ART
and
EXPRESSION
Introduction: What is art? Is it definable? Is it defined by the reasons behind
its making? Or by personal reasons? Or sources of inspiration? Does the intention
to make art, make art…art? Is all art man made? Is nature, our environment, art?
Is art just the human manipulation of materials? Can a person not fully understand
art unless they are educated? Does an artist have to have a degree? What makes an
artist?
Art is one of those tricky words that you think you can define until you
actually try to. Art is an unspoken language. It is through visual images that ideas,
moments in time and feelings are expressed. Looking at art as a form of expression,
or in terms of expressiveness, might help us to come closer to a definition of art.
When thinking of expression in terms of art, one most likely jumps to the
expressionist movement of the modern era. However, this movement is not the only
time in the history of art that expressive qualities have been abundant. We must
look towards ideas of expressiveness in art. Grove art gives a great summary on
expression and various ideas concerning the term. While the word can be traced
back to Latin roots, “today expression indicates the outward manifestation in
behavior of an inward state of mind”. People are not the only beings capable of
expression, for objects and artifacts including works of art “are also deemed
expressive”. One’s emotions can be expressed verbally or through behavior, while a
paintings’ expressiveness is a reflection of the artist, the figure represented, or the
interpretation of the viewer.
During the Renaissance, emotions in a painting were expressed through
representation of a feeling by the figure or subject matter portrayed. At first the
figures were treated in somewhat a modest way and became more expressive as the
Baroque style emerged. Facial and body expressions and movements expressed the
inner feelings, states of mind and emotions of the figures.
In his treatise, Della Pitura (1435-6), Leon Battista Alberti deems the istoria
or history painting, as “the painter’s greatest work”. Istorias “take their themes
from classical literature and gain emotional power by representing a number of
people reacting to the central event portrayed”. Alberti supports the expressiveness
of the figure when he says “the istoria will move the soul of the beholder when each
man painted there clearly shows the movement of his own soul…we weep with the
weeping, laugh with the laughing, and grieve with the grieving. These movements of
the soul are made known by movements of the body” (trans.,p.77).
In the early 19th century there was a great shift in expression as paintings
began to be expressive of the artists’ values and ideals. The artists began to use their
works to express how they were feeling, rather than the figures’ feelings, as in
Renaissance art. In this way, artists became more interested in line and color
(jagged vs. wavy, bold vs. pale) rather than facial expressions and movements of the
body. This idea really came out of romanticist ideas “which valued individual
feeling, freedom and responsiveness”. Several concerns arise with this theory: Must
the artist actually feel the emotion as he expresses it in his work of art? Must the
emotions be sustained if the work takes several months to complete? What sense can
we make of the artist and audience experiencing the same emotion?
If the figures are expressive in Renaissance art, and the artists are expressive
in modern art, what happens in contemporary art? A reaction against both theories
makes much of contemporary art expressive of nothing (i.e. the minimalist
movement). However, movements like feminism in contemporary art is very
expressive in nature as it is political, and can also be seen as a criticism. Many argue
that art should be making social statements and expressing political views as
feminist art does.
Having said all of this, How does one sum up 500 years of art in terms of
expression?
Renaissance and Baroque
Modern
Contemporary
Conclusion:
Maria Lacy Kitchin
ARTH 341
Spring 2004
BIBLIOGRAPHY