THIS IS JUST RESPONDS

Responses does not need to be too long, about 3-4 sentences for each.

Discussion 1

Imagine that you are in a debate with someone who asserts that, just as beauty is in the eye of the beholder, art is whatever the spectator thinks it is; there are no rules, no criteria, no universal boundaries delineating what is and what is not art, who is and who is not an artist. If something expresses or creates an aesthetic or emotional response, it is art.

Your task is to take the other side of the debate: How would you respond to and rebut this view? In the first chapter of Living with Art, Getlein lists six roles that artists fulfill; these may help you in coming up with your response. Come up with points and specific examples of art works to support of the other side of the debate, which is that not just anything can be art, not just anyone can be an artist: There are established and justifiable criteria to confer that status upon objects and individuals. Be sure to incorporate art historical terminology from the week 1 reading in your response.

Response to Ebba

I believe that Art should be made valuable, and what makes anything valuable is the fact that someone is willing to pay for it. That is the definition of value. However, I think what you really want to know is why are people willing to pay the prices they do for art? What brings them to a value decision? And several people – nine so far – have attempted to answer this for you.

There are overall decisions made about the artistic quality of any artwork. Is it well-painted, well-composed? Does it have originality for the time in which it was created, or is it mundane? Was it created by an artist with a significant artistic reputation and is it within the kind of work for which that artist is celebrated? Is the work artistically desirable in the present (or has it for some reason become undesirable, even reprehensible)? Is the work in good physical condition? There are also significant differences in the value decisions made for living artists and for dead artists.

There are a number of ways a certain piece can become valuable. Looking at the most valuable painters from history, such as Monet, Picasso, Pollock, etc., what do we find in common? They were all innovators and introduced a style of art. Picassso introduced cubism, Monet made Impressionism popular, pollock introduced a unique style of abstract art, and so on. One of the quickest ways for art to become valuable is for the piece to be the first of its kind and give birth to a new style. That’s one of the reasons why people were willing to pay so much for works from Picasso, because he introduced a new era of art and thus by purchasing his paintings they were investing in a part of history. This is also why you’ll go to a modern art museum and see seemingly absurd paintings such as minimalism, because these artists were the first to express emotion or events in such a way.

Another thing that can increase the value of art is the death of a painter, for the reason that their paintings cease production and the market becomes more limited. It’s like how a limited edition action figure would be more valuable than one of high production, there’s less of them, and the hardest thing is to acquire the more expensive it is.

Response to Pena

When we listen to the word art it is not only what the spectator imagines it to be. Art in the eyes of the artist has some meaning behind it. The artist tries to demonstrate many things at the moment to create art not exactly emotional responses. The art tends to have rules, criteria and boundaries to define what is art or what is not art.” Just as the Neolithic vessel we looked at earlier is more than an ordinary drinking cup, so the textile here is more than an ordinary garment (1.7).” In the book Living with art by Mark Getlein (2016) mentioned six roles that only the real artist needs to fulfill. (1) Artist create places for human purpose (2) artist create extraordinary versions of ordinary objects (3) record and commemorate (4) artist give tangible form to the unknown (5) give tangibles form to feelings and ideas. (6) refresh our vision and help us see the world.

Discussion 2

In Chapter 5, Getlein covers the principles of design. For each term listed, identify an art work art included in the text, Living with Art, but NOT mentioned in either Chapter 4 or Chapter 5, that illustrates the principle in question. Define the term in your own words and explain why you chose the artwork in 2-4 sentences.

Note: in some cases you will find both the contrasting principles in the same work, (i.e. a painting that has both emphasis and subordination). A required part of this question is to explain WHY you chose each work. Make sure we can “see” what you are seeing. Please include the title of the artwork and also the page number (or figure number) that the artwork can be found on in your book.

Response to Reams

Unity and variety: Unity is how the whole piece of art comes together as one. Variety is giving the eye multiple things to see. In figure 1.10 “The Starry Night” by Vincent Van Gogh, I noticed unity and variety. Van Gogh’s strokes are uniform throughout the painting. He made each stroke small and visible. The variety is the contrast in colors. The mood of the painting is gloomy with dark blues and black. He also uses a bright yellow for the stars that gives the spectator a different mood.

Symmetrical and Asymmetrical balance: Symmetrical is a complete balance of the picture. Meaning both sides are even like a mirror. Asymmetrical is uneven and each side is different. There can be a balance in the picture that brings both sides together but each side will have a different balance. Figure 2.3 “Thirty are better than one” by Andy Warhol is completely symmetrical. If the artwork was folded in half the portraits of Mona Lisa will be even on both sides. Figure 2.1 “Wheat Field and Cypress trees” by Vincent Van Gogh shows a good asymmetrical balance. The light blue sky and and tan grass are constant through the painting giving it a balance. One half has a lighter color bush and the other half has a darker colored tree creating the asymmetry.

Emphasis and Subordination: Emphasis is creating one point in a piece of art that grabs the spectators attention. Subordination is the less visually appealing or boring parts of the artwork that helps emphasize a certain point. Figure 2.15 “House painter III” by Duane Hanson emphasizes a male painter in the center. The background is the subordination because it is boring and white to help the painter covered in oink paint stand out.

Scale and Proportion: Scale means the relationship of a certain object to a normal size object. Such as maps scaled smaller to fit on paper. Proportion is the size of an object compared to its surroundings. Figure 3.12 is a small scale model of herders counting livestock. The artist made small scale figures. Figure 2.22 “ Nude Woman having her hair combed” by Edgar Degas shows great proportion. The picture is realistic because the woman is evenly portioned and placed up against a chair that would would resemble normal size.

Rhythm: Rhythm are things that are repeated in order to portray time, sound, or patterns. Figure 3.2 demonstrates the rhythm in the Prayer hall of Abd al- Rahman I in the Great Mosque located in Córdoba, Spain. The arches all have the same proportion and rhythm or pattern.

Response to Widick:

The way I would describe unity and variety is that things can come together even though they are not the same. Sometimes differences are what make a bond stronger. When Diego Velasquez created Las Meninas, found on page 24, he used a variety of different details of each person to create a sort of balance and unity between the individuals. They are all so different, yet, the women in the portrait seem to flow through the painting. He had to be very precise down to the last detail to do so.

Symmetrical balance to me is when pieces mirrored to create an almost illusion. When James Hampton created the Throne of the Third Heaven of the Nation’s Millennium General Assembly, found on page 27,  there is very obvious symmetrical balance. The piece is mirrored to balance the idols that stand tall throughout the piece. They are the mirrored down to the little details.  Asymmetrical balance is when a piece emphasizes opposites and nothing matches or is mirrored. When creating A Goldsmith in His Shop, found on page 167, Petrus Christus created a painting that had many different individual items and the painting wasn’t mirrored. It was a portrait of people in a shop where there was jewelry hanging on the back wall. It was balanced without having multiple of the same details throughout the painting.

Emphasis and subordination are meant to describe items being more noticeable, or emphasized, while other elements aren’t as noticeble, or subordinate. In the drawing Three Mile Island by Yvonne Jacquet on page 149, the giant boilers seem to be emphasized with glowing lights and the buildings surrounding seem to be meant to be subordinate and not as noticeable.

Scale and proportion I chose the Mona Lisa by Leonardo da Vinci, found on page 21, to represent scale and proportion. He painted a lifelike portrait of a woman and properly proportioned and measured to scale her features to make her look so lifelike. These are important tools when creating art from realistic objects or people. Without these tools, artists would start to drift towards surrealism instead of realism.

Rhythym is the way a piece flows, whether smoothly or roughly. In the piece White Shell With Red by Georgia O’Keefe, found on page 168, there is a very smooth rhythym to the piece. There are smooth lines and distinct color differences that make this piece very pleasing to the eye.