This document discusses the art of being artless and amateur art. It contains photos of famous artists like Alfred Stieglitz, Walker Evans, Dorothea Lange, Bob Ross, Andy Warhol, Grandma Moses, Lee Krasner, Franz Klein, Willem De Kooning, Jackson Pollock, and Winston Churchill in their studios or creating art. The document also includes vintage snapshots. It quotes an interview where Michael Kimmelman discusses how the spread of technology has led us to expect perfection in art, music, and photography from professionals. However, art was not always about perfection, and amateurs once had a more intimate connection to professionals by making art themselves before cameras and recordings. What is now lost

1. the art of being artless
ART111

2. Alfred Stieglitz

3. Alfred Stieglitz, Georgia
O’Keeffe, 1927

4. Alfred Stieglitz, The
Steerage, 1907

5. Walker Evans, Self-Portrait,
1927

6. Walker Evans, 42nd Street, 1929

7. Walker Evans, Mother and Children in Doorway, Havana, 1933

8. Walker Evans, Subway Portrait, 1938

9. Dorothea Lange,
circa 1920s

10. Dorothea Lange,
Dust Bowl Migrant
Mother, Nipomo,
CA, 1936

11. Dorothea Lange,
Child Living in
Oklahoma City
Shacktown 1936

12. Dorothea Lange,
Scene along Skid
Row Howard Street,
1937

14. Bob Ross

15. Vintage Paint-byNumber Painting

16. Andy Warhol, Do It
Yourself, 1962

17. 100-year old Grandma
Moses painting at her
farm, 1960

18. Grandma Moses, 1956

19. Grandma Moses

20. Lee Krasner, Birth, 1956

21. Lee Krasner in her studio

22. Franz Klein in his studio

23. Franz Klein, New York, 1953

24. Willem De Kooning in his studio, 1950s

25. Willem De Kooning,
Woman and Bicycle, 19523

26. Jackson Pollock in his studio

27. Winston Churchill plein air painting

28. Winston Churchill, The Blue
Room, 1948

30. USA, c. 1930, from Thomas
Walther Collection

31. Vintage Double Exposure Snapshot

32. Vintage Snapshot

33. “But a deeper issue may be our new equation of art with
perfection, an equation hastened by the spread of
technology. We now expect flawless recordings by musicians,
perfect photographs by artists. We have easy access to all
this, which means that, as in so many other aspects of life, we
prefer to cede these endeavors to professionals, figuring we
can't do them as well, as if something like art is worth doing
only if you do it like a professional. Art isn't about perfection.
Before cameras, travelers sketched so that they could record
what they saw on trips, as souvenirs, in the same way that
bourgeois families, in the days before recordings, used to listen
to music by making it themselves at home on the piano or
singing in the parlor. There was a more intimate connection
between the amateur musician or artist and the professional,
because amateurs had firsthand experience. What's lost
today is not just the accidental masterpiece but also that
sense of art not as a remote commodity but as something we
all make. “
Interview with Michael Kimmelman

34. Read:
• Chapter 2, “The Art of Being Artless”
Respond on Verso:
• Reflect on the reading.
Respond on Flipgrid:
• Find a photograph that is deeply meaningful to
you. Share the photo & describe its importance.
Bring the photo to class next week to share.
Respond on Instagram: #art111happyaccidents
• Take 10 photographs this week of moments
that you wanted to remember…for their
beauty, importance, etc.
• DO NOT edit them! Be content with “happy
accidents”