shift away from distinct physical and emotional separation of holy figures within works of art to depictions that emphasized their spiritual presence among the faithful

Formal styles are groups of art in which the works derive their structure from principles that are not characteristic of either one place or one time

The canon was remarkably conservative and unchanging, altering very little over the many centuries that ancient Egypt existed

fully developed instruction that provides us with great insight into Van Doesburg’s train of thought and work, as well as his process of abstraction

she created imagery of animals and other features of rural farm life

One indication of the quality of a work of art is its power to evoke multiple interpretations

Is the lack of obvious movement in the work a comment on the emergence of women’s roles in society, a hope or a demand for change? Or is it a monument to the quiet dignity of the domestic life of Victorian era Paris?

We may fear the sea. We may reject the use of technology as valiantly heroic. We may see the British colonial period as one of oppression and tyranny and this work as an illustration of the hubris of that time. Whatever we conclude, this work of art stands as a catalyst for this important dialogue

Interpretations can also change and some interpretations are better than others

Its exploitation has led to scarcity and, ultimately, now threatens the very existence of elephants, since they have been savagely hunted and their herds decimated in the interest of profit.

table such as this was a status symbol indicating the own- er’s wealth and taste, which was further enhanced by its use: this was not a utilitarian piece but a display table for chinaware.

In addition, gemstones on such devotional works were selected for their qualities associated with healing, good fortune, the ability to ward off evil, and their mystical translucence, that fostered spiritual illumination

As a continuation of the work undertaken by his grandfather Frederick I, which also included exhuming Charlemagne’s bones, Frederick II (r. 1220-1250), following the plans Barbarossa had made, completed the creation of a lavish, new jeweled and gilded shrine for the remains of Charlemagne, seeking to elevate him to the rank of sainthood

adopting his palace complex at Aachen and adding to its structure and furnishings with his own statements of imperial power.

Such re-imaging and re-purposing of motifs and their meanings were frequently seen at this time of transition from paganism to Christianity

If we measure the bodies of Jesus and Mary from heel to knee, knee to hip, and so on, and then compare them, we find that Mary is larger than Jesus. In addition, the figure of Mary is out of proportion, that is, the siz- es of the parts of her body are not in alignment

The warm end of the spectrum includes red, orange, and yellow. The cool end of the visible spectrum contains green, blue, and purple

His main interest was to demonstrate how a color can be affected by other colors that surround it.

Brightness is the lightness or darkness of a color and ranges from fully illuminated (the pure hue) to fully darkened (black).

Visible light is the small portion of the electromag- netic spectrum that can be seen by humans

Red is the color of fire, blue of the air, green of the water, and grey of the earth . . . white and black are not true colors but are alterations of other colors.2

In a number of Asian traditions, black is the col- or of heaven and white is the color of death or mourning. In western culture the opposite is the case.

purple was extracted from a particular kind of snail and, because of its rarity, was used primarily for royal garments

Arp is dancing on the “edge of order.”

way to think of these elements of design is to “walk up the ladder” of dimension. Our perceived world has three dimensions of space and one of time. Mathematically, a point has zero dimensions. A line has one dimension, length. A shape has two dimensions, length and height. A form with mass or volume has three dimensions, length, height, and width. In moving from points to volumes, we have “walked up the ladder” of dimension from zero to three

Chinese have traditionally used jade, a hard, brittle stone found in numerous shades, most commonly green, to indicate wisdom, power, and wealth

This can be seen in a detail of Leonardo’s Mona Lisa where the figure’s eyebrows and eye lashes are now “missing.”

Some pigments have been found to be fugitive, meaning they lose their color over time, especially when exposed to direct sunlight

Linseed oil was chosen for its clear color and its ability to dry slowly and evenly. Turpentine is generally used as the solvent in oil painting.

Speculate about why images

We follow a similar process in learning how to look at and understand art

In the late Middle Ages during widespread plague in Europe, images of St. Sebastian were regularly commissioned for hospitals because of the legend of his miraculous healing and the hope that the images would be curative

Both depict crucial scenes in the teachings of the Catholic Church, the leading European religious and political organization of the time. Because many people at the time were illiterate, images played an important role in educating them about their religious history and doctrines

Rodin placed the burghers, or leading citizens, on ground level to humanize the six men who offered themselves as sacrifices to save their city; he did so in order to bring their internal struggles down to the viewer’s eye level.

Federal government buildings such as the United States Capitol and the Supreme Court (Figure 1.25) were designed so that the community would associate ancient Greek and Roman ideals of virtue and integrity with the activities inside those more modern buildings

Objects that appear on the left side of an image are thought to be “first,” while ones that appear on the right are thought to be “later.”

One way in which communities maintain stability is in the production of works of art that identify common values and experiences within that community and thus bring people together

Across history and geography, we see religious and political communities that remain stable despite constant pressure from both internal and external sources

In an ironic critique of how different parts of Iranian society were affected by war, Satrapi compares the contorted figures of Iranian youth dying in a combat zone explosion with the dance movements at her high school celebration

They were the result of many levels of artistic thought but on a basic level were a combination of delight in the act of painting and in the personal discovery that act enabled

I decided that I wasn’t going to spend my life doing what had already been done. . . . I decided I was a very stupid fool for not to at last paint as I wanted to and say what I wanted to when I painted

The need to make art can be divided into two broad categories: the personal need to express ideas and feelings, and the community’s needs to assert common values

Haberle frequently depicted paper currency in his paintings, in spite of having been warned to stop doing so by the U.S. Secret Service, which was formed in 1865 to stop the distribution of counterfeit money

who were briefly unaware of the trick he was playing upon them.

While there, pilgrims and other visitors might follow the stones of the labyrinth while in prayer or a state of meditation; the inevitable outcome of the complex and turning path leading to the center mirrors the certainty that prayer will lead the believer to God

garment believed to be the tunic worn by the Virgin Mary when she gave birth

the types of subjects depicted during all that time and in all those places are remarkably similar.

They possess a number of notable features, including the fact that these images were painted over tens of thousands of years on every continent except Antarctica

An artist or craftsperson has an audience in mind when creating a work of art

Qian Xuan

In adopting Japanese principles of beauty in art, Whistler could pursue what he called “Art for art’s sake.”

The poem is not meant to illustrate or describe his painting of the branch with its delicate, young foliage and flowers; rather, the swaying, irregular lines of the leaves and the gently unfurling curves of the blossoms are meant to suggest comparisons to how quickly time passes—delicate blooms will soon fade—and evoke memories of times past

scholar-painters

Over the next several hundred years, the shapes of the vessels and the types of decorative motifs and subjects painted on them became associated with the city where they were produced, and then specifically with the individuals who made and decorated the pots

Artisans were not valued for taking an original approach and setting themselves apart when creating a statue of a ruler such as Gudea: their success was based on their ability to work within standards of how the human form was depicted and specifically how a leader should look within that culture at that time

At the end of that period, an apprentice became a journeyman and was allowed to become a member of the craft guild that supervised training and standards for those working in that trade

Where in our schools is the coursework on how to use power wisely?

Upon completion of the project, quoting from the Hindu epic tale Bhagavad Gita, he stated, “Now I am become Death, the destroyer of worlds.” Clearly, Oppenheimer had read more than physics texts in his education, which fit him well for his important role during World War II

But the distinction between craft and art is real and important. This distinction is most commonly understood as one based on the use or end purpose of an object, or as an effect of the material used. Clay, textiles, glass, and jewelry were long considered the province of craft, not art. If an object’s intended use was a part of daily living, then it was generally thought to be the product of craft, not fine art. But many objects originally intended to be functional, such as quilts, are now thought to qualify as fine art

The challenge for you as the reader is to increase your ability to interpret works of art through the use of context, visual dynamics, and introspection, and to integrate them into a coherent worldview

Art is the other side of our experience with the world.

Instead, it is about who has the power to define art, which is a political issue, not an aesthetic one

George Dickie and Arthur Danto, and is called the institutional theory of art, or the “Artworld” theory. In the simplest version of this theory, art is an object or set of conditions that has been designated as art by a “person or persons acting on behalf of the artworld,” and the artworld is a “complex field of forces” that determine what is and is not art.

Further, suppose an artist created a work of art that no one else ever saw. Since no feeling had been communicated through it, would it still be a work of art?

He proposed that art is the communication of feeling, stating, “Art is a human activity consisting in this, that one man consciously by means of certain external signs, hands on to others feelings he has lived through, and that others are infected by these feelings and also experience them.”

demonstrating that the ancient Greek view of art as mimesis—simple copying—does not sufficiently define art

Parhassios declared himself the victor because the curtain was the painting

When viewing Parhassios’s work, Zeuxis, on his part, asked that the curtain over the painting be drawn back so he could see his rival’s work more clearly

Nineteenth-century art theorists promoted the idea that art is communication: it produces feelings in the viewer

In the early twentieth century, the idea of significant form, the quality shared by aesthetically pleasing objects, was proposed as a definition of art

Bouguereau implies that a wilderness can be not only physical but also cultural, and in that sense, all of us wander through a wilderness that threatens the human spirit found in culture.

In Bouguereau’s painting, Homer symbolizes civilization and culture

In 1968, artist Andy Warhol (1928-1967, USA) said, “In the future everyone will be world-famous for fifteen minutes.”