Aesthetics

Ms. Krall

Intro Activity

• What is Beauty?

• Can you draw Beauty?

• Can you describe something beautiful by hearing it?

Intro Activity

• Look at the following works of Art and note the following…

• Type of style• It’s use• It’s importance• Your interpretation

Emperor Augustus

Ceiling of Sistine Chapel

Tiffany Lamp

The Potato Eaters by Van Gogh

Water Lilly Pond by Monet

Don Quixote by Picasso

Eyes in Heat by Pollock

Campbell's Soup Can by Warhol

Questions…

• What is art? Are these pieces of Art?

• How do you determine what is good or bad art? Any requirements?

Vocabulary Check

Intuition

1. The act or faculty of knowing or sensing without the use of rational processes: immediate cognition. b. Knowledge gained by the use of this faculty; a perceptive insight.

2. A sense of something not evident or deducible; an impression.

Perception

The word, perception, comes from the Latin word:Capere - to take Per (the prefix) - ‘completely’

1.The process, act, or faculty of perceiving: OBSERVATION 2.The effect or product of perceiving: CONCEPT3. Psychol. a. Recognition and interpretation of sensory stimuli based chiefly on memory.

In psychology and the cognitive sciences, perception is the process of acquiring, interpreting, selecting, and organizing sensory information.

3 Definitions for Aesthetics:

1. a particular taste for, or approach to, what is pleasing to the senses--especially sight;

2. a branch of philosophy dealing with the nature of art and beauty;

3. a particular theory or conception of beauty or art.

Definition one: Aesthetics

Function: noun

1. a particular taste for or approach to what is pleasing to the senses--especially sight.

Aesthetics in this definition is something that appeals to the senses. Someone’s aesthetic has to do with his or her perceptual or artistic judgment.

It comes from the root word:Aesthesia: the ability to feel or

perceive; being awake and able to feel senses.

The opposite is:Anesthesia: the inability to feel

or perceive; to be asleep or non-feeling.

We make informal aesthetic choices every day.

From what we wear . . .

to the things we buy: books, music, and objects for our homes.

Public figures make aesthetic choices to convey something about who they are.

Andy Warhol wore various silver wigs throughout the ’60s, ’70s, and ’80s to change his personal appearance--to create a signature look.

Who does this in today’s popular culture?

Andy Warhol, Self-Portrait (Fright Wig), 1986, Polaroid™ Polacolor ER, 4 1/4 x 3 3/8 in. (10.8 x 8.6 cm.). ©AWF

The aesthetic choices we make influence many parts of our lives.

We all have a personal aesthetic (preferences and tastes based on what we see).

How would you describe the aesthetic quality of your classroom at school?

How would you describe the aesthetic quality of your bedroom?

Review• how do people make

aesthetic choices everyday based upon personal preferences and ideas about goodness, harmony and beauty?

Andy Warhol, Brillo Box Dress and Fragile dress, 1964 ©AWF.

The Andy Warhol Museum Self-Portrait Gallery, photo by Paul Rocheleau - All Art ©AWF

Review!

• What is the first definition of aesthetics that we learned in class?

• “a particular taste for or approach to what is pleasing to the senses--especially sight”

“Things that are not art”

• Think of something that is not art.

• list 4-6 reasons why the object is not a work of art

Definition Two: Aesthetics

Function: noun

2. A branch of philosophy dealing with the nature of art and beauty.

The philosophy of aesthetics asks and tries to answer the

“Big” Questions: • What is art?• What makes a piece of art beautiful?• How important are personal tastes when judging

the quality of art?• What are the standards for judging art? • Why is originality so important in art? How do we

define what is original or what is creative?

What makes a work of art original or creative?

If Warhol worked from other people’s photographs,

is his work really original? … Why does he get to copy, but I can’t?

Original source material, Flowers series by Andy Warhol, 1964, Two-sided collage; adapted from Modern Photography magazine, June 1964, photographic spread of color transparencies by Patricia Caulfield. ©AWF

Andy Warhol, Flowers, 1970, Published Edition, screen print on paper, 36 x 36 in. ©AWF

Who decides what is art?

Who decides what makes an artwork special, valuable, or good?

Andy Warhol, Brillo Soap Pads Box, 1964, silkscreen ink and house paint on plywood, 17 x 17 x 14 in. ©AWF

Review!

• Turn to your neighbor and give the two definitions of aesthetics we learned so far.

Do artworks have to be beautiful or pretty?

The Nature of Beauty

Andy Warhol, Electric Chair, 1971, Published Edition, 137/250 screen print on paper, 35 1/2 x 48 in. ©AWF

Questions to determine what we can know as truth (Epistemology):

• What do we learn about capital punishment in this piece?

• What do we learn about Warhol?

• What would it mean if the original photograph for this painting was staged by Warhol instead of a documentary photo?

Questions to determine what is real and what exists (Metaphysics):

• If this were a billboard instead of a work hung in a gallery would it be art?

• Does Warhol’s use of photographic silkscreen make this work more realistic?

• Is this painting objective or subjective in relation to its subject, an electric chair?

Questions to determine what we think is good in

ethics and in art (Values/Ethics) 

• What value does this artwork have?

• Is this painting beautiful?

• What values would be reflected if this room was part of your school?

• What would be the ethical implications if a majority of Americans agreed to hang this painting in their living rooms?

Bell Ringer Review!

• What three branches of Philosophy can be used to identify art?

• Metaphysics

• Ethics

• Epistemology

Definition threeAesthetics

Function: noun

3. A particular theory or conception of beauty or art.

Beauty…

• “the qualities that give pleasure to the senses.”

• “characteristic of a person, place, object or idea that provides a perceptual experience of pleasure, meaning or satisfaction.”

Art…

• “The product of creative human activity in which materials are shaped or selected to convey an idea, emotion, or visually interesting form.”

Art and Beauty…

• Socrates and Plato- art was an imitation of nature/reality.

• Supported the Objective Approach, that Beauty is a matter of fact.

• Ex. If a statue is beautiful, then someone who does not like does not merely have different taste, they are actually wrong.

• Selectivity (important event in artist’s life)

• Clarity (purpose, must be intelligent and Clear)

• Integration (relationship to the “degree” of beauty present)

Subjective Approach

• Subjective art on the other hand, is an interpretation of the artist, his mood, his feeling, his dream, his passion, his vision; it is a state of his mind.

• Tends to identify the beautiful with that which pleases the observer.

Subjectivism

• Supported by 18th Century Philosopher David Hume.

• We are not born with knowledge, we learn from experience.

• Therefore, by using our senses we then develop the notion of what is beautiful.

• However our judgments on beauty are personal ones.

• Art is a “matter of taste.”

Is there a purpose to Art?

• Nietzsche believed that the purpose of art was metaphysical.

• Focused on myths that involved death and destruction.

• Believed that unhappiness is actually good for human beings.

• Focuses us to have courage and strive toward greater accomplishments.

• It is better to be sad and deep than to be happy and superficial.

For example

Da VinciKandinsky

Another approach is to say that “art” is basically asociological category, that whatever art schools andmuseums and artists get away with is considered artregardless of formal definitions.

Eduardo Juantegui

Aesthetic theories provide different answers to these

questions:

What makes something a work of art?

What do we learn from it?

What value does this work have?

Basic Aesthetic Theories:

1. Representation (imitation, realism, mimesis)

2. Expressionism (emotionalism)

3. Formalism

4. Communication of moral and religious ideas

5. Symbolic (non-verbal) communication

6. Instrumentalism

7. Institutionalism

Welcome Back!

• Bell Ringer..

• Agenda and Objective: Through notes/discussion students will understand the three definitions of Aesthetics.

• What are the three theories aesthetic theories that we discussed yesterday?

Representation (imitation, realism, mimesis):

The essence of art is to picture or portray reality. Good art mirrors the world, imitating nature or some ideal form.

Martin Johnson Heade, Thunderstorm at the Shore, c. 1870-1871, oil on paper mounted on canvas attached to panel 15 3/4 x 23 3/4 in. Carnegie Museum of Art, Howard N. Eavenson Memorial Fund

Expressionism (emotionalism):

The essence of art is expression of the inner emotions, feelings, moods, and mental states of the artist. Good art effectively and sincerely brings these inner states to an external objectification.

Both Aristotle and Nietzsche both agreed that artists should be

concerned with how their works will affect their audience.

Willem de Kooning, Woman VI, 1953Oil on canvas

Formalism: The essence of art is “significant form” - lines, shapes, colors, and other formal properties of the work; representation, expression, and other subject matter are irrelevant. Good art uses formal elements to trigger an “aesthetic emotion” in sensitive observers.

Donald Judd, Untitled, 1974, Stainless steel and Plexiglas8 x 194 1/2 x 14 in. Carnegie Museum of Art, Purchase: gift of Mr. and Mrs. Charles Denby, by exchange

Communication of moral and religious ideas:

The essence of art is the communication of important moral and religious values from the artist to the observer. Good art is a form of sincere communication by the artist that “infects” the observers with those important moral ideas.

Simon Bening, St. Gertrude de Nivelles, from the Hours of Cardinal Albrecht of Brandenburg (1490-1545), Archbishop and Elector of Mainz c. 1522-1523, opaque water-based paint mounted on board 7 x 5 in. Carnegie Museum of Art, Bequest of Howard A. Noble

Symbolic (non-verbal) communication: The essence of art is the

communication of important ideas and other knowledge through symbolic (non-verbal) languages. Good art communicates its meaning effectively through this non-verbal language.

Jacob Ochtervelt, Lady with Servant and Dog, c. 1671-1673, oil on canvas, 27 1/8 x 22 7/8 in. Carnegie Museum of Art, Henry Lee Mason Memorial Fund

Instrumentalism: The essence of art is its usefulness in helping us to comprehend and improve our overall life experiences. Good art is always a means to some important end.

Romare Bearden, Pittsburgh Memories, 1984, collage on board, 28 5/8 x 23 1/2 in. Carnegie Museum of Art, Gift of Mr. and Mrs. Ronald R. Davenport and Mr. and Mrs. Milton A. Washington

Institutionalism:

Andy Warhol, Brillo Soap Pads Box, 1964, silkscreen ink and house paint on plywood, 17 x 17 x 14 in. ©AWF

Art is determined by status conferred upon it by the institutions of the art world not by an observable property in the artwork itself.

Barry Le Va, On Corner - On Edge - On Center Shatter (Within the Series of Layered Pattern Acts), 1968-1971, twenty sheets of glass 59 x 79 in. ( 91 x 150 x 201 cm) Carnegie Mellon Art Gallery Fund

Review

3 definitions for aesthetics:

1. a particular taste for, or approach to, what is pleasing to the senses--especially sight;

2. a branch of philosophy dealing with the nature of art and beauty;

3. a particular theory or conception of beauty or art.

http://www.philosophersnet.com/games/britney_spears.php