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Unit #1: What Is Art?

Ms. TanguayVisual Art I FCHS

Art is defined as something produced or intended primarily for aesthetic purposes, rather than utility.

This would include the art forms of sculpture, music, dance, painting, etc.

What is Art?

Martin Puryear, Seer, 1984

Art can be representational (showing recognizable forms) or non-representational (showing nothing recognizable).

Representational art would include things like portraits, landscapes, and still-lifes.

Non-representational art would include abstract and non-objective pieces.

Abstract are can balance on the line between representational and non-representational.Representational or

Non-Representational Art?

Medium/media: The materials used to create an artwork such as oil, watercolor, colored pencil, etc. It can also be a category of art such as drawing, painting, or sculpture

Subject (Subject matter): Things that are represented in an artwork such as people, buildings, trees, etc.

What is medium and subject?

Many of the cave paintings in southern Europe are deep underground and difficult to get to. Some may only be visited by crawling or swimming through narrow dark passages.

Two boys playing ball with a dog accidentally found the Lascaux cave paintings (France). Running to retrieve a thrown ball, the dog fell into a hole and became trapped in a cave. As the boys tried to get the dog out, they found another larger hole that they crawled into. When they lit matches, they discovered huge animal paintings on the walls and ceiling of the cavern.

Art History

Formalists: believe that the best art affects viewers because of the relationship among the visual elements in the work (line, shapes, color, etc.). They believe that art is valuable because it is interesting to look at.

Instrumentalists: believe that art should lead to some social good.

Expressionists: believe that good art expresses the emotions of the maker and has an emotional impact on its viewers.

Imitationalists: believe that good art imitates the appearance of things.

Institutionalists: believe that art is what the experts say it is. Artists, critics, curators, scholars, teachers, and others who are very involved in the art community determine what is and is not good art.

Art Theories

Usually, the word art makes people think of artworks, museums, and galleries. Art, however, is also people: artists, viewers, art historians, archaeologists, teachers, and students.

Today’s art comes in an endless variety of forms. Most of this variety comes about in the 20th century. Before that, painting and sculpture were the only objects people thought of as art. Today the idea of what art is, and can be, has broadened. Everyday objects from the past and from other cultures are now considered art.

Chapter Summary

Hobbs, Jack, Richard Salome, and Ken Vieth. The Visual Experience. 3. Worcester: Davis Publications, Inc, 2005. Print.

References