World off art 8th edtion by henry m sayre chapter 02

Discuss how form, as opposed to content, might also help us to understand the meaning of a work of art... The Creative Process1 of 2 • Abstract Illusionism: George Green's … Marooned i

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Developing Visual Literacy

2

Learning Objectives

1 of 2

1 Describe the relationship between

words and images.

2 Distinguish between representation

and abstraction.

3 Discuss how form, as opposed to

content, might also help us to

understand the meaning of a work of art.

Learning Objectives

2 of 2

4 Explain how cultural conventions can

inform our interpretation of works of art.

1 of 2

• In order to get the most out of art

appreciation, you must describe why

you "like" a work and how it

communicates to you rather than just "I like this work."

2 of 2

• Making sense of Willem de Koonig's North

Atlantic Light requires visual literacy.

 The title helps us recognize what looks like

a sailboat at the painting's center.

 Closer observation can reveal details

about light reflecting from the sky into the sea.

 Critical thinking aids in the interpretation

of complicated works.

Willem de Kooning, North Atlantic Light

1977 Oil on canvas, 6' 8" × 5' 10" Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam, The Netherlands

Acquired with the support of the Rembrandt Association

© 2015 Photo Art Resource/Scala, Florence © 2015 Willem de Kooning

Foundation/Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York [Fig 2-1]

Words and Images

1 of 4

• Magritte's The Treason of Images

depicts a reproduction of an image of a pipe found in tobacco ads of his time.

 The caption, translated as "This is not a pipe," refers to the fact that this image is not actually a representation of a pipe.

 Both images and words symbolically

refer to things in the world, but are not the things themselves.

René Magritt, The Treason of Images, Ceci n'est past une pipe

1929 Oil on canvas, 21-1/2 × 28-1/2" Los Angeles County Museum of Art

© 2015 C Herscovici/Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York [Fig 2-2]

Words and Images

2 of 4

• Shirin Neshat's series, Women of Allah, combines words and images.

wearing a chador that covers everything but her face.

her face.

complexity of its content, which relies on

the context of the viewing party.

Shirin Neshat, Rebellious Silence, from the series Women of Allah

1994 Gelatin silver print and ink, 11 × 14"

© Shirin Neshat, courtesy of Gladstone Gallery, New York and Brussels Photo: Cynthia

Preston [Fig X-X]

Words and Images

3 of 4

• In Islamic culture, calligraphy is the

chief form of art and pious writing is

sacred.

• Until recent times, every book began

with the bismillah.

 The Triumphal Entry from Firdawsi's

Shahnamah shows a beautiful example

in the top right-hand corner.

Triumphal Entry, page from a manuscript of Firdawsi's Shahnamah, Persian, Safavid culture

1562–83 Opaque watercolor, ink, and gold on paper, 18-11/16 × 13" Museum of Fine Arts, Boston.Francis Bartlett Donation and Picture Fund, 14.692 Photograph © 2015 Museum of Fine Arts,

Boston [Fig 2-4]

Words and Images

4 of 4

• Islamic culture concerns itself largely with

the word of the Qur'an and images are

absent in most architecture.

 Depiction of living creatures was frowned upon; a page from a copy of Nizami's

Khamseh shows the heads of humans

have been erased.

• Iconoclasts wished to destroy images in

religious settings and appeared at various periods in Christian history.

Page from a copy of Nizami's Khamseh (Quintet) illustrating a princely country feast,

Persian, Safavid culture

1574–75 Illuminated manuscript, 9-3/4 × 6" India Office, London

© British Library Board, I.O ISLAMIC 1129, f.29 [Fig 2-5]

Representation and Abstraction

1 of 5

• Vocabulary has been developed to

describe how closely an image

resembles visual reality.

• Art can be representational,

portraying objects in recognizable form.

 Realism occurs when the image

resembles what the eye sees.

 An work is photorealistic if it is so

realistic that it seems like a photograph.

Representation and Abstraction

2 of 5

• Art can be abstract when it resembles

its real-world subject less.

 It can be called nonobjective if it does

not refer to the natural or objective

world at all.

The Creative Process

1 of 2

• Abstract Illusionism: George Green's …

Marooned in dreaming: a path of song and mind

 Green's distinct style is characterized by images of abstract sculptural forms that seem to float free from the painting's

George Green …marooned in dreaming: a path of song and mind, in progress

2011 Top: Raw birch ground before painting Middle: Second stage, painted frame and

mat Bottom: Third stage, painted frame and seascape

Courtesy of the artist [Fig 2-7]

George Green …marooned in dreaming: a path of song and mind, in progress.

2011 Second stage, painted frame and mat

Courtesy of the artist [Fig 2-8]

The Creative Process

2 of 2

• Abstract Illusionism: George Green's …

Marooned in dreaming: a path of song and mind

 A photorealistic seascape, based on a photograph, is then painted inside the frame.

 Then, the entire composition is overlaid with scrolls, arabesques, and planes of color, a visual representation of music.

George Green …marooned in dreaming: a path of song and mind, in progress

2011 Third stage, painted frame and seascape

Courtesy of the artist [Fig 2-9]

George Green …marooned in dreaming: a path of song and mind

2011 Acrylic on birch, 4' × 6' 10"

Courtesy of the artist [Fig 2-10]

Representation and Abstraction

3 of 5

• Albert Bierstadt's Puget Sound on the

Pacific Coast was criticized for being

more fanciful than realistic, despite its representational appearance.

 Since Bierstadt had never visited Puget

Sound, his work is naturalistic rather

than realistic.

 While it is based in realistic elements, its composition is formulaic.

Albert Bierstadt, Puget Sound on the Pacific Coast

1870 Oil on canvas, 4' 4-1/2" × 6' 10" Seattle Art Museum

Gift of the Friends of American Art at the Seattle Art Museum, with additional funds from

the General Acquisition Fund, 2000.70 Photo: Howard Giske [Fig 2-6]

Representation and Abstraction

4 of 5

• Wolf Kahn's Afterglow I is more abstract

naturalism, featuring a less descriptive landscape with trees.

• Old Mick Tjakamarra's Honey Ant

Dreaming also shows a landscape, but

along the rules of Aboriginal symbolism.

 Landscapes were thought to depict a

record of the Ancestral Being's passing.

Wolf Kahn, Afterglow I

1974 Oil on canvas, 41-1/2" × 5' 6" Whitney Museum of American Art, New York Whitney Museum of American Art, New York Gift of Mr and Mrs Harry Kahn Art © Wolf

Kahn/Licensed by VAGA, New York [Fig 2-11]

Old Mick Tjakamarra, Honey Ant Dreaming

1982 Acrylic on canvas, 36 × 27"

© Aboriginal Artists Agency Limited Photo: Jennifer Steele/Art Resource, New York

[Fig 2-12]

Representation and Abstraction

5 of 5

• Old Mick Tjakamarra's Honey Ant

Dreaming also shows a landscape, but

along the rules of Aboriginal symbolism.

 Ceremonial paintings on rocks and the ground were made for centuries in

Australia's Western Desert region.

 This work shows Papunya Tula, where

three colonies of ants appear at center.

Form and Meaning

1 of 3

• Form refers to everything from the

materials used to create a work to the way it employs formal elements into

the composition.

 It often opposed to content, or what

the work expresses or means.

Form and Meaning

2 of 3

• Kazimir Malevich's Black Square was an

attempt to free art from objectivity.

 The work shows a black square set on a white one and was originally exhibited in the gallery space as though it were a

religious icon in a traditional Russian

home.

 The work is minimal, parodic, and totally abstract.

Kazimir Malevich, Black Square

ca 1923–30 Oil on plaster, 14-1/2 × 14-1/2" Musée National d'Art Moderne, Centre

Georges Pompidou, Paris

Inv AM1978-631 Photo © Centre Pompidou, MNAM-CCI, Dist RMN-Grand Palais/Jacques

Faujou [Fig 2-13]

Form and Meaning

3 of 3

• Beatriz Milhazes based Carambola on a

square, influenced by Malevich.

 Even the geometrical composition's

circles were intended to contain

Beatriz Milhazes, Carambola

2008 Acrylic on canvas, 4' 6-7/8" × 4' 2-5/8"

Courtesy of James Cohan Gallery, New York and Shanghai [Fig 2-14]

Convention, Symbols, and Interpretation

1 of 6

• Interpretation of a work relies on its

cultural context.

• Art historian Kenneth Clark compared

the images of Apollo and an African

dancing mask.

 He was able to decode conventions of

Greek sculpture, but misinterpreted the meaning of the African mask through his ethnocentric reading.

Apollo Belvedere (detail), Roman copy after a 4th-century BCE Greek original.Height of entire sculpture 7' 4" Museo Pio-Clementino, Vatican City

© 2015 Photo Scala, Florence [Fig 2-15]

African dancing mask from Ulivira, Lake Tanganyika.

Lateral view Wood, Height 24" The Courtauld Gallery, London

©The Samuel Courtauld Trust, The Courtauld Gallery, London/Bridgeman Images [Fig 2-16]

Convention, Symbols, and Interpretation

2 of 6

• Iconography is a system of visual

images widely understood by a given

culture or group that is carried forward

through generations.

• Symbols represent something other

than their literal meaning.

• Over time, the meaning of an image

can still change or be lost within a

culture.

Convention, Symbols, and Interpretation

3 of 6

• Giovanni Arnolfini and His Wife

Giovanna Cenami by Jan van Eyck has a

repertoire of symbols that would have

been understood by the

contemporaneous viewer, but are lost

today.

• From a Muslim perspective, its

elements would be nonsensical.

Jan van Eyck, Giovanni Arnolfini and His Wife Giovanna Cenami

ca 1434 Oil on oak panel, 32-1/4 × 23-1/2" National Gallery, London

Inv NG186 Bought, 1842 © 2015 National Gallery, London/Scala, Florence [Fig 2-17]

Convention, Symbols, and Interpretation

4 of 6

• It was recently discovered that Jan van

Eyck's painting represents a betrothal

rather than a marriage.

• The artist has also painted himself as

witness, inscribing "Jan van Eyck was

here" above the mirror.

Jan van Eyck, Giovanni Arnolfini and His Wife (detail)

ca 1434

Bridgeman Images [Fig 2-18]

Convention, Symbols, and Interpretation

5 of 6

• Jean-Michel Basquiat pays tribute to

jazz saxophonist Charlie Parker in his

Charles the First.

 Iconography includes a crown

representing African-American heroes.

 The large "S" stands for Superman as

well as SAMO, the artist's "tag."

 "X" has multiple meanings as X-Men,

hobo signs; negation and affirmation.

Jean-Michel Basquiat, Charles the First

1982 Acrylic and oil paintstick on canvas, three panels, 6' 6" × 5' 2-1⁄4" overall

© 2015 Estate of Jean-Michel Basquiat/ADAGP, Paris/ARS, New York [Fig 2-19]

Convention, Symbols, and Interpretation

6 of 6

• Western viewers of the Buddha may not

understand that the position of the

Buddha's hands carries iconographic

significance.

mind and specific events in the Buddha's life.

 The Amida Buddha represents the

promise of being reborn into Paradise and escaping endless rebirth.

Buddha (Amida), Japan

ca 1130 Wood with gold lacquer, 37-1/4 × 27 × 17" Seattle Art Museum Gift of the Monsen Family, 2011.39 Photo: Elizabeth Mann [Fig 2-20]

The Critical Process: Thinking about

Visual Conventions

1 of 2

• Two views of the signing of peace

treaties in Kansas in 1867 present the same content, but different form.

• John Taylor's illustration is based on

sketches done at the scene while

Howling Wolf's work was completed

about a decade later.

• "Ledger" drawings were created on

blank accountants' ledgers.

John Taylor, Treaty Signing at Medicine Lodge Creek

1867 Drawing for Leslie's Illustrated Gazette, September–December 1867, as seen in

Douglas C Jones, The Treaty of Medicine Lodge, page xx

© 1966 Oklahoma University Press Reproduced with permission All Rights reserved

[Fig 2-21]

Howling Wolf, Treaty Signing at Medicine Lodge Creek

1875–78 Ledger drawing, pencil, crayon, and ink on paper, 8 × 11" New York State

Library, Manuscripts and Special Collections, Albany [Fig 2-22]

The Critical Process: Thinking about

Visual Conventions

2 of 2

• Does the difference in the way both

artists depict space suggest greater

cultural differences?

 Howling Wolf depicts the scene from

above and Taylor's viewpoint is limited

to the grove.

• Native Americans are portrayed

individually and identifiably in Howling Wolf's work.

Thinking Back

1 of 2

1 Describe the relationship between

words and images.

2 Distinguish between representation

and abstraction.

3 Discuss how form, as opposed to

content, might also help us to

understand the meaning of a work of art.

Thinking Back

2 of 2

4 Explain how cultural conventions can

inform our interpretation of works of art.