> http://iris.nyit.edu/arthistory/pptshows.html The behavior patterns, arts, beliefs, institutions and all other products of human work and thought, especially as expressed in a particular community or period We are bombarded with images everyday The conscious use of skill and creative imagination in the production of an aesthetic object. “Art is the lie that makes us see the truth?” Picasso Physical evidence: often reliably indicates an object’s age. Material used, bronze, plastic, oil-based pigment etc. Physical evidence: often reliably indicates an object’s age. Material used, bronze, plastic, oil-based pigment etc. Flag for the Moon: Die Nigger, Faith Ringgold Flag, Encaustic Jasper Johns Can you tell what year each flag was made? ‘That’s one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind.’ Flag for the Moon: Die Nigger, 1969 Faith Ringgold Flag, Encaustic Jasper Johns 49-Star Flag: On January 3rd,1959 Alaska was formally granted statehood placing the 49th star on our Flag. Documentary evidence: a written document mentions the work Visual evidence: an identifiable person, a kind of hairstyle, clothing, or furniture Spirituality Subconscious Intellect Emotions •Sexuality Period Style refers to the characteristic artistic manner of a specific time, usually within a distinct culture, such as “archaic Greek” or “Late Byzantine.” Regional Style is the term art historians use to describe variations in style tie to geography. An object’s date, place of origin or provenance can significantly determine its character. Personal style, the distinctive manner of individual artists or architects, often decisively explains stylistic discrepancies among monuments of the same time and place. Stylistic evidence: an artist’s distinctive manner of producing an object, the way a work looks. This is subjective assessment, stylistic evidence is by far the most unreliable chronological criterion Personal style, the distinctive manner of individual artists Can you match the artists by their personal styles? Aristotle believed that works of art should be evaluated on the basis of “imitation” Zeuxis Paulus Potter, The BullParrhasios (circa 1647), Mark Tansey, The Innocent Eye Test, 1981 This manner of representation is called naturalism or realism Plato To achieve Plato’s ideal images were to represent things “as they ought to be” rather than as they are, looked beyond nature for a definition of art. In his view even the most naturalistic painting or sculpture was only an approximation of an eternal ideal world in which no variations or flaws were present. Period Style refers to the characteristic artistic manner of a specific time, usually within a distinct culture, such as “archaic Greek” or “Late Byzantine.” Regional Style is the term art historians use to describe variations in style tie to geography. An object’s date, place of origin or provenance can significantly determine its character. Menkaure and Khamerernebty from Gizeh, Hatsheput Enthroned 1473-1458 BCE Egypt, Dynasty IV, ca. 2490-2472 BCE Graywacke, approx. 4/6” Old Kingdom Anavysos Kouros 530 BCE Greece Aesthetics Today we may think of art as something meant to be pleasing to the sight or touch. Aesthetics is the term used to sum up the search for beauty. Georgia O’Keeffe The Radiator Building 1927 Joseph Stella, The Brooklyn Bridge. 1918 Weston argued that the quality of the image depends not on the camera, but on the choices made by the photographer-artist. Abstraction-the artist transforms a recognizable subject from nature in a way that suggests the original but does not record the subject in an entirely realistic or naturalistic way. “When you take a flower in your hand and really look at it, it's your world for the moment. I want to give that world to someone else."— Georgia O'Keeffe Smith’s work is a good example of nonrepresentational artart that does not depict a recognizable subject. Kandinsky’s work is also a good example of nonrepresentational or nonobjective David Smith CUBI XIX, 1964 Stainless Oscars 2008: Top Ten Best Dressed Women Ever since people first made what we call art, they have been fascinated with their own image and have used the human body to express ideas and ideals. Beauty & the Idealization of the Human Figure Beauty & the Idealization of the Human Figure The Medici Venus Roman copy of a 1st century BCE Greek statue Marble, height 5’ Beauty is in the EYE of the Beholder Kitagawa Utamaro Woman At The Height Of Her Beauty 1790’s. Color woodblock print, 15 x 10” Leone Leoni, Charles V Triumphing Over Fury, Without Armor 1549-1555. Bronze, height to top of head 5’8” Religious, historical, mythological, genre (daily life), portraiture, landscape (a depiction of a place), still life (an arrangement of inanimate objects), narrative and their numerous subdivisions and combinations. Religion ``The first object of the painter is to make a flat plane appear as a body in relief and projecting from that plane.'' -- Leonardo da Vinci Marc Chagall “I have been fascinated by the Bible since I was very young. It always seemed to me, and it still does, that the Bible is the greatest source of poetry that has ever existed. Since that time, I have been seeking to express this philosophy in life and art.” Iconography- literally, the ‘writing of images’ refers both to the content or subject of an artwork, and to the study of content in art. Artists may depict figures with unique attributes identifying them. In Christian art, each of the authors of the New Testament Gospels, the Four Evangelists, has a distinctive attribute. Saint Matthew a winged man Mark by a lion, Luke by an ox, and John by an eagle Four Evangelists, folio 14 verso of the Aachen Gospels, ca. 810 Seated Buddha, 338 CE, China Gilt bronze Simhavaktra Kakini Lion-Headed Guardian Tibetan, 18th Century Lacquered wood 56” Height Politics The use of art in politics goes back to ancient times. Today, political propaganda is conveyed through political cartoons, critical painting and billboard posters. Pablo Picasso Joan Miro Religious, historical, mythological, genre (daily life), portraiture, landscape (a depiction of a place), still life (an arrangement of inanimate objects), narrative and their numerous subdivisions and combinations. Not ALL Landscapes are horizontal & Not ALL Portraits are vertical!!! 1. What is my first response to the work of art? 2. When and where was the work made? www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZVlm9pdWd 3. Where would the work originally have been seen? 4. What purpose did the work serve? 5. In what condition has the work survived? 6. What is the title? Does it help to illuminate the work?? N = name D = date P/S = period/style A = artist or architect P = Patron L= original location M/T = material/technique F = function C = context DT = descriptive terms I = relevant ideas relating to art work N: Sumerian Votive Offerings D: c. 3000 BCE P/S: Sumerian (1st period of Mesopotamian Art) A: unknown craftsmen – votive maker P: individual citizens of Ur L: located in a temple precinct facing an image of the god being honored gypsum (stone) – subtractive method Inset eyes of lapis lazuli or shell and black limestone inlays M/T: F: Surrogate for donor (figures are not deities) offering constant prayer to deity with arms clasped reverentially, in supplication, awe Placed in temple precincts (‘waiting rooms’) facing alter or statue of god C: DT: Stiff, rigid, not in proportion, awe, pessimistic, frontal, simplified, conical Votive Figures Statuettes of two worshipers, from the Square Temple at Eshnuna Ideas: appearance of figures relates to anxiety of after life(modern Tel Asmar), proportions of figure could relate to weakness of material, technique Iraq 2700 BCE size of figures = importance = hierarchical Stance/presentation Proportion (figure) Anatomical detail/correctness Movement/gesture Facial expression Purpose/function Meaning/content Negative/positive space Organic/geometric form Context Meaning/Content