The Story of Art
“All of us,
when we see a painting, are bound to be reminded of a hundred-and-one things
which influence our likes and dislikes. As long as these memories helps us
enjoy what we see, we need not worry.”
Preface
“It is the naive misinterpretation of the constant change in arts as continuous progress. It is true that every artist feels that he has surpassed the generation before him and that from his point of view he has made progress beyond anything that was known before.”
Introduction
“All of us,
when we see a painting, are bound to be reminded of a hundred-and-one things
which influence our likes and dislikes. As long as these memories helps us
enjoy what we see, we need not worry.”
Trouble with beauty: Tastes and standards of what is beautiful vary so much. Then how can we judge a painting? This also applies to expression. Most of the time the expression of the figure is what makes us like a painting or not.
He refers to methods as languages. It is an inetersting way to see art, as a language. One must learn to comprehend it.
On modern art: sometimes it is right to draw things otherwise than they look, to change and distort them in one way or another. An example of this is Mickey Mouse, he is in between a mouse and a human; but this doesn’t mean that Walt Disney did not know how to draw a mouse, it just means that he chose to represent it differently.
Trouble with beauty: Tastes and standards of what is beautiful vary so much. Then how can we judge a painting? This also applies to expression. Most of the time the expression of the figure is what makes us like a painting or not.
He refers to methods as languages. It is an inetersting way to see art, as a language. One must learn to comprehend it.
On modern art: sometimes it is right to draw things otherwise than they look, to change and distort them in one way or another. An example of this is Mickey Mouse, he is in between a mouse and a human; but this doesn’t mean that Walt Disney did not know how to draw a mouse, it just means that he chose to represent it differently.
“They wont see the world afresh, and discard all the accepted notions and prejudices about flesh being pink and apples yellow or red. It is not easy to get rid of preconceived ideas…” Since we are kids we are shown that the grass is green and the sky is blue; that the stars look like * and hearts like … so when an artist paints something differently we don’t like it because it goes against all thatw e have learned. Just like in education, we don’t like exploring things or trying new subjects because it goes against what we have learned.
The greatest obstacle in the enjoyment of art: unwillingness to discard habits and prejudices. An example of this is Jesus, someone imagined him painted a certain way and ever since then he has always been painted the right way. So now when another artist paints him differently it is regarded as bad art.
“As there are no rules to tell us when a picture or statue is right, it is usually impossible to explain in words exactly why we feel that it is a great work of art.”
The greatest obstacle in the enjoyment of art: unwillingness to discard habits and prejudices. An example of this is Jesus, someone imagined him painted a certain way and ever since then he has always been painted the right way. So now when another artist paints him differently it is regarded as bad art.
“As there are no rules to tell us when a picture or statue is right, it is usually impossible to explain in words exactly why we feel that it is a great work of art.”
Chapter 1
Strange Beginnings
Prehistoric and Primitive Peoples; Ancient America
“We do not know how art began, any more than we know how language started.”
Prehistoric and Primitive Peoples; Ancient America
“We do not know how art began, any more than we know how language started.”
“The
further we go back in history, the more definite but also the more strange the
aims which art was supposed to serve.” Art was made with a definite purpose.
Primitive: people closer to the state of life from which all mankind once emerged. They made huts for shelter and images to protect them against certain powers. They saw art as something to use. So to understand this art we must enter the minds of these primitive people. “All that is needed is the will to be absolutely honest with ourselves and see whether we, too, d not retain something of the ‘primitive’ in us.” So instead of beginning with the Ice Age, we should begin with ourselves.
1. We have this weird feeling (like the primitives) that whatever we do to a picture is also done to the person representing it (ex: poking out the eyes of a picture)
Some of the first paintings were found in caves.
Primitive: people closer to the state of life from which all mankind once emerged. They made huts for shelter and images to protect them against certain powers. They saw art as something to use. So to understand this art we must enter the minds of these primitive people. “All that is needed is the will to be absolutely honest with ourselves and see whether we, too, d not retain something of the ‘primitive’ in us.” So instead of beginning with the Ice Age, we should begin with ourselves.
1. We have this weird feeling (like the primitives) that whatever we do to a picture is also done to the person representing it (ex: poking out the eyes of a picture)
Some of the first paintings were found in caves.
Why they
were painted or their purpose is still unknown, but there are many guesses. Gombrich
says that they made pictures of their preys, so that the real animal would
succumb to their power. He believes this because many tribes nowadays do
similar things.
The primitives did many things like these because they are beliefs that are passed down from generation to generation. Like thinking that by dressing up like an animal and dancing they would be closer to that animal.
“We all have beliefs which we take as much for granted as the ‘primitives’ take theirs – usually so much that we are not even aware of them unless we meet people who question them.”
The Story of Art is a story of changing ideas and requirements. Primitive craftsmanship is not so different from ours, what is different is their ideas. For us, how in order to really understand primitive art, we need an explanation. But even if we don’t understand some of this art, we can still appreciate the craftsmanship.
“There are many great works of art whose explanation is probably lost forever but which we can still admire.” But when approaching all of these objects, we should remember that most were not made for the idea of pleasure or decoration.
The primitives did many things like these because they are beliefs that are passed down from generation to generation. Like thinking that by dressing up like an animal and dancing they would be closer to that animal.
“We all have beliefs which we take as much for granted as the ‘primitives’ take theirs – usually so much that we are not even aware of them unless we meet people who question them.”
The Story of Art is a story of changing ideas and requirements. Primitive craftsmanship is not so different from ours, what is different is their ideas. For us, how in order to really understand primitive art, we need an explanation. But even if we don’t understand some of this art, we can still appreciate the craftsmanship.
“There are many great works of art whose explanation is probably lost forever but which we can still admire.” But when approaching all of these objects, we should remember that most were not made for the idea of pleasure or decoration.
Chapter 2
Art for Eternity
Art as we know it was handed down to us by the Greeks, and the Greeks went to school with the Egyptians. This is why Egyptian art is so important to us.
Pyramids:
They were built to keep the body of a pharaoh, to help him ascend to heaven and to help him exist forever. To help with this, they would carve statues of him. These statues were dull of geometric regularity and keen observation of nature. This became a characteristic of all Egyptian art. (Figure 1).
What mattered the most was not the prettiness of the art, but the completeness. This can be seen in the paintings inside of the tombs. (Figure 2)
Art as we know it was handed down to us by the Greeks, and the Greeks went to school with the Egyptians. This is why Egyptian art is so important to us.
Pyramids:
They were built to keep the body of a pharaoh, to help him ascend to heaven and to help him exist forever. To help with this, they would carve statues of him. These statues were dull of geometric regularity and keen observation of nature. This became a characteristic of all Egyptian art. (Figure 1).
What mattered the most was not the prettiness of the art, but the completeness. This can be seen in the paintings inside of the tombs. (Figure 2)
Figure 1
|
Figure 2
|
“They
merely followed a rule which allowed them to include everything in the human
form that they considered important.” They not only did this with human bodies,
but with everything included in their pictures.
Egyptian pointers looked for patterns. Their sense of order in every detail was so strong that any little variation seems to upset it entirely. This is were the laws or style of Egyptian art formed.
Artists learned these laws form early on. Examples of these laws are:
Why did Egyptian art change very little over the centuries?
Only one king changed the style of Egyptian art: Amenophis IV (father of Tutankhamen).
It is believed that he was influenced by the art in Crete, which expressed movement. But then after this king, Egyptian art went back to normal.
Egyptian pointers looked for patterns. Their sense of order in every detail was so strong that any little variation seems to upset it entirely. This is were the laws or style of Egyptian art formed.
Artists learned these laws form early on. Examples of these laws are:
- Seated statues had to have their hands on their knees.
- Men had to be painted darker than women.
Why did Egyptian art change very little over the centuries?
- Because no one wanted anything different
- The best artist was the one that could make his statues most like the ones of the past
Only one king changed the style of Egyptian art: Amenophis IV (father of Tutankhamen).
It is believed that he was influenced by the art in Crete, which expressed movement. But then after this king, Egyptian art went back to normal.
Chapter 3
The Great Awakening
Greece, seventh to fifth century BC
Tribes from Europe penetrated Greece and they became the Greeks that we know now.
Their art was rigid and simple, so was their architecture (Parthenon).
Still, Athens became the most important and most famous in the history of art.
“The Egyptians had based their art on knowledge. The Greeks began to use their eyes.”
The Greeks had tries new ideas and new ways of representing the human figure. “Each innovation was eagerly taken up by others who added their own discoveries.”
Greeks started to rely on what they saw, not on rules. “It meant that the artist no longer aimed at including everything in the picture in its most clearly visible form, but took account of the angle from which he saw an object.”
This was the great revolution of Greek art, the discovery of natural forms and of foreshortening.
Also in this period:
Why isn’t there many original Greek art left?
“The very reason why nearly all the famous statues of the ancient world perished was that after the victory of Christianity it was considered a pious duty to smash any statue in the heathen of the gods.” The bible says that we shouldn’t worship any idols and people followed those words.
“Every Greek work from that period shows this wisdom and skill in the distribution of figures, but what the Greeks of the time valued even more was something else: the new-found freedom to represent the human body in any position or movement could be used to reflect the inner life of the figures represented.”
Greece, seventh to fifth century BC
Tribes from Europe penetrated Greece and they became the Greeks that we know now.
Their art was rigid and simple, so was their architecture (Parthenon).
Still, Athens became the most important and most famous in the history of art.
“The Egyptians had based their art on knowledge. The Greeks began to use their eyes.”
The Greeks had tries new ideas and new ways of representing the human figure. “Each innovation was eagerly taken up by others who added their own discoveries.”
Greeks started to rely on what they saw, not on rules. “It meant that the artist no longer aimed at including everything in the picture in its most clearly visible form, but took account of the angle from which he saw an object.”
This was the great revolution of Greek art, the discovery of natural forms and of foreshortening.
Also in this period:
- Greek cities began to question tradition and gods.
- Inquired into the nature of things.
- Science and philosophy awoke.
- Theater developed.
Why isn’t there many original Greek art left?
“The very reason why nearly all the famous statues of the ancient world perished was that after the victory of Christianity it was considered a pious duty to smash any statue in the heathen of the gods.” The bible says that we shouldn’t worship any idols and people followed those words.
“Every Greek work from that period shows this wisdom and skill in the distribution of figures, but what the Greeks of the time valued even more was something else: the new-found freedom to represent the human body in any position or movement could be used to reflect the inner life of the figures represented.”
Chapter 4
The Realm of Beauty
Greece and the Greek world, fourth century BC to first century AD
“Towards the end of the fifth century, artists had become fully conscious of their power and mastery, and so had the public.” Art was starting to take importance for its own sake, not for religious or political functions. People started to praise the works of arts beauty or they criticized their form and conception.
Greatest artist of the century: Praxiteles
Another thing that characterizes art in this period is the perfection of the human body.
Also the Greek artists in the works avoided giving the heads a particular expression; they never seem to have any strong expression.
But later this changed: “They learned now to seize the workings of the individual soul, the particular character of physiognomy and to make portraits in our sense of the word.”
This period of Greek art is known as Hellenistic art.
Why? It is the name commonly given to the empires founded by Alexander’s successors on eastern soil.
“Hellenistic art loved such wild and vehement works; it wished to be impressive, and impressive it certainly is.”
Evolution of architecture:
Greece and the Greek world, fourth century BC to first century AD
“Towards the end of the fifth century, artists had become fully conscious of their power and mastery, and so had the public.” Art was starting to take importance for its own sake, not for religious or political functions. People started to praise the works of arts beauty or they criticized their form and conception.
Greatest artist of the century: Praxiteles
Another thing that characterizes art in this period is the perfection of the human body.
Also the Greek artists in the works avoided giving the heads a particular expression; they never seem to have any strong expression.
But later this changed: “They learned now to seize the workings of the individual soul, the particular character of physiognomy and to make portraits in our sense of the word.”
This period of Greek art is known as Hellenistic art.
Why? It is the name commonly given to the empires founded by Alexander’s successors on eastern soil.
“Hellenistic art loved such wild and vehement works; it wished to be impressive, and impressive it certainly is.”
Evolution of architecture:
Chapter 5
World Conquerors
Romans, Buddhists, Jews and Christians
After the romans conquered the world, art remained the same since most of the artists were still Greeks. The only thing that changed was that they were given new tasks and had to adapt their methods to these tasks.
Even the architecture was still based on the Greek ways. Example: colosseum. Ground floor is made in Doric style, the second story in Ionic style and the third and fourth floor in Corinthian style.
“It was typical of the Romans to take from the Greek architecture what they liked, and apply it to their own needs.”
Greek art also influenced:
Romans, Buddhists, Jews and Christians
After the romans conquered the world, art remained the same since most of the artists were still Greeks. The only thing that changed was that they were given new tasks and had to adapt their methods to these tasks.
Even the architecture was still based on the Greek ways. Example: colosseum. Ground floor is made in Doric style, the second story in Ionic style and the third and fourth floor in Corinthian style.
“It was typical of the Romans to take from the Greek architecture what they liked, and apply it to their own needs.”
Greek art also influenced:
- The Egyptians, with their portraits.
- Indians, by the way of the telling of a story and glorified a hero.
- Jews, by representing the stories of the old testament.
Chapter 6
A Parting of Ways
Once the Christian church was established, and was the greatest power, its relationship to art had to be reconsidered.
The church had to find room for the whole congregation for mass. Which is where the basilicas come from.
-They kept the sacred episodes alive.
“It was of immense importance for the history of art that such a great authority had come out in favor of painting.”
But the art was of a restricted kind. It was simple and only concentrated on the essential.
Once the Christian church was established, and was the greatest power, its relationship to art had to be reconsidered.
The church had to find room for the whole congregation for mass. Which is where the basilicas come from.
- Statues were not permitted
- Paintings were thought useful:
-They kept the sacred episodes alive.
“It was of immense importance for the history of art that such a great authority had come out in favor of painting.”
But the art was of a restricted kind. It was simple and only concentrated on the essential.