Art Appreciation Lecture Notes - University of the East PDF

UNIVERSITY OF THE EAST COLLEGE OF ARTS AND SCIENCES-MANILA DEPARTMENT OF HUMANITIES AND PHILOSOPHY LECTURE NOTES IN ART APPRECIATION CLASS OF DR. ALLAN C. ORATE MODULE 6...

UNIVERSITY OF THE EAST COLLEGE OF ARTS AND SCIENCES-MANILA DEPARTMENT OF HUMANITIES AND PHILOSOPHY LECTURE NOTES IN ART APPRECIATION CLASS OF DR. ALLAN C. ORATE MODULE 6 Art and Philosophy: Functionalism, Action Theory and Institutional Theory M6. OBJECTIVES At the end of the lessons, the students are expected to: 1. Relate the study of art to the field of philosophy. 2. Compare and contrast aesthetic functionalism, action theory and institutional theory. 3. Identify artworks, styles, artists and philosophers that abide with functionalism, action theory and institutional theory. 4. Apply the theories to art analysis. 5. Formulate a philosophical approach to Art Appreciation. 6. Evaluate the merit or demerit of works of art based on the theories. 7. Interpret institutional theory as the foundation of postmodern art. 8. Make works of art that show the application of action theory and institutional theory. M6. READINGS M6. READING 1. Danto, Arthur (1964). “The Artworld” in Journal of Philosophy, Vol. 61, Issue 19. American Philosophical Association Eastern Division 61st Annual Meeting, pp. 571-584. M6. READING 2. Rosenberg, Harold (1952). “The American Action Painters,” in http://www. csus.edu/indiv/o/obriene/ art112/readings/rosenberg%20american%20action%20painters.pdf M6. VIDEOS M6. VIDEO 1. “Sydney Opera House: Building an Icon” in https://www.youtube.com/watch? M6. VIDEO 2. “Pollock,” in https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JZ3glUYHa3Q M6. VIDEO 3. M6. Video 2. “Art or Prank?" in https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2ZlrHyzIwcI M6. LECTURES Topic Overview In the previous modules, we consider art in relation with the world and the effect it has with the artist and spectators. Now, we will try to understand art by considering it according the purpose for which it is made, according to the process of creating it, and according to the people who produce it. Looking at art from these perspectives situate it is within the bigger context of the society and the dynamics of social relations. Aside from the view that art has an inherent purpose such as for the appreciation of beauty, it also has some practical motive such as for financial gain, LECTURES IN ART APPRECIATION PREPARED BY DR. ALLAN C. ORATE 1 or for political and religious aims. It is also determined by social elements such as human activities and power. The contemporary concept of art, at this time, has become somewhat unconventional. M6. LECTURE 1 Aesthetic Functionalism Aesthetic functionalism is a theory which asserts that an object is beautiful because of its function, use, efficiency or utility to do a specified work, function or purpose; an object is ugly because it is malfunctional, useless, inefficient or futile in doing its appointed task. Basic to this theory is the concept of function described as the capacity of an object to satisfy the desired need of the user. It involves three elements: the person who desires to use an object, and the object satisfying the need of the person. Let us say that I am very tired, and I feel the need of sitting; I sit on a chair, and the chair satisfies my need; thus, the chair is beautiful. If the legs of the chair break while I sit on it, and I fall down the floor, it follows that the chair is defective, hence, ugly. The functionalist theory of art and beauty is implied in the philosophy by Socrates (369-299 BCE). He believed that the essence of a thing is determined by its action. “To do is to be” or “a thing is what it is according to what it does.” In ethical sense, man’s rational nature is the basis of morality, so that if he knows what is good, he does good in his action. Applying this concept to aesthetics, it means that the beauty of an object is indicated by what it does—its function. For example, a ballpen is beautiful because it writes well; if the ballpen has no ink, then its ugly because it does not do what it is supposed to do The appreciation of art based on functionalism has to answer the fundamental question “What is art for?” The aesthetic function of art is for the perception of beauty. For instance, we are walking inside a museum and we look at the painting by Jacques Louise David, The Death of Socrates; we experience beauty out of it, so we say “Wow!” Art has a monetary function too, such Picasso’s Nude, Green Leaves and Bust that was sold for a staggering price of 106.5 million dollars in 2010. In our country, one of the most expensive art pieces was Juan Luna’s Parisian Life; it was bought by the GSIS for a price of 46 million pesos. This painting by Luna could also serve a political or nationalistic purpose. In one interpretation, the woman in the painting is said to be the symbol for the Mother Philippines being abused by Spanish colonizers; the three men at her back were Jose Rizal, Juan Luna and Ariston Bautista Lin who were taking to one another about how they could save the country from oppression. Art may also have religious function; the paintings inside the churches during the medieval and Renaissance period were meant to teach catechism to people, like Michelangelo’s masterpiece at the ceiling and altar wall of the Sistine Chapel. In architecture, Le Corbusier (1887-1965) and Frank Lloyd Wright (1867-1959) espoused organic, functionalist design. They claimed that a building or any structure has to be constructed according to its use in harmony with the surrounding environment. Their main principle is “form follows functions”. It means that the purpose or use of the building determines its shape and overall design. All parts of the house have their assigned functions: the kitchen for cooking, the bedroom for sleeping, the closet for storage, the comfort room to be used as toilet and bath. Some famous buildings are known for their functions. Wright’s Guggenheim Museum in New York is a long spiral gallery from the first to the fifth floor. The pyramids of Egypt served as monumental tomb for the pharaohs, and the Taj Mahal in India as a mausoleum. Based on this principle, the Sydney Opera House in Australia may be said to be functionally ugly because the curvilinear shape of the roofs is malfunctional for a theater that needs to have an efficient acoustics. LECTURES IN ART APPRECIATION PREPARED BY DR. ALLAN C. ORATE 2  M6. LECTURE 2 Action Theory of Art Action theory, with abstract expressionism as is its corresponding style, was started and popularized by Jackson Pollock (1912-1952) in the United States in the late 1940’s after the Second World War. Primarily applied to painting, its main idea is that art is the process, activity or performance of making or producing the art. The word “painting” is not a noun that refers to a thing; rather it is a progressive verb conjugated from the infinitive “to paint”, and therefore refers to an action being done at the present moment. If a painter is asked: “What are you doing”; he would reply “I am painting”. So, the painting is the action involved in art production. Art is the work, thus it is called work of art. The finished product, the one we hang on the wall, is not the art; it is the accidental result of the act. The art is the activity itself. There is art so long as the artist is making the piece. When the action is over, there is no more art. The term “action painting” was coined by Harold Rosenberg in 1952, in his article about the then prevailing and influential art movement in America. He writes: “The canvas began to appear as an arena in which to act…. What was to go on the canvas is not a picture but an event.” The art of painting is the process of putting, dripping, pouring and splashing paints on the canvas. This is best illustrated by Pollock’s signature work entitled Lavender Mist (1950). This painting does not have any representational images. We see only black, brown, gray and white lines of paints dripped, splashed and scattered all over the canvas. There was a photographer who documented the process of painting by Pollock. In one picture, there is Pollock moving over his big canvas while he was pouring fluid enamel paints down all over the area. Pollock said “On the floor I am more at ease, I feel nearer, more part of the painting, since this way I can walk around it, work from the four sides and literally be ‘in’ the painting.” There is a sense of freedom in act the act of painting because Pollock could move on the canvas in any way he likes, not being determined by the images of things. He was the one in complete control in the production of his art. Pollock got the idea of action painting from the sand painting by the native American Navajo. The Navajo people believe that their sandpainting is a portal which attracts the spirits that heal the sick. One time, Pollock watched some Navajo making painting on the ground by means of pouring colored sand and powdered minerals on the ground. He then thought of using paints poured down into the canvas. Some of his noted pieces were Convergence (1952), Mural on Indian Red Ground (1950), Number 5 (1948) and Summertime Number 9A (1948). Another famous action painter was William de Kooning with his work such as Excavation (1950). In the Philippines, the most noted painter according to this theory and style was Jose Joya; his piece entitled Karate, implies movement as if there is somebody who made a quick karate stroke or kick into a pail full of paints. Color field painting is a branch of action painting which shows flat mass of colors on the canvas. Famous in this style is Mark Rothko, for example, with his No. 1: Royal Red and Blue (1954), and in the Philippines is Gus Albor with his works such as Temperature HD #1 (2009). M6. LECTURE 3 Institutional Theory of Art The postmodern thinking about art has led to Institutional Theory or the Theory of the Artworld. For Arthur Danto and George Dickie, what makes something an art is due to the so-called LECTURES IN ART APPRECIATION PREPARED BY DR. ALLAN C. ORATE 3 “artworld,” an institution composed of groups of powerful people. These people are the professionals and experts who justify anything to be art by virtue of their influential status. They are responsible for the conceptualization, production and distribution of art to the consuming public or ordinary people. Art has no fixed essence. It is defined by the artworld through its own established rules which are changing and depend on relations of power. The artworld is composed of people with their various mechanisms and instruments within the institution of art. They are the artists, the art critics and writers, the art historians and educators, the art patrons and curators, the art museums and galleries, the art schools and organizations, the art awards and recognitions, the art media which includes televisions, newspapers and magazines, and the art public composed of the ordinary people who engage themselves into art. They hold different degrees of power in talking, dealing or doing anything about art. For something to become art is like for someone to become a dentist or an engineer: must pass all the standards set by the school as an institution. For someone to become a great artist is like for a person to become a pope: must go through all the stages prescribed by the church as an institution. How to be recognized as an artists by the artworld? The person should have talents and skills; he is granted fine art degree in art school; he become a member of art organization; he wins recognitions and awards; his artworks are exhibited in museums and galleries; his name is mentioned in books art history; his artworks are discussed in classroom lectures; he becomes a well- known artist; and he has revolutionized art. This person would now have the power to defined and talk about art in whatever manner he chooses. A thing becomes art because it is recognized to be art by the artworld. For example, there is a box in the world of ordinary object; it is a non-art. There is a powerful artist who takes the box and exhibits it in a museum; there are people who go to the museum and look at the box: there are art critics and historians who writes articles and books about the box; the professors talk about that box in their classroom lectures. In this case, the box has already been transformed into an art. Institutional theory was conceptualized in order to explain the controversial piece by Marcel Duchamp, Fountain (1917). It was a submitted by Duchamp under his pseudonym “R. Mutt” to an art exhibition sponsored by the Society of Independent Artist in New York. It was not at first accepted as an art because nobody knew R. Mutt. Duchamp protested and revealed that he was R. Mutt. It was then accepted as art because of the processes that it has undergone. It was exhibited in many museums in the world. It is included in art history books, and discussed in classroom lectures. It was voted as the most influential artwork of the 20th century. One copy of it sold for 1.7 million dollars in 1999. The Fountain is art simply because the artworld says that it is! The first ready-made art was the Bicycle Wheel by Duchamp (1913). It is said that one time, this art was exhibited in a museum, and somebody commented “Is that art.” Duchamp, who happened to be there, replied: “Yes that is art.” “Why?” “Because I say so”. Similarly, The Mona Lisa is a great art because of the position of da Vinci in Western civilization; and because art historians, critics, professors claim that is so. Even the sketch entitled The Mouse becomes a great art because it is attributed to Picasso, or the label of Ginebra San Miguel is art because its original design is by Amorsolo. The Fifth Child is a great novel because it was written by Doris Lessing who won the Nobel Prize for Literature in 2007. The installations art by Javacheff that showed wrapped building, wrapped trees, and wrapped bottles and cans, have been recognized as art because of the position of power held by the artists within the artworld. Anything at all may become art depending on the ways of conceptualizing, talking about and dealing with it by the artworld. 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