The very idea of art!
Why art? I AM! (existential)
Human Figure, 2nd century B.C.–1st century A.D. Old Bering Sea peoples; Alaska Ivory (walrus); H. 3 3/4 in. (9.5 cm)
Why art? I AM! (existential) magic/spiritual
Why art? I AM! (existential) magic/spiritual expression – the pleasure of feeling feelings!
Goya, Executions of the Third of May, text p. 340
not practical
Why art? I AM! (existential) magic/spiritual expression aesthetic pleasure
Bowl with Pair of Rabbits, mid-9th–12th century Mimbres peoples; New Mexico Ceramic; H. 2 1/2 in. (two views)
Jar with Four Faces, mid-13th–mid-15th century Casas Grandes peoples; Chihuahua Ceramic; H. 8 11/16 in. (22.3 cm)
Bannerstone, ca B.C. Archaic peoples; Ohio Banded slate; H. 2 5/16 in. (5.9 cm
Bierstadt, Albert Among the Sierra Nevada Mountains, California 1868, Oil on canvas, 183 x 305 cm text p. 345
Why look at a sunset?
Why art? I AM! (existential) magic/spiritual expression aesthetic pleasure the pleasure of LOOKING
Sheeler, Charles Bucks County Barn, 1923, Tempera and crayon on paper 19 5/8 x 26 in
Diebenkorn, Richard Ocean Park No Oil on canvas 100 x 81 in
Sargent, John Singer The Daughters of Edward D. Boit 1882 Oil on canvas 87 3/8 x 87 5/8 in
Sargent, John Singer The Daughters of Edward D. Boit Detail 1882 Oil on canvas
Why art? the pleasure of being fooled? (a special case of the pleasure of looking?)
Sargent, John Singer The Daughters of Edward D. Boit 1882 Oil on canvas 87 3/8 x 87 5/8 in
Is art about the way things look or the way we see? (Is art necessarily a thing or object?)
Robert Smithson, Spiral Jetty, 1970 See textbook p. 439
Is art a thing or a process? An object or an idea? Is an image an idea?
Robert Smithson, Spiral Jetty, 1970 See textbook p. 439
Spiral Jetty
Spiral Jetty, 2003
Meret Oppenheim, Fur covered cup, saucer, and spoon, 1936 (a.k.a. The Object) Do you need to see this to “get it” – or is the photo itself enough?
Andy Goldsworthy Knotweed Stalks Pushed into Lake Bottom February 20 and March 8-9, 1988 Derwent Water, Cumbria © Andy Goldsworthy
Andy Goldsworthy Ends of Bamboo November 1987 Kinagashima-Cho, Japan © Andy Goldsworthy
An example of Pre-Columbian art
What is the ‘art’? The idea, the image, or the object?
Perhaps the uncanny superposition of all three...
Frog pendant, , C. America
SELECTION Laura Rauch
John Moore
Oleg Popov