  Write down the following:  A song of your choice  A play of your choice  A science experiment you’ve done in the past. Starter :

What is it saying?

  The thing you or the artist is drawing  Artists use tangible things: fruit, animals, buildings etc as their subject matter.  They can also use non-tangible things like emotions- fear, sadness, happiness, etc- as their subject matter. What is subject matter?

  Artists tell something about their subject. They need a reason to paint a landscape or sculpt a person. The reason may be as simple as like the scene, or as personal as wanting to show the harmony and order of the natural world.  Artists may sculpt or paint a woman because she is beautiful, or because they want to show her character or her influence on her fellow humans.  Throughout history, and especially in the last few decades, artists’ attitudes toward subject matter have changed drastically. More about subject matter:

  In narrative paintings, the artist is telling a story. Think the blanket from yesterday.  Painter Peter Brueghel (Flanders, the original wedding crasher) painted a lot of narrative pieces. Within a large painting, he included small scenes of peasant life and little insights that can be developed into further stories. Narrative Subjects

 Religious subjects  Any religious figure from any religion can be the subject of a work of art.  Biblical scenes dominate the Christian art of Europe.  Buddhists and Hindus have a long tradition of sculpting and painting figures and scenes of their deities.  The people of Africa, the Americas and Pacific region have an extensive history of depicting their gods or sacred symbols.

Maize god Temple 22, Mayan Honduras 35 1/3 x 21 1/3 What is maize? Can you distinguish anything from this sculpture that is reminiscent of maize? What do the position of the hands mean?

 Literary subjects  Painters use many literary sources, such as the Bible or famous myths, to get ideas for their work.  John Quidor  The Return of Rip van Winkle  1849

 Landscapes  Landscapes are paintings of the natural environment  The Chinese are considered to be true masters of landscape painting, which has dominated their art since the 4 th century.  Hsai Kuei  Twelve Views from a Thatched Hut

 Cityscapes  Views of city streets, plazas, courtyards, buildings and activities taking place in urban environments are called cityscapes.  Most cityscapes are relatively new, completed in the 20 th century.  Jean-Baptiste-Camille Corot  View of Venice  1834

 The Figure  Artists have considered the human figure a supreme subject. The figure is appreciated as an aesthetic and a sensuous form.  Ancient Greek philosophy placed the human at the center of the cosmos, as the “measure of al things”.  Greek idealism portrayed the figure as an idealistic, perfect form.  Art went through a period where the human body was seen as barbaric.  Renaissance ideals brought back the human figure as perfect, rediscovering Greek tradition.  Human figure- challenge, complexity, shifting, movement and a wide range of expression and emotion

 The Portrait  Portraits are representations of people  May be in group, full body, bust, profile, famous people, etc….  Hans Holbein  Edward VI as a Child  1538

 Self Portraits  Artists creating pieces where they are the subject matter are self portraits.  Show truths about self  Frances Benjamin Johnston  Self Portrait  1895

 Historical subjects  Historical subjects have often been painted on large canvases most likely to portray or memorialize a significant event.  Hale Woodruff  The Amistad Slaves on Trial at New Haven  1840

 Genre subjects  Genre painting refers to everyday, normal activities of ordinary people  People working in fields, children in school, people in a café, etc…  Norman Rockwell

 Social Commentary  Visual statements about society and the world.  Can be critical, call to action, or simply informative  Designed to cause reaction  Banksy

 Still Life  A still life is any drawing or painting of inanimate objects  Can be elaborate or simple  Vincent van Gogh  Sunflowers  1887

 Animals  Animals are intriguing subjects, because like the human figure they are not static  Realistic vs stylized  Alpaca  Inca

 Expression  While some artists paint what they see when looking out, others include their feelings into the piece. When personal feelings and emotions are painted into the artwork, it becomes an expressionist painting.  Edvard Munch  Nolde Masks  “People’s souls are like planets. Like a star that rises from the darkness – and meets another star – only to disappear again into darkness – it is the same when a man and woman meet – drift apart – light up in love – burn up – and disappear each in their own direction…” Edvard Munch

 Abstraction  Abstraction is the simplification of subject matter into basic shapes  Pablo Picasso  The Studio  1927

 Nonobjective  Nonobjective art is fully abstract work that is composed of line and color.  Jackson Pollock  Full Fathom Five  1947

 Installation  Installation art is designed to transform the space in which the art takes place, site specific.  Maggie Nowinski  Hampden Gallery

  What is the difference between abstraction and nonobjective art?  Which type of subject matter do most of your personal pieces fall under?  Which type of subject matter is your favorite? Which would you have hanging in your house? Questions to ponder