 WHY MAN CREATES: MAN—THE MEASURE OF ALL THINGS • Summary of Contents I. Man Creates: In His Own Image This program deals with man’s varying presentations of himself through the centuries, demonstrating a unity of basic needs and emotions and a continuing search for self-definition. In the beginning, man was bewildered by nature. Yet, unlike other animals, he was aware of his mortality. Wanting an explanation for the chaos around him, he sought to impose an order on the terrors of the world. So he made objects in beautiful forms, although he did not know he created art. Many of the earlier images were gods, often gods that took the form of more adaptable animals than man. He also made magical images of himself, to proclaim and perpetuate his own existence. Thus we find the beginnings of man’s efforts to define himself through his own image. For man is the single factor, which unifies all, art; and art, reflects man’s search for himself. He has looked for answers in the faces of gods. He has shown himself as worshipper. On a practical level, man shows himself learning to cope with nature, defending himself and his cherished possessions. He visualizes his loves, his moods and emotions. He evokes pleasurable experiences in music-making images, and he celebrates creation in dance. We see him in luxury, in quiet moments, and also as a unique individual. For man chooses what he wants us to see and demands a reaction. Man needs to declare his own existence. Nature creates beauty without a consciousness that we can understand, but the mind of man conceives art. And, through images of himself, man seeks definition in spite of the mysteries of the world around him. II. Man Creates: For God or Country In the modern world, most art seems born of personal vision, but this has not always been the case. For many centuries, and in many cultures, the artist was expected to devote his skills to some person or force outside himself. One such culture was that of ancient Egypt, where most art was created for the great tombs built to ensure the immortality of those in power. In Greece, the artist was concerned with man’s life in this world, and through art, he sought to raise it to the highest level of reasoned beauty in all endeavors. The center of Greek art was man himself, an emphasis also evident in the architecture, philosophy and literature of the period. The anonymous artists of the Middle Ages, however, kept their eyes on heaven. Their task was to raise man’s mind from his time on earth to the rewards awaiting him in the hereafter. Medieval artists created liturgical objects and great cathedrals. Medieval art was not realistic, yet a progression towards naturalism became apparent as the Renaissance approached. For in the Renaissance, man would again be the focus of art, and the artist would express his own personality and emerge as an acknowledged genius. III. Man Creates: For Love or Money The Renaissance was a complex and challenging age, when man found new pride in personal achievement. The long-neglected legacy of Greece and Rome was revelation to the new humanistic scholars. And there was a new freedom of creation—for love or money. In fifteenth-century Italy, an upper-middle class group of patrons and collectors emerged, commissioning decorative objects for their stately homes. They wished to see portraits of themselves and other secular art, which found its inspiration in pagan myths and themes. But even when creating for the Church, the artist was allowed to express his personality. The human body, shameful in the Middle Ages, became a major theme of Renaissance art. The science of perspective was developed and scenes were set in familiar surroundings. In seventeenth-century Holland, another society was in love with its world. The Dutch were a middle-class people who wanted images of their comfortable home and the pleasant countryside around them. Rembrandt loved the beauties of his native Holland, but remained fascinated by the spiritual nature of the inner man. But most artists of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries wed personal vision to public taste. In England, the aristocracy wished elegant portraits. The French nobility paid for pictures of frivolous charm—lofty landscapes and quaint genre scenes. In nineteenth-century France, the Academy dictated rigid neoclassical standards for art. Delacroix, however, brought acceptance to romantic and literary painting. The Impressionists and Post-Impressionists, however, broke the bonds of the Academy and opened the eyes of both artists and public to new experiments in artistic perception. In the twentieth century, the artist finds inspiration anywhere he wishes. Techniques and styles vary as greatly as subject matter. Artists may continue to create for money, but the true artist will create for love. • Inquiry Suggestions 1. Discuss the five quotations that begin the program. 2. Use any of the slides of figures in this program to begin a discussion of the search for identity. Discuss the ways in which each particular slide acts as a definition of the human it portrays. 3. How does each artist see his subject? How does he want the viewer to feel? How has he chosen his materials and style to emphasize this feeling? 4. Do universal emotions exist? If so, what are some of them? Are they affected by such considerations as historical context, sophistication of society, etc.? 5. What is taste? How does tasted affect man’s way of seeing himself? 6. How do different types of deities reflect man’s view of himself, his social and physical surroundings, his goals in life? 7. How do human beings communicate? How does art work as a means of communication? What do you think are the best ways to communicate? 8. How many different types of love can you think of? How strong are the bonds of love? Is love a universal need? 9. Does man have a need for beauty? If so, why? 10. Does man need to express himself? In what ways does he do this? 11. The instant media communications of today result in a lessening of artistic sensibilities and values. Discuss. • Vocabulary aesthetic: relating to the beauty in art academic: conforming to traditional standards or to a discipline based on the standards of an official Academy, which are usually conservative. anonymous: having no acknowledged name; of unknown authorship bourgeois: characteristic of the middle class Canopic jar: (from Canopus, a city in ancient Egypt northwest of Alexandria) vase with a top in the form of a human or animal head used in ancient Egypt to hold the internal organs of embalmed bodies. capitalism: the possession and concentration of private capital and its resulting power and influence. classical: adhering to the aesthetic principles (balance, simplicity, restraint, dignity, etc.) manifested in the art, literature and philosophy of Greece and Rome during their period of highest culture commemorate: to celebrate the memory of; to keep in remembrance commission: a thing to be done by one as an agent for another; authorization or command to act as specified cult: zealous devotion to a person, ideal or thing; a system of religious rites and observances decorative: ornamental decorative art: art serving to ornament or embellish an object that has an ulterior purpose, as distinguished from fine art, which exists as an end in itself feudal: of, relating to or typical of the system in Medieval Europe in which vassals were granted landholdings by their lords in return for military service or the performance of other duties and in which the consequent subjection of vassals to lords profoundly influenced the economic and political structure of society free-standing: standing apart from all other objects; independently balanced or supported as opposed to relief frontal: the head-on representation of a figure, object or scene funerary: of, pertaining to or designed for a funeral genre: a category of art characterized by a certain form, style or subject matter; a class of painting or other art depicting everyday life, such as a domestic interior or a rural or village science heroic: grandiose or high-flown in style; of sculpture, considerably larger than life-size. humanistic: pertaining to an attitude in thought, religion, etc., in which human ideals and the perfection of human personality are made central idealized: of or pertaining to a standard of perfection, beauty or excellence of kind illuminate: to decorate (an initial letter, page, manuscript, etc.) with embellishments, ornamental borders, figures, etc., of gold or other colors. illusionistic: giving a general impression not consistent with fact (e.g., that the canvas is a two-dimensional surface); using pictorial and perspective techniques to create in a work of art the illusion of reality. inlaid: decorated with wood, ivory or other contrasting material embedded in a series of shallow depressions or on a depressed ground kouros: a sculpted figure of a Greek youth (as an athlete) lacquer: a transparent varnish used to impart a hard, glossy finish libation: a liquid ceremonially poured out, as in honor liturgical: of, pertaining to or associated with public worship, religious ritual, etc. monumental: like a monument; enduring; imposing; elevated in idea; giving an impression of grandeur of form mummification: the process of making a mummy of; of preserving by embalming, drying, etc. mystical: having a spiritual character or reality beyond the comprehension of human reason pagan: of or pertaining to one who is neither a Christian nor a Jew; heathenish palazzo: a palace or other large imposing residence; especially in Italy patron: a wealthy or influential supporter of an artist or writer perspective: a system of representing three-dimensional objects on a two-dimensional surface so that the effect is the same as if the actual scene were viewed from a given point, the objects appearing three-dimensional and receding in depth with the same space relationships. Perspective space may be achieved in a number of ways including the use of gradations of color and distinctness, or of converging lines. pharaoh: a title of the sovereigns of ancient Egypt pilgrimage: the action of journeying, especially as a devotee seeking a shrine portraiture: the art of making a painting, sculpture, drawing, photograph or other representation, especially of the face, of a real person, living or dead primitive: pertaining to the art of people who adhere to a traditional pattern of life, evolving little socially or artistically over the generations. Most primitive art is created for some religious or practical purpose. Primitive may also describe the art of one who is naïve or self-taught; i.e., not subject to the influence of previous or contemporary work. propaganda: any organized group, effort or movement to spread particular doctrines; information, etc. protégé: a man under the care and protection of an influential person, usually for the furthering of his career; a pupil relief: in sculpture, any work in which figures, ornaments, etc. project from a background render: to represent or depict, as by painting, music or the like secular: of or pertaining to the worldly or temporal, as distinguished from the spiritual or eternal self-expressive: expressive of one’s own personality solidity: the state, quality or property of being solid; density; compactness sphinx: in Greek mythology, a monster having typically a lion’s body, wings, and the head and bust of a woman; in Egyptian archaeology, an image of a recumbent lion having the head of a man, ram or hawk stoicism: the principle or practice of showing indifference to pleasure or pain; impassiveness stylization: representation of natural forms more in accordance with artistic ideals or conventions than with observation of individual examples of those forms. Suppression of individual characteristics often involves intentional distortion of natural forms when universal characteristics are emphasized through exaggeration. |
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