In this Blog I will consider what we mean by the word art, when art was invented and how our understanding of it has changed. I will look at the fact that art/representations are not produced in a cultural vacuum, that they express the ideas and beliefs of the age.
When was art invented raises questions about the reference to art and what it means. If we look at one of the earliest forms of art The Venus of Willendorf a limestone figurine thought to be dated 28,000 BCE we can clearly see that this strong figure with swollen breasts and broad hips represents fertility and femininity. The figure has inspired artists such as Henry Moore who’s ‘Three Quarter Figure 1961’ bore a strong resemblance. This is surly evidence that as this message from this visual symbol continues through the generations it must be art. Artist through history have looked back to Classical Antiquity of Greek and Roman art to inspire their work. The perfect body showing strength and beauty as in Aphrodite still remains as an image that we hold today.
Art is a term used today and in the past to loosely describe a skilful outcome such as the art of cooking or the art of football. We consider the term ‘fine art’s to be specific and to describe a famous oil painting or a beautiful sculpture often in an art gallery where we expect to encounter art. Is the work of a video games producer art? or must art be what we consider ‘traditional’. Is it possible to define art as something produced with meaning and message by the artist, then perhaps the success of the delivery of that meaning to even one viewer makes that piece of work art. History of Art, Marcia Pointon ‘’It is this very quality of ‘Not Art ’that has been exploited by so called billboard artists like Barbara Kruger who offers us what we are conditioned to expect to see but subverts this to make us see it in a new way”.
It is important to consider the time that a piece of art is created in. The Story of Art by E.H.Gombrich: “There really is no such thing as art. There are only artists. Once these were men who coloured the earth and roughed out the forms of bison on the wall of the cave. There is no harm in calling all of these activities art, as long as we keep in mind that such a word may mean very different things in different times and places, and as long as we realize that Art with a Capital A has no existence. For this has come to be something of a bogey and a fetish”.
This quote makes us see the word art as a slippery snake, moving with each generation and morphing into something different for different viewers.
Art historians believe that art is not created in a vacuum and that the most valuable artistic historical studies are to a greater or lesser extent comparative.
In an exhibition by Jeff Koons ‘New Hoover Convertibles 1981-1987’ Koons was attempting to decode why and how consumer objects are glorified. The exhibition consisted of a number of Hoovers arranged in precision designed acrylic containers.
It questioned our assumptions of what art is with similar effect to that of Duchamp’s urinal 1917. Here we saw familiar everyday objects placed in a gallery setting and so becoming art. Koons work did indeed encompass all elements of a piece of ‘fine art’. Its context was that of femininity as he suggests that he is feminine in his role towards his daughters.
He made door to door sales of sweets as a boy, hence the Hoover reference as they were at the time sold in this manner. Each of their colours were carefully chosen and their placement concise as any colour in a painting. The Hoovers became discontinued, as everything does. Koons commented that “If one of my works were to be turned on it would be destroyed”, emphasising the importance of the New during an evolution of computer games consumerism and 24 hour tv.
Looking back this summery would lead us to believe that the work was a piece of art but response to it was not so simple as it was unexpected and ground breaking at the time.
From the first cave artists who’s preoccupation was with survival we can see evidence of ideas affecting art. Images of animals were proportioned whilst man was often drawn as a stick man. The knowledge of the anatomy of the animal gained because of its importance as food.
The Neolithic period brought the first change in the use of depictions that of honouring gods with bronze statues, masks and pots. Art was beginning to be a visual response of the human environment. By the middle ages the design of architecture and manuscripts changed dramatically imbued with religious figures and it was soon understood that by using beautiful images and colours Christianity could attract new followers. By making the unknown appear attractive. Buddhism also exploited this with statues of Buddha showing harmony.
In Islam where art is forbidden, a beautiful geometric pattern in calligraphy and decoration developed and became art in its own right. Perhaps an example of artistic endeavour despite tough rules against it.
Europe in the 15th Century saw the most significant transition in history where art began to develop alongside mathematics. Medical procedures advanced quickly and as the understanding of the body so too its depiction. Examples of artists who played a part in this phase were Leonardo Da Vinci and Albrecht Durer. Artists began to work with line, form, shape and depth in what became known as the ‘General Elements of Design’.
During the early Renaissance the making of a piece of art was contractual and prescribed by a patron. Although private these commissions often held public place such as churches and public buildings.
There were few opportunities for the artist to express himself in the process. Dictated by Christianity fifteenth century painting was considered too important to be left to the painters.
The picture trade was a quite different thing from that in our own late romantic conditions (Painting and Experience in Fifteenth Century Italy, Michael Baxandall). The production, alongside other artisans such as Goldsmiths and Woodworkers was considered a necessary virtue and pleasure, an expected payment to society.
The amount paid for this work would be broken down into labour, materials, and expenses which included the contracting of other artists to complete the work under the guidance of the artist themselves.
Changes in Western Art as the fifteenth century progressed, became apparent as society abandoned the use of gold and gilt fabrics for restrained black and burgundy. A move away from gold was to express social mobility and the disassociation of oneself with flashiness.
By the 18th Century artists had become independent and enjoyed a high status. They began to see themselves differently, believing , that humanity should not dominate nature. There was an emphasis on celebrating the imagination and light began to flood into paintings this in an effort to extract raw emotion as opposed to conveying a deeper message.
It could be said that Romanticism – a counter cultural movement in which there were no ideals had the greatest effect on our understanding and production of art. Although it is a definition disliked by historians for its span of time and generalisation.
With the onset of the industrial revolution and the move from the individual being in control of the process of creativity there was a movement towards the love and appreciation of nature, free from the effects of a judgemental society. A validation of strong emotion and of authentic sources of an aesthetic experience.
The artist became known as a Bohemian: non-conformist, experimental, eccentric and was accepted. This description holds firm to some degree today. Artists such as Delacroix, Goya and Blake are amongst some of the key artists of this period.
