Although I partially understood the idea of connoisseurship from the readings, it was clarified for me during class. Connoisseurship is seen as scientific because of the use of morphology (a branch of biology which focuses on form) as well as the use of minute examination. Morelli used morphology to analyse small details in an art work (such as a finger nail) and compare them to details in other work in order to determine where a painting was made and who it was made by. It is something that is not seen as objective, because although connoisseurship uses scientific methods, it has been proven to be difficult to remove your own bias from an analysis. An example of bias as seen in connoisseurship of art is Eurocentric bias. Because of preconceived ideas about race, art from certain locations is often viewed as not as good as art made in Europe. Berenson critiques the lack of objectivity in connoisseurship, by saying that the only thing that should …show more content…
Wolfflin believes that you should you should not look at individual factors but at the individual as part of a larger period of style. An example of this would be Van Gogh’s evolution from realism to impressionism to post-impressionism. For Wolfflin, these developments are exclusively formal, and do not focus on the context. Although all of this was clarified for me during this week’s class, I found these readings to be quiet challenging and hard to understand. I now understand what exactly the double roots of style are as well the issues that Podro has with Wolfflin’s theories. I still do not completely understand how to use this theory when applied to art from eras other than those used by Wolfflin. It was my understanding that this theory is no longer used by art historians, but I wonder if there is another, similar theory that has evolved from formalism that is still being
The painting is an epic to the daily life of a church at the start of the Renaissance. The painting is done for a little girl who is in the foreground. The sole purpose of the painting is the eagerness and excitement of the future. The people are active in bright clothes. The colors used are bright showing hope for the future. The people in the painting add to the delightful optimism. The forms are delineated like the columns. Apparent details above the columns, retreating into the background. The masses have space and mass. Every stone is perfectly in place. There is a peculiar darkness across the painting that
In this paper I aim to analyze Becker's and Moretti's approaches when they make sociological studies of art. Their approaches have in fact opposite characteristics. Becker is more interested in the creation of the art works that are created in different art worlds. Becker's approach is related to the supply side of the art worlds. He analyzes the networks, ties and relationships that helps or directly contributes to the art works. However, Moretti's approach is quantitative and he analyzes how the consumers of the art works affect the created works. Those fluctuations of the demand affect the styles, genres and so on. He says that quantitative data helps us to analyze the forces that drives the art works to change. However, if I were to start
This portrays that the ideas of Karl Max have been around for a long time and that even though they are hard to accomplish the whole idea, incorporating aspect of it makes it more credible and more real. It represent that there will always be a separation between social classes and that sometime they can become more noticeable, like with Rosencrantz and Guildenstern, and sometimes that can be seen in a micro aspect, like the King and Hamlet. Marxists building up to create a world where there are no social classes, but it also demonstrates the influence of power and wealth in the world and how situations change depending on the social
The article Artists Mythologies and Media Genius, Madness and Art History (1980) by Griselda Pollock is a forty page essay where Pollock (1980), argues and explains her views on the crucial question, "how art history works" (Pollock, 1980, p.57). She emphasizes that there should be changes to the practice of art history and uses Van Gogh as a major example in her study. Her thesis is to prove that the meaning behind artworks should not be restricted only to the artist who creates it, but also to realize what kind of economical, financial, social situation the artist may have been in to influence the subject that is used. (Pollock, 1980, pg. 57) She explains her views through this thesis and further develops this idea by engaging in scholarly debates with art historians and researcher, and objecting to how they claim there is a general state of how art is read. She structures her paragraphs in ways that allows her to present different kinds of evidences from a variety sources while using a formal yet persuasive tone of voice to get her point across to the reader.
The painting was deemed scandalous and inappropriate by the people of the mid-1800’s. In more ways than one the painting disregarded society’s standards of the time. The painting depicts two women and two men having a picnic together in a nature setting. Upon hearing this description one might envision a peaceful, harmless illustration and thus wonder why it may be hard to imagine this painting as upsetting. The two men in the painting were fully clothed in modern clothing of the time period, while one woman was completely nude and the other was in her undergarments. By juxtaposing the fully clothed men with the naked women, Manet challenged “Academy Standards” of French painters of the time. According to the “Academy Standard” nudity was supposed to be reserved for religious, mythological or classical characters, and the women in Manet’s Luncheon on the Grass were none of the above. In fact, the two women are suspected to be prostitutes, and the men, their customers. In illustrating the men with modern clothing, Manet’s image alluded to the subject of prostitution which was a very real issue at that time. Manet questioned the morality of society and the people by illustrating prostitution in such a real, modern way. This was a tremendous scandal because prostitution was not discussed and especially not illustrated on a large scale canvas, it was pushed under the rug and overlooked by society. The painting was highly criticized and rejected at first, but later became widely renowned. It paved the way for a new, modern artistic development. It shaped and reformed the idea of what was conventional for artists to paint and what was accepted, widening the freedom of creators, allowing them to illustrate real problems they saw in their
Before analysing selected art works in more detail it will be worth introducing a few different definitions and hypothesis of aesthetics in art based on theories of well-known critical thinkers.
...critics eyes as it looks at a piece of work and where the eyes follow. Also that the space and time for the LC system, the function is only a basic framework and the division of visual arts are a medium in fundamental antiquarian. Robert’s defense is Arnaldo Momigliano perspective upon early-modern antiquarian to modern historian which is most historian would write in chorological order while antiquaries write in a systematic way. The other perspective is Historian find facts to discover and explanation in multiple ways and an antiquarian examines a research relations connected to the exact subject (The Map of Art History, 32). Overall Robert’s essay was really persuasive to me and it provide enough strong evidence where it convince me to agree with the idea of having art history and disciplines also societies to represents itself through order and classification.
Critical thinking is a very important aspect to understanding art. As David Perkins put it in “The Intelligent Eye”, we must avoid “experimental thinking”, a rash, quick way of thinking based on observations and use “reflective intelligence”, a way of thinking in which a viewer takes their time and dissects details and nuances to fully understand a work of art. A majority of viewers will look at a piece of art and come to a quick analysis of it, without much thought. But, according to Perkins, “The more attentive the observation is, the better the opportunity is for deeper learning” (Perkins 14). As Banksy said in Exit Through the Gift Shop, “the reaction to the work of art is the most important thing about it.” Without a reaction or an opinion, the work of art has no meaning. Therefore, in order to trul...
Georges Didi-Huberman is critical of the conventional approaches towards the study of art history. Didi-Huberman takes the view that art history is grounded in the primacy of knowledge, particularly in the vein of Kant, or what he calls a ‘spontaneous philosophy’. While art historians claim to be looking at images across the sweep of time, what they actually do might be described as a sort of forensics process, one in which they analyze, decode and deconstruct works of art in attempt to better understand the artist and purpose or expression. This paper will examine Didi-Huberman’s key claims in his book Confronting Images and apply his methodology to a still life painting by Juan Sánchez Cotán.
The French Revolution, indeed, changed the structure of economics and social sphere of the old regime, and also the ideology of that time. In the years that followed the Revolution, the always increasing senses of both freedom and individuality were evident, not only in French society, but also in art. As stated by Dowd, “leaders of the French Revolution consciously employed all forms of art to mobilize public sentiment in favor of the New France and French nationalism.” In between all the artistic areas, the art of painting had a special emphasis. After the Revolution, the French art academies and also schools were now less hierarchical and there was, now, more freedom of engaging into new themes, not being the apprentices so tied up to their masters footsteps, not being so forced to follow them.
Unlike science, art is subjective. The artist leaves behind a part of himself in his work. Therefore, each piece has its own distinct perspective. Frida Kahlo’s self-portraits show her view on her life, on how she has faced so many struggles, yet managed to be a strong person. When we see or hear or read an artistic creation, it produces a mood such as calm or loud, fear or safety. For example, the Eiffel Tower gives Paris a majestic awe; everyone who passes by feels the strength of the 113-year-old grand structure. Art also has a texture. Photographs reveal much through their textures; grainy surfaces often make the picture more realistic while smooth ones seem softer. When we hear a piece of music or see a film, a rhythm carries us from one part to another. Not just true for these two genres, rhythm is present in any artistic work. These few properties are characteristic of everything we encounter in the world of art, the world of human expression. Most have other special features also. Most of the time, though, we do not think about these characteristics because we do not have enough time to pay attention to anything for more than a few seconds.
A leader in the renewed attempt of art as science was Hippolyte Taine, who proposed that styles of art should be studied in the same way as plants are studied by botanists, and are subject to the same evolutionary development. At the same time in Germany, the name Kunstwissenschaft was applied to the historical writings of Semper, Fiedler, Burckhardt, and Riegl. In their writings, they strove for neutrality in comparative analysis i...
...e constraints with using language or sense perceptions as a single way of knowing. As more than one method is used to produce knowledge, inaccuracies or biases would be reduced. Ultimately, our own ‘cultural imprint’ further affects the way we interpret different types of art and how the language used by a historian alters our awareness of a historical event, as it is not possible to ask or investigate knowledge without having a preconceived notion of what you want to find.
Art has had its roots, one may argue, when civilization was born. With each respective civilization and time periods from the past, humans have formed a diverse and unique society, a group of people with their own individual characteristics, cultures, as well as philosophies within which all kinds of differing ideas, thoughts and opinions are always brought upon for challenge and evaluation. These distinct aspects of a culture and/or time period may be recorded by people in varying forms of expression we all know as art. Directly from where culture had originated, events and/or emotions from that time period have been reflected or directly recorded in the arrangement of pictures i.e. paintings from the past which inform us about the people’s experiences and events in the past historical periods. Ultimately, History is the record of the development and how we have evolved as humans together in a society. History can be expressed and reflected in different kinds of music, sculptures, as well as paintings. There are several different periods of Art, each has contributed and reflected to how a society was. Art has been usually used by historians as one of the vehicles of history to illustrate and illuminate it as they are able to recognize that some types of art may be able to help them identify and explain the nature of societies and periods in history. Art and society have counteracted with each different type bringing forth new arts and new societies for many generations to come. Ideas have caused responses by citizens and therefore bring forth several different types of influences on a period’s background, heredity, and environments. These influences are then translated into new a idea, which then triggers the circle to repeat it...
This discontent also had a big influence on artists, and they reacted differently as a result of it. Courbet painted pictures of labourers and everyday scenes, which was revolutionary for his time. Seurat developed his individual...