1. Why Study the World of Art? (p. xviii)
Art is among the highest expressions of culture, embodying its ideals and aspirations, challenging its assumptions and beliefs, and creating new possibilities for it to pursue.
We study art in order to understand more about the culture that produced it.
The art object gives us insight into what the culture values: religious ritual, aesthetic pleasure, or functional utility, for example.

2. The Critical Process (p. xviii)
The critical process we use in studying works of art is similar in many ways to the creative process that artists use to make art.
Critical thinking involves questioning, exploration, trial and error, revision, and discovery.
Consider Henry Sayre’s Seven Steps to Thinking Critically about Art.

3. Part 1: The Visual World Chapter 1- A World of Art
Thinking Ahead/Thinking Back:
1. What do all artists share?
2. What are the roles of the artist?
3. What is active seeing?

4. What is an Artist? What do all Artists Share?
Artists are creative thinkers.
Artists are explorers and inventors. They possess the energy, ingenuity, and courage of conviction that are required to create art. They respond to the unexpected, the chance occurrences or results that are part of the creative process.
Artists are open to new ways of seeing.
Seeing + Imagining + Making = Creativity
Artists are critical thinkers. They engage in a self-critical process of questioning their own assumptions, revising and rethinking choices and decisions, and exploring new directions and possibilities.
Different artists in different cultures respond to the world in different ways, but all artists share the fundamental desire to create.

5. The 4 Roles of the Artist
When artists think about why they make their work, most think of themselves as practicing one of four fundamental roles – or perhaps a combination of the four.
These roles may be conscious or subconscious as artists create their work, but the roles that they assume do impact the overall tone of the art they produce.

6. The 4 Roles of the Artist: Role 1
Artists may create art to help us see the world in new and innovative ways.
Their work may be designed to transform our experience of the world, and to shake us out of our normal acceptance of the way things are.

7. Yayoi Kusama. You Who Are Getting Obliterated in the Dancing Swarm of Fireflies, Mixed Media. Phoenix Museum of Art.

8. The 4 Roles of the Artist: Role 2
Artists may create art to make a visual record of the people, places, and events of their time and place.
This type of art captures the spirit of the age in which it was made; it is a visual documentary of the way things were at a given time. We can see this practice in art from recent works, as well as from art made many centuries ago.

9. John Ahearn and Rigoberto Torres. Pat, 1982. Painted cast plaster
John Ahearn and Rigoberto Torres. Pat, Painted cast plaster. 28 ½ ×16 ½ × 11 in.

10. Nan Goldin. Cookie at Tin Pan Alley, New York City 1983, from the multimedia installation, The Ballad of Sexual Dependency, 1983.

11. Attributed to Manohar. Jahangir in Darbar
Attributed to Manohar. Jahangir in Darbar. Mughal period, India, about Opaque watercolor and gold on paper.
13 ¾ × 7 7/8 in.

12. Claude Monet. Le Pont de l’Europe, Gare Saint-Lazare, 1877
Claude Monet. Le Pont de l’Europe, Gare Saint-Lazare, Oil on canvas. 25 ¼ × 31 7/8 in.

13. The 4 Roles of the Artist: Role 3
Artists may make functional objects and structures (buildings) more pleasurable and elevate them or imbue them with meaning.
An example of an object that many cultures pay a great deal of attention to is clothing. Clothing has a useable function: to protect us from the elements, but it also has many more purposes, most of which are visually important. It can indicate the wearer’s taste, self-image, and, perhaps above all, social status.

14. Kane Kwei (Teshi tribe, Ghana, Africa)
Kane Kwei (Teshi tribe, Ghana, Africa). Coffin Orange, in the Shape of a Cocoa Pod, c Polychrome wood. 34 × 105 ½ × 24 in.

15. Karaori kimono. Middle Edo Period, Japan, c. 1700. Brocaded silk
Karaori kimono. Middle Edo Period, Japan, c Brocaded silk. length 60 in.

16. Renzo Piano. Jean-Marie Tjibaou Cultural Center, Nouméa, New Caledonia, 1991–1998.

17. Pablo Picasso. Seated Bather (La Baigneuse), 1930. Oil on canvas
Pablo Picasso. Seated Bather (La Baigneuse), Oil on canvas. 64 ¼ × 51 in.

18. The Creative Process
Pablo Picasso. Les Demoiselles d’Avignon, Oil on canvas. 8 ft. × 7 ft. 8 in.

19. The Creative Process
Pablo Picasso. Study for Les Demoiselles d’Avignon. Head of the Squatting Demoiselle, Gouache and Indian ink on paper. 24 ¾ × 18 7/8 in.

20. The 4 Roles of the Artist: Role 4
Artists give form to the immaterial – hidden or universal truths, spiritual forces, personal feelings.
It is important to remember the cultural context in which these artworks are created, especially if it is not your own.

21. Kongo (Muserongo). Female Figure (nkisi nkonde)
Kongo (Muserongo). Female Figure (nkisi nkonde). Zaire, late 19th century. Wood, iron nails, glass, resin. height 20 in.

22. Tania Bruguera. Displacement, embodying a Nkisi Nkonde icon, 1998–99
Tania Bruguera. Displacement, embodying a Nkisi Nkonde icon, 1998–99. Cuban earth, glue, wood, nails / textile. Dimensions variable

23. Jan and Hubert van Eyck. The Ghent Altarpiece, c. 1432. 11 ft. 5 in
Jan and Hubert van Eyck. The Ghent Altarpiece, c ft. 5 in. × 15 ft. 1 in.

24. Jan van Eyck. God. Panel from The Ghent Altarpiece, c. 1432.

25. The Process of Seeing
The act of seeing is not just directing our eyes at something. Seeing is both a physical and psychological process.
Visual processing can be divided into 3 steps:
Reception
Extraction
Inference
Seeing is an inherently creative process. The visual system makes conclusions about the world.
Each individual sees things differently, and this mirrors his/her complex perceptions of the world.

26. Active Seeing
Jasper Johns. Three Flags Encaustic on canvas. 30 7/8 × 45 ½ × 5 in.

27. Can you remember how many red stripes are in the artwork?
How many white stripes are there?
What color is the stripe on top? On the bottom?
How many horizontal rows of stars are there?
What is the artist’s name?
What year was the work completed?
How is the time in which this was made affect the way you understand the artwork?

28. Active Seeing
Jasper Johns. Three Flags Encaustic on canvas. 30 7/8 × 45 ½ × 5 in.

29. Faith Ringgold. God Bless America. 1964. Oil on canvas.

30. Thinking Thematically about Art
The 6 major themes within art that we will explore through this course:
Art, Politics, and Community
Art and Spiritual Belief
Art and the Passage of Time
Art and Beauty
Art, Gender, and Identity
Art, Science, and the Environment

31. Thinking Thematically about Art: Art, Politics, and Community
Dread Scott. What Is the Proper Way to Display a US Flag?, Gelatin silver print of installation, U.S. flag, book, pen, shelf, audience. 34 x 57 in. flag

32. The Critical Process
Andy Warhol. Race Riot Acrylic and silkscreen on canvas, four panels. each 20 x 33 in.

33. 1. Register for MyArtsLab 2. Written Journal #1
Homework:
1. Register for MyArtsLab
2. Written Journal #1
Due: Next class - Monday, January 26
See handout, Seven Steps to Thinking Critically about Art, for help. This is included in your textbook on page xix.