What is Art History? Not the book or proper academic definition, but you (the student’s) definition

Why did you enroll in this class? What do you hope to learn in this class? Who has taken an art history course before? Who is majoring (or thinking of) in Art History?

What is Art History? The academic discipline that studies the history and

the development of the visual arts (Dictionary) Art History provides a humanistic and intellectual

foundation for the historian in which he/she can understand the visual arts in their contexts. Emphasis is placed on the social, political, historical and

religious contexts of art; visual analysis is also stressed (UCLA Dept. of Art History) Knowledge of the historical context of an artwork (or a

building) is required in art history.

It is studying history via art objects and buildings (usually alongside) historical documents.

Do you recognize these??

What type of artworks will be looked at?

Sculpture Architecture Pictorial arts (painting, drawing, printmaking &

photography) Craft arts (ceramics, metalwork, textiles, jewelry and decorative accessories)

Types of artworks

Critical Questions that should ALWAYS be asked….

How old is it? To construct a history, dates are necessary. Once a

chronology is established, the work of art can be studied in its historical context. Physical (materials used), Documentary, Internal

(identifiable objects/people) & Stylistic

What is its style? Definition: an artist’s distinctive manner of

producing an object. Period Style ( of a certain time within a specific culture),

Regional (tied to geography), Personal (distinctive manner of individual artists or architects)

Critical Questions that should ALWAYS be asked….

What is its subject? The narrative; the story; the scene presented; the action’s time

and place; the person(s) involved; the environment & its details

Viewers must identify these aspects to achieve a full understanding of the work.

Categories: religious, historical, mythological, genre (daily life), portraiture, landscape, still life.

Iconography – “writing of images,” refers to both the content (or subject of an artwork), but it also includes the study of symbols, or images that stand for other images or summarize ideas.

Attributes: an object that identifies a figure, most commonly referring to objects held by saints (earlier, by pagan gods) – THINK EMBLEM.

What is the subject?

Duccio, 1308-11 Giotto, 1305

Critical Questions that should ALWAYS be asked….

Who made it? The artist(s) must be identified. Artist’s signature (rare until the Middle Ages) Via attribute, based on knowledge of an artist’s personal style

(requires a connoisseur & is subjective) School of artists, a group of artists working in the same style at

the same time and place

Who paid for it? Patron, the person who paid an artist(s) to make

individual works or hired them on a continuing basis. Usually dictated the content and form. Artists had little

say in subject matter or form.

Artists & Patrons

Akhenaton (left) with his wife, Queen Nefertiti, and three of their daughters

Possible self-portrait of Giotto

Terminology Along the way, you will learn new vocabulary

that is intrinsic to the understanding the material.

Start a list and make your own dictionary, use the glossary in the back of the book, or you can reference From Abacus to Zeus: A Handbook of Art History.

Language includes: The visual elements, principles of design, style,

form and content; lines, shapes and color. Various media: drawing, painting, printmaking,

camera, sculpture, etc

Vocabulary Form & Composition Form – an object’s shape and structure; either in 2D or

3D Composition – the organization of forms in an artwork

by either placing shapes on a flat surface or in space Material & Technique Material – pigment, clay, marble, gold, etc Technique – the distinctive, personal way the artist

handle their materials & tools Line Color

Vocabulary Texture Quality of a surface; rough, hard, smooth, soft, shiny,

dull. This is true texture. Represented Texture – objects are painted having a

certain texture Space, Mass & Volume Perspective & Foreshortening Perspective – illusion of depth or space on a 2D surface Foreshortening – a kind of perspective; the contraction

of an object and is shown at an angle; one part of the object is farther away than the other, even though all the forms are on the same surface.

PerspectiveRelative, not linear perspective, because this style involves mathematical concepts and scientific

proportions like that of the Renaissance

4th style, 1st c A.D., architectural painting

2nd style, Still-Life, 1st c. B.C.

Vocabulary Proportion & Scale Proportion – a mathematical relationship between the

size of one part of an artwork or building and the other parts within the work. Canons (or ideal) of proportions created by Vitruvius (Roman)

where every minute detail fits a mathematical ratio. Hierarchal Scale – enlarging of elements considered the

most important. Carving & Casting Both sculptural techniques. Carving – subtractive technique; final form is a

reduction of the original material used. Casting – additive technique; the artist builds up the

form(s)

Hierarchal ScaleChrist at the top in halo (youthful, holding cross), so the power of emperor comes from God;Christ gestured to Justinian to justify his rule

Palette of Narmer shows the unification of Upper andLower Egypt. Narmer’s divine power is conveyed with his image on the front

Vocabulary Sculpture Freestanding – exist independent of any architectural

frame and are in the round Relief – subjects project from the background but remain

part of it. High relief – images look to be freestanding but aren’t. Usually

attached by a foot or hand. Low (bas-) relief – projection is slight Sunken relief – cutting the image into a flat surface

Architectural Drawings Floor plan which includes architectural elements such as

vaults, ribs, aisles, flying buttresses and choirs

High & Low Relief

Why study art history? By studying art history the student is introduced to

one of the fundamental means of human communication.

In exploring the history of art one becomes aware of the wide variety of ways humans have conceived of themselves and their relationship to the surrounding world.

In studying other cultures we, thus, come to understand how we are like and different from other people.

Through the study of art history, we learn about ourselves and gain an understanding and respect for people with different perspectives.

And lastly…

The important thing to think about when looking at art is: 1.) Find the connection between art and its social

and/or cultural context. 2.) Look for symbolism. 3.) Figure out the subject /content. What is it telling

us??

Class Website

http://websites.rcc.edu/herrera/