Lesson 5 Reading Art

Question 1

is a specific length of time in history with a prominent movement, trend, or creed in artistic practice.

Answer 1

Art period

Question 2

are sets of distinguished styles and artistic tendencies often characterized by a major trend in techniques or approach.

Answer 2

Art movements

Question 3

Usually, they are named with the suffix “-ism” at the end. It suggests a certain attitude toward painting or any art-making.

Answer 3

Art movement

Question 4

This quick guide to history is intended to be brief and concrete but should also prod you to further exploration of some art periods:

Answer 4

Art History Quick Map

Question 5

• Cave painting, Venus figurines which are considered portable sculptures
• Greek standard of beauty: the birth of the “Classical” age
• Romans: the competitor of Greece; created realistic sculptures of human figure.

Answer 5

Prehistoric

Question 6

Greek standard of beauty: the birth of the “

Answer 6

Classical” age

Question 7

• The “death” of artistic freedom due to canonical standards of visual interpretation
• The rise of Gothic art especially in Gothic churches
• Popular art: Stained glass windows and illuminated manuscripts

Answer 7

Middle Ages

Question 8

• Revival of the artistic genius
• Where the term “Renaissance Man” was derived because of man’s intellectual achievements in the arts and science
• The time of “Masters” e.g., Donatello, Da Vinci, Michaelangelo, Raphael, Van Eyck

Answer 8

Renaissance

Question 9

• Grandiose and ornate art
• Artistic innovation: “Spotlight effect” called chiaroscuro or in extreme usage. It is called tenebrism
• Artists to note: Caravaggio (Italy), Velazquez (Spain), Poussin (France), and Antonio Gaudi (Designer of
  Sagrada Familia” chapel in Barcelona

Answer 9

Baroque

Question 10

• Emergence of “isms”
• Neoclassicism: Greek and Roman Classics revived
• Romanticism, Realism, Art Nouveau, Impressionism
• Photography comes into the scene
• Post-impressionism, early expressionism, and symbolism

Answer 10

19th Century

Question 11

• Art become more non-representational
• Garish colors explored in Fauvism
• Abstracted sculptures emerged
• Simplified forms in paintings by Picasso and Matisse
• Art movements: Cubism, Futurism, Constructivism, Expressionism
• Mondrian’s purely geometric art

Answer 11

20th Century Modern Art

Question 12

• Dadaism: the art movement that defies logic
• Surrealism: stepping into the dreamworld
• America art blossoms
• Mobile Sculptures and color field paintings also became prominent

Answer 12

Art During the Wars

Question 13

• Highly experimental and radical
• Minimalism
• Birth of conceptual art
• Photography is further developed which pave the way to art movement. Photorealism

Answer 13

20th Century to Contemporary

Question 14

Methods in Reading Art
basically gives importance to the formal qualities as basis for the meaning of art. Roger Fry is a major purveyor of this thinking.

Answer 14

Formalism and Style

Question 15

– focuses on the subject matter primarily over form. When suing this method, you will answer questions like: Who is this person the artist painted and what does it represent? Why did the artist choose this image and what for?

Answer 15

Iconography

Question 16

– From the term itself, these are mainly schools of thought and philosophical movements which place an artwork within a certain parameter: Marxism, Orientalism, Colonialism, Feminism and gender.

Answer 16

Contextual approaches

Question 17

considers the life and context of the artist. This approach is based on the assumption that the artist’s life, beliefs, choices, and personality are directly connected to the works that he or she creates.

Answer 17

Biography and autobiography

Question 18

– From the Greek word “sema”, which means sign. Hence, an artwork or art form is assumed to be composed of a set of signs that may have significant cultural and contextual meanings beyond itself.

Answer 18

Semiotics

Question 19

– In psychoanalysis, one is concerned with, one is concerned about the unconscious mind in relation to the artst, the viewer, and the cultural context it is involved in.

Answer 19

Psychoanalysis

Question 20

– Individual notion of what is considered acceptable, beautiful, and attractive in works of art are in part influenced by psychological factors. This approach then connects psychology to one’s constructed philosophy of art.

Answer 20

Aesthetic and Psychoanalysis

Question 21

Search a painting online and critique the work based on the following:
simply enumerate the elements that you see: the quality of lines, shapes, colors, etc.

Answer 21

Formal qualities

Question 22

What is the artist tackling about? Can you see any representational forms? If none, what do you think is the main subject matter?

Answer 22

Subject Matter

Question 23

Consider the arrangement of objects, people, or elements. What is most prominent? Who or what is on the foreground, middle ground, and background?

Answer 23

Composition

Question 24

Looking at the technique and manner of painting and composition, how is it related to the artist’s objective?

Answer 24

Technique

Question 25

What do you think the artwork is all about after carefully examining its parts? What story, what message, and what argument is the artist trying to tell?

Answer 25

Content

Question 26

Further dig into the artist’s intention in terms of the relationship of each part to the whole. Keep asking why, and try to answer them based on visual clues.

Answer 26

Analysis

Question 27

provide a coherent and convincing judgement about the work.

Answer 27

Your own criticism about the work

Question 28

the art movement that defies logic

Answer 28

Dadaism

Question 29

stepping into the dreamworld

Answer 29

Surrealism