Unit 1: part-1: Art Appreciation for final Exam

Art

is a visual form of self-expression, aesthetic in nature. It is created for the purpose of causing us to feel, think and respond. Art can provide a window into an artist's mind and inner world. Art is a visual language that has the power to communicate without words. Art is a product of the human spirit, experience, and beliefs that connect all people throughout time.

Creating art

is a two-step process that comes from both imagination and the use of creativity.

Aesthetics

is a branch of philosophy dealing with the nature and principles of beauty and artistic taste.

Aesthetic Objects

are creating to evoke emotional responses inside viewers because they often possess qualities of beauty or the power to make us think and feel.

Masterpiece

a skillfully executed work of art with powerful content that communicates meaningfully with viewers, even over the passage of time.

Imagination

is the ability we have as human beings to envision things within our mind. Imagination is the primary source of art.

Creativity

is the ability to bring a visual artwork into being by using technical skills, tools and techniques.

Artworks that have…. contain images and feelings that are common to all human beings. These artworks deal with emotions and life experiences that most human beings have during their lifetimes.

Universal Themes

Renoir’s… and Jacob Lawrence’s…. are good examples of artworks that have universal themes.

Lady with cat and largest race riot, St. Louis

Division

is an art technique in which an artist uses lines or color to divide the same artwork into more than one part. This technique allows artist to show you more than one image or idea within a single work of art.

The artist….used division in…when he painted the woman blue on top and realistically colored on the bottom. Doing this allowed him to show viewers the difference between the woman's internal reality ( possibly hidden sadness) and the way that she appears outwardly rmal to the other people in her life.

Rene Magritte used division in Black Magic

Color Symbolism

Colors can be used symbolically in art. For example, the color blue might represent calm, sadness,or depression.

Art can transcend barriers of time, place, culture, race and gender. The prehistoric cave painting…. still communicates with viewers today even though it was created thousands of years ago in a very different, primitive culture.

The scene of the Pits

When looking at art from long ago, it's helpful to mentally put yourself back into that specific time period in history. The more you know about the time period , the better you'll understand some of the things that you see represented in the artwork.

Albert Einstein

“Imagination is more important than knowledge.”

Jean-Jacques Rousseau

“the world of reality has limits; the world of imagination is boundless.”

Paul Cezanne

“ If I were called upon to define briefly the World of art, I should call it the reproduction of what the scenes perceive in nature, seen through the veil of the soul.”