Chapter 1: The Creative Impulse

Fig. 1.2 God as Architect of the
World , Folio 1 verso of a moralized Bible
(Paris ca. 1220 – 1230)

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In the image, A
Fisherman at
Sea do you feel that nature is depicted as…
Fig. 1.3a Fisherman at Sea by
Henry Ossawa Tanner

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25% 25% 25%
In the image, A Fisherman at Sea do you feel that nature is depicted as:
1. Subject
2. Source
3. Both
4. Neither
25%
1 2 3 4

What is the difference between nature and culture?
What does that difference imply?
Fig. 1.4a Diary: December 12,
1941 by Roger Shimomura

Fig. 1.4b
99 Cent(1999) by Andreas Gursky
The things that we are exposed to every day, things that shape our culture, things that are passed along from generation to generation.

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…has taken the form of:
• Landscape painting
• Land art
• Sculpture
• Can you think of any other mediums?
Fig 1.5 We Won ’ t Play
Nature to Your Culture (1983) , by Barbara Kruger

Helps you to recognize the relationship among artists and their influences.
Influences :
• Historical events
• Religious beliefs
• Social circumstances
• Political maneuvering
• Idiosyncratic patronage
• “ Art for art ’ s sake ”
• Etc… Fig. 1.6 Joseph Beuys by Glenn Brown

…And it ’ s at the very moment you make a botch of it that you ’ re yourself.
Fig. 1.7 Numbers in Color by Jasper Johns (1958-1959)
Fig. 1.8 I Am Not Jasper Johns by Yurii Albert (1981)

How to develop your communication skills:
1. Think about art
– How does it make you feel?
– What techniques is the artist using?
– What is the piece ’ s composition like?
2. Write about art
– Write your thoughts down
– Reread them
3. Speak about art
– Participate in critiques

All art students should have a sketchbook.
Why?
• To help you remember.
• To record feelings and thoughts for incorporation into your artwork.
Fig. 1.10 Ornothoper Wings , page from notebook, Codex Atlanticus, fol. s309 verso by Leonardo da Vinci

Pablo Picasso lived to the age of 92 and was one of the most prolific artists in history.
“ …an artist works of necessity,… ”
Fig. 1.11 Self-Portraits and Studies ,
1897 - 1899 by Pablo Picasso

Subject is the ‘ what ’ of a work of art.
• People
• Place
• Thing
• Theme
• Process
• Idea
Modernism challenged the traditional definition of subject.
Abstraction and Nonobjective art may appear not to have a subject, but…

Abstraction and nonobjective art still have a subject. The subject may be the color or the process.
Fig. 1.12, Study for The Cow (1917) by Theo Van Doesburg

Gothic Architecture
The design is a symbol of:
• The church ’ s role in society.
• The religious beliefs of the time.
Many gothic churches use the Latin Cross plan, or the shape of the cross for their layout.
Fig. 1.13a Aerial view of Church of St. Serin, Toulouse, France
(Romanesque, c. 1080 -1120)

Government architecture resembles Greek and
Roman architecture. Why?
Fig. 1.13b Lincoln Memorial, Washington, DC (1914) by Henry Bacon

• Green dress with belly = fertility
• Single candle = the presence of Christ
• Dog = fidelity
What do you think the following represents:
• Fruit = ?
• Marriage bed = ?
Fig. 1.14 Giovanni Arnolfini and His Bride by Jan van Eyck

Fig. 1.15 - Jackson Pollack
Fig. 1.16 Joseph Stalin Gazing Enigmatically at the
Body of VI Lenin as it Lies in State in Moscow in the Style of Jackson Pollock by Michael Baldwin and Mel Ramsden

Visual Elements:
• Line
• Shape
• Value
• Color
• Texture
• Space
• Time
• Motion
Fig 1.17a Zen Circle by Torei Enji
(1721 - 1292)