What is Art? How do we evaluate it?

Chapter 1, Chapter 13 lecture

What is art?

• Concise Oxford English Dictionary: “The expression or application of creative skill and imagination, especially through a visual medium such as painting or sculpture”

• Merriam Webster Dictionary: “The conscious use of skill and creative imagination especially in the production of aesthetic objects; also works so produced”

What do other people think?• “Art amplifies itself to something universal”

– Romare Bearden• “The job of the artist is always to deepen the mystery.”

– Francis Bacon• “The holy grail is to spend less time making a picture

than it takes people to look at it.” – Banksy• “Art is made to disturb. Science reassures. There is only

one valuable thing in art: the thing you cannot explain.” – Georges Braque

Terms to Know

• Work of art – what an artist makes or puts in front of us for viewing, the visual object (or product) that embodies that idea the artist wanted to communicate.

• Medium (plural media) – a particular material along with its accompanying technique, a specific type of artistic technique or means of expression determined by the use of particular materials– Clay, fiber, stone, wood, paint, video, computer/digital, photograph,

movie

• Oil on canvas, silver gelatin print, etc

Functions of Art

Communicating Information

Jan Van Eyck, Ghent Altarpiece, 1430-32

Day to Day Living

Claes Oldenburg, Spoonbridge and Cherry, 1985-1988, aluminum,

stainless steel, paint

Yves Behar. Mission One. 2009

Copyright ©2011, ©2009 Pearson Prentice Hall Inc.

Worship and Ritual

Jan Van Eyck, Ghent Altarpiece, 1430-32Dance Wand in Honor of Eshu. Elegba Cult. Yoruba, Nigeria.

Self Expression

Yong Soon Min. Dwelling. 1994Rembrandt van Rijn. Self-Portrait. 1658

Copyright ©2011, ©2009 Pearson Prentice Hall Inc.

Romare Bearden. Rocket to the Moon. 1971.

Self Expression continued

Social CauseFrancisco Goya. The Disasters of War,

No. 18: Bury Them and Say Nothing. 1818. Etchings

Francisco Goya. The Third of May, 1808. 1814. Oil on Canvas.

Social Cause continued

Félix González-Torres. Untitled (Death by Gun). Installation view. 1990. Félix González-Torres. Untitled (Portrait

of Ross in LA). Installation view. 1991.

Miriam Schapiro. Heartland. 1985.

Visual Delight

Miriam Schapiro. Heartland. 1985.

Visual Delight: Is that too simplistic?

Francisco Goya. The Third of May, 1808. 1814. Oil on Canvas.

What is Creativity?

• Insightful seeing

• Being receptive to new things

• Putting aside preconceived notions of art

Evaluating Art

Art Criticism : Three Basic Theories

• Formal, aka formalism – focus attention on the composition of the work and how it may have been influenced, on a compositional level, by earlier works, analyses these qualities over (or with no respect to) other aspects of a work’s production, reception, subject matter, or thematic significance.

• Contextual – considers art as a product of a cultural that exists within a cultural and value system, within a particular society as a particular time and place

• Expressive, aka biographical – pays attention to the artists’s expression of a personality or worldview, takes into account birthplace, gender, cultural background, etc.

What makes art great?

• Some degree of innovation

• Important cultural meaning• Recognizable personal statement

How should you act in a museum?

Frank Modell.

HomeworkWrite a paragraph (at least four sentences

each) for each of these questions and then pick a piece from your book that exhibits the characteristics that you

explain. Give me the artist, title of the work, and page number it appears on in

your book.

1) What are your characteristics for a “good” work of art, a masterpiece?

2) What attracts you to a work of art?