ch&i session 5 notes - FINE ART (HISTORY)

values & tastes: how do we form these? more than one answer, debate, opinion..

is 'art' different from graphics or fashion? (its only art for the sake of art?)

what's the criteria for being 'better', 'best' or 'good', if we all have contrasting opinions?

to discover why you like something, or how you've come to like it, you may have to go back further in your memory to other things you experienced/liked

- 3000 - 1000BC: ancient egypt. stylised/idealised view of world. not depicting reality. afterlife - funeral was a ritual

- 1000 - 146BC: ancient greeks. 'ideal man' & 'ideal woman'. sculptures depicting idealised society

- 146BC - 313AD: ancient rome. artist was part of the society they were depicting rather than just an 'outsider' reflecting their own view of society

- renaissance 1400s - 1500s: artists were 'special'. lots more thinking about aesthetics & science. narrative: told stories, religious. artists portraying their own views was unheard of. commissioned art. simply using their skill as a tool. mirrors just being developed - self-portraits

- 1525 - 1700: mannerism (show off technological skill) & baroque (encouraged by roman-catholic church)

- 1700 - 1750: rococo. all very 'nice'. decorative and superficial

- neoclassicalism: moral tones

- romanticism: narrative, overwhelming power of nature in relation to humans

- 1850s: realism. artists wanted to make art that depicted reality, didn't want art that showed a mythical or unrealistic view of the world. this challenged public taste

* 'the salon' in paris was THE place to have your art hung

- modernism/post-modernism: pop artists, 1960s. offensive to public taste, making insignificant things important (e.g: warhol's campbell's soup tin)

* prior to renaissance the self was not considered to be a subject to explore in isolation

- francesco del cossa, 1470. asked to be paid more due to his status and the fact he was making a name for himself (people were usually paid per foot, etc.)

artistic 'personalities':

- civilizer. presenting people with art that teaches people what 'good taste' is.

- representer. artist that represents thoughts, beliefs, ideas.

- border crosser. artist that pushes the boundaries of what people see as 'the norm'.

does art have to contribute to society? what is the role of the creative practitioner?

authorship: is the artist the artist because they thought of the idea?

the birth of the reader needs the death of the author.