World off art 8th edtion by henry m sayre chapter 01

WORLD OF ART
EIGHTH EDITION

CHAPTER

1

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
1. Differentiate between passive and
active seeing.
2. Define the creative process and
describe the roles that artists most
often assume when they engage in
that process.
3. Discuss the different ways in which
people value, or do not value, works of
art.


Introduction

1 of 3

• 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
2 of 3

• 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
3 of 3

• 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
1 of 2

• 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.


The Process of Seeing
2 of 2

• Trompe-l'oeil is a technique literally
meaning "trick the eye."
 Richard Haas is a painter known for such
architectural murals, such as the one on
the west facade of the Oregon Historical
Society.

• Stored visual information can also trick a
viewer, even for images seen on a
regular basis, such as the American Flag.


Richard Haas, Oregon Historical Society. Portland, OR.
1989.
Keim silicate paint, 14,000 sq. ft. Architect: Zimmer Gunsel Frasca Partnership. Executed
by American Illusion, New York.
Photo courtesy of Richard Haas. © Richard Haas/Licensed by VAGA, New York. [Fig. 1-4]


Active Seeing
• Jasper Johns's Flag takes a familiar
image and examines it more closely.
 It was painted during the Cold War era,
a time when America obsessed over
patriotism through McCarthyism and the
Space Race.
 Audiences were disturbed by newspaper
scraps visible beneath the surface.


Jasper Johns, Flag.
1954–55. Encaustic, oil, and 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, Florence. © Jasper Johns/Licensed by VAGA, New York. [Fig. 1-5]

Active Seeing
• Faith Ringgold's God Bless America was
created during the Civil Rights
movement.
 Here, the stripes have been turned into
prison bars and the star becomes a
sheriff's badge.
 The white woman is portrayed as both
patriotic and racist, a prisoner of bigotry.


Faith Ringgold, God Bless America, No. 13 from the series American People.
1964. Oil on canvas, 31 × 19". ACA galleries.
© Faith Ringgold, Inc. 1964. [Fig. 1-6]


The World as Artists See It
1 of 2

• Cai did not choose to go to Dunhuang
simply to extend the end of the Great
Wall of China; the area was the place
where East and West first intersected.
 A terra-cotta figure from the Tang
dynasty shows a Bactrian camel that
would have transported goods.
 The region also has the greatest
collection of early Chinese art.

Caravaneer on a camel, China.
Tang dynasty, (618–907). Polychrome terra-cotta figure. 17-1⁄8" × 14-1⁄8".
Musée des Arts Asiatiques-Guimet, Paris.
Inv. MA6721.Photo © RMN-Grand Palais (musée Guimet, Paris)/Thierry Ollivier. [Fig. 1-7]


The World as Artists See It
2 of 2

• Legend has it that a cave-temple was
dug by a Buddhist monk named LeSun,
over the years becoming more
decorated until it was recognized in the
fourteenth century as the Mogao Caves.
 492 of these caves are decorated with
murals, together about 40 times longer
than the walls in the Sistine Chapel.


Mogao Caves (Caves of a Thousand Buddhas) Dunhuang, China.
© Joan Swinnerton/Alamy. [Fig. 1-8]


Reclining Buddha, Mogao Caves, Cave 148, Dunhuang, China.
Middle Tang dynasty, (781–847). Length: 51'.
Photo: Tony Law. © Dunhuang Research Academy. [Fig. 1-9]


The Creative Process

• Artists engage in critical thinking.
 They respond to the unexpected, chance
occurrences and are open to new ways
of thinking.
 The artist manages the process from
seeing to imagining to making,
becoming self-critical and exploring the
possibilities of their work.


Art and the Idea of Beauty
1 of 2

• Aesthetics refer to our sense of what
is beautiful and vary across cultures
over time.
• Western culture values order,
regularity, proportion, and design,
which are hallmarks seen through
Classical art and architecture.
 Mountain ranges were dismissed until
the nineteenth century in the U.S.


Art and the Idea of Beauty
2 of 2

• The human body is also a widely
contested source of beauty.
 Imagine tall, slender fashion models

compared to Peter Paul Rubens's fleshy
nudes.
 Pablo Picasso's representations of
women are almost demonic, segmented
and abstracted in a battle between
attraction and repulsion.


Pablo Picasso, Seated Bather (La Baigneuse).
1930. Oil on canvas, 5' 4-1/4" × 4' 3". Museum of Modern Art, New York.
Mrs. Simon Guggenheim Fund. (82.1950). © 2015. Digital image, Museum of Modern Art,
New York/Scala, Florence. © 2015 Estate of Pablo Picasso/Artists Rights Society (ARS),
New York. [Fig. 1-10]