1. What is Art? How does one recognize Art?

2. Is this Art? Wrapped Coast By Christo Just a normal urinal Brillo Box By Andy Warhol Marie Osmond &Child – Christmas Decoration

3. Is this Art? Seated Woman By George Segal Readymade By Marcel Duchamp Michael Jackson & Bubbles By Jeff Koons Bull’s Head By Pablo Picasso

4. Is this Art? Wax Fingers By Anna Blackmore Chocolate bunnies Plaster cast of a victim from Pompeii Yoyo stand

5. Is this Art? Just a can of Campbell’s Soup Just an office stool House tented for termite fogging Luncheon in Fur By Merret Oppenheim

6. Can we define art by its function? Aesthetical – Art is created to please Personal – Art is a means of personal self-expression Informative – Art is produced to illustrate Ideological – Art is meant to persuade Economical – Art is a business

7. Functions of Art Aesthetical – Art is created to please Henri Matisse: Pastoral (1905)

8. Functions of Art Personal – Art as a means of self-expression Jan Zrzavý: Self-portrait (1907)

9. Functions of Art Informative – Art is produced to illustrate Giotto: Fresco in Basilica of St. Francis in Assisi (1297-99)

10. Functions of Art Ideological – Art is meant to persuade Taras Gaponyenko: Back to Mother (1935)

11. Functions of Art Ideological – Art is meant to persuade Man-made famine in Ukraine (1932-33)

12. Guide for the Nazi exhibition of so called Degenerate art (1937) Art itself becomes an object of Ideology

13. Functions of Art Economical – Art is a business Jan Kotík: Money Talks IV (2002)

14.  As means of expression and communication  As a text  As a system of signs Art can be defined

15. If art is a system of signs, does it mean that everything could become art? Are there any limits? Herman Nitsch: Orgies and Mysteries Theatre Robert Mapplethorpe: Joe, New York, 1976

16. Are there any limits? Alexander Brener: Dollar sign sprayed on Malevich’s painting White Cross (1997) Protests against IMF – Prague 2000 Proclaimed as art by Alexander Brener

17. What is Art then? “A work of art is anything that is said to be a work of art by people who ought to know.” Sylvan Barnett Who are these people?  Artists  Art-historians  Art dealers  Gallerists  Etc.

18. Alfred H. Barr: Cubism and Abstract Art Diagram for a catalogue (1936)

19. Are cave paintings objects of art history or archeology? Deer, Niaux (circa 13 000 BC)

20. Master Theodorik: Holy Ram, Karlštejn Castle, Chapel of the Holy Cross (1365) Art object or Cult object?

21. Screen for ancestor shrine Kalabani, Igbo, Nigeria Art object or cult object?

22. Armory Show, New York, 1913 Art and its context Marcel Duchamp: Fountain (1917) Exhibition of the Society of the Independent Artists Sherrie Levin: Fountain After Duchamp (1991)

23. Richard Long: Walking a Line in Peru (1972) Leaving the Museum

24. Keith Arnatt: Keith Arnatt Is an Artist (1972) Embracing the concept

25. Gillian Wearing: Signs That Say What You Want Them To Say And Not Signs That Say What Someone Else Wants You To Say (1992-93) Leaving the artist aside…

26. Illumination of S. Augustin’s De Civitate Dei (second quarter of 12th c.) Status of the Artist

27. Arnold Böcklin: Self Portrait (1893) Status of the Artist

28. David Černý: Artist Standing (1995) Status of the Artist

29. Jeff Koons: Hand on Breast (1990) Status of the Artist

30. Janine Antoni: Loving Care (1992) Status of the Artist

31. Description and Analysis “Until one tries to write about it, the work of art remains a sort of aesthetics blur … After seeing the work, write about it. You cannot be satisfied for very long in simply putting down what you felt. You have to go further.” Arthur Danto: Embodied Meaning (1994) “Eye does not mirror but takes and makes.” Nelson Goodman: The Languages of Art (1968) “Looking is not as simple as it looks.” Ad Reinhardt

32. Description and Analysis To get the meaning you have to interpret the subject matter, the form, the material, the sociohistoric context, and (if known) artist’s intentions. Analysis = Concerned with cause and effect How does the work mean Meaning x Meanings Different for the Artist and for the Audience(s) in various times and cultures

33. Josef Václav Myslbek: Saint Wenceslas (1900-24) Subject matter x Content

34. David Černý: Saint Wenceslas (1999) Subject matter x Content

35. Michelangelo: Creation in Sixtine Chaple (1508-12) Technique and its material qualities Composition and its effect Color and its effect Light and its effect What was the purpose of the work?

36. Artemisia Gentileschi: Judith and Holofernes (circa 1620) Gustav Klimt: Judith and Holofernes (1903)