PART ONE
CHAPTER 1:
LIVING WITH ART
THIS INTRODUCTORY CHAPTER TO ART COVERS THE
FOLLOWING KEY TOPICS:
•THE IMPULSE FOR ART
•WHAT DO ARTIST DO?
•CREATING AND CREATIVITY
© 2016, McGraw-Hill Higher Education. All rights reserved.
KEY TERMS
• aesthetics
• megaliths
• Neolithic
• selective perception
• vanitas
© 2016, McGraw-Hill Higher Education. All rights reserved.
AESTHETICS
Branch of philosophy that deals with
feelings aroused by the sensory
experiences of sight, hearing, taste, touch,
and smell. Our responses to the natural
world and questions such as “What is
art?” are issues of aesthetics.
© 2016, McGraw-Hill Higher Education. All rights reserved.
Constantin Brancusi.
Bird in Space, c.
Constantin
Brancusi’s studio. He
spent his life
searching for forms
as simple and pure
as those wordsforms that seem to
have existed forever,
outside of time He
was born in a village
in Romania, and
spent most of his
adult life in paris,
upon his death in
1957 he willed his
studio to the french
government, and his
studio was recreated
later in a museum.
In the center there are 2 versions of Brancusi’s Endless Column
In front of the white column is a horizontal marble form shaped like a submarine
over a disk like shape, he called it Fish. It doesn't’t look like an actual fish but the
movement of a fish. To the left of the dark column arching up in front of a patch of
wall is one his most famous famous works Bird in Space . It does not depict a
particular bird, it portrays flight a feeling of soaring upward. Brancusi said that the
work represents the soul liberated from matter.
THE IMPULSE
FOR ART
What we know of human history indicates
that no society has lived without some
form of art.
The ability to make images is uniquely
human and it is the starting point for
creating art.
© 2016, McGraw-Hill Higher Education. All rights reserved.
https://www.youtube.com/watc
h?v=3OLaNtKoJFk
The Chauvet Cave:
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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BnJjSwNgxfk
Stonehenge
The Chauvet Cave: images on its walls have been painted 32,0
00 years ago
Galleries and chambers of the Chauvet has over 300 depictions
of animals lions,
mammoths, rhinoceroses, cave bears, horses, reindeer, red de
er or aurochs, muskoxen bison and others as well as palm print
s and stencil silhouettes of human hands. Here is the left sectio
n of the lion panel. Further study by French archaeologist Jean
Clottes has revealed much about the site. The dates have been
a matter of dispute but a study published in 2012 supports placi
ng the art in the Aurignacian period, approximately 32,000–30,0
00 years BP. A study published in 2016 using additional 88 radi
ocarbon dates showed two periods of habitation, one 37,000 to
33,500 years ago and the second from 31,000 to 28,000 years
ago with most of the black drawings dating to the earlier period.
Stonehenge consists of concentric circles of megaliths which are very
large stones surrounded in turn by a circular ditch it was built in several
phases weighing some 50 tons each, the stones were quarried many
miles away, hauled to the site and shaped by blows from stone hammer.
The stones are set within earthworks in the middle of the most dense
complex of Neolithic and Bronze Age monuments in England, including
several hundred burial mounds.[1]
Archaeologists believe it was constructed from 3000 BC to 2000 BC. The
surrounding circular earth bank and ditch, which constitute the earliest
phase of the monument, have been dated to about 3100 BC. Radiocarbon
dating suggests that the first bluestones were raised between 2400 and
2200 BC, although they may have been at the site as early as 3000
Stonehenge could have been a burial ground from its earliest
beginnings.[9] Deposits containing human bone date from as early as
3000 BC, when the ditch and bank were first dug, and continued for at
least another five hundred years.
Stemmed Vessel from
Weifang, Shandong, China.
Neolithic period, c. 2000
B.C.E. Black pottery, thin
biscuit; height 10-1/2
inches. Longshan Culture,
unearthed in 1973 in
Rizhao City, Shandong
Province. China. Courtesy
of Institute of Archaeology
and Cultural Relics of
Shandong Province. ©
Cultural Relics Publishing
House, Beijing Medium
Decorative and Ceremonial
Objects World Culture
China
What Do Artist Do?
Artists in all societies create art that that addresses questions
that are universal. These artistic tasks they take on are to:
1. Create places for some human purpose
2. Create extraordinary versions of ordinary objects
3. Record and commemorate
4. Give tangible form to the unknown
5. Give tangible form to feelings and ideas
6. Refresh our vision and see the world in a new way
© 2016, McGraw-Hill Higher Education. All rights reserved.
Maya Lin. Vietnam Veterans Memorial,
Washington, D.C., 1982. Black granite,
length 492 feet. © Catherine
Karnow/Corbis Medium Architecture World
Culture The Americas
The Kente cloth Was woven in west Africa by artist of the Asante people it is a
spectacular example of a type of textile known as kente. Kente is woven in hundreds
of patterns each with its own name history and symbolism. This would’ve been for
ceremonial occasions
Create extraordinary versions of ordinary objects
Insert visual(s).
Suggestion: 1.7 Kente Cloth
© 2016, McGraw-Hill Higher Education. All rights reserved.
Manohar. Jahangir
Receives a Cup
from Khusrau,
1605–06. Opaque
watercolor on
paper, 8-1/16 x 6
inches. © The
Trustees of The
British Museum
1920,0917,0.2
Medium Paintings
World Culture India
Shiva Nataraja. India, 10th
century C.E. Bronze,
height 5-1/4 inches.
Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam.
AK-MAK-187 Medium
Sculptures and
Installations World Culture
India
Vincent van Gogh labored to
express his personal feelings as he
stood on the outskirts of a small
village in France and
looked up at the night sky.
Van Gogh had become intrigued by
the belief that people journey to a star
after their death and that
there they continue their lives.
The stars have been
exaggerated surrounded by Halos of
radiating light as if each were a
brilliant sun. a great wave or a whirl
pool rolls across the sky a cloud
perhaps or some kind of cosmic
energy.
Give tangible form to feelings and ideas
Insert visual(s).
Suggestion: 1.10 The Starry Night
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V7EAOnVkdbc
© 2016, McGraw-Hill Higher Education. All rights reserved.
Ernst Haas. Peeling Paint on Iron Bench,
Kyoto, 1981. Kodachrome print. Ernst
Haas/Getty Images Medium Photographs
CREATING & CREATIVITY
Artists are devoted to visual creativity.
Creative people, in general, tend to possess certain traits:
1. Sensitivity: heightened awareness
2. Flexibility: adapt to new possibilities
3. Originality: creatively problem-solve
4. Playfulness: humor & experimentation
5. Productivity: ability to generate ideas
6. Fluency: free flow of ideas
7. Analytical skill: exploring problems
8. Organizational skill: coherently ordering things
© 2016, McGraw-Hill Higher Education. All rights reserved.
Scans showing nerve traffic
pathways through white matter in
the brain. Arrows point to regions
where nerve traffic slows in
individuals identified as…Scans
showing nerve traffic pathways
through white matter in the brain.
Arrows point to regions where
nerve traffic slows in individuals
identified as creative. Courtesy
Rex Jung, Mind Research
Network. (appeared in NY Times
Sat. May 8, 2010, “Charting
Creativity: Signposts of a Hazy
Territory.”). Courtesy Rex Jung,
Brain & Behavioral Associates,
PC
Mike Kelley. Kandors Full Set, detail, 2005–09. Cast resin,
blown glass, illuminated pedestals; dimensions variable. Art
© Mike Kelley Foundation for the Arts. All Rights
Reserved/Licensed by VAGA, New York, NY. Photo Fredrik
Nilsen, Courtesy Gagosian Gallery Medium Sculptures and
Installations
© 2016, McGraw-Hill Higher Education. All rights reserved.
Initiated by Kelley in 1999, the Kandors series comprises numerous represent
ations of Superman’s birthplace, the city of Kandor. The popular Superman
story recounts the adventures of an alien being sent to Earth as a baby to
escape the total destruction of his home planet, Krypton. However, it turns out
that Kandor was not, in fact, destroyed. Shrunk and bottled by the villainous B
raniac, the futuristic city was later rescued by Superman and protected
under a bell jar in his sanctuary, the Fortress of Solitude. For almost a quarter
-century in comic-book time, Kandor and its miniature citizens survived in
Superman’s care, sustained by tanks of Kryptonic atmosphere – a constant re
minder of his lost past and a metaphor for his psychic disconnection from his
adopted planet.
LOOKING AND RESPONDING
The key to looking at art is to become aware
of the process of looking to better
understand why art can mean different
things to different people.
•Selective Perception: Filtering information
to allow us to focus on the immediate tasks
at hand. This is a process utilized when
looking at art.
•Vanitas: (Latin for “vanity”) Refers to the
fleeting nature of earthly life and happiness.
This is an approach for responding to art
and exploring visual associations.
© 2016, McGraw-Hill Higher Education. All rights reserved.
Science tells us that seeing is a mode of perception, which is the recognition
And interpretation of sensory data what comes into our eyes, ears, nose, mouth and
Fingertips and what we perceive from it. Visual perception our eyes take in information
In light Patterns. Not everyone's visual perception is the same not all people notice the
Same things or interpret them the same. One reason for differences in perception is
The profound amount of detail available to our attention at any given moment. Mood
Can sometimes influence how we interpret things, the way we grew up cultural, relation
ships we have had, places we have seen. The subjective nature of perception explains
why a work of art may mean different things to different people. The more you know
About art the more you will appreciate it and look at it more deeply.
1.14 Vanitas
© 2016, McGraw-Hill Higher Education. All rights reserved.
From a panoramic perspective, Juan de Valdés Leal’s Vanitas is full of jumble
of objects with a cherub looking over them and a man hiding behind curtain In t
he foreground to left, a skull crowned with a laurel wreath, which is usually c
rowns those who have achieve great success. Whatever a man gained during
his life, he has to face death like any other people. Then come two flowers:
one in full bloom whilst the other already dying, reflecting the flourishing and
dying of life. It is the end of life. Let us retrospect the time before death
according to the oil painting. These objects can be divided into three groups:
Firstly, dice and playing cards, suggesting a luxurious life wallow in games of
chances. Secondly, a cascade of medal, money and jewelry leads up to an
elaborate crown, indicating honors, wealth and power. Finally, books and
scientific instruments demonstrating pursue for knowledge, which can also be
regarded as means to achieve these honor.
Audrey Flack, Wheel of Fortune, Vanitas
Jim Hodges. Every Touch, 1995. Silk
flowers, thread, 18 x 16 feet.
Audrey Flack became facianated with the vanitas tradition, she created a
Series of her own Wheel of Fortune Vanitas.
• The skull reminds us of death
• Hourglass, calendar page and guttering speak of time passing
• Necklace, mirrors, powder puff and lipstick symbols of Vanity
• A dice and a tarot card evoke the roles of chance and fate
Jim Hodges, Every touch, seems very diffferent that Flacks or Leal’s Vanitas
Touch is made of silk flower petals ironed flat, intermingled, and stuck together
To form a large curtain. Even though Every Touch may not direct our thoughts as
Firmly as the other two artworks, we approach it the same way. We look and try to
Become aware of our looking. More questions are asked, and we question our
Feelings.
http://www.youtube.com/watch
?v=vBLvusSwHRk
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=
BsrLVPu5otI
LIVING WITH ART:
SUMMARY
Works of art can have many meanings. The greatest
works of art can transcend time to speak to each
new generation.
Key Terms
Key Topics
The Impulse for Art
What Do Artist Do?
Creating and Creativity
© 2016, McGraw-Hill Higher Education. All rights reserved.
aesthetics
megaliths
Neolithic
selective perception
vanitas