We consider aspects of art over time, including: ritual, decoration, assertion of power, demonstration of artistic skill.

1. Class 3.1
Art Then
ART 100
UVC

2. What is art?
STRICT DEFINITION
• A relatively modern invention.
• Something that is made for “pure, disinterested
contemplation.”
• Something that is appreciated for its sensuous qualities
(for example, its form, its coloring, its tactile appeal, its
sound).
• An invention of the West, though we have appropriated
objects from around the world to join this category

3. agenda
Our goal today: understanding art through its uses.
ritual in which a whole community participates
decoration of people and dwellings for beauty,
interest, status
statements of power that impress and intimidate
stockpiling of material wealth in the form of gold
and gems
expressions of artistic skill in transforming paint
and canvas into a wealth of illusions

4. the “art” context
As John Dewey warned us, context can easily
get in the way of our actual connection with
art.
Every object, even the most prestigious,
prized possession of a great museum, was
made by a human with the intent of
communicating with other humans.

5. The Modern Wing of the Art Institute of Chicago, designed by Renzo Piano, 2009

6. Gustave Caillebotte, Paris Street, Rainy Day, 1877, installed at the Art Institute

7. Beginnings in ritual
Lascaux cave, Dordogne region of France, Hall of the Bulls, c. 15,000 BCE

8. “Magician” or “Birdman” from Lascaux

9. Historians speculate: this is not “art” but may be a magical
technique used as part of rituals preparing for the hunt.

10. An ordered representation of
a chaotic and often hostile
universe, expressing our
wish for a desired outcome.

11. next slide
Cueva de las manos, (Cave of the Hands)
Santa Cruz Province, Argentina
c. 7300 BCE

14. decoration
So if art finds one set of origins in ritual, it finds another in
the human tendency to decorate anything and everything
that we make.

15. location of Blombos Cave, virtually at the tip of South Africa

17. exterior of the cave

18. The Indian Ocean, seen from inside the cave. Layers of sandbags are
protecting the surface from the excavators walking in and out.

19. BLOMBOS CAVE,
SOUTH AFRICA
excavation at work, note
the meticulously flagged
layers
http://cogweb.ucla.edu/e
p/Blombos.html

20. incised ochre,
Blombos Cave,
c. 77,000 BCE

21. Marine shell bead excavated at Blombos Cave, South Africa,
dating to 70,000 years ago (string of beads at bottom is a reconstruction

22. useful objects: combs
Jade comb,
China,
c. 400 BCE
Ivory comb,
Etruscan (ancient Italian)
6-5th century BCE

23. useful objects: swords
Ancient Persia, , c. 750-650 BCE
sword hilt, silver, (iron
blade)
Ancient Korea, Bronze Age sword hilt,
Between 900-300 BCE

24. Art has a definite
role to play in
assertions of wealth
and status.

25. J.S. Copley, Mr and Mrs Isaac Winslow, 1773

26. Chuck Close, William Jefferson Clinton, 2006, oil on canvas
installed at the National Portrait Gallery, Washington, DC

27. Precious courtly objects
The original bling
http://www.youtube.com/w
atch?v=TSyLLWZ5jp8

28. Precious courtly objects
Objects like these were created to impress and intimidate.
Crown Jewels,
Tower of London
England

29. Status and power
“I’m the king, and you
are not.”
“This are the symbols of
my worldly power and
wealth.”

30. Napoleon in his coronation garb,
painted on porcelain after a lost
painting by Gérard.

31. What creates value in art?
Reliquary of Ste.-Foy at Conques

32. Reliquary Statue of Sainte
Foy Abbey Church of
Conques
Conques, France
Late 9th or 10th century with
later additions

33. Reliquary: receptacle used to
store or display sacred objects

34. Real gold Painted gold

35. Simone Martini (and Lippo Memmi),
The Annunciation, tempera on
panel with gold leaf, c. 1333, 10’1”
x 8’8”
Fra Angelico, The Annunciation,
fresco in cell 3, Convent of San
Marco, Florence , c. 1440

36. Jan van Eyck, Ghent Altarpiece (open), completed 1432, Cathedral of St. Bavo, Ghent,
Belgium

37. Jan van Eyck, Mary Crowned, detail of the Ghent Altarpiece, completed
1432, Cathedral of St. Bavo, Ghent, Belgium

38. Jan van Eyck, Mary Crowned, completed 1432
Jan Vermeer
Girl with a Pearl Earring, c. 1665-6,
oil on canvas, 17 1/2 x 15 3/8 inches