Certain artworks in the twentieth century have embraced the quality of being difficult or challenging, be it because of its complexity, newness or challenge to social norms. To each their own, difficult artworks makes the audiences think. They positively influenced the artwork itself and at times the art world as a whole. There are many artworks that are notably for doing such, three examples of artworks with such notability include: Eve for its deceptive simpleness, Fountain for its outrageousness, and Yarla for its incomprehensiveness. Each piece may be completely different, but they all seem to be associated with changing the audience's minds. They all progress art in a positive direction, and they all remove boundaries on what is art. …show more content…
Ironically, Eve brought forth innovation in the art world, it is deceptively simple and because of this apparent simplicity, it is described as a difficult “work to come to terms with” (105). The artwork itself is indeed difficult, this stems from not only its complexity, its newness, but also the way it challenged the social norms of art. Contradictory to most paintings the complexity of Eve is not simply in the artwork itself, but the questions it raises. Questions that “raises significant problems concerning the relationship between work of art and spectator.” (106). Questions of “what kind of experience is an experience of art?”(106). Questions asking whether certain constants defined the experience or is it all relative to the conditions of the individual. Of course in Eve’s case the experience and interpretation is rather enigmatic, Newman himself stated “if he and others could read it properly it would mean the end of all state capitalism and totalitarianism” (139). It is a difficult piece to understand, but once understood it should or hoped by Newman to have “the impact of giving someone, as it did to me, the feeling of his own totality, of his own separateness, and …show more content…
By no means were these works style and concept new they were simply reconsidered. Yarla “was made specifically for the exhibition and existed only for its three-month duration.” (208). It was temporary and existed solely for artistic display, it consisted of complex snake-like lines and circles. It is hard to judge the difficulty of Yarla because it would be evaluating a non-western piece of artwork by western standards like ”James Clifford has noted: ’culture’ and ‘art’ can no longer simply be extended to non-Western people and things. They can at worse be imposed, at best translated.” (225). However it can be acknowledged for being difficult not simply from aesthetic appeal and difficulty of creating but what Yarla itself stood for in regards to aboriginal arts as a whole. Although a deeply flawed comparison Yarla could be compared to abstract art, Kay Larson stated “Aboriginal art at its best is as powerful as any abstract painting” (234). If aboriginal art shares a common feature of abstract painting or most western art in general it is to bring forth emotion and create new ideas or thinking. Yarla itself being a western world’s exhibition makes the audience re-evaluate the concept of art and what art encompases, much like Duchamp’s Fountain art once Yarla
Aboriginal art is widely associated with the primitive and primordial nature of the Australian Indigenous culture. However, as it has become more popular globally, one must consider the authenticity of the Aboriginal art sold on the contemporary market. Eric Michaels essay, ‘Bad Aboriginal Art’ (Michaels, 1988) exposes his concerns with how we define certain art as being genuinely ‘Aboriginal’ and questions what external influences exploit and influence the validity and authenticity of Aboriginal art. The essay summons readers to question what they identify with Australian culture and whether or not White Australians have disordered the meaning of Indigenous art.
Art is trapped in the cage of society, constantly being judged and interpreted regardless of the artist’s intent. There is no escaping it, however, there are ways to manage and manipulate the cage. Two such examples are Kandinsky 's Little Pleasures, and Marcel Duchamp’s Fountain. Both pieces were very controversial and judged for being so different in their time, but they also had very specific ways of handling the criticism and even used it to their advantage. We will be looking at the motivations for each artwork, what made the art so outrageous, and the public’s reaction to the pieces.
Cohen, Ted. “High and Low Art, and High and Low Audiences.” The Journal of Aesthetics and Art Criticism 57.2 (Spring 1999): 137-143. JSTOR. Web. 11 Feb. 2014.
Though the start of artistic expression cannot be pinpointed to a specific date, the growth of art and its complexity cannot be denied. Two complex pieces of art which will be compared and contrasted within this essay are Mary Cassatt’s Portrait of the Artist and Frida Kahlo’s Self Portrait with Monkey. Though Cassatt belonged the Impressionist movement (Streissguth 48) and Kahlo who was labeled as a member of the Surrealist movement, which she later denied (Stremmel, Kerstin, & Grosenick 1940), both paintings have an equal number of similarities as contrasting elements.
Many might have been working on Good Friday, but many others were enjoying The Frist Museum of Visual Arts. A museum visitor visited this exhibit on April 14, 2017 early in the morning. The time that was spent at the art museum was approximately two hours and a half. The first impression that one received was that this place was a place of peace and also a place to expand the viewer’s imagination to understand what artists were expressing to the viewers. The viewer was very interested in all the art that was seen ,but there is so much one can absorb. The lighting in the museum was very low and some of the lighting was by direction LED lights. The artwork was spaciously
Though most works of art have some underlying, deeper meaning attached to them, our first impression of their significance comes through our initial visual interpretation. When we first view a painting or a statue or other piece of art, we notice first the visual details – its size, its medium, its color, and its condition, for example – before we begin to ponder its greater significance. Indeed, these visual clues are just as important as any other interpretation or meaning of a work, for they allow us to understand just what that deeper meaning is. The expression on a statue’s face tells us the emotion and message that the artist is trying to convey. Its color, too, can provide clues: darker or lighter colors can play a role in how we judge a piece of art. The type of lines used in a piece can send different messages. A sculpture, for example, may have been carved with hard, rough lines or it may have been carved with smoother, more flowing lines that portray a kind of gentleness.
The art piece chosen for analyzing in this essay is from Claude Monet, The Windmill on the Onbekende Gracht Amsterdam oil on canvas painting from 1874. Claude Monet was born on November 14 in 1840 in Paris, French, and he death on December 5 in 1926 in Giverny, France. He was a founder of French impressionist painting, and the most consistent and prolific practitioner of the movement 's philosophy of expressing one 's perceptions before nature, especially as applied to plain air landscape painting. According with the information next to the painting in the museum of art in Houston “on one of his visits to Holland, Monet was intrigued by this charming windmill situated on the small “unknown quayside” in Amsterdam. The mill, built in 1656, produced textile dyes and was demolished in 1876.
Imagine pondering into a reconstruction of reality through only the visual sense. Without tasting, smelling, touching, or hearing, it may be hard to find oneself in an alternate universe through a piece of art work, which was the artist’s intended purpose. The eyes serve a much higher purpose than to view an object, the absorptions of electromagnetic waves allows for one to endeavor on a journey and enter a world of no limitation. During the 15th century, specifically the Early Renaissance, Flemish altarpieces swept Europe with their strong attention to details. Works of altarpieces were able to encompass significant details that the audience may typically only pay a cursory glance. The size of altarpieces was its most obvious feat but also its most important. Artists, such as Jan van Eyck, Melchior Broederlam, and Robert Campin, contributed to the vast growth of the Early Renaissance by enhancing visual effects with the use of pious symbols. Jan van Eyck embodied the “rebirth” later labeled as the Renaissance by employing his method of oils at such a level that he was once credited for being the inventor of oil painting. Although van Eyck, Broederlam, and Campin each contributed to the rise of the Early Renaissance, van Eyck’s altarpiece Adoration of the Mystic Lamb epitomized the artworks produced during this time period by vividly incorporating symbols to reconstruct the teachings of Christianity.
Art provokes oneself to express a feeling that one has encountered in their lifetime and allows the artist to display their masterpiece for an observer to connect to. Artist Berthe Morisot once said, “It is important to express oneself… provided the feelings are real and are taken from your own experience”. With the usage of movements, hues, sounds, shapes, or methods articulated in words, an artist can communicate his or her beliefs by making emotional connections to their audience. Art allows individuals to express themselves in creative ways that can bring many individuals closer by having a connection. In Aldous Huxley’s novel, Brave New World, nearly everyone is conditioned in the modern world to show the impact of what art can influence
The exhibition, Same but Different: Not Seen from the Naked eye, investigates the deeper meanings between similar art pieces. Some older masterpieces from Barnett Newman and Mondrian are also present within the enclosed venue. However, the selected pieces from the old Modern Artists are in relevance to the Co...
In Confronting Images, Didi-Huberman considers disadvantages he sees in the academic approach of art history, and offers an alternative method for engaging art. His approach concentrates on that which is ‘visual’ long before coming to conclusive knowledge. Drawing support from the field of psycho analytics (Lacan, Freud, and Kant and Panofsky), Didi-Huberman argues that viewers connect with art through what he might describe as an instance of receptivity, as opposed to a linear, step-by-step analytical process. He underscores the perceptive mode of engaging the imagery of a painting or other work of art, which he argues comes before any rational ‘knowing’, thinking, or discerning. In other words, Didi-Huberman believes one’s mind ‘sees’ well before realizing and processing the object being looked at, let alone before understanding it. Well before the observer can gain any useful insights by scrutinizing and decoding what she sees, she is absorbed by the work of art in an irrational and unpredictable way. What Didi-Huberman is s...
The first painting analyzed was North Country Idyll by Arthur Bowen Davis. The focal point was the white naked woman. The white was used to bring her out and focus on the four actual colored males surrounding her. The woman appears to be blowing a kiss. There is use of stumato along with atmospheric perspective. There is excellent use of color for the setting. It is almost a life like painting. This painting has smooth brush strokes. The sailing ship is the focal point because of the bright blue with extravagant large sails. The painting is a dry textured flat paint. The painting is evenly balanced. When I look at this painting, it reminds me of settlers coming to a new world that is be founded by its beauty. It seems as if they swam from the ship.
There are many definitions of art and styles of art, however, the aim of this paper will focus on the visual arts, primarily on “What is Good Art.” Mediums considered to be visual arts includes, visual arts are original pictorial, graphic, and sculptural works, which include two-dimensional and three-dimensional works of fine, graphic, and applied art. People, for some reason, believe good or bad art, is in the “eyes of the beholder.” People are entitled to their preference, but just like everything in life, there are standards to which to draw from, even when it comes to art. The definition of "good art" is purposely designed to leave an open mind for an artist to be creative, inventive, express different interpretations, and informed viewers.
During the 19th century, a great number of revolutionary changes altered forever the face of art and those that produced it. Compared to earlier artistic periods, the art produced in the 19th century was a mixture of restlessness, obsession with progress and novelty, and a ceaseless questioning, testing and challenging of all authority. Old certainties about art gave way to new ones and all traditional values, systems and institutions were subjected to relentless critical analysis. At the same time, discovery and invention proceeded at an astonishing rate and made the once-impossible both possible and actual. But most importantly, old ideas rapidly became obsolete which created an entirely new artistic world highlighted by such extraordinary talents as Vincent Van Gogh, Eugene Delacroix, Paul Gauguin, Paul Cezanne, Toulouse-Lautrec, and Claude Monet. American painting and sculpture came around the age of 19th century. Art originated in Paris and other different European cities. However, it became more popular in United States around 19th century.
“In a decaying society, art, if it is truthful, must also reflect decay. Moreover, unless it wants to break faith with its social function, art must show the world as changeable. And help to change it.” This quote by Ernst Fischer, a German composer, means that truth in art exposes the parts of society, and of life, that no one wants to see. In order for art to change society, it must first reflect the fears and failures of its people. The artist can change how people think of themselves and the world by using less conventional methods of creating art. The artist, in doing this, introduces new ideas of human placement in time and space, new frontiers of thought, that are furthered by the disciplines of science and philosophy. The artist works to introduces unique- and sometimes offensive- ideas so that society will be exposed to new ways of thinking and understanding the world. The artist does this through experimentation with color, style, and form. Therefore, the purpose of the artist should be to challenge how individuals perceive themselves and the offensive aspects of society reflected in art to bring about innovations in the greater society.