Vocabulary for Chapter 2 The Visual Experience

Philosophy of Art: The study of art that involves asking and answering all kinds of questions about art, how people respond to it, and how it relates to our lives.  Design: The plan the artist uses to organize the art elements (line, shape, for, space, etc.) in a work of art to achieve a unified composition.

Design: The plan the artist uses to organize the art elements (line, shape, for, space, etc.) in a work of art to achieve a unified composition.

Aesthetic Experience The theory of perceiving and enjoying something for its beauty and pleasurable qualities. This theory tries to explain and categorize our responses to art forms.

Art Criticism A systematic discussion of the characteristics of an artwork, usually involving four stages: description, analysis, interpretation and judgment.

Description: The facts of an artwork such as objects, people, shapes, and colors. Renoir

Elements of Art: The building blocks of art; space, line, shape, form, color, value, and texture. The tools the artist works with to create an artwork. Principles of Design: Balance, emphasis, rhythm, movement, repetition, contrast, and unity. The methods or techniques the artists use to organize or design artworks by controlling and ordering the elements of art. Composition: The act of organizing the elements of an artwork into harmoniously unified whole.

Analysis:The examination of the relationships among the facts (objects, people, shapes, colors) in an artwork.

Interpretation: Explanation of the meaning of the work.

Evaluation: Process to determine the quality or lasting importance of a work.

Formalism: Way of using the elements of art and principles of design to evaluate work.  Expressiveness: Refers to how effectively the work reflects a theme or world view.

Van Gogh

Brancussi

Munch

A Critique Of Mary Cassatt's Painting, The Bath Step One, Description (What do you see in the artwork? Literal (Subject) Qualities and Elements?): This is a painting showing a woman bathing a small child. They are in a bedroom with a patterned carpet (green squares on a red background with a flower in the center of each square), flowered wallpaper and a chest-of-drawers that has a painted flower design on it. There is a washbasin on the floor in which the woman is bathing the child's feet and next to it is a water pitcher with a flower design. The chest-of-drawers, washbasin and pitcher all have shiny, gold-trimmed edges. The woman is wearing a long dress with bold green, white and pinkish stripes that covers all but her head and hands. The child has a white towel wrapped around her waist. Both people have black hair and light, cream colors and bright pinks in their skin color. The woman and the child are looking down at the child's feet in the basin; the woman has her right hand around the child's right foot. The room behind them is a much darker value than are the people and there are fewer details in the background objects. Even the flower decorations are painted quickly with very simple shapes.

A Critique Of Mary Cassatt's Painting, The Bath Step Two, Analysis (How is the artwork organized? Principles?) The artist has used value to emphasize the child and the woman's face by making the faces and the child's body and towel much lighter in value than the rest of the painting and by placing this lightest area against the dark values of the room for greatest contrast. The very light value of the skin next to the very dark value of the hair also strengthens this area of emphasis. There are light values that run from the top left to the bottom right of the painting. The light pitcher in the bottom right is balanced by the light value of the wallpaper in the upper left. The dark values of the painting are also balanced with about equal areas of very dark value on either side of the painting. The artist has created a path of movement for the viewer's eyes that begins with the faces, (lightest area) and continues down the woman's arm to the basin. The basin becomes a second area of emphasis because of its large, round, simple shape. Since both the woman and child are directing their attention to that area, that also gives it added importance in the picture. The path of movement continues from the basin to the pitcher that has colors and textures that are very similar to the basin. The vertical shape of the pitcher acts like an arrow that directs the viewer's attention back toward the top of the picture. The curves made by the top of the pitcher, the woman's knees and the child's bent elbow create a rhythmic movement that brings us back to the faces of the people. The picture is given unity (harmony) by the repetition of flower shapes on the floor, pitcher, walls and chest; the repetition of gold lines in the trim of the basin, pitcher and chest; and by the repetition of the reds, greens and bluish whites throughout the picture. Variety is created by using many different shapes to represent flowers and by the difference between the flower patterns, the striped pattern on the woman's dress and the geometric block pattern of the floor.

A Critique Of Mary Cassatt's Painting, The Bath Step Three, Interpretation (What is the artist saying? What does the painting mean?) This painting is a representation of a quiet, personal moment between a mother and child. Both mother and child seem very calm as they turn their attention to a very intimate, day-to-day activity. They are sharing a time to relax and talk-maybe about things that have happened during the day or about things that are going to happen. They may be sharing a routine to get ready for an afternoon nap. The colors give a warm, soothing glow to a little snapshot of daily life. It's almost as if the artist invites us to share in this warm, tender moment.

A Critique Of Mary Cassatt's Painting, The Bath Step Four, Judgment (Is the artwork successful? Why or why not?) This is a very successful painting in terms of any one of the theories of art. The artist's main concern is in presenting a mood (emotionalism) that she does through her choice of subject and through her choice of colors for the painting. The artist is obviously skilled in using the elements and principles as the painting is very well organized. The painting is arranged so that it points the viewer to those things that the artist considers to be most important to her message. She uses the visual qualities to help make a stronger emotional statement. The painting also shows much skill in painting a realistic subject. The figures are very well proportioned and many realistic details have been painted into the face and hands of the people. Yet, the background of the painting shows little concern for exactness and detail. The artist uses her ability to paint figures realistically in a very formalist way to help point the viewer's attention to the expressive quality of the work. This painting satisfies each of the three theories of art: Imitationalism, Formalism, Emotionalism.