The very idea of art

Slide 1:The very idea of art!

Slide 2:Why art?

Slide 3:Grotte chauvetGrotte chauvet

Slide 4:Human Figure, 2nd century B.C.�1st century A.D.Old Bering Sea peoples; AlaskaIvory (walrus); H. 3 3/4 in. (9.5 cm)

Slide 5:Why art?

Slide 6:Why art?

Slide 7:Goya, Executions of the Third of May, 1808 1814-15

Slide 8:not practical

Slide 9:Why art?

Slide 10:Bowl with Pair of Rabbits, mid-9th�12th centuryMimbres peoples; New MexicoCeramic; H. 2 1/2 in. Although representational images made on materials of many sorts�for instance, stone, wood, and leather�are believed to have been produced in the Southwest for thousands of years, the custom of putting such images on ceramic vessels became common only after the middle of the first millennium A.D. Fabricated from fired clay, the ceramic vessels were primarily utilitarian bowls and jars used in domestic contexts for the preparation and storage of food. Their production had been established in the area a few hundred years earlier. However, once elaborated with painted surfaces on the inside, the round-bottom bowls became a much favored Southwestern form, used not just for utilitarian purposes. Many, many hundreds of vessels were produced by a variety of different peoples. Ninth- to twelfth-century bowls from the Mimbres Valley of New Mexico are particularly distinctive in their interior decoration, with images of animals native to the Southwest. The rabbit, actually a food animal to the peoples of the Mimbres Valley, was a frequent motif. In pairs or singly, rabbits appear in a range of stylized renditions, from plump bunnies, as here, to elongated animals with winglike ears. Although representational images made on materials of many sorts�for instance, stone, wood, and leather�are believed to have been produced in the Southwest for thousands of years, the custom of putting such images on ceramic vessels became common only after the middle of the first millennium A.D. Fabricated from fired clay, the ceramic vessels were primarily utilitarian bowls and jars used in domestic contexts for the preparation and storage of food. Their production had been established in the area a few hundred years earlier. However, once elaborated with painted surfaces on the inside, the round-bottom bowls became a much favored Southwestern form, used not just for utilitarian purposes. Many, many hundreds of vessels were produced by a variety of different peoples. Ninth- to twelfth-century bowls from the Mimbres Valley of New Mexico are particularly distinctive in their interior decoration, with images of animals native to the Southwest. The rabbit, actually a food animal to the peoples of the Mimbres Valley, was a frequent motif. In pairs or singly, rabbits appear in a range of stylized renditions, from plump bunnies, as here, to elongated animals with winglike ears.

Slide 11:Jar with Four Faces, mid-13th�mid-15th centuryCasas Grandes peoples; ChihuahuaCeramic; H. 8 11/16 in. (22.3 cm)

Slide 12:Bannerstone, ca. 2000 B.C.Archaic peoples; OhioBanded slate; H. 2 5/16 in. (5.9 cm Bannerstones are weights for spear-throwers, the long shafts that propelled the actual darts, thus extending the thrower's reach. In use in North America for some 3,000 years beginning in the fourth millennium B.C., bannerstones took many and varied forms. The form of the present example is known as a double-notched butterfly. It is made of banded slate, a material frequently used in bannerstone manufacture. While bannerstones are functionally utilitarian, the consistent selection of materials and their careful, balanced workmanship distinguish them and indicate their worth as esteemed objects as well as tools. Many have been discovered in burials and funerary mounds in the Ohio and Illinois valleys, for instance, further evidence of their value in ancient times. Bannerstones were out of favor by about 1000 B.C., but spear-throwers persisted in use in a few areas of North America until the sixteenth century. However, by that time spear-throwers had largely been supplanted by bows and arrows. Bannerstones are weights for spear-throwers, the long shafts that propelled the actual darts, thus extending the thrower's reach. In use in North America for some 3,000 years beginning in the fourth millennium B.C., bannerstones took many and varied forms. The form of the present example is known as a double-notched butterfly. It is made of banded slate, a material frequently used in bannerstone manufacture. While bannerstones are functionally utilitarian, the consistent selection of materials and their careful, balanced workmanship distinguish them and indicate their worth as esteemed objects as well as tools. Many have been discovered in burials and funerary mounds in the Ohio and Illinois valleys, for instance, further evidence of their value in ancient times. Bannerstones were out of favor by about 1000 B.C., but spear-throwers persisted in use in a few areas of North America until the sixteenth century. However, by that time spear-throwers had largely been supplanted by bows and arrows.

Slide 13:Bierstadt, AlbertAmong the Sierra Nevada Mountains, California1868, Oil on canvas, 183 x 305 cm

Slide 15:Why art?

Slide 16:Sheeler, CharlesBucks County Barn, 1923, Tempera and crayon on paper19 5/8 x 26 in

Slide 17:Diebenkorn, RichardOcean Park No. 1151979Oil on canvas100 x 81 in

Slide 18:Sargent, John SingerThe Daughters of Edward D. Boit1882Oil on canvas87 3/8 x 87 5/8 in

Slide 19:Sargent, John SingerThe Daughters of Edward D. BoitDetail1882Oil on canvas

Slide 20:Why art?

Slide 21:Sargent, John SingerThe Daughters of Edward D. Boit1882Oil on canvas87 3/8 x 87 5/8 in

Slide 22:Is art about the way things look or the way we see?(Is art necessarily a thing or object?)

Slide 23:Robert Smithson, Spiral Jetty, 1970

Slide 24:Is art a thing or a process? An object or an idea? Is an image an idea?

Slide 25:Robert Smithson, Spiral Jetty, 1970

Slide 26:Spiral Jetty

Slide 27:Spiral Jetty, 2003

Slide 28:Meret Oppenheim, Fur covered cup, saucer, and spoon, 1936 (a.k.a. The Object)

Slide 29:Andy GoldsworthyKnotweed Stalks Pushed into Lake BottomFebruary 20 and March 8-9, 1988Derwent Water, Cumbria� Andy Goldsworthy

Slide 30:Andy GoldsworthyEnds of BambooNovember 1987Kinagashima-Cho, Japan� Andy Goldsworthy

Slide 31:An example of Pre-Columbian art Nayarit 1st c. BC Female effigy (burial)Nayarit 1st c. BC Female effigy (burial)

Slide 32:What is the �art�? The idea, the image, or the object?

Slide 33:Perhaps the uncanny superposition of all three . . .

Slide 34:Frog pendant, 1100-1600, C. America

Slide 35:SELECTION

Slide 36:John Moore