What is Art?

Art in Everyday Life

• Decorations• posters, prints, paintings, photographs

• Sculptures

• Murals

• Architecture

• Design• clothing, furniture

• Photography, Film

Cave Painting

• Cave paintings not for decorative purposes.

• Experts feel paintings likely were to bring success in hunting.

• This painting of horses was found in a cave in Chauvet, France.

• The paintings date back to 30,000 B.C.

Architecture

The Artist

• Artists…• give tangible form to the unknown

• give tangible form to feelings

• record events

• offer an innovative way of seeing

Recording Events

• Pictures can be used to record events, whether the event was seen by the artist or not.

• This painting, by Leonardo da Vinci, depicts what?

The Observer

• Art is like a conversation between artist and the viewer

• Perception plays an important role

• Experiences influence how art is viewed

• The same piece of art can look different to observers, and still be different from the artist’s perception.

Perception

Importance of the Artist

• Some art is valued simply because it is by a famous artist.

• This piece was thought to be by Rembrandt.

• When attributed to another artist, value dropped.

Beauty

• Art is often thought of as something that is beautiful.

• This piece, Grotesque Old Woman, is not beautiful, but considered by many as a great work of art.

Well-Drawn?

• It is a general conception that artists must be able to draw well.

• Woman with a Blue Hat, by Pablo Picasso

What Qualifies as Art?

• This “painting” by Stephen Taylor Woodrow is actually three people spray painted and hung on the wall.

• Is this art?

Tessellations

• Horses, by M.C. Escher

• The arrangement of repeating shapes which leaves no spaces or overlaps between spaces.

• You can usually see tessellation art on tile floors.

Quilting

• Quilting goes back to ancient Egypt, but piecework quilting is based in colonial America

• Quilting is now a recognized art form

• This quilt is called a Blue Star Flag.

Silhouettes

• An outline of an object against the light, commonly a profile portrait in black. The term usually refers to the side view of the head.

• Etienne de Silhouette made a hobby out of cutting out profiles.

Conclusion

• Art takes many shapes and forms

• Artists are people of all ages and races from all over the world

• Art is a form of self-expression

• Art can mean something different to every person

• What meaning does art have in your life?