Transcript Aesthetics Presentation #1 Introduction to Art and Ancient Greek Art Art and Aesthetics You call that Art? Why is Art important?

Aesthetics
Presentation #1
Introduction to Art
and Ancient Greek Art
Art and Aesthetics
You call that Art?
Why is Art important?
Art and Aesthetics
This is the age of science, of steel -- of speed and the cement
road. The age of hard faces and hard highways. Science and
steel demand the medium of prose. Speed requires only the
look -- the gesture. What need then, for poetry?
Great need!
There are souls, in these noise-tired times, that turn aside into
unfrequented lanes, where the deep woods have harbored the
fragrances of many a blossoming season. Here the light,
filtering through perfect forms, arranges itself in lovely
patterns for those who perceive beauty...
Roy J. Cook
101 Famous Poems
1916
ĕsthĕt´ĭks
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Aesthetics is a philosophy of art and/or beauty
It deals with the nature and value of art. It is
concerned with identifying, understanding, and
judging art objects and experiences
Two approaches:
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Objective: beauty is inherent in the object
Subjective: beauty is in the eye of beholder
“The Study of Beauty & Truth leads to
universal good”
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Aristotle evaluated works of art on the basis of imitation of
the natural world, also valued Katharsis
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Lead to representational styles—realism & naturalism
Katharsis lead to expressionist styles that communicate emotions
Plato looked beyond imitation of nature to an ideal in
which harmony was created by symmetry & proportion, a
measured, mathematical view of beauty
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Lead to idealism – styles with the perfected representation of
things as they “ought to be” and the realm of pure idea
Artist as inspired revealer of ideal essences
Also thought the arts are dangerous because of their power to
shape the character of their viewers
Art and Aesthetics
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“Art for Art’s sake”
“A work of art is an artifact which has had
conferred upon it the status of candidate for
appreciation by the Artworld.” (George Dickie)
Throughout the history of Western Civilization,
many different aesthetic theories have been
developed in the attempt to judge art works.
Aesthetic Theories
of Western Civilization
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Imitationalism –
natural appearances (mirror of the world) is of the
greatest importance
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Idealism – based on natural appearances, but improved or perfected
Realism – uncompromising natural appearances (sometimes brutally honest)
Emotionalism – communication of feelings is of utmost importance
Formalism – emphasizes form, visual elements and structural qualities
Meaning & Semiotics – interpretation, significance, or meaning of
signs and symbols is emphasized
Aesthetic Theories:
Example of Imitationalism–Idealism
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Greek sculptors defined an ideal
of human beauty
To Polykleitos & many others in
the 5th c. BC, the Beautiful was
synonymous with the Good
Sculptors sought a mathematical
definition of the Beautiful &
applied it to the human figure
Greek Canon of Ideal
Proportions Includes:
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Head=1/8 total height
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Width of Chest=1/4 total height
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Lysippos. The Scraper (Apoxyomenos), Roman copy
after the original bronze of c 330 BC, marble, height 6’ 9”
Aesthetic Theories:
Example of Imitationalism–Idealism vs. Realism
Roman patrons
demanded
likenesses in their
portraits
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At times they preferred some idealization, while at other times they
wanted an exact image of the sitter
Young Flavian Woman, c 90 CE, marble, height 25”
Middle-Aged Flavian Woman, late 1st century CE, marble, height 9 ½”
Aesthetic Theories:
Example of Emotionalism
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Greece: Hellenistic 300 BC
More dramatic and
emotional
Pushes out into space
More dynamic
Interested in subject’s
reaction to events
Complicated intense
movement
Laocoon Group by Agesander, Athenodorus, and Polydorus of Rhodes
late 2nd century BC or possibly Roman copy of 1st century BC marble
8’
Aesthetic Theories: Example of Formalism
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Ab Ex: Color Field Painting
More intellectual rather than
emotional
Dynamic interaction of color,
intensity changes, advance
& recede, etc.
Wanted to avoid the
distraction of subject matter
in order to concentrate on
the contrast of pure color
Homage to the Square by Josef Albers 1953 oil on composition board 43 ½” square
Aesthetics Theories:
Example of Meaning & Semiotics
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Irreverence for western
art
A kind of artistic
blasphemy aimed at the
cherished art institutions
L.H.O.O.Q. By Marcel Duchamp 1919 rectified read-made,
pencil on reproduction of Leonardo’s Mona Lisa
Ancient Greek Art
Greek Divine Order & Beauty
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All beauty is mathematics.
“Greek artists and philosophers created a
world of the mind in which sheer chaos
was excluded and a divine order ruled.
This universe permeated Greek life with
the rhythms of the ideal, whether in
philosophy or science, poetry or
architecture, dance or drama.”Marjorie Elliott Bevlin
Design Through Discovery
Golden Mean
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“Many of their writings reveal that the Greeks
also believed in mathematics as a governing
force in the universe, being convinced that
music has a strong relationship to
mathematics. Euclid is credited with having
stated the precept of the Golden Mean
(1:1.618), a simple expression of the
importance of proportion and balance often
stated as moderation in all thingsMarjorie
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Elliott Bevlin
Design Through
Discovery
Definitions and Concepts
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Representation (Plato and Mimesis)
Expression (Aristotle and Katharsis)
Form (organization, unity, harmony, variety,
complexity)
The Sublime (overwhelmed, filled with awe)
Taste (heightened perception, sensitivity, or
judgment)
Aesthetic Value
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Complexity (unity & variety)
Symmetry or Balance
Intensity (evaluation)
Affective Fallacy: meaning or value
comes from the audience response
Intentional Fallacy: value comes from the
original intentions of artist
Greek
Tragedy
Festival for
Dionysus
 Tragoedia –
“goat song”
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spring with
audiences of
12,000 + people
 Official State Cult in Athens in 534 BCE
 Chorus and Actor(s)
 Katharis: purgation of pity and fear
 Hamartia: mistake, “tragic flaw”
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Theaters
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Ancient Greek
theater were
more than
mere
entertainment
It was a
vehicle for the
communal
expression of
religious belief
using music,
poetry &
dance
Dramas were often presented facing a steep hill
that provided elevated seating
Theater, Epidauros, Early 3rd century BC and later
Sophocles’ Oedipus Rex
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491-401 BCE
Won Dionysia prize 18
times
Oedipus Trilogy:
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Antigone (442 BCE)
Oedipus Rex (430
BCE)
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Oedipus at Colonus
(401 BCE)
Aristotle’s Poetics
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384-322 BCE
Mimesis: imitation
Poetry superior to History
Six elements of tragedy:
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plot, character, verbal
expression, thought,
visual adornment, and
song-composition
Katharsis
Tragedy is an object of
beauty
It’s all Greek to me…
Greek Temples
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Greek life dominated by religion
Built to celebrate civic power and
pride
Offered thanks to patron deity of
city
Three architectural systems:
Doric, Ionic, Corinthian
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Parthenon (top): Temple of
Athena, ca. 400 BCE
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Temple of Athena Nike, Athens,
ca. 300 BCE
Greek Architectural Orders
Greek Architecture
Best known and
most impressive
post-and-lintel
structure
Admired for
architectural purity
Model of perfection
Subtle refinements for
perfection
Corrections of optical
illusions for the appearance
of straight lines
Ictinus and Callicrates, Parthenon, Athens 447-432 B.C.
Full scale reproduction in Nashville, Tennessee (the Athens of the South)
Ratio of 1:1.618
•Known as Phi, Golden Ratio, or Divine Proportion
•The ratio of 1:1.618 was used by the classical Greeks
artists to divide 2 and 3 dimensional spaces into pleasing
proportions.
•"The good, of course, is always beautiful, and the
beautiful never lacks proportion.“
-- Plato
•Golden Rectangles are created by using the divine
proportion to project a square into a rectangle.
•Divisions using this ratio are known as Golden Sections
Golden Rectangle
Façade of the Parthenon showing how Golden
Sections were used in the design of the structure
Mature Classical
Period
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Considered a tangible perfection of an ideal
“There is nothing to equal it in the architecture
of the entire world & all the ages…” –Le
Corbusier (innovative 20th c. architect)
Kallikrates and Iktinos, Parthenon, Acropolis, Athens,
447-438 BC view from the northwest
Erectheum
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5-47 Mnesikles, Erechtheion,
Acropolis, Athens, 430s-405 BC
Architects consider the north
porch as the most perfect
interpretation of the Ionic
order
They have copied the
columns, capitals, carved
moldings, proportions &
details ever since the 18th c.
rediscovery of Greek Art
Erectheum – Caryatids Portico
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Each caryatid's weight is supported on one engaged leg, the free leg is
bent at the knee & rests on the ball of the foot giving an impression of
relaxed grace & effortless support
The shift of sides creates a sense of closure, symmetry & rhythm
Porch of the Maidens, (Caryatid Porch), Erechtheion, Acropolis, Athens, 421-405 BC