the core issues of art so as we are beginning this course on art appreciation it's a pretty important question to ask ourselves what is art some of us might be have been looking at art and taking some art classes for years and feel like we've got a handle on this subject but a lot of us really haven't had very much exposure in our high schools or in our general culture and when we go to museums and we see the range of works from paintings to abstract paintings to huge hyperrealistic sculptures like this one or large scale installations like this one it's such a range of work that it can be hard to decide well what is art if all of these things are a part of it so I'm going to show you some images and we're going to play a little bit of a game called is it art why or why not in each of the following slides you'll be shown a pair of images and asked to consider which are works of art for each pair you may decide that both images neither or just one of the images are what you would call Art very importantly consider why you think as you do jot down all of your thoughts on a separate sheet of paper and these will help you later in writing your response to this lecture our first pair on the left is an image of a life-size marble sculpture and on the right is a small reproduction of the same sculpture are either of these art why or why not jot down your thoughts be as specific as possible and press pause here if you need a few more moments our second pair on the left is an oil painting and on the right is a postcard of the same painting on which someone has drawn a mustache and the letters l h o o q at the bottom are either of these art why or why not our third pair on the left is a photograph of an arrangement of red leaves and on the right is a picture of a leaf I found in my yard are either of these arts or both of them or neither of them why or why not and lastly on the left is an ancient vase on the right is a mug with a printed logo are either of these art why or why not again press pause if you need more time okay let's talk through these so in our first pair our first image was the life-size marble sculpture and I would guess that most of you had said yes this is in fact an artwork so what were your reasons um it might have been that you thought the skill and Tech technique was impressive and certainly it is that you could take something like a hard Stone like marble and make it into this very a realistic human figure on a life-size scale where we can see the fur in his brow and the way he's biting his lip and the the layers and pieces of his hair and the sense of motion in his overall body the skill and technique is very impressive um some of you might have also mentioned that the material felt like a true art material because marble is very traditional to Art we also might have been very impressed by the originality of this piece in comparison with the reproduction um some of you might have said yes that the souvenir was also an artwork um often times people will note that um it seems you know that not everyone can own the original piece both because of its price and its uh large size but that it's a beautiful thing if everybody can have a replica of an artwork and so we want to say yes that that it is um and those are great motives but really within the Fine Art world we would say that this is an art replica or an art reproduction rather than saying it's an artwork in and of itself right so we tend to Value originality of form meaning the the original way it looks and also originality of content meaning the original significance or meaning of the piece are things that we tend to value with our second pair again I would think that most of you probably said yes when you saw this image of an oil painting and most of you even recognize that it was the Mona Lisa by Da Vinci uh you might have said again that skill and technique factored into your decision that it was an artwork you might have thought also again that materials were important that it was an oil painting um and that feels like a a serious or traditional material and some of us might have also said that the authority the art World played in uh the idea that whether you like this painting or not you have seen it your whole life you've you've seen it in reproduction in magazines you've seen it on The Simpsons and South Park uh it has been reproduced and played into so many different facets of our wider media that it would be pretty tough to say no and and disqualified it as as an artwork so most of us said yes to this one now what about its pair a postcard of the Mona Lisa from the early 1900s on which a man named Marcel Duchamp scribbled a goatee and mustache and the letters l h o q now many of you might have wanted to say no at first this couldn't be an artwork because it is unskilled and that is definitely true that anyone could take a a postcard and scribble a mustache and goatee and letters on it so we are definitely not impressed with the skill and technique or the the originality of form in this case it's not original but damp was an artist and uh he did have artistic intentions and original content when he was making this piece he was really trying to be playful but had an important message to deliver so if we look a little closer he's taken an artwork that is hailed by by all of Western tradition since the Renaissance has thought of the monalisa as this very important artwork so he's taken this uh almost we could say almost sacred artwork in that sense and defiled it so it's a pretty bold thing to do really he's put the the goatee and the mustache on but he's also WR written the letters l h o q at the bottom now if we try to pronounce that phonetically in English it almost sounds like look right like he's telling us to look and apparently if you pronounce it letter by letter in French it makes out a sentence that basically means she's got a hot butt right um it's a very cheeky phrase to write at the bottom of this sacred image but if we start to push a little further we might actually get some content um out of it that we can can understand and can respect so we might even ask questions like this so he has defiled this image in a way but the postcard itself was so poor anyway right I mean if we look at the original the postcard is such a bad reproduction isn't that also uh kind of tearing down the the respect for the original or we can look at how the Mona Lisa is often reproduced in our culture on light switch Place plates like on the left or t-shirts on the right or napkins or bed spreads and umbrellas and is that really how we treat something that we actually have a high respect for I think Du wants to point out that this image that we say we respect it it at the time of his work is already 400 years old and it's been been um kept in such high regards but life is so different now than it was in the Renaissance and maybe art needs to move on too so I think he's sort of trying to challenge the the Renaissance tradition and say that we need to move on into a new Direction um and if that doesn't convince you we can also say that again the authority of the art world has something to say about it this is a piece that many Galleries and museums have displayed uh many art books have have also displayed and and mark it as a turning point an important turning point for the rest of the 20th century art world that kind of took a cue from this idea our third pair was this one of the red leaves and the leaf I brought in from my yard um and this one by Andy goldsworthy we would say is in fact an artwork now again the skill and technique may not impress us a lot at first perhaps we feel like we can arrange leaves like this um but it is also made by an artist so it has an artistic intent that is that he wasn't just bored on a picnic day and you know arranged leaves for for uh passing the time but that he actually created it to be seen and to be contemplated and in a sense it has two uh two fold of artwork it is the actual sculpture that he created with the the leaves but then also the photograph is also an artwork in and of itself goldsworthy has made a lot of work out in the wilderness out in nature um these are two more works the one on the left in Arrangement Again by color or value um of the stones and on the right one that perhaps might impress us more in terms of skill and technique as well this arrangement of sticks is actually arranged in a lake so that the upper half of the image is what is pouring or standing above the water and the lower half of this circle is actually the reflection on the water do you see that you can tell a bit at the bottom that it's actually the reflection so a pretty kind of Sly interesting move there with connecting the the top physical part and the lower reflected part it's also worth noting that Golds Worley uses only natural materials so in banding these sticks together he's actually using pieces of grass um strips of bark or even waving the branches sort of whittling them together and making them stay against one another lastly or sorry the second part of that pair we have this Leaf from my garden and most of you probably said no it's not an artwork uh I am an artist but I wasn't really intending it as an artwork I was just observing life around me a few of you might have said yes um and often times people will say that nature is God's artwork um and and certainly when we look around us many of us feel the presence of God in the world around us in even the designs of leaves like this one for the purposes of our class and and usually with discussing Fine Arts we're talking about works that are actually man-made so it is definitely a beautiful metaphor to think about uh all the creation as the artwork of God but when're we're talking about artwork in the academic setting we're really looking at things that are man-made human-made okay our last pair we have an ancient Greece Grecian vase this one here and also this mug from the NPR program card talk now most of you were probably uh inclined to say that this one was an artwork many of you might have said um well it's very ancient we know we've seen things like this in art museums uh we're impressed by the hand painting in the on the vase of these figures Ajax and achilles playing chess and so we want to say yes that must be an artwork we also assume that because it's before industrialization that it was handmade and so we're we're usually are impressed by that the mug we were likely to say no probably wasn't an artwork because it was mass produced Factory produced mostly made for kind of commercial purpose um sort of to propagate the reputation of Car Talk well there's some interesting things to to note here so as we're making our list of core issues we do tend to prefer things to be handmade over factory made or at least individually made even if Machinery is involved over things that are mass-produced that does tend to be an issue that we come back to again and again but it might be interesting also to note that with the ancient Grecian um artistic system this wasn't just The Inspired work of a single artist um it was actually most of these vases which were very popular and very common were made by a whole Workshop of artists so one artist might uh one Craftsman might make the body of the vase and he'd pass that on somebody else would add the handles and pass that on someone else would add the foot of the vessel and pass it on and then lastly um exekias would take the vase in this case and actually he was known for painting these these particular kinds of scenes um there's only a handful of of Grecian Craftsman that we know by name and exekias tends is happens to be one of them um so that for some of us will shift our idea if we know that it's not an inspired work by by just one artist but it was actually a conglomerate of different crafts people putting it together and that even though it wasn't Factory produced in a sense it was mass-produced right they made hundreds of these one other thing that can perplex our conversation about these objects is also the the idea of utility so most often when you go to an art museum you're looking at things that are made for contemplation and not for uh using not for putting your hands on pouring your coffee in this uh Car Talk mug is obviously used for coffee or tea um The Grecian vase is actually also a utilitarian vessel they actually would have stored depending on the size they had spefic specific sizes and shapes that they would use for grains for wine for funerary um uh nns and so they were actually utilitarian vessels now the big difference between these two or another big difference between these two is the age so because the Grecian urns are or vases are so old we really value them and want to protect them and so we do move them into our Fine Art Museums even though a similar artwork made today might have a quite a harder chance of getting into those museums the big factor here is that factor of utility that most of the time today things that are of utilitarian value are not considered works of Fine Art we think of Fine Art as being things made for contemplation so we're going to see over the course of our discussions that the idea of art has changed greatly so the idea changes greatly from one era or culture to another um but these same issues seem to come up again and again these are the issues that we've come up with so skill and technique is a factor expression and content originality of form and form means uh the physical appearance of an artwork so get get familiar with that idea form means the physical appearance of a of a artwork originality of content or concept what it means to us materials so depending on the culture there are materials like marble and oil paints that seem very traditional materials uh mass production in general today we tend to like things that are oneof a kind but we'll see that that often changes in society that we'll see some societies that use mass production and and it's not a problem at all for their artworks we do value the intent of the artist both just the bare idea that they've made it as an artwork and also we do tend to like the to know the particular idea the authority of the art world has this artwork been um approved by gallerists and curators and Fine Art Museums and put into art books have the art auction said yes this is a valuable piece of art that should matter a little bit to us just like in any discipline if you get into the higher world of math or the higher World Of The Sciences we would listen to those scientists and those mathematicians we should care somewhat about what the art world says about its discipline and then lastly uh the utilitarian function um at in today's world we tend to think of Fine Arts as something for contemplation then there are the decorative arts or applied Arts which are things that are both functional and also beautiful we might lump in graphic design into that which is you know used for um uh marketing and and advertising and yet is beautifully designed or interestingly designed like your CD covers your posters Etc and then functional objects that are really not particularly um aesthetically pleasing but are functional think about a lot of your tools perhaps get very familiar with this list of the core issues of art we're going to come back to these throughout our discussions um just as sort of touchstones to see that even as the definition of art changes these issues are going to be the ones that recur time and again so get very familiar with this list especially pause here for a moment and and jot down some ideas which two or three of these issues do you value the most do you value skill the most do you value the original content something new is being said do you really like applied Arts do you really like something that is functional take a moment to jot these down um to test out this idea imagine what types of artworks are most likely to make you stop and take notice what qualities would you consider uh would make you consider buying a work of art or what characteristics are likely to inspire you to look again and again at the same artwork as we trace the changes in the idea of art through various eras and cultures we can ask which of these core issues did they prioritize I'm going to note just three significant landmarks in the changing idea of Art and we'll get to discuss these more further on in the course but for today just three significant landmarks the first one is before the Renaissance so we're looking at Western tradition in the ancient world to the pre-renaissance so before about 1500 the art World tended to prioritize in this way so they really valued skill and technique and it was very narrowly defined we'll look at an example in a moment the artist's intent was almost insignificant in fact we know very few artist names from the uh pre-renaissance and the ancient eras it really was not about a specific artist or their personal expression it was really about them expressing the culture so you know for the Egyptians what uh you know what were they saying about the Egyptian gods about the Egyptian pharaohs it wasn't about how did that artist feel on that particular day right so it's expression but it's a cultural expression the arts and crafts were integrated in most cultures before the Renaissance so whether it was a painting a sculpture or let's say an embroidered robe for a priest or a king those things were seen as equal artworks they weren't separated from Fine Arts and Crafts also in terms of mass production the workshop was the common model that most artists did not work alone but they had a whole Workshop of craft people um and they would each do a part of the work there might be a master Craftsman who directed the work but they all had equal uh uh largely equal standing in the workshop and here's two examples from the Egyptian culture where large groups of artists were working together and the stylization stayed the same for about 3,000 years so it wasn't about each artist interpreting the world in a unique way but you wanted to the the Pharaoh uh statues of the Pharaoh needed to be a certain height certain proportion certain stance was was common and the same in this example on the right from the pre-renaissance um in the Medieval Era there is a standardization of what images of the Madonna and the Christ child should look like what the Halos should look like the colors that the different Saints should wear and so each artist would conform to these standards so cultural expression not personal and this was the definition of skill within each culture in the Renaissance and after we see a shift originality of form and concept gain significance so we want to see something new and we want to be told something new um along with the artist's intent and personal expression so suddenly when we get to the Renaissance we can begin to name Michelangelo leard Da Vinci Rafael Donatello all kinds of different artists come to mind as indiv idual with individual style because suddenly we care about originality of form and concept the artist's intent and their personal expression along with the cultural expression so most artists in the Renaissance are still doing Christian artworks because that's the dominant world view but they will put their personal spin on it um additionally we start to see artists not just as everyday workers but we start to see them as Geniuses as divinely inspired inspired there's also begins to be this this uh persona for the artist is sort of Moody and Melancholy but as a member of high society previously they were just uh crafts uh Crafts People sort of blue collar workers and at this point some artists become elevated members of society it's also at the Renaissance that we see the separation of the Fine Arts from utilitarian objects which become known as crafts so that's right around 1500 we're going to mark for this big change here's one example Michelangelo's very famous P an image of the Virgin Mary with the dead Christ across her lap a very solemn image what's interesting here is Michelangelo is not the first to do a pi many people had had it before and after would do this image of Mary with the dead Christ however he did it in a very unique way a very original way he made the Mary U much younger than previously had been uh to iCal and so she had u a different sort of uh relatability to the people um he also did it much more naturalistically or realistically than a lot of previous artists had and so there's also that um where you can see the veins and Christ's hands or the way the fabric across her legs folds um and so it's very moving piece and all the way up to uh the 20th century art that tends to very much value original of form and concept where each artist feels like they really need to have their own signature style um if you're familiar with art you would look at this piece and right away you would know that Roberto Mata had to have done it because it's his signature style so in Egypt no one had a signature style um everyone was a part of the same stylization but nowadays it's it's um important for every artist to do something new to try to do something new and our our last Landmark here is 20th century and today what is going on in art is that originality of form and content are the most highly valued so we want to see something new we want to be told a new message but we still want to tie to tradition so we want there to be some connection to past artists um some sense of the lineage of art but we like new things right materials and technique um basically any anything goes as long as it adds to the meaning of the work so you will see things that are highly skilled highly um um polished and refined and beautiful um impressive in their skill and technique and maybe using traditional materials but you can also find works that are made of toothpaste let's say or things that are like the arrangement of leaves that might not seem that difficult but as long as what the material and the skill does it it needs to add to the meaning of the work um in in the modern era and in terms of mass production um in the Renaissance we saw people wanting to make things by hand and and uniquely so Michelangelo did his own work um but today we actually see some people bringing back the workshop um people like U muracami or Jeff Coons actually have hundreds of people working for them helping them to make their work because they have so many ideas and so many commissions um that they come up with the idea but they let other people actually do a lot of the physical work and yet the the finished product is actually sold and displayed under the artist name since they came up with the concept and approved all of the the making of the pieces it's a lot more like an architect who designs the building but doesn't actually construct it um one example is of material choices might be this one by Janine Anthony where she sculpted um bus that's a head and and shoulder portrait of herself on the left out of chocolate and on the right out of soap and after they were cast and then um formed she actually interacted with each she would uh nibble and lick on the chocolate and actually wash herself with the soap and she was interested in this idea of of identity how we picture and understand ourselves um how we interact with ourselves how we try to maybe in some cases we need to sort of baby ourselves and protect ourselves nourish ourselves and cleanse ourselves but ways that those same practices can also change us and mold us this was part of a larger exhibit where she had a whole series of these Buss that were exhibited in Venice so while these are non-traditional materials the fact that it is chocolate or that it is soap adds to the meaning of the piece if she had just made them out of marble or bronze they would be as interesting and dynamic of pieces right so the material and the skill and technique needs to feed into the meaning of the piece um with the 20th century and today it's it's interesting to notice that there's a huge increase in the number of distinct art movements previously an art movement might last for hundred years or more and yet now just in the last hundred year hundred of years we've probably had more than 20 different distinct art movements um um with these changing priorities in the Fine Arts we can also see that those relate to other aspects of culture so if you think about uh how many new movements in art there have been think about how we love novelty as a culture I mean you have probably had um let's see how many cell phones have you owned in the last 5 years maybe two three four some of you have had one almost every year or how many cars your family has owned in your lifetime um things like that we tend to be a culture that really likes new things we always want the latest and the best and that carries over into art as well that we're always trying to come up with some new idea in the Arts but I think it's really important to remember that art is always connected to culture even if the art seems to be something strange or something weird that you're unfamiliar with ask yourself how does this relate to the culture um around us or around the artist all right how do we approach understanding artworks especially if they don't especially if they don't match our personal tastes that can be tricky and we want to be able to approach artworks regardless of whether we like them immediately or not so we're going to tackle this question in our lecture on approaches to art for today your online journal and response to this lecture I want you to answer these questions um use your notes to help you did any of the works of art surprise you or challenge you uh in your concept of Art why and how were there any issues you came up with which weren't on our list of core issues if so what what are the two or three core issues that you value most in the Fine Arts give me some examples so if you value skill and technique tell me an artwork that you really value for that reason and lastly which two or three do you value least um or you could say which types of art do you feel uh by which you are confused or turned off um besid just I'm interested in getting to know kind of where you stand at this point what things draw you in and what things repel you in the art that you know of so far