World off art 8th edtion by henry m sayre chapter 02

WORLD OF ART
EIGHTH EDITION

CHAPTER

2

Developing Visual
Literacy

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 of 2

1. Describe the relationship between
words and images.
2. Distinguish between representation
and abstraction.
3. Discuss how form, as opposed to
content, might also help us to
understand the meaning of a work of
art.

Learning Objectives
2 of 2

4. Explain how cultural conventions can
inform our interpretation of works of
art.


Introduction
1 of 2

• In order to get the most out of art
appreciation, you must describe why
you "like" a work and how it
communicates to you rather than just "I
like this work."


Introduction
2 of 2

• Making sense of Willem de Koonig's North
Atlantic Light requires visual literacy.
 The title helps us recognize what looks like
a sailboat at the painting's center.
 Closer observation can reveal details
about light reflecting from the sky into the
sea.
 Critical thinking aids in the interpretation
of complicated works.

Willem de Kooning, North Atlantic Light.
1977. Oil on canvas, 6' 8" × 5' 10". Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam, The Netherlands.
Acquired with the support of the Rembrandt Association.
© 2015. Photo Art Resource/Scala, Florence. © 2015 Willem de Kooning


Words and Images
1 of 4

• Magritte's The Treason of Images
depicts a reproduction of an image of a
pipe found in tobacco ads of his time.
 The caption, translated as "This is not a
pipe," refers to the fact that this image is
not actually a representation of a pipe.
 Both images and words symbolically
refer to things in the world, but are not
the things themselves.


René Magritt,. The Treason of Images, Ceci n'est past une pipe.
1929. Oil on canvas, 21-1/2 × 28-1/2". Los Angeles County Museum of Art.
© 2015 C. Herscovici/Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York. [Fig. 2-2]


Words and Images
2 of 4

• Shirin Neshat's series, Women of Allah,
combines words and images.
 Rebellious Silence shows a woman
wearing a chador that covers everything
but her face.
• A rifle divides the Farsi poem written on
her face.
• The subject matter only hints at the
complexity of its content, which relies on
the context of the viewing party.


Shirin Neshat, Rebellious Silence, from the series Women of Allah.
1994. Gelatin silver print and ink, 11 × 14".
© Shirin Neshat, courtesy of Gladstone Gallery, New York and Brussels. Photo: Cynthia
Preston. [Fig. X-X]


Words and Images
3 of 4

• In Islamic culture, calligraphy is the
chief form of art and pious writing is
sacred.
• Until recent times, every book began
with the bismillah.
 The Triumphal Entry from Firdawsi's
Shahnamah shows a beautiful example
in the top right-hand corner.

Triumphal Entry, page from a manuscript of Firdawsi's Shahnamah, Persian, Safavid culture.
1562–83 Opaque watercolor, ink, and gold on paper, 18-11/16 × 13". Museum of Fine Arts, Boston.
Francis Bartlett Donation and Picture Fund, 14.692. Photograph © 2015 Museum of Fine Arts,
Boston. [Fig. 2-4]


Words and Images
4 of 4

• Islamic culture concerns itself largely with
the word of the Qur'an and images are
absent in most architecture.
 Depiction of living creatures was frowned
upon; a page from a copy of Nizami's
Khamseh shows the heads of humans
have been erased.

• Iconoclasts wished to destroy images in
religious settings and appeared at various
periods in Christian history.


Page from a copy of Nizami's Khamseh (Quintet) illustrating a princely country feast,
Persian, Safavid culture.
1574–75. Illuminated manuscript, 9-3/4 × 6". India Office, London.
© British Library Board, I.O. ISLAMIC 1129, f.29. [Fig. 2-5]


Representation and Abstraction

1 of 5

• Vocabulary has been developed to
describe how closely an image
resembles visual reality.
• Art can be representational,
portraying objects in recognizable form.
 Realism occurs when the image
resembles what the eye sees.
 An work is photorealistic if it is so
realistic that it seems like a photograph.


Representation and Abstraction
2 of 5

• Art can be abstract when it resembles
its real-world subject less.
 It can be called nonobjective if it does
not refer to the natural or objective
world at all.


The Creative Process
1 of 2

• Abstract Illusionism: George Green's …
Marooned in dreaming: a path of song
and mind
 Green's distinct style is characterized by

images of abstract sculptural forms that
seem to float free from the painting's
surface.
 This work begins with a single sheet of
raw birch, painted with a highly
illusionistic trompe-l'oeil frame.


George Green. …marooned in dreaming: a path of song and mind, in progress.
2011. Top: Raw birch ground before painting. Middle: Second stage, painted frame and
mat. Bottom: Third stage, painted frame and seascape.
Courtesy of the artist. [Fig. 2-7]


George Green. …marooned in dreaming: a path of song and mind, in progress.
2011. Second stage, painted frame and mat.
Courtesy of the artist. [Fig. 2-8]


The Creative Process
2 of 2

• Abstract Illusionism: George Green's …
Marooned in dreaming: a path of song
and mind
 A photorealistic seascape, based on a
photograph, is then painted inside the
frame.
 Then, the entire composition is overlaid
with scrolls, arabesques, and planes of

color, a visual representation of music.


George Green. …marooned in dreaming: a path of song and mind, in progress.
2011. Third stage, painted frame and seascape.
Courtesy of the artist. [Fig. 2-9]


George Green. …marooned in dreaming: a path of song and mind.
2011. Acrylic on birch, 4' × 6' 10".
Courtesy of the artist. [Fig. 2-10]


Representation and Abstraction
3 of 5

• Albert Bierstadt's Puget Sound on the
Pacific Coast was criticized for being
more fanciful than realistic, despite its
representational appearance.
 Since Bierstadt had never visited Puget
Sound, his work is naturalistic rather
than realistic.
 While it is based in realistic elements, its
composition is formulaic.


Albert Bierstadt, Puget Sound on the Pacific Coast.
1870. Oil on canvas, 4' 4-1/2" × 6' 10". Seattle Art Museum.
Gift of the Friends of American Art at the Seattle Art Museum, with additional funds from

the General Acquisition Fund, 2000.70. Photo: Howard Giske. [Fig. 2-6]


Representation and Abstraction
4 of 5

• Wolf Kahn's Afterglow I is more abstract
naturalism, featuring a less descriptive
landscape with trees.
• Old Mick Tjakamarra's Honey Ant
Dreaming also shows a landscape, but
along the rules of Aboriginal symbolism.
 Landscapes were thought to depict a
record of the Ancestral Being's passing.