ART 100Summer 2015

Class 9Considering Context

agenda 7.14.15

paper feedback

Matisse and context

what is inside the frame [text] vs. whatever surrounds it [context]

synchronic vs. diachronic perspectives on a work of art

Brassai, Matisse in His Studio on the Boulevard Montparnasse, 1934

copper coffeepot, French, 19th century

brass coffeepot, French, 19th century

Vija CELMINSHiroshima1968graphite on acrylicon paper13 ½ x 18 inches

synchronic [syn=together]

synchronic

Both formal and semiotic analyses are synchronic in nature: they consider meanings generated by an arrangement of elements within a single moment in time.

Synchronicunderstandingof a tree’s functions

diachronicunderstandingof a tree [dimension of time is present]

Dia=across or through timeDiachronic analyses take into account meanings generated over time, including the accretion and depletion of meanings.

Dia

chro

nic

dia=

acro

ss

Diachronic analysis takes change into account. Meanings of cultural objects are dynamic over time. New meanings accrue to images, old ones fall away and have to be painstakingly recovered, if at all.

looking at a visual image

start with your reactions and impressions

then ask yourself: how is the overall form is put together?

formal elements to considercomposition

line

color

shape

size

texture

• make a list of all formal elements. these, along with the subject matter, will become your signifiers.

• write them down in a column on the left. in a column on the right, list the possible signifieds that correspond to these signifiers.

• now, look at the whole list of signifieds together. how do they add up to a meaning?

semiotic analysis

Ganesha with His ConsortsCentral India, early 11th century (41 3/8 x 27 x 13 in.) Sandstone

But, what if we don’t knowwhat is signified? Or, what if we get it wrong?

Who is Ganesha?

elephant-headed god

son of Shiva and Parvati

god of wisdom and learning

“remover of obstacles”

Sandro Botticelli, Primavera (Allegory of Spring), c. 1482, o/c, 80 x 124 inches

Sandro Botticelli, Primavera (Allegory of Spring), c. 1482, o/c, 80 x 124 inches

Zephyr

ChlorisFlora

Venus

Cupid

The Three GracesMercury

Lorenzo LOTTOPortrait of Bishop Bernardo de' Rossi 150554 x 41 cmGalleria Nazionale di Capodimonte, Naples, Italy

Damien Hirst, The Physical Impossibility of Death in the Mind of Someone Living, 1991

our cultural horizons are very similar to the artist's

possible contextual questions

• Individual style?

• Artist’s biography and preferences?

• Patron’s biography and preferences?

• Social, political, cultural, religious surroundin