DB Responses Unit 1 Intro to Art

Make a 150 word response to the following. Incorporarte what was said in 1.In your response. Discuss some of the qualities that can make art “great.” Use texbook: Getlein, Mark. Living with Art, 9th Ed., New York: McGraw-Hill, 2010. Chapters 1-5

1. Although beauty is in the eye of the beholder, certain criteria should be looked at or met to consider something art. The same applies to calling someone an artist. Getlein first discusses that artists create places that fulfill a purpose for humans. Examples of this include Stonehenge and the Vietnam Memorial. Artists also exaggerate or give new perspective on ordinary objects to make them seem extraordinary. Another thing artists accomplish is using their art to record history. Their art could remind people of a different time or era in human history. For example, a painting for an ancient Chinese dynasty gives us insight into that era. Artists give form to things that cannot be seen or understood. This mostly includes statues, paintings, etc. of various deities. This same idea can also be applied when artists give form to feelings or ideas. This is shown in Van Gogh’s famous painting called The Starry Night. Lastly, artists can give us a new or refreshing perspective on the world.

An artist or their art must meet one of these criteria to be considered art. These six criteria show how influential and important art has been to human culture and society for a very long time. Art gives us glimpses into times that are long gone and clues to a different culture.

Make a 150 word response to the following. Incorporate what is said in 2. In your response. What factors make a work of art valuable in different ways to different people? Use texbook: Getlein, Mark. Living with Art, 9th Ed., New York: McGraw-Hill, 2010. Chapters 1-5

2. Unity is when pieces come together in art to form a cohesive whole. Variety is the difference in these pieces to be more interesting. An example of these concepts is figure 3.8 on page 56. Guernica by Pablo Picasso is a painting of disfigured animals and people that seem chaotic. Different images can be seen throughout the painting. Unity is shown because all the individual objects and people come together to give you a large picture. Variety is also shown because many of the animals like the horse are disfigured and almost cartoonish. I chose this work because looking at the individual pieces of the picture seem strange but they come together to show some kind of conflict. 

Symmetrical balance is when the center of gravity in a piece of art is vertical. The two sides of the art must also correspond to each other. An example of this is figure 3.1 on page 51. A picture of interior upper chapel of the Sainte-Chappelle in Paris is shown. This artwork in the chapel shows symmetrical balance because there is an implied line down the middle of the design where a door is and both sides mirror each other perfectly. Asymmetrical balance is when two sides of the art do not correspond with each other. An example of this is figure 2.7 on page 22. A painting of Badiuzzaman fighting Iraj to a draw is shown. The two warriors cross sword and shield at the center of the picture. This is where the line of gravity is implied. However, the warriors are dressed differently, have different colors and backgrounds. It shows two conflicting sides in a deadlock.

Emphasis is when certain parts of art are emphasized and brought to the forefront. Subordination is when other part of the artwork are blended into the background so the emphasis may stand out more. An example of these concepts is shown in figure 3.7 on page 55. Liberty Leading the People by Eugene Delacroix puts great emphasis on the woman holding a French flag and a rifle. The red, white and blue of the flag stand out against everything else. Her dress is yellow and also makes her stand out. Clearly there is emphasis on her and it is supposed to convey a message of freedom. The soldiers behind her and the burning town are very murky. They are unfocused and are grey-ish black. They exemplify subordination.

Scale is the relation an object’s size has to what its size normally is. Proportion is the relationships in size of all the parts in a piece of art. An example of scale is in figure 9.10 on page 203. Autumn Tree against Cathedral Rocks, Yosemite by Ansel Adams shows a tree in front of a large mountain or rocky structure. The tree is show at such an angle where it appears to almost as large as the mountain. It seems to be comparing the mountain to the tree. Even though they are very different in scale the painting seems to show a mountain and a tree are similar. An example of proportion is figure 8.18 on page 190. Standard Station by Ed Ruscha shows a regular gas station from an angle to the side where the end of the roof appears to much larger than the opposite end. It makes use of the concept of modular paintings and proportions things to how you would see the building in real life from that angle.

Rhythm in art is based on repetition. An example of rhythm is figure 9.16 on page 208. Horse Galloping by Eadweard Muybridge shows individual parts of a horse going from walking to galloping. Each shot of the horse has a different rhythm. As the horse takes longer and longer strides it makes you think of the rhythm of its feet in each picture until it finally reaches full sprint.