Arts Appreciation Module 1: Basics Concepts of Art

MODULE 1: THE BASICS CONCEPTS OF ART

Aristotle and Other Famous Quotes

• "Art completes what nature cannot bring to a finish. The artist gives us knowledge of nature's unrealized ends." - Aristotle
• "The true work of art is but a shadow of the divine perfection." - Michelangelo
• "Art is a mediator of the unspeakable." - Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
• "Art is a mad search for individualism." - Paul Gauguin
• "Art is not a mirror held up to reality but a hammer with which to shape it." - Bertolt Brecht

Characteristics of Art

• Man-made
• Unique
• Aesthetics

Types of Art

• Painting
• Sculpture
• Architecture
• Literature
• Music

Elements of Art

• Line: indicates direction, orientation, movement, and energy
  • Vertical line: basic framework of all forms, power, strength, stability, simplicity, and efficiency
  • Horizontal line: creates an impression of serenity, perfect stability, rest, calmness, peace, and repose
  • Jagged line: shows violence, confusion, and conflict
  • Curved line: shows a gradual change of direction and fluidity
• Space: refers to the distances or areas around, between, and within components of a piece
• Shape: an enclosed space, a bounded two-dimensional form that has both length and width
  • Organic shapes: based on natural or living forms, can be irregular
  • Geometric shapes: based on measured forms, can be named (e.g., sphere, cube, pyramid, cone, and cylinder)
• Form: connotes something that is three-dimensional and encloses volume, having length, width, and height
• Color
• Texture

PRINCIPLES OF ART

• Emphasis: composition refers to developing points of interest to pull the viewer's eye to important parts of the body of the work

• Balance: sense of stability in the body of work

• Harmony: achieved in a body of work by using similar elements throughout the work

• Variety: refers to the differences in the work

• Movement: adds excitement to your work by showing action and directing the viewer's eye throughout the work

• Unity: seen in a painting or drawing when all the parts equal a whole### Roman Arts and Architecture

• Roman wall painters preferred natural earth colors, such as darker shades of reds, yellows, and browns.

• Subjects included portraits, scenes from mythology, architecture, flora, fauna, and entire gardens, landscapes, and townscapes.

Roman Sculpture

• Roman sculpture blended the idealized perfection of earlier Classical Greek sculpture with a greater aspiration for realism and mixed in Eastern styles.
• Sculptures mostly used marble and bronze, depicting prominent political figures, wealthy individuals, gods, emperors, and heroes.
• Larger-than-life sculptures were also carved for gods, emperors, and heroes.

Mosaics

• Mosaics were made with small black, white, and colored squares of marble, tile, glass, pottery, stone, or shells.
• Each individual piece measured between 0.5 and 1.5 cm, but fine details were often rendered using even smaller pieces as little as 1mm in size.
• Popular subjects included scenes from mythology, gladiator contests, sports, agriculture, hunting, food, flora, and fauna, and sometimes they even captured the Romans themselves in detailed and realistic portraits.

Roman Architecture

• Roman architecture continued the legacy left by the earlier Greek architects.
• Marble was largely favored, especially for state-funded projects.
• Some notable architects were Apollodorus of Damascus, Hadrian, Severus, Celer, and Vitruvius.

Roman Orders

• Roman Composite - mixed the volute of the Ionic order with the acanthus leaves of the Corinthian.
• Roman Tuscan - a form of Doric column but with a smaller capital, a more slender shaft without flutes, and a molded base.

Socio-Cultural Context

• By 146 BCE, Rome had conquered Greece and absorbed its other territories.
• Romans were uninterested in theoretical questions, but they were among the greatest engineers, military tacticians, and administrators.

Roman Literature and Theater

• Horace's The Art of Poetry served as a manual on writing good plays.
• Roman drama prospered in the Republic era (509-27 BCE), but was abandoned in the Empire era (27 BCE-476 CE).
• Roman Comic Playwrights included Livius Andronicus, Gnaeus Naevius, and Titus Maccius Plautus.
• Roman Tragic Playwrights included Quintus Ennius, Marcus Ocuvius, Luccius Accius, and Lucius Annaeus Seneca.

Roman Actors

• Histriones were actors; Cantores were declaimers.
• Male actors performed in tragedies and comedies; women performed in mimes.
• The playwright left the production at the hands of managers.
• Some actors belonged in guilds.
• In the 1st century BCE, emphasis shifted to the "star" performer.
• The most popular performers in late Rome were tightrope walkers, trapeze artists, jugglers, sword-swallowers, fire-eaters, and dancers.

Acting Style in Tragedy and Comedy

• Delivery in tragedy was slow, stately, and declamatory; delivery in comedy was conversational.
• Proficiency in speaking, singing, and dancing was required.
• Movement in tragedy was slow and dignified; movement in comedy was lively.
• Gestures and movement were considered enlarged.
• Actors specialized in one dramatic form.
• Actors in mime did not use masks.