art HUM 2200
Summarize what you learned in the readings this week.
250 word count
1
The Vocabulary of Art I
Elizabeth Murray, The Sun and
the Moon, 2005.
2
Line: path of moving point
Actual & Implied
(contour/outline;
direction & movement;
hatching, cross-hatching,
stippling)
Shape: (2-D) enclosed line
Actual & Implied
Mass/Form: (3-D) depth, height
& width
Figure (positive) & Ground
(negative)
The Visual Elements
Light: digital & electronic
Actual & Implied
Value: relative light & dark
Chiaroscuro (light & dark)
Color: Hue
Analogous (warm & cool)
Primary
Secondary
Complementary
Pointillism: optical mixing
3
Line implies direction and movement
Keith Haring, Untitled, 1982.
Sarah Sze, Hidden Relief, 2001.
Line: Contour and Outline
4
Vincent van Gogh, Starry Night, 1889.
What Do Artists Do?
Give tangible form to
feeling:
Van Gogh attempted
to express his
personal feelings. He
was intrigued by a
thought that people
journey to a star
after death. Nature
seems to be alive
and have an urgent
presence, while the
village and those on
earth sleep.
5
Ernst Haas, Peeling Paint on Iron Bench, Kyoto, 1981.
What Do Artists Do?
Refresh our vision and see the world in new ways
6
What Do Artists Do?
The Need for Art:
To create places for human purpose
To create extra-ordinary versions of ordinary objects
To record and commemorate
To give tangible form to the unknown
To give tangible form to feelings and ideas
To refresh our vision and see the world in a new way
7
Types of Lines:
Vertical lines seem assertive,
or denote growth & strength.
Horizontal lines appear calm.
Diagonal lines are the most
dramatic and imply action.
Eakins, The Biglin Brothers Racing, 1873-74.
Line: Direction and Movement
8
Shading and Modeling: Create mass
Hatching:
Closely spaced parallel lines
Cross-hatching:
Parallel lines intersect like a checkerboard
Stippling:
Dots spaced close or far apart to suggest
darker or lighter areas
Line
Implied Shape & Mass
9
The Oldest Art
Horse and Geometric Symbol, Cave painting, Lascaux, France,
c. 13,000 B.C.E.
10
The oldest art created around the Mediterranean Sea
can best be understood in context with the history of
the people who inhabited this area.
In many of these early societies, earthly order and
cosmic order were viewed as interrelated and mutually
dependent.
It is in the Mediterranean area, Africa, the Near East,
and Europe that Western art begins.
The cave paintings at Lascaux were thought to be the
oldest until the accidental discovery of the Chauvet
cave in France in 1996.
This image dates from the Upper Paleolithic Period.
One theory was that these images were a form of
magic to ensure success in hunting. Another theory is
that they represent spirit contacts in the Other
World
11
Pictographs are images painted on a rock face. Paints were
generally made from pulverized minerals. Red, white, and
black were the most common colors.
A pictogram or pictograph is a symbol representing an
object or concept by illustration. Pictography is a form of
writing whereby ideas are transmitted through drawing. It
is the basis of cuneiform and hieroglyphs.
Pictograms remain in common use today, serving as signs
or instructions. Because of their graphical nature and
fairly realistic style, they are widely used to indicate public
toilets, or places such as airports and train stations.
However, even these symbols are highly culture-specific.
12
13
Inside Frances
25,000-year-old
Pech Merle Cave,
hand stencils
surround the
famed “Spotted
Horses” mural.
The stenciled
hands were found
to be those of
women.
http://www.pechmerle.com/english/
14
Cave of Lascaux, France
http://www.lascaux.culture.fr/#/en/00.xml
15
Lascaux is a
complex of
caves in
southwestern
France famous
for its cave
paintings. They
contain some of
the earliest
known art,
dating back to
somewhere
between 13,000
and 15,000 BC,
or as far back as
25,000 BC.
16
17
The Impulse for Art
Chauvet Cave, Lion panel, c. 25,000-17,000 B.C.E.
http://www.culture.gouv.fr/culture/arcnat/chauvet/en/
18
The impulse to create and communicate has existed since
at least 30,000 BCE. Many times, we are only
knowledgeable of a peoples existence because of the
discovery of their art.
The discovery of this cave pushed back our history of art
by several thousand years.
What compelled man to create visual records?
In this case there are several theories: to decorate his
dwelling space, to pray for magic and success of
hunts, to educate hunters as to the movement and
nature of prey.
Often hunters needed to be close to the kill and
would cover themselves with a hide.
Their movement would need to mimic the animal in
order to succeed. Artists have an innate need to
express themselves.
18
19
Gricault, The Raft of the Medusa, 1818-19.
Implied Line
Direction & Eye Movement
20
Earthwork: Art made from natural materials
from and for a specific place
Christo and Jeanne-Claude, The Gates, 1979 –
2005.
Ohio, Serpent Mound, c. 1000 C.E.
Working With Time and Place
21
Land Art The Spiral Jetty
22
The Spiral Jetty, considered to be the central work
of American sculptor Robert Smithson, is an
earthwork sculpture constructed in 1970.
Built of mud, salt crystals, basalt rocks, earth, and
water on the northeastern shore of the Great Salt
Lake near Rozel Point in Utah, it forms a 1500-foot
long, 15-foot wide counterclockwise coil jutting
from the shore of the lake which is only visible
when the level of the Great Salt Lake falls below an
elevation of 4,197.8 feet.
http://www.robertsmithson.com/
http://www.robertsmithson.com/earthworks/ew.htm
23
Figure (positive shape)
Ground (negative shape)
Shape:
An enclosed line;
a two-dimensional
area with
identifiable
boundaries
i.e.: circles or
squares
Mass/Form:
A three-
dimensional area
with identifiable
boundaries
i.e.: spheres and
cubes
Shape and Mass
Emmi Whitehorse, Chanter,1991.
Bill Reid, The Raven and the First Men, completed 1983.
24
Figure-ground reversal:
The concept of positive
and negative space.
In representational
work, it is the shape
of the object.
In nonrepresentational
work, it is the shape that
appears dominant or
active.
Aztec, circular shield, before 1521.
Shape and Mass
25
The Oldest Art
Venus of Willendorf, c. 23,000 B.C.E.
http://witcombe.sbc.edu/willendorf/willendorfdiscovery.html CHAPTER 2 Native American Art: Tribal Styles
The past half a century has witnessed an increasing awareness of
American Indian art develop among American people. Before then, the
only place where primitive art could be seen was in major museums of
natural history. The creative works of Native Americans were seen as
undeveloped forms, thus the term primitive.
Today, not only is the art seen as culturally oriented, there is now an
emphasis on the artistic qualities of the work. Little or no distinction was
made between objects that were artful and those created for everyday
use. American Indian art has also been collected seriously by enthusiasts
who appreciate the superior craft skills of Native Americans. The survival
of American art and culture requires a definition of what real Indian art is,
not clichs or stereotypes.
For thousands of years, Indians have been producing art that defines
their world. As you can see in the Rand Gallery of Native American Art at
the Montclair Art Museum (www.montclairartmuseum.org), the production
of everyday items illustrates a visual language of culture. As Native
American creative objects are redefined, we see them as fine art rather
than ethnographic curiosities. Acceptance of the art is also the result of
recent scholarship that shows that artists have often taken liberties with
their surroundings and have simplified what is important to them.
I had the opportunity to participate in a guided tour with Twig Johnson,
the curator of Native American Art at the museum. She emphasized that
Native Americans were often portrayed either as bloodthirsty savages or
as romantic, tragic and instinctual figures. Putting those extremes aside, it
was essential that their traditional culture in harmony with nature had to
be documented before its imminent disappearance. An interesting
catalog titled Affinities and Influences: American and Native American Art
is a commentary on the role of cultural diplomacy as a pathway to a life
of quality.
Norman Feder, the author of American Indian Art published by Harry
N. Abrams, Inc., tells us that none of the many Indian languages in over
300 tribes have a word for art although art is connected to their daily,
spiritual and social lives. Objects were created by largely anonymous
artists who are part of an historical legacy that continues to be passed
from one generation to the next. Differing from tribe to tribe, recognition
of unique designs of blankets, the ingenuity of beadwork and jewelry, the
skill of baskets, totems and pipes as well as the sophistication of pottery
and quill works has been long overdue.
In this lecture, we will attempt to construct the forces that have shaped
American art history as well as address some serious omissions including
the rich variety of meanings and purposes of Native American art. Each
culture retains an original technique or specialization and contact with
European traders and settlers expanded the range of materials. The
director of the American Indian Museum in Washington, Michael Janofsky,
stated that art is about who we are, what happened to us and how our
lives are effected. You can read some of his other ideas in his June 2006
The New York Times article The American Story Told Through Ideas and
Ideals.
Through the lens of biography and through the lens of ideas, we can
see who we are as people and correct some misconceptions about
Native people. Many of us are unaware of the Indians plight as settlers
and government agents encroached on ancestral hunting grounds.
Conflict and subsequent relocation to reservations was detrimental to
Native artistic abilities. Pushed West, Native Americans became
dislocated peoples whose traditional cultures were erased by federal laws
that promoted assimilation.
Less than 150 years ago, many Indians still led a nomadic existence,
moving their teepees and horses from place to place and warriors used
bows and arrows as well as rifles. Reluctant to submit to the will of the
United States government and be confined to the limits of a reservation,
many Indians were hostile.
Indians fought for their homes, lands, traditions and families, yet after
the white man came, Indian power waned and vast preserves of woods
and valleys were taken over. It is to their art that we look to help save the
broken fragments of a lost world. As a stunning array of ceremonial and
utilitarian objects is increasingly recognized as examples of long-term
artistic traditions, they have been placed among the canonical works of
world cultures. Human clothing, saddle blankets, cradle boards,
moccasins and Kachina figures bring to light a fascinating and ultimately
sad chapter in American history.
The Navajo Nation is Americas largest native population. More than
250,000 Navajos or Dine (the people) live in Navajo land that covers
27,000 square miles over Arizona, part of New Mexico and Utah.
(www.nps.gov/nava). According to Navajo creation stories, before
settling here in the White or Glittering World, the first holy people passed
http://www.nps.gov/nava
through three worlds—Black, Blue, and Yellow. Shortly after, they
established the four sacred mountains that mark the boundaries of the
Navajo homeland.
The Northern Pueblos are world-famous for their fine arts, which have
been passed on to present-day artists from many generations past. From
pottery, jewelry, painting, weaving, embroidery and drums each Pueblo
seems to have its specialty. The Northern Pueblos of New Mexico
represent eight of the 19 Pueblo tribes and are the oldest tribal
communities in the United States. Despite the loss of land to colonization
by the Spanish, Mexican and American governments, the Pueblos remain
on their original homelands to this day.
The growth of Native American activism in the late 1970s was
commonly known as the Red Power Movement and contemporary artists
like Roy Lichtenstein and Juane-Quick-to-See-Smith examined the myths
and stereotypes of American Indian life. Lichtenstein, best known for the
signature Pop style he developed, looked at art work by Indians in order
to challenge clichs of the life of the first Americans. For example, in his
painting Little Landscape, he used iconic signs and symbols excerpted
from specific works of Amerind art to explore the visual means by which
culture has defined itself. The symbols—thunderbird, animal tracks,
teepee, clouds, cactus, feathers, mountains—show his fascination with
American Indian imagery and subject matter.
Juane-Quick-to-See-Smith was inspired by the long trips she took with
her father, a horse trader, trainer and rodeo rider. She was also
influenced by her fathers collection of beadworks, Charles Russell prints
and Navajo saddle blankets. From childhood, Juane-Quick-to-See-Smith
knew she wanted to be an artist. Born in the Flathead Reservation in
western Montana, she lived in bunkhouses, traveling the land. She
graduated from Framingham State College in Massachusetts where she
began her work that builds bridges between Native American and
contemporary American culture.
In her 1992 mixed media collage War Shirt, she uses clippings from
newspapers and magazines to address Native American identity in the
face of the cultural changes in the 21st century. Traditionally made to
honor an individual and his deeds, this ancient symbol of prestige is
thought to hold intrinsic power transferred to its owner. The war shirt is now
used to record the struggle of Native people to honor tribal traditions and
to survive. There is considerable concern that significant societal changes
and a loss of traditional languages, beliefs and ceremonial practices have
resulted in the production of artistic objects made to appeal to the
commercial market.
Edward S. Curtis (1868-1952) is the most widely collected photographer
in the world. Like most Americans of his day, believed that American
Indian people and their cultures would soon disappear. He devoted thirty
years to documenting the customs, beauty, lifestyle and spirituality of
more the eighty Native American tribes. In describing Curtis lithographs, it
has been said that Never before have we seen the Indians of North
America so close to the origins of their humanity. To read more see N.
Scott Momadays commentary in Edward S. Curtis: Coming To Light,
Washington, D.C.: National Geographic, 2002. He also took 50,000
photographs and one of his most prized images shows Chief Red Hawk,
the fierce warrior who was in twenty fights including the 1876 Battle of
Little Bighorn, George Armstrong Custers last stand.
(www.arenaeditions.com)
Inspired by his first encounter with Native Americans, Curtis images
convey the central aspects of their spirit. He began his lifes work soon
after the 1890 massacre at Wounded Knee, South Dakota, the last major
battle between the United States Army and Native Americans. Indians
watched as their ancestral hunting grounds were stolen by the white men.
Indians faced starvation as the buffalo herds on which they depended
disappeared with the encroachment of settlers and railroads.
Unlike many American painters who often depicted Native Americans
as enemies, George Catlin (1796-1872) painted sympathetic scenes of
Indian life depicting their customs in scenes like his Buffalo Chase. By
the end of the nineteenth century, the buffalo had become so rare that
when a small herd appeared near Pine Ridge Reservation in South
Dakota, several elderly tribesmen hugged, rather than killed, the animals.
In an effort that was intended to wipe out the primary food source of
American Indian Tribes in the West, the United States government had
massacred the great herds in the 1870s. Some orphaned bison calves
were rescued and buffalo herds in recent years have become a popular
way for tribes to reconnect with their history. They can be seen from afar
when traveling through the land, however, herds are maintained for
traditional purposes and are not accessible to visitors. With a sensitivity
rare among Americans, Catlin dedicated his career to preserving images
of American Indians and their unique heritage and created 500 paintings
that became vital records of Indian tribal life.
Charles Bird King (1785-1862) was a remarkable portraitist and he, too,
produced an important series of over 140 paintings of Native Americans
depicting them in colorful native costumes. His unforgettable images of
lifestyles that have passed forever into history tell stories of love and war,
grief, strength and dignity.
