Form + Content

Reading:Artforms, ch. 13

Terms/Concepts:Form, Content, Meaning, Subject Matter, Intent, Theory, Formalism, Art for Art’s Sake, Greenbergian Formalism, Expression Theory, Catharsis, Arousal Theory, Contextual, Social History of Art, Zeitgeist, Marxism, Capitalist, Bourgeoisie, Proletariat, Base, Superstructure,

Psychoanalysis, Id, Ego, Superego, Conscious, Subconscious, Postcolonialism,

Leonardo da Vinci, The Last Supper, 1495-1498

Form Content

Form is the totality of the physical and visual aspects of a work of art.

Form Content

Content is the meaning of a work of art.

Form Content

What specifically is content?

Subject Matter

Artist’s Intent

Viewer’s Interpretation

The “Message”

the·o·rynoun \ˈthē-ə-rē, ˈthir-ē\

plural the·o·ries

1: the analysis of a set of facts in their relation to one another 2: abstract thought : speculation 3: the general or abstract principles of a body of fact, a science, or an art <music theory> 4a : a belief, policy, or procedure proposed or followed as the basis of action <her method is based on the theory that all children want to learn> b : an ideal or hypothetical set of facts, principles, or circumstances —often used in the phrase in theory <in theory, we have always advocated freedom for all> 5: a plausible or scientifically acceptable general principle or body of principles offered to explain phenomena <the wave theory of light> 6a : a hypothesis assumed for the sake of argument or investigation b : an unproved assumption : conjecture c : a body of theorems presenting a concise systematic view of a subject <theory of equations>

Basic Questions

1. What is my first response to the work?2. When and where was the work made? By whom

and for whom was it made?3. What did the work originally look like?4. What does the form contribute to the works

meaning?5. Where would the work originally have been seen?6. What purpose did the work serve?7. What is the title? Does it contribute to the works

meaning?

Major Theories of Art Criticism

• Formalist Theories• Expression Theories• Contextual Theories

• Marxist Theories• Psychoanalytic Theories• Postcolonialist Theories

General Approaches(In Artforms, ch. 13)

Specific Theories

Art as FormKey Figures:Victor CousinTheophile GautierClive BellJames McNeill WhistlerDante Gabriel RosettiClement GreenbergRosalind KraussMichael Fried

Victor Cousin

Art as Form

Joseph Albers, Homage to a Square: Glow, 1966.

Useful Questions

1. What does the work look like?2. How does the work use the “elements of

design” (i.e. composition, color, line, etc.)?3. How are the “principles of design” (i.e. rhythm,

balance, emphasis, etc.) present in the work?4. How do the “elements” and “principles”

interact with one another?5. What do you reactions to the work’s form say

about your taste?

Art as Expression

Key FiguresPlato (5th century BCE)Aristotle (4th century BCE)Leo Tolstoy (1828-1910)R.G. Collingwood (1880-1943)Benedetto Croce (1866-1952)John Dewey (1859-1952)Ernst Cassirer (1874-1945)Susanne Langer (1895-1985)

Leo Tolstoy

Art as Expression

Wasily Kandinsky, Improvisation 28, 1912

Art as Expression

Eugene Delacroix, Liberty Leading the People, 1830

Useful Questions

1. What is your instinctual reaction to the work of art?

2. What emotions are present in the work? How are they present?

3. Who was the artist?4. What were the emotions of the artist was

trying to express?5. What message was the artist trying to convey?

Art as Evidence

Key Figures:Arnold Hauser (1892-1978)Theodor W. Adorno (1903-1969)Louis Althusser (1918-1990)Walter Benjamin (1892-1940)Pierre Bourdieu (1930-2002)Shifra Goldman (1926-)Albert Boime (1933-2008)Jules Prown (1930-)

Arnold Hauser

Artist

Art Viewer

Context

Cont

ext Context

Artist Art

Viewer

Context

Cont

ext Context

Artist

Art

Viewer

Context

Cont

ext Context

Useful Questions

1. When and where was the work of art made?2. How does the work of art illustrate the values or

social conditions of this time?3. Does the work of art conform to or rebel against

prevailing ideals of this context?4. What was life like for people when this work was

made?5. What were the social and economic conditions of the

time and place the work was made?6. Who was the artist? How did they fit in this cultural

context?

Marxism

Key Figures:Karl MarxFriedrich EngelsLouis AlthusserTheodor AdornoWalter BenjaminLee BaxandallJohn Berger

Karl Marx

Proletariat

Cont

rol o

f Res

ourc

esM

ost

Leas

t

Bourgeoisie

Capitalists

Royalty, Land Owners, etc.Control the Means of Production

Skilled Laborers/MerchantsDo not control the means of production but benefit from it.

Working Class/Non-ParticipantsBenefit the least from the means of production.

Base

Superstructure

IdeologiesPolitical Social

Religious Moral Scientific

Cultural ProductsMass Media Propaganda Advertisements

Economic RelationsExploitation Resource Stratification

Modes of ProductionFactories Machines

Labor LandRaw Materials

Art can be a part of the superstructure

Art can also serve to undermine the base Marxist View of Society

Useful Questions

1. Who produced this work? Capitalists? Proletariat? Bourgeoisie?

2. What modes of production facilitated the creation of this work?

3. Does this work support or undermine the base?

4. What role does this work play in class struggle?

5. How does this work function politically?

Psychoanalysis

Major Figures:Sigmund FreudCarl JungMary CavinessSalvador Dali

Sigmund Freud

Conscious

Subconscious

Form

Content

Logic & Reasoning

Higher-Consciousness or Conscience

Base Fears & Desires

An Example“After we have studied this picture for some time, it suddenly dawns on us that only Leonardo could have painted it, just as only he could have created the fantasy of the vulture. The picture contains the synthesis of the history of his childhood: its details are to be explained by reference to the most personal impressions in Leonardo’s life. In his father’s house he found not only his kind stepmother, Donna Albiera, but also his grandmother, Monna Lucia, who—we will assume—was no less tender to him than grandmothers usually are. These circumstances might well suggest to him a picture representing childhood watched over by mother and grandmother.”

--Sigmund Freud, Leonardo da Vinci and a Memory of his Childhood

Leonardo DaVinci, Virgin and Child with St. Anne

Useful Questions

1. What unconscious motives are present in the form of the work?

2. What might your interpretation of a work say about your unconscious psychological motivations?

3. Could this work be the representation of a dream?

4. What might the work say about the artist’s suppressed fears and desires?

Postcolonial Theory

Major Figures:Edward SaidGayatri Chakravorty SpivakHomi BhabhaFranz FanonGilles DeleuzeFelix GuattariChris OfiliOkwui Enwezor

Edward Said

Jean-Leon Gerome, The Snake Charmer, 1870

Chris Ofili, The Holy Virgin Mary, 1996

Useful Questions

1. How does the work, explicitly or allegorically, represent various aspects of colonial oppression?

2. Does the work address issue of identity? What does the work reveal about postcolonial identity?

3. Does the work confront or use cultural difference? If so, how?

4. Does the work represent resistance to oppression? If so, how?

5. Did the artist work under colonial oppression? Did the artist work with colonial forces?

Other Theories

Gender TheoriesRacial TheoriesQueer TheoriesViewer-Response TheoryStructuralist TheoryPost-Structuralist Theory