University of Maryland College Park INTRODUCTION TO ART THEORY ARTT 150 Lecturer Leslie Berns FINAL EXAM STUDY GUIDE Multiple Choice Multiple Choice with Slides Short answer Essay Review Hand out SUMMARY OF TYPES OF CRITICAL JUDGMENT Know the CRITERIA FOR EXCELLENCE for each type of Judgment I ART IMITATION Naturalism in art refers to the depiction of realistic objects in a natural setting paying attention to very accurate and precise details portraying things as they are Naturalism began in ancient Greece with its emphasis on proportion and developed further throughout the Renaissance with the invention of perspective Wikipedia com Philosopher Aristotle Greek 4th c BC confused two things when observing art pleasure of something new pleasure of recognizing an accurate interpretation both are pleasures so we assume art is pleasure art even ugly is looked at and the viewer is pleased intellectual recognition of the correctness of the representation when the subject is truly attractive we take pleasure as if its a real thing if it is ugly we also observe and admire its skillful execution Aristotle s Philosophy of the Natural Sciences emphasized Biology which is based on Empiricism the belief that Knowledge is gained through Observation and Sense Experience Biology the empirical study of species and their patterns of development each showing growth toward self realization as a specimen type Growth purpose and direction are thus built into Nature Text Poetics Mimesis imitation arts of poetry drama and music as the mimetic arts Catharsis greek word meaning cleansing or purging reference to the emotions in work poetics www elms umd edu SLIDES see Course Document Taoism East Asian philosophy translated means the path or the way of the universe the ow of the universe or the force behind the natural order equating it with the in uence that keeps the universe balanced and ordered wikipedia com Dualistic tendency of humans to perceive and understand the world as being divided into two overarching categories non dualistic philosophical traditions implication that things appear distinct while not being separate the contrast between empirical and intuitive approaches to creating art the human action that is harmonious with Tao is spontaneous effortless and inexhaustible the perfected individual is a sage free from desire and strife the sage conducts government by guiding his people back to stage of harmony with Tao for Taoist nature and spirit interpenetrate in spirit there is nature and in nature there is spirit the Tao way is the eternal harmony of heaven Simultaneous with Ancient Greek Civilization 6th 4th c B C and Pythagoras the Greek scientist known for believing numbers represented the essence of all things were these major in uential thinkers events 6th c B C Siddartha Buddha and the beginning of Buddhism in India Confucius founder of Confucianism in China Lao tzu founder of Taoism THE PHILOSOPHIES OF CONFUCIANISM AND TAOISM BOTH PROFOUNDLY INFLUENCED CHINESE ART Philosophers Lao Tzu and Chuang Tzu 4th or 3rd c BC animals are preferred subjects for chinese artists in painting more than sculpture chinese like to have subject of nature Daoism principal religious philosophy of China and focuses on the relative nature of all things dao means path or way in Chinese chinese caligraphy is considered a higher art than painting in china painting and writing are closely related neo confucianism one of china s other philosophies unpainted surface is often a place to write www elms umd edu SLIDES see Course Document Taoism Chinese Painting II ART and FORM The Allegory of the Cave Formalism In art theory formalism is the concept that a work s artistic value is entirely determined by its form the way it is made its purely visual aspects and its medium Formalism emphasizes compositional elements such as color line shape and texture rather than realism context and content In visual art formalism is a concept that posits that everything necessary to comprehending a work of art is contained within the work of art The context for the work including the reason for its creation the historical background and the life of the artist is considered to be of secondary importance Formalism is an approach to understanding art Wikipedia com Philosopher Plato Greek 5th 4th c BC Text The Republic Be familiar with ideas in prisoners live their lives only seeing shadows of reality and only hear voices and echoes off the walls of the cave prisoners would mistake appearance for reality allegory of cave may be viewed as devastating criticism of our everyday lives allegory may be criticism of the science of our time with emphasis on our political allegory life in cave leaders and public are ignorant and corrupt and allegory of the philosopher king the one freed will want to bring senses enlightenment plato the allegory of the cave is an allegory of despair and hope The Divided Line Theory of Knowledge plato is suspicious of all forms of communication which use images such as painting poetry sculpture etc each higher level of knowledge enables us to make the level below more intelligible plato is trying to make us see that perception by the senses of objects in the visible world can never give us true knowledge for 2 reasons wht can be known by the senses is only the world of ux the world of particular things that are the process of change plato is trying to give us a second reason that sense perception can never give us true knowledge Theory of Forms plato has a special name for such concepts forms or ideas for plato concepts such as circle etc have 2 crucial functions they make it possible for us to know the actual world of things enable us to evaluate and criticize all these functions The work of art exhibits a harmony between parts and the whole organic unity unity through variety of parts order and complexity Excellence and satisfaction occur when the underlying visual organization and overall structure are designed well to harmonize the parts into a supremely ordered whole Art reveals an underlying structure showing us the world of ideal forms essences permanence to those capable of perceiving ideal forms through their senses www elms umd edu SLIDES see Course Document Formalism Platonic ideal forms Cezanne Mondrian appearances vs essences III ART and EMOTION Expressionism the term is used to describe any art that raises subjective feelings above objective observations The aim is to re ect the artist s state of mind