Theories of Art-Prof. Crisencio Paner

THEORIES OF ART GK COLLEGE by Prof. Crisencio M. Paner

LESSON OBJECTIVES Understand the definitions of art, theories of the nature, functions, and effects of art.

LET'S APPRECIATE ART TOGETHER In the next few sessions, we will be exploring different theories, such as: Representational theory: art as representation Expressive theory: art as expression Formalist theory: organic unity Aestheticism Pragmatism ETC.

BEFORE WE BEGIN, THINK ABOUT THIS: What is Art? Why does art exist?

"The expression or application of human creative skill and imagination, typically in a visual form such as painting or sculpture, producing works to be appreciated primarily for their beauty or emotional power."

"The various branches of creative activity, such as visual arts (painting, sculpture, graphics, printmaking, drawing, decorative arts, film making, photography, architecture), music, literature, poetry, theater, and dance."

WHY DOES ART EXIST? The purpose of works of art may be to communicate political, spiritual, or philosophical ideas, to create a sense of beauty (see aesthetics), to explore the nature of perception, for pleasure, or to generate strong emotions. Art is an act of expressing feelings, thoughts, and observations.

REPRESENTATIONAL THEORY: ART AS REPRESENTATION Art as portraying the visible forms of nature, from a schematic cave drawing of an animal to the evocation of an entire landscape in sun or storm. A representational artist may seek faithfulness to how things are. He or she may dwell selectively on the ugly and defective, the unfulfilled; or on the ideal, the fully realized potential.

REPRESENTATIONAL THEORY: ART AS REPRESENTATION The artist opens our eyes to the world’s perceptual qualities and configurations, to its beauties, uglinesses, and horrors. However, there is an art that is not at all representational: music is seldom and very inessentially representational; painting and sculpture can be abstract as well as figurative.

EXPRESSIVE THEORY: ART AS EXPRESSION Art viewed as a representation or manifestation of the inner state of the artist. Music expresses feelings, emotions, moods, their conflicts, triumphs, defeats. A painted landscape may engage us as expressive of peace, melancholy or menace.

Starry night conveys strong feelings of hope through the bright lights of the stars shining down over the dark landscape and night. Starry Night-Vincent Van Gogh Oil on Canvas, 1889 (sold at USD100M)

FORMALIST THEORY: ORGANIC UNITY The work of art viewed as an organic unity; i.e., a self-contained, self-justifying entity Art, it can be argued, is not a window upon the world: it is on the artwork itself that appreciative attention must primarily be focused, particularly on its distinctive structure, its design, unity, form.

FORMALIST THEORY: ORGANIC UNITY Discrete episodes of expressive intensity are not enough:"Does the work hang together?" is always a relevant and surely a vital question, a question that shows the primacy of formal unity. Can formalism, then, constitute a single all-sufficient theory of art? Other critics have argued that the theory has most plausibility with regard to complex works of art, but has little power to illuminate in the case of simple ones, where the concepts of synthesizing, interconnecting, mutual modifying gain no hold.

BREAK TIME Examine the painting for 15 minutes.How did the piece of art make you feel? What elements did you notice first?

ELEMENTS OF A PAINTING

Dominican monks at San Marco followed a life of strict, devout worship and lived in simple, humble cells. Fra Angelico's The Annunciation was designed to aid their meditations and inspire their devotions. Fra Angelico's deeply moving Annunciation - which depicts the Virgin being told by Archangel Gabriel that she is to bear the child Jesus - located on the south wall of the north corridor, was deliberately positioned on the upper floor in front of the staircase, as an illusionary window, which looked out onto a garden and cloistered area. In this way, the artist brought the sacred scene of the Annunciation into the monks' perceived world of physical reality.

AESTHETICISM Late 19th century European movement based on the idea that art exists for the sake of its beauty alone. The movement began in reaction to prevailing utilitarian social philosophies and to what was perceived as the ugliness and philistinism of the industrial age.

AESTHETICISM Its philosophical foundations were laid in the 18th century by Immanuel Kant, who postulated the autonomy of aesthetic standards from morality, utility, or pleasure. The movement was popularized in France by Madame de Staël, Théophile Gautier, and the philosopher Victor Cousin, who coined the phrase l'art pour l'art ("art for art's sake") in 1818.

The Peacock Room is recognized as the most important example of Aestheticism applied to interior design in order to create an inspirational environment. Such Aesthetic rooms elevated interior design to the realm of fine art.

PRAGMATISM Art conceptualized in terms of its effects on its audience, to accomplish purposes such as the creation of specific shared experiences. As a means of enhancing the experience and thought As a means of escape from, or consolation for, reality As a means of perceiving a higher, more perfect, or ideal reality

PRAGMATISM As a source of pleasure or delight As a means of promoting cultural and historical community or continuity As instructive, didactic, or propagandistic As therapeutic; i.e., as healing or purgative As a means of communication

INSTITUTIONAL THEORY OF ART The institutional theory of art is a theory about the nature of art that holds that an object can only become art in the context of the institution known as "the artworld". Addressing the issue of what makes, for example, Marcel Duchamp's "readymades" art, or why a pile of Brillo cartons in a supermarket is not art, whereas Andy Warhol's famous Brillo Boxes (a pile of Brillo carton replicas) is, the art critic and philosopher Arthur Danto wrote in his 1964 essay "The Artworld" Readymades-Marcel Duchamp, 1951

Artist: Andy Warhol Location: National Gallery of Canada Period: Pop art Created: 1964 Value: $ 3M (2010) In 1963, Pop artist Andy Warhol exhibited "Brillo Box" in a New York gallery. The sculpture was similar in appearance to the large cardboard container in which little packages of Brillo are shipped to stores (though Warhol's is made of wood, not cardboard).

HISTORICAL THEORY OF ART Historical theories of art hold that for something to be art, it must bear some relation to existing works of art. For new works to be art, they must be similar or related to previously established artworks. The philosopher primarily associated with the historical definition of art is Jerrold Levinson (1979).

Look for 2 famous examples of each of the 9theories discussed with the corresponding descriptions Send your PDF file(format: Surname_Example of Art Theories.pdf) assignmentto panercris@gmail.com on or before 12 PM, June 24,2021(Note: every1 hr late =1 pt. deduction;this assignmentwill be credited 20 pts.) Read also this article: http://cmpaner.blogspot.com/2010/07/italya-sa-mata-ng-isang-maykapansanan.html Be ready for graded recitation next meeting

Email Address ANY QUESTIONS? panercris@gmail.com Mobile Number 09999401794 Consultation Hours Don't hesitate to reach out for questions or clarifications 4 PM to 6 PM

THANK YOU! References: Hepburn, Ronald W.“THEORIES OF ART.” THEORIES OF ART- RONALD W,30 Nov.1999, users.rowan.edu/~clowney//Aesthetics/theories_of_art.htm. Spiegel, Laurie.“Theories of Art.” Retiary,1998, retiary.org/art_theories/theories_of_art.html.

Theories of Art-Prof. Crisencio Paner