intro survey 1

Copyright © 2018, 2014, 2011 Pearson Education, Inc. All Rights Reserved
Art History
Sixth Edition
Introduction

Learning Objectives
I.a Explain the cultural foundations of the diverse ways art has been
defined and characterized.
I.b Distinguish four ways art historians investigate works of art.
I.c Identify the components of the four-part method of art historical
investigation that leads to the historical interpretation of a work of art.

What Is Art? (1 of 4)
• Quality, production, expression, or realm of what is beautiful
• Something human-made that combines creative imagination and
technical skill
• Conceptual meaning of a work for an elite target audience
• Attempt to pose challenging questions or unsettle deep-seated cultural
ideas

• Magenta, Black, Green, on Orange (No. 3/No. 13) was created by
Rothko to be a work of art but was criticized to be similar to what a
child could create.
– He characterized his art to be childlike, a conscious decision to
capture the naiveté of childish vision.

Mark Rothko
MAGENTA, BLACK, GREEN, ON ORANGE (NO. 3/NO. 13)
1949. Oil on canvas, 7'1-3/8" × 5'5" (2.165 × 1.648 m).
Museum of Modern Art, New York. © 2016. Digital Image, The Museum of Modern Art,
New York/Scala, Florence. © 1998 Kate Rothko Prizel & Christopher Rothko/Artists
Rights Society (ARS), New York. [Intro–1]

• Not all works have to be created by individuals who call themselves
artists.
• Similarly, not all works of art are produced for exhibition and dispersion
into the art market.
• The quilt My Sweet Sister Emma was intended as a gift presented to a
loved one.

Martha Knowles and Henrietta Thomas
MY SWEET SISTER EMMA
1843. Cotton quilt, 8'11" × 9'1" (2.72 × 2.77 m).
International Quilt Studies Center, University of Nebraska, Lincoln, Nebraska.
[Intro–2]

• Quilts were not accepted, or "appropriated," as works of art until
relatively recently.
– An argument by Patricia Mainardi for the classification of quilts as
art references the work of contemporary abstract painters, a
conviction that the definition of art should be broadened, and the
need for women artists to be included in the art historical narrative.

Architecture
• Many works of architecture transcend functional demands by
manifesting distinguished designs or embodying values of the cultures
that build them.
• Nôtre-Dame-du-Haut by Le Corbusier is an example of a piece of
architecture that is sculptural as well as purposeful.
– It harmonizes shape with the surrounding landscape.

Le Corbusier
NÔTRE-DAME-DU-HAUT
Ronchamp, France. 1950–1955.
© F.L.C./ADAGP, Paris/Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York 2016.
Photo © Michal Sikorski/123 RF. [Intro–3]

What Is Art History? (1 of 2)
• Art historians seek to understand the meaning of art from both the
point of view of its producers and its consumers at the time it was
created.

What Is Art History? (2 of 2)
• Types of investigation include:
– Assessment of physical properties
– Analysis of visual or formal structure
– Identification of subject matter or conventional symbolism
– Integration within cultural context

Assessing Physical Properties
• Properties include shape, size, materials, and technique.
• In books, these elements can only be described in captions, but being
in the presence of the work will make the work's size and shape
evident.
• To understand the medium, it may be necessary to research
contemporaneous artistic practices.

Analyzing Formal Structure (1 of 4)
• Formal analysis allows art historians to explore the materials and
techniques brought to each work.
– The first part of analysis involves visual elements or formal
vocabulary involved in pictorial or sculptural communication.
– The second part involves discovering the overall organization, or
structure of an image known as composition.

• The elements of visual expression
– Artists can define motifs, objects, and environments by a line or
through the suggestion of form.
 Modeling, or shading, is one way to simulate the appearance
of three-dimensional form.
– Artists communicate with their viewers by making choices of how
to represent their subjects.

A CLOSER LOOK: Visual Elements of Pictorial Expression
A. Carpet Page from the Lindisfarne Gospels
From Lindisfarne, England. c. 715–720.
Ink and tempera on vellum, 13-3/8" × 9-7/16" (34 × 24 cm).
The British Library, London (Cotton Nero D.IV, f.26v)

B. Georges de la Tour The Education of the Virgin
c. 1650. Oil on canvas, 33" × 39-1/2" (83.8 × 100.4 cm).
The Frick Collection, New York.

C. Michelangelo The Holy Family (Doni Tondo)
c. 1503. Oil and tempera on panel, diameter 3'11-1/4" (1.2 m).
Galleria degli Uffizi, Florence. © Studio Fotografico Quattrone, Florence

D. Junayd Humay and Humayun
From a manuscript of the Divan of Kwaju Kirmani.
Made in Baghdad, Iraq. 1396.
Color, ink, and gold on paper, 12-5/8" × 9-7/16" (32 × 24 cm).
The British Library, London. © The British Library Board (Add. 18113, f.23)

• Composition
– In analyzing composition, the overall arrangement or design is
considered.
– For example, the Madonna of the Goldfinch creates a triangular
shape through the central group of figures.
 The implied vertical line at the center of this picture is called an
axis.

Raphael
MADONNA OF THE GOLDFINCH (MADONNA DEL CARDELLINO)
1506. Oil on panel, 42" × 29-1/2" (106.7 × 74.9 cm).
Galleria degli Uffizi, Florence. © Studio Fotografico Quattrone, Florence.
Courtesy Ministero per il Beni e le Attivitá Culturali. [Intro–4]

• Composition
– The axis in Mme. Charpentier and Her Children is a diagonal from
the upper right to the lower left corner of the painting.
 Resulting from this arrangement is an asymmetrical
composition.
 The relationship of figures to their spatial environment is less
clearly defined as they recede into the background.

Auguste Renoir
MME. CHARPENTIER AND HER CHILDREN
1878. Oil on canvas, 60-1/2" × 74-7/8" (153.7 × 190.2 cm).
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York. © 2016. Image copyright The
Metropolitan Museum of Art/Art Resource/Scala, Florence. [Intro–5]

Identifying Subject Matter (1 of 4)
• Erwin Panofsky proposed the system of analysis that combined
perception of natural subject matter and identification of iconography.
• Some works of art contain subjects from outside conventional
symbolism, but Panofsky's method remains a standard for art
historians regardless.

• Natural subject matter
– In the examples by Raphael and Renoir, viewers can recognize
human figures and animals as well as expressive significance of
their postures and facial features.
– The closer the work is in both time and place to the viewer's own
situation, the easier it is to identify the representations.

• Iconongraphy
– Some subjects hold conventional meaning or identities in addition
to natural subject matter.
– Madonna of the Goldfinch would have been recognized by its
intended audience as featuring the Virgin Mary, Jesus, and John
the Baptist.

• Iconongraphy
– Contrasting is Mme. Charpentier and Her Children, in which the
subject Mme. Charpentier is best identified by the title and
symbols of status are only identified through additional research.

Integration within Cultural Context (1 of
2)
• A third step in Panofsky's proposition was interpreting iconology,
which involves placing the work in its social, political, religious, and
intellectual contexts.
• Two still life paintings on the next two slides appear to illustrate objects
and fruits or flowers, but contain deeper meanings.

A CLOSER LOOK: Iconography
A. Clara Peeters Still Life with Fruit and Flowers
c. 1612. Oil on copper, 25-1/5" × 35" (64 × 89 cm).
Ashmolean Museum, Oxford. Bridgeman Images

A CLOSER LOOK: Iconography
B. Zhu Da (Bada Shanren) Quince (Mugua)
1690. Album leaf mounted as a hanging scroll; ink and colors on paper,
7-7/8" × 5-3/4" (20 × 14.6 cm). Princeton University Art Museum.
© 2016. University Art Museum/Art Resource/Scala, Florence.
Photo: Bruce M. White

Integration within Cultural Context (2 of
2)
• For example, Zhu Da's painting career was brought on by political
changes in China; this influences the contemplative style of his natural
forms.
• Clara Peeter's still life could be a celebration of abundance or a
vanitas painting warning of the ephemeral nature of worldly
possessions.

A Case Study: Roger van der Weyden's
Philadelphia Crucifixion
• Art historians have attempted to reconstruct the relationship of
Crucifixion with the Virgin and St. John the Evangelist to its artist,
audience, and broader cultural setting.
• Extensive investigations are not always possible for each work of art,
as information may not exist or may not be as in depth as for this work.

Rogier van der Weyden
CRUCIFIXION WITH THE VIRGIN AND ST. JOHN THE EVANGELIST
c. 1460. Oil on oak panels, 71 × 73" (1.8 × 1.85 m).
Philadelphia Museum of Art, John G. Johnson Collection. © 2016. Photo The
Philadelphia Museum of Art/Art Resouce/Scala, Florence. [Intro–6]

Physical Properties
• These oak panels were prepared with chalk and feature paint with
mineral pigments suspended in oil.
• A sketched under-drawing reveals that the work is almost entirely
credited to van der Weyden himself.
• Dendrochronology dates these panels firmly at the end of the artist's
career c. 1460.

Formal Structure (1 of 2)
• It is both one painting and two, connected at the top and bottom with
environmental elements yet separated by strong visual forces within
each panel.
• The figure of Christ is elevated to the top and center of his panel.
– Few disruptions occur in the rectilinear and symmetrical order.

Formal Structure (2 of 2)
• John and Mary form a figural mass with curving, unsteady outlines.
– John reaches out to catch Mary's body as she falls, but his stare
into space causes him to appear distracted.
– The emotional, poignant nature of these figures lends tension to
the scene.

Iconography (1 of 2)
• The crucified Jesus was a popular scene in European art and its
subjects would have been easily recognized.
• In contrast to a scene such as in Crucifixion Triptych with Donors and
Saints, van der Weyden's other work contains neither a large cast nor
a symmetrical arrangement, and the background is sparse.

Rogier van der Weyden
CRUCIFIXION TRIPTYCH WITH DONORS AND SAINTS
c. 1440. Oil on wooden panels, 39-3/4" × 55" (101 × 140 cm).
Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna. © KHM-Museumsverband. [Intro–7]

Iconography (2 of 2)
• Van der Weyden used two verses from the book of John as inspiration
for this painting.
• The skull and femur at the base of the cross represent the bones of
Adam.
• Mary's presumed fainting represents the theological co-passio, a
parallel passion of anguished mother with son.

Cultural Context (1 of 4)
• Penny Howell Jolly interpreted Crucifixion with the assertion that van
der Weyden was influenced by the work of another artist and that the
painting was produced for an institutional context calling for a special
mode of visual focus.

• Fra Angelico at San Marco
– Van der Weyden was influenced during his 1450 pilgrimage to
Rome, drawing from Fra Angelico's devotional frescos for
inspiration in his Crucifixion.
– Specific parallels include a shallow foreground restricted by a
stone wall, sacred and austere figures, and a draped cloth of
honor.

VIEW OF A MONK'S CELL IN THE MONASTERY OF SAN MARCO, FLORENCE
Including Fra Angelico's fresco of the Annunciation. c. 1438–1445.
© Studio Fotografico Quattrone, Florence. [Intro–8]

Fra Angelico
MOCKING OF CHRIST WITH THE VIRGIN MARY AND ST. DOMINIC
Monastery of San Marco, Florence. c. 1441-1445.
© 2016 Photo Scala, Florence. Courtesy of the Ministero Beni e Att. Culturali.
[Intro–9]

• The Carthusians
– The artist was particularly invested in this monastic order, even
donating a painting to the Hérrines chapel of St. Catherine.
 His son became a monk with Hérrines in 1450, around the time
of his pilgrimage.
– The idea of co-passio seen in Mary was central to Carthusian
theology.

DETAIL OF FIG. Intro-6 SHOWING PART OF THE LEFT WING.
Credit: © 2004. Photo The Phildelphia Museum of Art/Scala, Florence.
[Intro–10]

• Art history: a continuing project
– Recent x-ray analysis points to these two panels being part of a
large sculptured altar piece, possibly ruling out this work as a
panel painting.
– Historical understanding of this work and others like it will evolve
as new evidence emerges.

Think About It (1 of 2)
• Analyze the composition of one painting illustrated in this Introduction.
• Characterize the difference between natural subject matter and
iconography, focusing your discussion on a specific work of art.

Think About It (2 of 2)
• What are the four separate steps proposed here for characterizing the
methods used by art historians to interpret works of art? Characterize
the cultural analysis in step four by showing how it expands our
understanding of one of the still lifes in the second "Closer Look."
• What aspect of the case study of Rogier van der Weyden's
Philadelphia Crucifixion was most interesting to you? Why? How did it
affect your understanding of what you will learn in this course?

intro survey 1

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Editor's Notes