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The very idea of art!
Why art? • I AM! (existential)
Human Figure, 2nd century B.C.–1st century A.D.Old Bering Sea peoples; AlaskaIvory (walrus); H. 3 3/4 in. (9.5 cm)
Why art? • I AM! (existential)
• magic/spiritual
Why art? • I AM! (existential)
• magic/spiritual
• expression – the pleasure of feeling feelings!
Goya, Executions of the Third of May, 1808 1814-15
textp. 340
not practical
Why art? • I AM! (existential)
• magic/spiritual
• expression
• aesthetic pleasure
Bowl with Pair of Rabbits, mid-9th–12th centuryMimbres peoples; New Mexico
Ceramic; H. 2 1/2 in.
(two views)
Jar with Four Faces, mid-13th–mid-15th centuryCasas Grandes peoples; Chihuahua
Ceramic; H. 8 11/16 in. (22.3 cm)
Bannerstone, ca. 2000 B.C.Archaic peoples; Ohio
Banded slate; H. 2 5/16 in. (5.9 cm
Bierstadt, AlbertAmong the Sierra Nevada Mountains, California
1868, Oil on canvas, 183 x 305 cm text
p. 345
Why look at a sunset?
Why art? • I AM! (existential)
• magic/spiritual
• expression
• aesthetic pleasure
• the pleasure of LOOKING
Sheeler, CharlesBucks County Barn, 1923, Tempera and crayon on paper19 5/8 x 26 in
Diebenkorn, RichardOcean Park No. 1151979Oil on canvas100 x 81 in
Sargent, John SingerThe Daughters of Edward D. Boit1882Oil on canvas87 3/8 x 87 5/8 in
Sargent, John SingerThe Daughters of Edward D. BoitDetail1882Oil on canvas
Why art? • the pleasure ofbeing fooled?(a special case
of the pleasure of looking?)
Sargent, John SingerThe Daughters of Edward D. Boit1882Oil on canvas87 3/8 x 87 5/8 in
Is art about the way things look or the way we
see?(Is art necessarily a thing or
object?)
Robert Smithson, Spiral Jetty, 1970See textbook p. 439
Is art a thing or a process? An object or
an idea? Is an image an idea?
Robert Smithson, Spiral Jetty, 1970See textbook p. 439
Spiral Jetty
Spiral Jetty, 2003
Meret Oppenheim, Fur covered cup, saucer, and spoon, 1936 (a.k.a. The Object)
Do you need to see this to “get it” – or is the photo itself enough?
Andy GoldsworthyKnotweed Stalks Pushed into Lake BottomFebruary 20 and March 8-9, 1988Derwent Water, Cumbria© Andy Goldsworthy
Andy GoldsworthyEnds of BambooNovember 1987Kinagashima-Cho, Japan© Andy Goldsworthy
An example of Pre-Columbian art
What is the ‘art’?
The idea, the image, or the
object?
Perhaps the uncanny superposition of all
three . . .
Oleg Popov
