Class 3.1 Art Then

ART 100UVC

What is art?

STRICT DEFINITION

• A relatively modern invention.

• Something that is made for “pure, disinterested contemplation.”

• Something that is appreciated for its sensuous qualities (for example, its form, its coloring, its tactile appeal, its sound).

• An invention of the West, though we have appropriated objects from around the world to join this category

agenda

Our goal today: understanding art through its uses.

ritual in which a whole community participates

decoration of people and dwellings for beauty, interest, status

statements of power that impress and intimidate

stockpiling of material wealth in the form of gold and gems

expressions of artistic skill in transforming paint and canvas into a wealth of illusions

the “art” context

As John Dewey warned us, context can easily get in the way of our actual connection with art.

Every object, even the most prestigious, prized possession of a great museum, was made by a human with the intent of communicating with other humans.

The Modern Wing of the Art Institute of Chicago, designed by Renzo Piano, 2009

Gustave Caillebotte, Paris Street, Rainy Day, 1877, installed at the Art Institute

Beginnings in ritual

Lascaux cave, Dordogne region of France, Hall of the Bulls, c. 15,000 BCE

“Magician” or “Birdman” from Lascaux

Historians speculate: this is not “art” but may be a magical technique used as part of rituals preparing for the hunt.

An ordered representation of a chaotic and often hostile universe, expressing our wish for a desired outcome.

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Cueva de las manos, (Cave of the Hands)Santa Cruz Province, Argentinac. 7300 BCE

decoration

So if art finds one set of origins in ritual, it finds another in the human tendency to decorate anything and everything that we make.

location of Blombos Cave, virtually at the tip of South Africa

exterior of the cave

The Indian Ocean, seen from inside the cave. Layers of sandbags areprotecting the surface from the excavators walking in and out.

BLOMBOS CAVE, SOUTH AFRICA

excavation at work, note the meticulously flagged layers

http://cogweb.ucla.edu/ep/Blombos.html

incised ochre, Blombos Cave, c. 77,000 BCE

Marine shell bead excavated at Blombos Cave, South Africa,dating to 70,000 years ago (string of beads at bottom is a reconstruction

useful objects: combs

Jade comb,China,c. 400 BCE

Ivory comb,Etruscan (ancient Italian)6-5th century BCE

useful objects: swords

Ancient Persia, , c. 750-650 BCEsword hilt, silver, (iron blade)

Ancient Korea, Bronze Age sword hilt,Between 900-300 BCE

Art has a definite role to play in assertions of wealth and status.

J.S. Copley, Mr and Mrs Isaac Winslow, 1773

Chuck Close, William Jefferson Clinton, 2006, oil on canvasinstalled at the National Portrait Gallery, Washington, DC

Precious courtly objects

The original blinghttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v

=TSyLLWZ5jp8

Precious courtly objects

Objects like these were created to impress and intimidate.

Crown Jewels,Tower of LondonEngland

Status and power

“I’m the king, and you are not.”

“This are the symbols of my worldly power and wealth.”

Napoleon in his coronation garb, painted on porcelain after a lost painting by Gérard.

What creates value in art?

Reliquary of Ste.-Foy at Conques

Reliquary Statue of Sainte Foy Abbey Church of ConquesConques, France Late 9th or 10th century with later additions

Reliquary: receptacle used tostore or display sacred objects

Real gold Painted gold

Skill

Simone Martini (and Lippo Memmi), The Annunciation, tempera on

panel with gold leaf, c. 1333, 10’1” x 8’8”

Fra Angelico, The Annunciation, fresco in cell 3, Convent of San Marco, Florence , c. 1440

Jan van Eyck, Ghent Altarpiece (open), completed 1432, Cathedral of St. Bavo, Ghent, Belgium

Jan van Eyck, Mary Crowned, detail of the Ghent Altarpiece, completed 1432, Cathedral of St. Bavo, Ghent, Belgium

Jan van Eyck, Mary Crowned, completed 1432

Jan Vermeer

Girl with a Pearl Earring, c. 1665-6,

oil on canvas, 17 1/2 x 15 3/8 inches