Art An area of knowledge

Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs

Carl Jung: “The supreme goal of man is to fulfill himself as a creative, unique individual according to his own unique potentialities and within the limits of reality”

John Adams I must study politics and war so that my sons may have liberty to study mathematics and philosophy. My sons ought to study mathematics, philosophy, geography, naval architecture, navigation, commerce and agriculture in order to give their children a right to study painting, poetry music, architecture, statuary, tapestry and porcelain.

The Role of Art The desire to create some sort of art seems to be a universal (some have argued defining) human trait, and the artistic impulse may be among the loftiest of human drives.

A Do you -think that the notion of a hierarchy of needs is meaningful A Do you -think that the notion of a hierarchy of needs is meaningful? If so, is Maslow's model the correct one? If not, why not - surely we all have biological needs that we must satisfy before other needs can be met? B What is the role of the arts in the hierarchy that Maslow has identified? Is this role universal across different cultures? C if you accept Maslow's hierarchy, which is more Important - the lowest level of the pyramid or the top level? Construct arguments to support both views.

What is Art?

Guernica: Testimony of War It is modern art's most powerful antiwar statement... created by the twentieth century's most well-known and least understood artist. But the mural called Guernica is not at all what Pablo Picasso has in mind when he agrees to paint the centerpiece for the Spanish Pavilion of the 1937 World's Fair.

Fabergé Eggs: Mementos of a Doomed Dynasty

Taj Mahal: Memorial to Love

Tracey Irwin: Unmade Bed

Is photography Art?

SCENE I. A lane by the wall of Capulet's orchard. Enter ROMEO ROMEO Can I go forward when my heart is here? Turn back, dull earth, and find thy centre out. He climbs the wall, and leaps down within it Enter BENVOLIO and MERCUTIO BENVOLIO Romeo! my cousin Romeo! MERCUTIO He is wise; And, on my lie, hath stol'n him home to bed.

Great Expectations  Hard Times Martin Chuzzlewit Oliver Twist A Tale of Two Cities Charles Dickens

I WANDERED lonely as a cloud That floats on high o'er vales and hills, When all at once I saw a crowd, A host, of golden daffodils; Beside the lake, beneath the trees, Fluttering and dancing in the breeze. Continuous as the stars that shine…. William Wordsworth

What is Art? “Sunflowers” by Vincent van Gogh. A mass-produced urinal entitled fountain, chosen and displayed, but not designed or created, by Marcel Duchamp. An untitled white piece of canvas. A superb rock concert. The song Happy Birthday. A superb sportsman running 100 m. A perfect copy of “Sunflowers” sold for $3 in a market. A beautiful mountain An white piece of canvas entitled “Hiroshima” value creativity truth Intention enlightenment splendour reality perspective accuracy elegance form realism novelty empathy beauty emotion passion wisdom Interpretation education wonder awe

What is Art? A poem generated by a computer. Einstein's general theory of relativity. A white piece of canvas entitled “A Foggy day” An extremely funny cartoon. Mozart's “Clarinet Concerto”. A perfect copy of Sunflowers hung In a gallery and called “The Perfect Copy”. “King Lear” by William Shakespeare. The Taj Mahal In Agra, India. A sheep cut in two and preserved in a glass container. value creativity truth Intention enlightenment splendour reality perspective accuracy elegance form realism novelty empathy beauty emotion passion wisdom interpretation education wonder awe

Prescriptive or Descriptive? When we ask what art is, we need to be clear about what sort of answer we are hoping to find. If we mean 'What sort of things are called art?' then we have an empirical issue - the question is about how and in what contexts people use the word 'art'. In this sense, the answer will be descriptive of how the world is. On the other hand, and perhaps far more interestingly, if we mean 'What sort of things should we call art?' then we have entered a different area for this question cannot be answered purely by reference to a description of the world. In order to answer the question in this sense we a re required to make a judgement, and the answer will indicate how we think the world should be.

The World’s Most Wanted and Least Wanted Paintings Visit the website: Click here Survey Result: Preferred: A predominance of blue and a pastoral scene with a stretch of water. Least liked: Modern abstract painting with a predominance of red

So, is there GOOD art and BAD Art? What are the criteria we would use to judge?

Weekly Telegraph September 2003

“The Arts are a way of expressing emotion” Think of several pieces of art in different media (for example, architecture, music, painting, poetry, plays, sculpture), good and bad, which evoke emotion. lf the purpose of art is to evoke emotion,- then what are the best forms of art? Would this definition of the purpose of art include things which we would not wish to include, or exclude things we would not wish to exclude? In light of this, to what extent is communication of emotion a useful characterisation of art?

“The Arts imitate nature or the world” – the mimetic theory

Art teaches us what is right…… Guernica: Testimony of War

“The Arts offer an insight into the human condition” ie more than just a moral statement Perhaps this explanation allows us to see why the arts are regarded as a mark of civilisation, why they offer something glorious and profound. If they offer us a way to make sense of what is a confusing natural world, a way to interpret our emotions and those of others, or a guide to the nature of morality, then they are indeed to be valued! This characterisation of the arts seems to encompass the others so far suggested. Perhaps other disciplines give us 'knowledge' but we turn to the arts to broaden our emotional and intellectual boundaries. Look at the examples of Art you have seen. What do they tell you about the human condition?

The Human Condition…… Look at the examples of Art you have seen. What do they tell you about the human condition? Describe some Art that has moved you profoundly in some way. According to this model, what are the highest and lowest forms of Art?

Does it all come down to opinion? “Beauty is in the eye of the beholder” Beauty is no quality in things themselves: it merely exists in the mind that contemplates them. i.e perception Is Art and Beauty necessarily connected?

Personal Opinions: If the arts are about personal opinions then why do we, as a society, rate some art as much better than others? Why are some pieces that were created centuries ago still well known today? Could the sound of my pet dog vomiting really be great art? Objective Standards: If there are objective standards by which to measure the arts, then what are they? Do you think your standards are universally applicable? What is the basis for your choice of those particular standards?

Are the arts Important? If so, is this despite or because of the problem of finding the standards by which to judge them? What place does rationality have in the arts? What are the standards of artistic judgement? Which people are best qualified to judge the arts? What qualities should they possess?

The arts, experience, and the nature of artistic truth. a work of art is not necessarily the worse for the fact that ... [it is] ... literally false ... If the author writes nonsense, it is because he considers it most suitable for bringing about the effects for which his writing is designed – A J Ayer (philosopher) 'Art is a lie that gives us the truth, at least the truth we are given to understand.' Pablo Picasso

Literature A tragic ending for Verona lovebirds: after mistakenly thinking his sweetheart dead, a young man took his life. Having discovered the fate of her lover, the woman killed herself in turn. It’s a hard life on the streets of London: A young orphan runs away to London where he falls in with thieves led by a wily Jew. He eventually rises above all this and discovers his real origins. A poor but noble young hero falls in love with a rich heroine on board ship: They struggle against social pressures and intend to make a life together, but disaster strikes and the hero dies. The heroine goes on to live a happy life but she never forgets.

So, where does that leave us? The arts have proven to be at least as slippery as the sciences! As we were hoping to use them to fill the gaps left by the sciences, this is probably no bad thing. As to whether or not we have succeeded in doing so, that's up to you. However, we cannot deny that the arts offer us something different to science. They seem to connect with us, and to allow us to connect to each other in a very human way. This benefit has, however, come with a cost - we have lost much of any objective claim to certainty that we may once have had. What can we do about this? Probably little, as far as the arts go, but perhaps we should look elsewhere. If it is certainty we seek in our quest for truth, what things are most certain?

Louis Armstrong If you gotta ask you ain’t never gonna know!! Writing about arts is like dancing about architecture