WORLD OF ART EIGHTH EDITION CHAPTER Discovering a World of Art World of Art, Eighth Edition Henry M Sayre Copyright © 2016, 2013, 2010 by Pearson Education, Inc or its affiliates All rights reserved Learning Objectives Differentiate between passive and active seeing Define the creative process and describe the roles that artists most often assume when they engage in that process Discuss the different ways in which people value, or not value, works of art Introduction of • Cai Guo-Ziang utilized gunpowder as an artistic medium in his Project to Extend the Great Wall of China by 10,000 Meters , which created an explosion that formed an ephemeral red line Gunpowder was an essential Chinese medium; instead of using it for destruction, the artist wished to bring people together through the beauty of the pyrotechnic display Cai Guo-Qiang, Project to Extend the Great Wall of China by 10,000 Meters: Project for Extraterrestrials No 10 Realized in the Gobi desert, February 27, 1993, 7:35 pm Photo by Masanobu Moriyama, courtesy of Cai Studio [Fig 1-1] Introduction of • For the Olympic Games in 2008, Cai was chosen to direct the visual and special effects for both opening and closing ceremonies A trail of 29 "footprints of history" made in fireworks was fired across the sky between Tianenmen Square and the Olympic Stadium, the Bird's Nest Cai Guo-Qiang, Footprints of History: Fireworks Project for the Opening Ceremony of the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games 2008 Photo by Hiro Ihara, courtesy of Cai Studio [Fig 1-2] Herzog & de Meuron, The Bird's Nest—Beijing National Stadium 2004–08 © Xiaoyang Liu/Corbis [Fig 1-3] Introduction of • For the Olympic Games in 2008, Cai was chosen to direct the visual and special effects for both opening and closing ceremonies However, the work was aired as a video rather than live due to the conditions of smog in Beijing • Cai believed the video was necessary, and considered it a second work of art The World as We Perceive It • Objections to Cai's Footprints of History mainly centered around the violation of trust regarding a digital film being broadcast instead of the "real thing." • Many of us assume that we can trust our eyes to give us accurate information and an understanding of the world The Process of Seeing of • Visual processing can be divided into reception, extraction, and inference The human retina "edits" information perceived from external sources • Seeing is inherently creative, as you decide what details are important Artistic Value and the "Culture Wars" of • Robert Mapplethorpe Ajitto, for example, shows the human body with the geometry of a pentagon The jury eventually ruled that Mapplethorpe's work possessed "serious artistic value" in the context of the tradition of arts confronting parts of our lives that give us pain as well as pleasure Robert Mapplethorpe, Ajitto 1981 Gelatin silver print, 30 × 40" Used by permission of Art + Commerce © Robert Mapplethorpe Foundation [Fig 1-24] Artistic Value and the "Culture Wars" of • Chris Ofili The Holy Virgin Mary became a target for outrage especially for its inclusion of elephant dung in the depiction of a religious figure The Catholic League for Religious and Civil Rights encouraged people to picket the museum and mayor Rudolph Giuliani threatened to cut off the museum's city subsidy The press surround Chris Ofili's The Holy Virgin Mary at the Brooklyn Museum © Ruby Washington/New York Times/Redux/eyevine [Fig 1-25a] Demonstration Against the 'Sensation' Art Exhibition outside the Brooklyn Museum, New York, America – 1999 Sipa Press/REX [Fig 1-25b] The Avant-Garde and Public Opinion of • The public tends to receive innovative artwork with reservation because it has little context to be appreciated • Marcel Duchamp's Nude Descending a Staircase succeeded in scandalizing, and received parody and ridicule following its exhibition at the Armory Show in 1913 Marcel Duchamp, Nude Descending a Staircase, No 1912 Oil on canvas, 4' 10" × 35" Philadelphia Museum of Art Louise and Walter Arensberg Collection, 1950 © 2015 Photo: Graydon Wood, 1994, Philadelphia Museum of Art/Art Resource/Scala, Florence © 2015 Succession Marcel The Avant-Garde and Public Opinion of • Duchamp studied and represented Marey's Movement as well as studies of animals and humans in motion by Eadweard Muybridge • The National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) endeavored to teach the public how to see and appreciate "advanced art." The Avant-Garde and Public Opinion of • Richard Serra's Tilted Arc was installed with minimal negative reaction in 1981, but faced removal in March 1985 In March of 1989, it was stolen in the middle of the night, dismantled and subsequently destroyed The site-specific work lost its meaning when it was removed Richard Serra, Tilted Arc Cor-Ten steel, 12' × 120' × 2-1/2" Installed, Federal Plaza, New York City Destroyed by the U.S government March 15, 1989 © 2015 Richard Serra/Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York [Fig 1-27] Political Visions • If art appears to promote a specific political or social agenda, it is bound to face public disagreement • Michelangelo's David was designed to be displayed atop the Piazza della Signoria, signifying Florence's freedom from foreign, papal, and Medici domination Citizens also objected to its nudity Michelangelo, David 1501–04 Copy of the original as it stands in the Piazza della Signoria, Florence Original in the Galleria dell'Accademia, Florence Marble, Height 13' 5" © Bill Ross/CORBIS [Fig 1-28] The Critical Process Thinking about Making and Seeing Works of Art • Andy Warhol's Race Riot depicts events of May 1963 when Bull Connor employed attack dogs and fire hoses to disperse civil rights demonstrators led by Rev Martin Luther King, Jr • Which of the artist's roles was the most important for creating this work? Andy Warhol, Race Riot 1963 Acrylic and silkscreen on canvas Four panels, each 20 × 33" © 2015 Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts/Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York [Fig 1-29] Thinking Back Differentiate between passive and active seeing Define the creative process and describe the roles that artists most often assume when they engage in that process Discuss the different ways in which people value, or not value, works of art ... 10' Smithsonian American Art Museum, Washington, D.C Museum purchase through the Luisita L and Franz H Denghausen Endowment, 2011 .16 © 2015 Digital image, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Washington,... collage on fabric mounted on plywood (three panels), 42-1/2" × 5'-5/8" Museum of Modern Art, New York Gift of Ms David M Levy, 28.1942.30 © 2015 Digital image, Museum of Modern Art, New York/Scala,... Thomas paints portraits of contemporary African-American women in poses evoking odalisques, similar to Manet's Olympia Mickalene Thomas, Portrait of Mnonja 2010 Rhinestones, acrylic, and enamel