What is Art?

•ART has not always been what we think it is today. An object regarded as Art today may not have been perceived as such when it was first made, nor was the person who made it necessarily regarded as an artist. Both the notion of "art" and the idea of the "artist" are relatively modern terms

• What is art?

• Should natural objects be considered as works of art?

• Is art anything we want it to be, or does the term "art" refer to objects that have special characteristics?

• What conditions need to exist before we are willing to classify something as art?

• ART lacks a satisfactory definition. It is easier to describe it as the way something is done -- "the use of skill and imagination in the creation of aesthetic objects, environments, or experiences that can be shared with others" rather than what it is. (Encyclopedia Britannica)

Various forms of Art

• Visual Arts• Performing Arts• Literary Arts• Martial Arts• Culinary Art

Visual Art• Works of visual art are constructed from very

basic elements or components that we experience through our sense of sight and/or touch; namely, lines, two and/or three dimensional shapes, textures, colors, dark and light qualities, and actual or implied space.

• In fact, almost everything that we see can be described or interpreted in terms of these same visual (or sensory) components. Why do we ascribe the term "art" to some of these objects while others are merely described as useful or interesting or even beautiful?

• Is art found only in art museums and gallery space

Bicycle Wheel by Marcel Duchamp, 1951

• Can objects that are primarily functional be considered as works of art?

• Under what circumstances can we consider utilitarian objects as works of art?(Marcel Duchamp’s readymades)

What does a work of art express?

• The intentions of the artist?

• Only what art historians tell us about the work?

• Anything we want it to express? Is it strictly an individual thing?

Are these works of art equally important?

• Works of art become most meaningful for us when they evoke thoughts and feelings.

• This occurs when we venture beyond merely identifying a work's visual elements (the character of its lines, shapes, colors, etc.) and the ways in which these elements are organized.

• It is essential to consider the proposition that works of art speak to us through both their formal organization and the signs, symbols and metaphors that can be associated with them.

Starry Nights: Vincent Van Gogh

• When we look at a painting all that we can actually see are shapes and the textures and colors of paint on the canvas which absorb and reflect varied amounts of light.

• But there is much more to react to if we contemplate the character of the shapes and colors and how they relate to each other

• Art one can say is about the Implied meaning rather than the literal meaning.

• Creating variations in implied meanings are among the basic building blocks that artists use to express emotions and ideas.

• And such a creation has a power to arouse certain emotions in the viewer.

Prehistoric Art: What is Prehistory

• Prehistory is a time when writing was not invented

• So Preliterate period

• Broadly divided into– Paleolithic (Old Stone Age) almost 40,000 years

back– Mesolithic (Middle Stone Age)– Neolithic (New Stone Age)

What is Prehistoric Art

• Prehistoric art can be several things, from megaliths to little stone figurines, to paintings on the walls of caves.– Megaliths- Huge stone structures– Stone Sculptures– Cave Paintings

Mask of la Roche-Cotard: Possibly created by a Neanderthal man..C. 33,000 BCE

• The artifact, possibly created by Neanderthal man, is a piece of flat flint that has been shaped in a way that seems to resemble the upper part of a face. A piece of bone pushed through a hole in the stone has been interpreted as a representation of eyes

Stonehenge: (a megalith)

• The Stonehenge is a formation of stones in a circular fashion that are standing upright. The construction of this prehistoric monument started some 5000 years ago and it is amazing to know that these stones are still in place after 5 millenniums.

• They seem to have some importance in astronomy and figuring out the positions of stars and planets

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:VenusWillendorf.jpg

Venus of Willendorf

• The Venus of Willendorf, also known as the Woman of Willendorf, is an 11 cm (4.3 inches) high statuette of a female figure estimated to have been made between 24,000 and 22,000 BCE. It was discovered in 1908 in Austria.

• Possibly a female fertility deity but purpose is not exactly known

Altamira (Spain)

• A bison painted some 17,000 years ago on the cave wall at Altamira

• Use of natural pigments

• Hunting Scene : Lascaux

Lascaux : (France)

• This important cave was discovered in 1940. There are several aspects of this site which make is extremely important, enabling scholars to study the style of Paleolithic art.

• There are stone tools near the engraved segments, numerous lamps were found, and clumps of pigment were also found

• All of these cave paintings reveal an artistic quality and a skill for abstraction as well as realistic presentation

• They probably had a magico-religious purpose but nothing can be proved

• They are painted in most inaccessible corners of the cave where there is hardly any natural light

• So it seems artists have painted these in artificial light from torches.

• In india we find rock art from various areas

• The most famous one is from Bhimbetaka in Madhya Pradesh

• Early Phase same time as Lascaux and Altamira..though paintings continue in historic period

http://www.indiatravelblog.net/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/Bhimbetka-art-painting.jpg