1. Areas of Knowledge: Art
Arts
…b-b-but Roy,
is it ART?

2. Areas of Knowledge: Art
The Arts
What is Art?

3. Areas of Knowledge: Art

4. Areas of Knowledge: Art
pottery
painting
theatre
poetry
music
dance
film
sculpture
drama
literature
photography

5. Areas of Knowledge: Art
Are any of these ‘Art’?

6. Areas of Knowledge: Art
What are the Arts for?

7. Areas of Knowledge: Art
What knowledge comes from the Arts?

8. Areas of Knowledge: Art
How do the Arts affect what we know?

9. Why Who likes this? Who dislikes this? Areas of Knowledge: Art
Angel of the North by Anthony Gormley (completed 1998)

10. Two possible positions to take…
Areas of Knowledge: Art
Two possible positions to take…
Subjectivist
There is nothing in the artwork that determines whether you should think it is good or bad – all that matters is whether you like it or dislike it
Objectivist
There are qualities in the work that determine whether it should be seen as good or bad

11. Areas of Knowledge: Art
What is Art?
Art is the process or product of deliberately arranging elements in a way to affect the senses, thoughts or emotions

12. Areas of Knowledge: Art
Which of these are works of art?
‘Sunflowers’ by Vincent van Gogh
A perfect copy of ‘Sunflowers’ bought for 100NoK in a market
A perfect copy of ‘Sunflowers’ hung in a gallery and called ‘A Perfect Copy’
Why
Sold for $40,000,000 in 1987

13. Areas of Knowledge: Art
What is Art?
The Venus of Birkat Ram
Golan 230,000yrs ago

14. Areas of Knowledge: Art
What is Art?
Female figure carved from ivory - 35,000yrs ago

15. Areas of Knowledge: Art
What is Art?
France 15,000yrs ago
Bulgaria 8,000yrs ago

16. Areas of Knowledge: Art
What is Art?
Art and the Supernatural

17. Areas of Knowledge: Art
What is Art?
Global Influences
France
West Africa

18. Areas of Knowledge: Art
What is Art?
Global Influences
Vase by Grayson Perry 2007
Etruscan Vase 520BC

19. Areas of Knowledge: Art
What is Art for?

20. Areas of Knowledge: Art
Art and Religion

21. Areas of Knowledge: Art
Art and Religion

22. Areas of Knowledge: Art
Art and Religion

24. Areas of Knowledge: Art
"Part of my role as an artist is similar to that of a shaman or witch doctor. I dress up, tell stories, give things meaning and make them a bit more significant.”
Grayson Perry 
in the catalogue to
‘The Tomb of the Unknown Craftsman’
October 2011

25. Areas of Knowledge: Art
Art and Power
Julius Caesar
Charlemagne

26. Areas of Knowledge: Art
Art and Power
Henry VIII by Holbein
Pope Innocent X by Velasquez

27. Areas of Knowledge: Art
Art and Prestige

28. Areas of Knowledge: Art
Art and Prestige
Arnolfini Portrait
Van Eyck 1434

29. Areas of Knowledge: Art
Art and Prestige
Mr and Mrs Andrews by Gainsborough 1750

30. Areas of Knowledge: Art
Calvary
by Andrea Mantegna 1458
Art can say, “This is what happened. This is significant”

31. Art can say, “This is what happened. This is significant”
Areas of Knowledge: Art
Bernardino della Ciarda Thrown Off His Horse
by Paulo Uccello 1420
Art can say, “This is what happened. This is significant”

32. Areas of Knowledge: Art
Peasant Wedding by Peter Brueghel 1568
Art can say, “This is what happened. This is significant”

33. Areas of Knowledge: Art
The Milkmaid
by Vermeer 1658
Art can say, “This is significant”

34. Areas of Knowledge: Art
House in Napoli by Thomas Jones 1782
Art can say, “This is what I saw – and it is significant”

35. Areas of Knowledge: Art
The critical voice
Social commentary
and Politics
…value judgments
by Banksy

36. Areas of Knowledge: Art
The critical voice
Social commentary
and Politics
…value judgments

37. Areas of Knowledge: Art
Making the familiar new
by Andy Warhol 1962

38. Areas of Knowledge: Art
Making the familiar new
‘Still Life’
by Paul Cezanne

39. Areas of Knowledge: Art
Making the familiar strange
Rain, Steam & Speed by JMW Turner 1844

40. A

41. Areas of Knowledge: Art
Making the familiar strange
Les Demoiselles d’Avignon
by Pablo Picasso 1907

42. Areas of Knowledge: Art
Making the familiar strange
‘Fountain’
Duchamp 1917
‘Mother and Child Divided’
Hirst 1993

43. Areas of Knowledge: Art
When told his portrait of Gertrude Stein didn’t look like her he said, “Never mind, it will!”
What do you think he meant
Gertrude Stein by Picasso 1906

44. Areas of Knowledge: Art
Artists allow us to imagine ourselves in a variety of times, places and psychological states through their art

45. Areas of Knowledge: Art
We learn about life when we look at art

46. Areas of Knowledge: Art
What counts as Art?
The intentions of the artist
The quality of the work
The response of the spectators

47. Do we need to understand the intentions of the artist
Areas of Knowledge: Art
You
The Artist
The Work of Art

48. Areas of Knowledge: Art
What counts as Art?
The intentions
of the artist
Public?
Or private?
Self-portrait
Rembrandt 1659

49. Areas of Knowledge: Art
What counts as Art?
The intentions
of the artist
To please?
Or provoke?
My Bed by Tracey Emin (sold for $250,000)

50. Areas of Knowledge: Art
What counts as Art?
The intentions
of the artist
To please?
Or provoke?

51. Areas of Knowledge: Art
What counts as Art?
The intentions
of the artist
Public?
Or private?
To please?
Or provoke?
Pope Julius 1511
by Raphael

52. Areas of Knowledge: Art
What counts as Art?
The intentions
of the artist
Public?
Or private?
To please?
Or provoke?
Pope Innocent X 1650
by Velasquez

53. Areas of Knowledge: Art
What counts as Art?
The intentions
of the artist
Oliviero Toscani for Benetton

54. Areas of Knowledge: Art
What counts as Art?
The quality of the work
Pieta
Michelangelo

55. Areas of Knowledge: Art
What counts as Art?
The quality of the work
Bull’s Head
Picasso

56. Areas of Knowledge: Art
What counts as Art?
The quality of the work

57. Areas of Knowledge: Art
What counts as Art?
The response of the spectators
Olympia
Edouard Manet 1863

58. Areas of Knowledge: Art
What counts as Art?
The response of the spectators
Albertine
Krogh 1884

59. Areas of Knowledge: Art
What counts as Art?
The response of the spectators
Pieta Therese Frare 1990

60. Areas of Knowledge: Art
The critical voice
Social commentary
and Politics
Is this Art?
Migrant Mother
by Dorothea Lange 1936

61. Areas of Knowledge: Art
The critical voice
Social commentary
and Politics
…value judgments
by Banksy

62. Areas of Knowledge: Art
The critical voice
by Kevin Carter 1993
Is this Art?

63. Areas of Knowledge: Art
“Art is not a mirror to reflect the world,
but a hammer with which to shape it”
Mayakovsky

65. Areas of Knowledge: Art
Art evokes feelings
and also stimulates intellectual awareness
by Gillian Wearing 1992

66. Areas of Knowledge: Art
Art and Knowledge
Art as Communication
Art as Education
Art as Imitation

67. Areas of Knowledge: Art
Art and Knowledge
Art as Communication

68. Areas of Knowledge: Art
Art and Knowledge
Art as Communication

69. Areas of Knowledge: Art
Art and Knowledge
Art as Communication

70. Areas of Knowledge: Art
Art and Knowledge
Art as Education
‘Still Life’ by Paul Cezanne 1890

71. Areas of Knowledge: Art
Art as Education
by Joseph Wright 1758

72. Areas of Knowledge: Art
Art as Education: Allegory
Primavera (Spring) by Botticelli

73. Areas of Knowledge: Art
Art and Knowledge
Art as Imitation

74. Areas of Knowledge: Art
by Rene Magritte

75. Areas of Knowledge: Art
Art and Truth
Guernica by Picasso 1937
Painted in response to the bombing of the Spanish town of Guernica by German and Italian warplanes at the request of the Spanish Nationalist forces. 3.5metres x 7.8metres.
A tapestry copy hangs outside the Security Council room at the United Nations in New York.

76. Areas of Knowledge: Art
Art and Truth
Miles Davis
Meryl Streep
Merce Cunningham
Mark Rothko
Gabriel Garcia Marquez
Diane Arbus

77. Areas of Knowledge: Art
Some key points:
Art of one form or another can be found in all cultures, and the desire to make aesthetically pleasing objects seems to be universal
Among the criteria for distinguishing art from non-art are the intentions of the artist, the quality of the work, and the response of the spectators
It could be argued that great art stands the test of time and is inexhaustible – in the sense that it constantly reveals new things to us

78. Areas of Knowledge: Art
Some key points:
The Copy Theory says the purpose of Art is to copy reality. But it could be argued that art is not so much a slavish reproduction of reality as a creative reinterpretation of it
A second theory sees Art as a means of communication which enables us to imaginatively project ourselves into new situations and communicate emotions that lie beyond everyday language
A third theory says that the Arts have an educative role and at their best broaden our awareness, develop our empathy and sharpen our moral intuitions

79. “Art is a lie that brings us nearer to the truth” (Pablo Picasso).
Areas of Knowledge: Art
ToK Prescribed title 2010
“Art is a lie that brings us nearer to the truth” (Pablo Picasso).
Evaluate this claim in relation to a specific art form (for example, visual arts, literature, theatre).

80. Areas of Knowledge: Art
Reason
What role does reason play in artistic creation?
Maths
What is the connection between maths and music?
Perception
Do the arts help us to see the world with new eyes?
Ethics
To what extent do the arts ‘civilise’ people?
Natural Sciences
What role does creative imagination play in the sciences?
The Arts
Emotion
Is art the language of the emotions?
Human Sciences
How does literature help us understand human nature?
History
How much can we learn about the past from the history of art?

82. Areas of Knowledge: Art
Pablo Picasso was asked,
“Is the artist a special kind of person?”
He said, “No! Every person is a special kind of artist.”
Self-portrait by Picasso