Prebles' Artforms, 12th Edition - Chapter 2

Art in its social and cultural context has how many functions?

Six functions

Art for Delight

•Appreciation of beauty or decoration

•Delight in an element of surprise

•Aesthetics - An awareness of beauty or a quality that evokes a sense of elevated awareness in the viewer

•Definitions of "beauty" - Classical Greek or Renaissance art in the West

Definitions of "beauty"

•Varies across cultures

Art as Commentary

•Answer to a need for information

•A visual account of an event, person, or opinion

•Communication between artist and viewer through subject matter

•Artist's commentaries often include personal judgments:

-Conditions

-Facts

-Politics

Impressionist artists

Captured what they had seen

Art in Worship and Ritual

•Enhances religious contemplation

•In the time of Thomas Aquinas

-Attractive representations raise viewers "to the knowledge of intelligible truths"

Art for Commemoration

•An aid to memory

•Often a public celebration

-Of a person or event

-Honoring patriotic actions

•Connection with chain of humanity

-Human life significant and valuable

Art for Commemoration

Taj Mahal.

1632-1648.

Agra, India.

Photograph: Peter Adams/Corbis. [Fig. 2-13

Art for Commemoration

Taj Mahal. 1632-1648.

Agra, India.

•Personal commemoration of Shah Jahan's favorite wife, who died in childbirth

•Testament to romantic love and devotion

Art for Commemoration

Vietnam Veterans Memorial. 1980-1982.

Black granite. Each wall 10' 1" × 246' 9".

The Mall, Washington D.C. Photograph: Duane Preble.[Fig. 2-15]

Art for Commemoration

Maya Lin.

Vietnam Veterans Memorial. 1980-1982.

Black granite. Each wall 10' 1" × 246' 9".

•Simple chronological list of almost 60,000 Americans who died or are missing from the Vietnam War

•Initial resistance to uniqueness of work

•Solemn black granite walls

•Personal attention in recording every lost soldier's name

Art for Persuasion

Inviting and urging viewer to do or think things that would not otherwise be done

Art for Persuasion - Recent times

Art for Persuasion

•Advertisement media persuade us to buy or believe something.

•Artists criticize or influence values and public opinion.

Art as Self-Expression

Not the primary reason for creating art for most of human history

•Other social and cultural needs engaging artists' talents until recently

Artist conveys information about:

•Personality

•Feelings

•Worldview

Separate from social cause/demand

Assemblage -

Collection of objects gathered into work

Art as Self-Expression

Composition VI. 1913.

Oil on canvas. 76-3/4" × 118".

The State Hermitage Museum, St. Petersburg, Russia/The Bridgeman Art Library © 2013 Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York/ADAGP, Paris. [Fig. 2-24]

Art as Self-Expression

Wassily Kandinsky.

Composition VI. 1913.

Oil on canvas. 76-3/4" × 118".

•"Inner necessity," or emotional stirrings of the soul

•Attempted to translate inner spiritual energies into color and form

•Wanted work to communicate like music

•Conveyed restless and aroused inner state probably known to viewers

Art for Daily use

Eva Zeisel Sauce Boat with laddle

not practical, based on everyday product

frank lloyd wright barnsdall house

practical, house that had lots of repeated hollyhock flowers

art for daily use

titian bacchus and ariadne

about god and his mind,

recounting mythological story

art for storytelling

abraham cruzvillegas atifoeonstruceibn suites

lots of disorder, materials from beighbor

art of storyteling

about family home

carrie mae weems the kitchen table series

reveals how life looks to us with one light source

traditional roles of women being in kitchen, bedroom while men have power

storytelling

william hogarth gin lane

commentary on effects of gin addiction creating hunger and drunk people

speaking a language through art to make it easy to understand

storytelling

frida kahlo the broken column

had a sever accident where she has constant pain

self portrait that describes all her pain

art for public and personal expression

sainte chapelle paris

relic: the crown of thrones

has a purpose for religion

storytelling in the architecture

supposed to look like one big jewel box

art for the spirit

plaque showing the oba holding leopards - benin

oba/king as a strong men holding mudship to show kin w/ water and leopards to show ruler of nature

used these to decorate their palaces - show pride

art for politics

carol highsmith us supreme court

architecture inspired by ancient rome

massive symetrical shows balance, power, stable, shows that the us has the authority to house a government

art for politics

rodney mcmillian unititled supreme court

protesting that the us not living up to their promosis, based on court decisions of voting rights and distrcting