1. Introduction to Art

2. What Is Art?

3. What makes this Art? Robert Watts Rembrandt Signature 1965/75
Marcel Duchamp, Fountain 1917

4. Erased de Kooning
In 1953, Robert Rauschenberg approached Willem de Kooning, the leading Abstract Expressionist of the time, and asked him if he could erase one of his drawings. The resulting work, entitled “Erased de Kooning” is one of Rauschenberg’s most well-known and controversial works.

5. Was Rauschenberg creating art or destroying it?

6. Artist and Audience DISCUSS:
Throughout history, people in other cultures and times did not share OUR ideas about why an artist made a work of art.
“Most visual creators across history have worked under very different assumptions about the nature of their task, the purpose it served, and the audience it was for.”
DISCUSS:
What are some works of art that would have very different purposes and audiences?
Most of Verrocchio’s works were created according to the demands of his audience: those who commissioned his work. This statue was commissioned for the palace of the powerful Medici family. It was later bought by the City of Florence as an emblem of its determination to stand up to a larger power. His works, although famous, were placed throughout the city in which he lived and worked. Verrocchio was trained in the traditional workshop apprentice method. Boys between the ages of 7 and 15 would begin with menial tasks and learn skills as they trained. Eventually, apprentices began to collaborate with the master and copy his work for sale over the counter. Verrocchio became a master with his own workshop, and actually trained Leonardo da Vinci. Some art historians believe that David was a portrait of da Vinci.
Dasavanta, Shravana, and Madhava Khurd were employed in the royal workshops of a Mughal dynasty in India. They were paid a monthly salary to illustrate books for the emperor and his court. This is an illustration for the Tales of Hamza, the uncle of the Prophet Muhammad. It required dozens of artists working for 15 years to illustrate all 360 tales.
The contrast in the styles of these two works reflects the difference in the Western and Eastern aesthetics during these artist’s times.

7. Artist and Audience
Monet was part of a bold art movement known as Impressionism. This new style of art was originally criticized, but soon accepted by art critics and art collectors. Monet lived to see his reputation soar, and his works in galleries and museums. Most artists are not this fortunate, and some do not aspire to create works to be bought and sold as a commodity.
Hampton, while very talented and creative, created his works privately, and may not have shown them to anyone. This is an example of Outsider Art, work made by an untrained artist. Hampton earned his living as a janitor. Using found objects and cast-away furniture, he transformed them with silver and gold aluminum foil into dazzling sculptures. His spiritual inspiration came from the biblical Book of Revelation. They were discovered after his death in his rented garage by someone who recognized them as art. Today these pieces are in the Smithsonian National Museum of American Art for us, the public, to enjoy and draw our own inspiration.

8. What are the Fine Arts? Visual Art Music Dance Drama
Introduction to Art
What are the Fine Arts?
Visual Art
Music
Dance
Drama

9. What is needed to make art?
Introduction to Art
What is needed to make art?
Good Composition / Design
Media Skill
Expression/
Creativity

10. Introduction to Art
What is Composition?
The placement or arrangement of the visual elements in a work of art based on the principles of design.
Elements of Art: The Tools
Principles of Design: The Rules

11. Elements of Art Line Value Color Texture Shape Form Space
Introduction to Art
Elements of Art
Line
Value
Color
Texture
Shape
Form
Space

12. Principles of Design Unity Emphasis (or Focal Point)
Introduction to Art
Principles of Design
Unity
Emphasis (or Focal Point)
Repetition (or Rhythm)
Variety
Proportion
Balance
Movement
Contrast