What is Art .... ? .... What is an Artist ?
|
INTRODUCTION
ART has not always been what we think it is today. An object regarded as Art today may not have been perceived as such when it was first made, nor was the person who made it necessarily regarded as an artist. Both the notion of "art" and the idea of the "artist" are relatively modern terms.
Many of the objects we identify as art today -- Greek painted pottery, medieval manuscript illuminations, and so on -- were made in times and places when people had no concept of "art" as we understand the term. These objects may have been appreciated in various ways and often admired, but not as "art" in the current sense.
ART lacks a satisfactory definition. It is easier to describe it as the way something is done -- "the use of skill and imagination in the creation of aesthetic objects, environments, or experiences that can be shared with others" (Britannica Online) -- rather than what it is.
The idea of an object being a "work of art" emerges, together with the concept of the Artist, in the 15th and 16th centuries in Italy.
During the Renaissance, the word Art emerges as a collective term encompassing Painting, Sculpture, and Architecture, a grouping given currency by the Italian artist and biographer Giorgio Vasari in the 16th century. Subsequently, this grouping was expanded to include Music and Poetry which became known in the 18th century as the 'Fine Arts'. These five Arts have formed an irreducible nucleus from which have been generally excluded the 'decorative arts' and 'crafts', such as as pottery, weaving, metalworking, and furniture making, all of which have utility as an end.
But how did Art become distinguished from the decorative arts and crafts? How and why is an artist different from a craftsperson?
In the Ancient World and Middle Ages the word we would translate as 'art' today was applied to any activity governed by rules. Painting and sculpture were included among a number of human activities, such as shoemaking and weaving, which today we would call crafts.
During the Renaissance, there emerged a more exalted perception of art, and a concomitant rise in the social status of the artist. The painter and the sculptor were now seen to be subject to inspiration and their activities equated with those of the poet and the musician.
In the latter half of the 16th century the first academies of art were founded, first in Italy, then in France, and later elsewhere. Academies took on the task of educating the artist through a course of instruction that included such subjects as geometry and anatomy. Out of the academies emerged the term "Fine Arts" which held to a very narrow definition of what constituted art.
The institutionalizing of art in the academies eventually provoked a reaction to its strictures and definitions in the 19th century at which time new claims were made about the nature of painting and sculpture. By the middle of the century, "modernist" approaches were introduced which adopted new subject matter and new painterly values. In large measure, the modern artists rejected, or contradicted, the standards and principles of the academies and the Renaissance tradition. By the end of the 19th century and the beginning of the 20th, artists began to formulate the notion of truth to one's materials, recognizing that paint is pigment and the canvas a two-dimensional surface. At this time the call also went up for "Art for Art's Sake."
In the early 20th century all traditional notions of the identity of the artist and of art were thrown into disarray by Marcel Duchamp and his Dada associates. In ironic mockery of the Renaissance tradition which had placed the artist in an exalted authoritative position, Duchamp, as an artist, declared that anything the artist produces is art. For the duration of the 20th century, this position has complicated and undermined how art is perceived but at the same time it has fostered a broader, more inclusive assessment of art.
Taken from:
http://www.arthistory.sbc.edu/artartists/artartists.html, on February 15, 2011.
Please, comment more than seven lines full of ideas and reactions...not merely words.
well firstof all I think this document or information is very important for us because I supose that anybody know how art was and how the word "art" as we know it was known in the past I think that this text is very iteressting because I doesnt know anithing about art so I think this is a very good way of star knowing art by lerning how art was before I was born and how was art supose to be known, but unfortunatly now art as the text says "Duchamp, as an artist, declared that anything the artist produces is art." I think it is a very bad think because any person could draw something and say he is an artist and that work he made ivendo is prety bad or horrible his painting or whatever he made well be art nowadays and that ruins copletley the thaught of art that was in the past and the real art that we could know like the "mona lisa" or something like that, thats why know there are many suposed artist because they do something and they think is art and that I think is not real art. I think this is my opinion about the text.
ResponderEliminari think this infomation about the art for many people is important and how it borns and what is the meaning of art, but sincerely y don`t care about art even though is the like the most important thing of culture.
ResponderEliminarI dont hate artist neither the art in general, but for me it is really boring to read things that im not interested. I undestand that many people loves art and study all that things that has something to do with the art, and I really respect that, but an important point here is that the only art that i love and i admire is the art of bullfigthing and that is why i respect all the other arts.
And the last thing, very inside of mi there is a certain interest for the visual arts.
Even when art is not important or interesting for many people I think most of the people had been in touch with some kind of art in their life. We all have different concepts of what "art" means but I believe that art is the way in which the artists express what they can't say with words, it's just so amazing that people since long time ago could have the chance to paint or make sculptures that could say so much nowadays even if that wasn't their purpose. The history of art is interesting because it let us observe how art had been evolving from past to what it is today. I consider that we all can make art, that anything can be art in the eyes of the people that only depends in the perception and the experience we all have from all the things that surround us.
ResponderEliminarI like different kinds of art like music, movies, painting and sculptures, and I think that even though it may take you a while to discover what the artist wanted to express in those works of art. When people finds out the meaning of all the elements that the artist used to develop their work, you can understand from their point of view but that doesn't mean that what was art for them is going to look like art for everybody.
So people perceive art in different ways according to their experiences, emotions and the environment.
I really agree with this paragraph: “An object regarded as Art today may not have been perceived as such when it was first made, nor was the person who made it necessarily regarded as an artist.” Just imagine for example, Van Gogh he was a poor man, and he made his paintings to pay his bills, but anyone, appreciate his art, just because their paintings were “weird” that’s how the people at that time thought about their paintings. Obviously they weren’t weird he just used another pictorial trend. The people at that time thought that he was crazy, because his technique was different than the others, and then just realized that nowadays he is one of the most important artists around the world.
ResponderEliminarSo in conclusion I think that the definition of ART, is different for everyone, maybe some people when someone asks them about art, they thought in the “Mona Lisa” someone else maybe thought in the graffiti, and I think that, that’s art the way see you world, the way you express your feelings, and everyone can do it in his own way, but we to need remember that art have special characteristics.
I think that in everything is important to know the beginning of the things, the origin of were it came from and Art is not an exception. I find really interesting the Arts and I think that each one has something special to show to the people and the ones I really like is music, painting and poetry because I feel its the best way for you to express your feelings because is very important the way the artist make you feel what she or he makes.
ResponderEliminarBut as always not everyone likes the same things that others like so thats another thing that I like of Art you will have a lot of variety. =)
This information is importand because thanks to this we can understant what is art and its origin. Its impresive how art can set a social status, and teach so much of histry, we can earn a lot from it. I think all is art, not JUST that artist do art if not all, a drawing of a kid is art, off course not so special as others, but it depens of who sees it and their perspection. Trere are a lot of arts and all are special in a certain way.
ResponderEliminarThis information is importand because thanks to this we can understant what is art and its origin. Its impresive how art can set a social status, and teach so much of histry, we can learn* a lot from it. I think all is art, not JUST that artist do art if not all, a drawing of a kid is art, off course not so special as others, but it depends* of who sees it and their perspection. There* are a lot of arts and all are special in a certain way.
ResponderEliminarPerdooon que sea de los unicos por lo visto, que lo escriba en español profe pero me es muy dificil expresar sentimientos de este estilo en ingles.
ResponderEliminarBueno para empezar me pareció muy interesante este texto pero lo que mas me llamo la atención es en primera que es muy cierto que nadie interpreta el arte igual eso se me hizo muy interesante osea para los griegos, egipcios, el renacimiento o hoy en día el arte ha sido interpretado siempre de manera distinta nunca se ha tenido la misma opinión de lo que es arte y creo que tiene mucho que ver no solo por las fechas, sino por lo que se vivía en esos tiempos, lo que creían, lo que amaban.
En segunda hay algo en lo que estoy pero a la ves no de acuerdo, que cual quier cosa que un artista haga es arte, pero es algo confuso no cree?? porque mire si dice que cualquier cosa que haga un artista es arte pero?? si el artista le pinta una carita con un plumón a una esponja es arte?? y reitero dice que cual quier cosa q haga un ARTISTA es arte pero si yo (un no artistas) dibuja una molanisa no seria arte??
Creo que la frase mas bien es referida a la intención o la interpretación que le da el artista a eso que el pensó pero sin embargo este tema es muy contradictorio.
Y por ultimo siempre he tenido un problema con el arte de pintar, en primera por que soy mal jajaja y 2 porque recuerdo que una ves vi un episodio de kenan y kel una serie medio viejita muy buena en la que en un episodio resulta que Kel sabe dibujar super bien y Kenan le hace pintar muchisimos cuadros para venderlos en una subasta y en la subasta mucha gente va y empieza a querer comprarlos pero cuando descubren que los cuadros no eran de un supuesto artista tambien llamado kel sino de este Kel x estos subastadores se van y ya no quieren comprarlos, lo que me recordo que por ejemplo la gente le gusta mucho o compra el arte en base a la fama de otros por que aunque yo hiciera una molanisa si nadie se viera interesado en hacerme famoso a la gente no le importaría y no querría pagar nada.
Well I think that the people have a alot of judgement´s and that is why in the past we couldn´t understand the real meaning of art , and art is almost everything(It could be interpretated in many way´s) , and I love art , its really interesting how you can transmit a felling , thought ,expirence etc.. with art to another people .=)
ResponderEliminarPara empezar voy a hacer mi comentario en español porque es mas rapido y me puedo expresar mas facilmente.
ResponderEliminarBueno a mi se me hizo muy interesante el texto esta en todas partes y puede ser interpretado de porque nadie ve el arte de la misma manera todos tienen sus diferentes puntos de vista y porque piensan y se expresan diferente.
A mi en lo personal no me gusta mucho el arte pero por el texto me doy cuenta q el artemuchisisimas maneras distintas.
Bueno eso es lo que creo
This information i think is very important, well at least for me because, I never had asked myself what art really means. for me art had always bee someting that the author want to tell or sometimes he or she wants to express there feelings to other people. I also agree with the information in the partt it say that poetry and musical authors are inspired actually in some other arts like esculture and some others thats why i think that all the beutiful arts are related. i dont even know the diference between artist and craftsperson and with this reading i learn that a artist always is regulated by norms. For me this text like me this and i found it very interesting because besides that I they informe of the origin of the art, I also learned new things and also confirm some of my ideas I had about art
ResponderEliminarLuis Angel Reyes Gonzalez
ResponderEliminarFor me this text is important because that's what the subject is going to be about, it is important to know the art history, to see how art was interpreted in the ancient times and how this concept has been changing until now. However i didn't catch well the idea of who we should call an artist, because from what i understand from the lecture is that now any person is able to do art with anything, for me art would be only the five main arts.
Well, I think this information is very important and interesting too, because the art is in all the world, so it is general culture. I am totally agree with the information that says "Art today may not have been perceived as such when it was first made, nor was the person who made it necessarily regarded as an artist", because know we don´t care about it, or we do not give the same importance to art. I also think that everyone of us use the art, because we love music, and music is part of art. The seven arts are beautiful, they are different, but I think all of them are very interesting and wonderful. Not everyone have the talent to do art, so I think we must respect it too.I did not know of most of the things that this text mentions, so I learn something today.
ResponderEliminarI think this is important to know because that way we can realize that the beauty and the hardworking of creating art,and be called an art, had passed a hard way to be recognized among the world and we should thank it for make people think and get the world in a different way. Maybe for good or maybe for bad but art will be always be with us helping to understand the world.
ResponderEliminarthis is important because they are explaining us the origin of the art. it is important because it would be easier to understand the art an movement class with this information. i foun interisting that they talk about art, as they talk about rock music. here they say that the good artists were the ones of the past. they also say that the good rock bands were the ones who started the movement. they say this, because supposedly they could understand the real meaning of what they were doing.
ResponderEliminarArt has been present since the beginning of the human race. And this is one of the most important sources we have to know how the past was, because before nobody wrote about the life they lived, they painted or represented artistictly everything they went through. I never thought of art in the ancient ages, or how it started. I also never thought of when the artist were actually recognized as artists, and art was recognized as art. I really found this information very interesting, and i totally learned something new. Xochitl Salazar Mendoza
ResponderEliminarI didn’t know that the art as we know it today didn’t exist a long time ago. It’s important to know this because if we learn about the past of anything it’s easy to understand why the things are like that. It’s beautiful that the world consider the things of the past as art. I think that you really need to have a very huge imagination and a lot of ideas to make and, what is more important, to understand art. To understand it you need to have an open mind and be prepare to watch everything in very different ways at the same time. I also think that art is like science because as the time passes more things about art are known and because of the technology more things like films are consider as art.
ResponderEliminardiego hazel santiago m
ResponderEliminari think that art is important because is a way to demostrate wat happens and also is very important to understand and know how does art is made and from were didi it came from and how was it formed. i really dont understand art and know in these moment of my life i dont like it that much but maibe if i learn how to make or understand some art i will start to like all these things.
i also like the tex because i dint know anything about art and i kind of fined interesting to know from were does it come and how has ben evolving in time.
Beatriz Jiménez
ResponderEliminarI believe that art is better perceived by someone when the art is explained to you, because now a days there are so many different "objects" considered as art, that it is sometimes hard to understand why it is considered as art; but once it is explained to you, and you can actually see the "object" as something expressing any type of feeling, then you may perceive it a lot easier as art, telling yourself "what an amazing way to say things", or "how a wonderful way to express yourself".
I believe people appreciate art a lot easier when they get identified with it, and I don't mean that if they don't feel identified they cant appreciate it, but just they will easier when having something in common with the piece of art.
I believe that when you really feel something and can actually put it into music, poetry, dance, or any of the arts, and with it make others feel what you are trying to express with it, you are then making art; Some will be able to feel it or perceive it and some others will not, but that will always depend on their beliefs, experience, and many other factors.
I believe art is beautiful and I always enjoy being around it. I love finding out about others though their art.
So first of all i found this article really interesting because well i think most of my classmates, including myself, didn´t really know much about art and how it all started, so i was pretty amazed about how art has evolved through years.
ResponderEliminarReally, thank God that later then trough time people began to take art as a serious activity, because art is a beautiful way of expressing feelings, emotions and many more situations that sometimes can´t be clearly expressed by another way!
So im glad you posted this text cause we really needed to know art in a deepest way, i mean, if we are supposed to study about art, well we should start by learning about it from the top.
So the last thing i´ll say is, that i hope we learn how to really apreciate and to interpret real art!!
I totally agree with the definition of art as a satisfactory definition. It is easier to describe it as the way something is done -- "the use of skill and imagination in the creation of aesthetic objects, environments, or experiences that can be shared with others". I agree with it because as I dont know much about art I enjoy vewing creative, orginial stuff artists do. Thats the way art should
ResponderEliminarbe, not paintings of dead people on a museum. I also like various types of "modern art" such as weird sculptures or rap "poetry" that is very meaningful to many people.
ponle de nombre Marco Herández Mtz.
I think this tect will help us a lot in understanding art because it has the perfect definition for it. It will also help us a lot in this subject because it tell us about art and all its forms. I likes a lot the definition of art given in the text, I hope this will help me a lot in this subject.
ResponderEliminarIt's only logic that people took so long in order to define art. Art is different in every manifestation adn it expreses so many concepts and meanings. I found an intresting coincidence in this piece of writting. People in the middle ages and in other times considered certain things common and not even close to art, but now and we add to them certain meaning and we Do consider it art, then we can conclude that art is in all placaes and it variates from which perspective you are judging. That's the beauty of art, nowadays there are no standards for it and that is really odd, if not imposible...
ResponderEliminarVALERIA VAZQUEZ
I belive this text is a great wy to get started in our class because it gives us a little background from which to part from in next class, I foun it really interesting on how the arts have been changing and how some "crafts" werent considered art because of their functional purpose. I also found very interesting the way it is so hard to define "art" itself as the concept varies according whith each person, so what for someone is art to some one else might not be. I belive it is important for people to learn about things like this because we should look to increase our knowledge in many different themes even ones we might not considered to be of the outmost importance because we never know what knowdlege might be useful in our life later on.
ResponderEliminarBueno pues tal vez no entendí exactamente el punto aqui, tal vez si, pero aquí esta lo que percibo:
ResponderEliminarComo ya lo dijo en su Post, es difícil ponerle nombre a algo tan complejo como el arte, ya que lo que yo entiendo por arte otro lo ve enigmatico y duda de su valor, y lo que llegamos a percibir como arte en este momento en unos años nuestros hijos lo verán como algo raro o redundante, así como muchos jóvenes encuentran a muchas obras antiguas.
Ponerle un nombre a un grupo de cosas siempre es bastante complicado, siempre habrán los escépticos y los conservadores, como es el caso sin alejarnos mucho de las ciencias; Recientemente empezaron a considerar una ciencia a la historia, y muchos historiadores se sintieron halagados, pero tambien estaba el grupo de historiadores que se sintieron insultados ya que ellos consideraban su vocación un arte.
Lo que quiero decir con esto es que nunca puedes decir que esto es un arte y que sea absoluto para todos, porque todos pensamos diferente y gracias a ello el arte existe.
Diego Chávez Elizalde
In my opinion, I think that this text is very informative because it explain us what is the concept of art, many people associate the art with just some sculptures and paints and doesn't care but it is more than that, art is about how humans use their creativity to apply the skill of imagination in a song, painting, sculpture, etc and in the end it means something and relates with the author and in a future, that painting, that song can relate with more people. so art is fundamental aspect in human being to live, humans can´t say that they don't like art because at list they like music, movies, etc.
ResponderEliminarI normally don't like anything that is related to history but talking about arts makes it easier for me to want to read it. Arts have always been interenting for me and I agree that nobody sees it the same way and that each one has a different opinion about a piece of art. Maybe some people like contemporary art others art from the Renaissance, some like Picasso, others Da Vinci and I think that's great beacause that's why there is so much variety in every kind of art. Everyone has a different perspective of what is beautiful and what isn't just as a painting can make someone get some kind of feeling and someone else wouldn't feel the same way or wouldn't feel anything about it. And about the "artists" I think that if nowadays we consider a lot of things that weren't considered as art before, anyone who expresses feelings in an artistic way like a painting, a poem or a song can be called artist because in my opinion art is expressing feelings.
ResponderEliminarI believe this text is about how art has been changed through all the years. In earlier times, it was really hard to become an "artist" or to perform a work of art. Nowadays anyone can be an artist, i think we shouldn´t lt that happen, but that´s me talking i can´t speak for everyone.
ResponderEliminarANDRES CAMACHO
That was kind of interesting for me because it tells all the changes that art has been through, like the concept, the history, what was considered as art and those who called artist. For example now a days we call art to something aesthetic like a building, a painting, a dance, but for many of us art its everythig done by an artist but it has different meaning because of the period, but now everyone who makes art is an artist.
ResponderEliminarAnother thing that really surprise me was that people start taking in count the art crafts like shoemaking, weaving as art besides the Fine arts. You might ask yourself why that surprised me and the answer its because not all of us admired that arts and are as awesome as the Fine arts. For my own perspective art is everything because when we use our skills, imagination, creativity the result will be art.
Samuel Ramirez Carbajo
ResponderEliminarto be honest i really love history is my favorite subject so i understand really well the importance of the art, but many guys in the present don t care a sh++t of art they think is bored but i think that art is our past our present and our future if we understand the importance of art humans will be more smar, more sapiens in her life and less ignorant. And in this case Mexico is a country were people dont know thw importance of art that way mexico is like this
You know something I don't even care it's like 11:15, I have aa bunche of problems to make a google acount that I'm gonna write here, with grade or no grade! So I didn't know that the art academies started in Italy, also I have to ask were the hell does arquitecture go to?, also dance but I don't really care about it. The frase "Anything the artist do is art" isn't quite true, there are some paints that I'm absolutly sure that even a monkey can does.
ResponderEliminarSo go to hell google!!!
Hey teacher.
ResponderEliminarAfter reading this information about art, it seems to me that in the past things that we now see or categorize as art, weren´t seen like that. But now a days there is a wide concept of what is art and their personal oppinion of it. Personally I like art a lot and I realize that in todays social life more and more people have access to the exposure of art, to the point where it has become part of a lot of peoples life style and helping in a way to understand human life from the past, present and future.
Well I think that we accomplish the main idea of this first post on the blog.
ResponderEliminarYeas, I know many of you will hate thsi blog, some of you will love it. Yet this is not my blog, it's ours so please feel free to suggest, criticize, improve, etc. the ideas and posts.
End of the first post. For next friday you will have to comment on a danish nature/technologist.
What I think about the text is that is very truthful and I didnt know that the term art and artist were modern. I am intriged how the what is now considered art at the time it was considered common-
ResponderEliminarAbout the paintings of Eliasson I really like how he combines the modern with nature.
Erik Baz D
This is really nteresting, because it is a really ineresting wa to see the art, and I also want to say that i found really interesting the photos, because in the one that is like a oval with yellow light, even if it sound weird, I can imagine that is like a baby borning and the yyelow light is like the hope of life. and I agree that in art it souldn´t exist rules, because with that rules poeple can hardly know or feel what the artis want to express. for me the art is the way to expose yor feelings and and say what you cant say with art.
ResponderEliminarOk ..we reach te end of this post...Somehow you began to see how art has some lovers and some haters; also remember that this kind of art must be seen in real life cause photos change our point of view.
ResponderEliminarWhy to freeze a car? so youc an see that it is also an structure, as anything in nature, eventhough humans want to make it to look "diferent"
Hope next video will be grat for you.