Visual Arts Midterm

Are the following artworks/monuments Greek or Roman? Column of Trajan, Flavian Amphitheatre, Laocoon, Venus de Milo, Pantheon, Parthenon, Ara Pacis Augustae

Column of Trajan- Roman Flavian Amphitheatre- Roman Laocoon- Greek Venus de Milo- Greek Pantheon- Roman Ara Pacis Augustae- Roman

contour lines

Contour lines delineate the outer edges of forms and surface shapes. With contour drawings, the subject is reduced to lines only. Such drawings are extremely important for creating foundations for more complicated drawings and paintings.

What is art criticism?

Critics are people who specialize in analyzing, interpreting and evaluating art. Since critics often write for newspapers, magazines, and even blogs, their opinions can be very important in shaping opinions about the value of art. In the past, critics wielded great power: some lauded artists for making important innovations, others condemned artists for taking too big of risks.

What is a focal point?

a hierarchy of forms to draw our eyes to various centers of emphasis (called focal points).

Varism

variasim is looking older to show wisdom; furrowed brow, bags... opposite of being idealized

What are the seven fundamentals of art?

Line Shape Form Space Texture Value Color

Where was Gothic architecture born (and with what building)?

Basillica of Saint Dennis. Now in the northern suberb of Paris

What is mosaic?

(a mosaic, by the way, is an image created by an assemblage of tiny tiles, usually made of ceramic, glass, or shell).

What is a bas-relief vs. sculpture in the round?

- -A sculpture in the round is a freestanding work of art, meant to be viewed from all sides, such as the Mother and child.

What is color vs. chroma?

-Color is a language, a method of communication, and even a way of navigating the world. Colors are associated with moods, brands, personalities, and concepts. In art, colors are a indispensable tool for communicating emotion and message. -

What is perspective vs. space?

-Perspective is a technique artists use to create the visual illusion of three-dimensional space on a flat, two-dimensional surface. - space refers to the distance around or between the components of an artwork, or even space within. In art, space can be used in two primary ways: 1) the space of sculpture, which is both the area it occupies and the voids it contains, and 2) the "space" that exists on the flat picture plane (illusionistic space)

What is shape vs. form?

-Shapes come in two basic varieties: geometric and organic. Geometric shapes are the basic, or regular shapes: squares, rectangles, triangles, and circles. As simple as these building blocks sound, artists rely heavily on geometric shapes to create both simple and complex compositions. Shape has even influenced the development of entire art styles. Organic shapes, on the other hand, are irregular shapes. They are complex and non-defined. They might seem free-flowing, and less structured than geometric shapes. Organic shapes are often associated with living things. -Unlike shape, form conveys depth. This can be literal three-dimensional depth, as seen in sculptures, or implied depth, as seen in paintings and drawings. Form is something you can hold in your hand or walk around; it is not an abstract, flat shape floating.

Stone Hedge

-uses post and lintel construction -it was a cermonial city for the dead

What are the five main facets or issues in the development and study of art?

1. Art and Artists: What is the artist's objective? What does the artist contribute? 2. Art and Beauty: Can beauty really be defined and how does it change over time? 3. Art and Devotion: What role does art play in beliefs and religion 4. Art, Society and Economics: Does art effect society or does society effect art? 5. Art and Personal Preference: What does art mean to you? How does your definition fit in?

How has ideal beauty changed or evolved?

Beauty differs according to time period, geographic location, style, religion, personal taste, and even economics. For example, back in the Middle Ages, being plump was a symbol of wealth, because people simply did not have the resources to eat well.

Make sure you could identify the exterior of a Romanesque vs. a Gothic cathedral.

1. Gothic architecture had pointed arches in roof while Romanesque architecture had round arches. 2. Gothic architecture had large windows and lot of stained glass while In Romanesque architecture the windows were small and less stained. And hence, the Gothic structures have bright light inside and are airy while the Romanesque structures are darker inside. 3. Gothic Architecture has groin vaulted cathedrals while Romanesque has mostly barrel vaults and some groin vaults. 4. Gothic Architecture has flying buttresses and few structure supports. Romanesque architecture has large pillars inside of the building. 5. The Romanesque structures came with heavy frames. On the other hand, the Gothic structures had a slender skeleton.

According to the American Perceptions of Artists Survey conducted by Princeton University, what percentage of Americans have been inspired by a visual work of art like a painting, drawing or photograph?

80%

Composition and balance

A balanced composition is a compositional choice in art in which the frame feels balanced. Different compositional aspects carry "weight," for example brightness, color, and placement of the main subject. To create a balanced composition these things must be taken into consideration and distributed around the frame for a balanced feel. As with anything in art, a composition does not have to be balanced, but it's a good idea to understand what this means so you can make a conscious decision whether to use a balanced or an unbalanced composition.

What is a ziggurat?

A ziggurat is a type of massive structure built in ancient Mesopotamia. It has the form of a terraced compound of successively receding stories or levels

What was the Hiberno-Saxon period?

After Rome fell, the areas once conquered and controlled by the Roman Empire in Northern Europe fell into disrepair. Many "barbaric" tribes attempted to take over and re-establish complete power. This was a time of competing warlords, as the Visigoths, Vandals, Celts and other tribes were engaged in a constant state of warfare. But at the same time Christian spread through Europe, eventually reaching modern-day France, Germany, and England. Soon, Christian ideals and themes assimilated with pagan practices and ideologies. In the British Isles, this syncretism (the amalgamation or attempted amalgamation of different religions, cultures, or schools of thought) created an intricate medieval style known as Hiberno-Saxon.

What is art history?

Art History and criticism reacted to the development of new philosophies and theories that questioned truth, how we view the world, how we construct our understanding of language, and how our knowledge is impacted by societal programming.

What is idealization in art?

Artistic idealization refers to the method of portraying people, places, or things in a romanticized, and unrealistically perfect form.

Who was Augustus and how did he use art for propaganda?

Augustus of Primaporta is an outstanding example of an artwork that was rendered entirely for propagandistic purposes. Since the Roman Empire would eventually stretch over three continents, very few of Augustus's subjects would ever see what the emperor himself looked like. In order to disseminate his political power and ideology, Caesar Augustus would have busts and sculptures of himself made to place all around the empire.

What are the nine Principles of Design?

Balance Emphasis Movement Pattern Repetition Proportion Rhythm Variety Unity

Balance

Balance is the distribution of the visual weight of objects, colors, texture, and space. If the design was a scale, these elements should be balanced to make a design feel stable. In symmetrical balance, the elements used on one side of the design are similar to those on the other side; in asymmetrical balance, the sides are different but still look balanced. In radial balance, the elements are arranged around a central point and may be similar.

Emphasis

Emphasis is the part of the design that catches the viewer's attention. Usually the artist will make one area stand out by contrasting it with other areas. The area could be different in size, color, texture, shape, etc.

What is weight?

Every element on a web page exerts a visual force that attracts the eye of the viewer. The greater the force, the more the eye is attracted. These forces also appear to act on other elements, imparting a visual direction to their potential movement and suggesting where you should look next.

Who is Constantine and how did he change the Roman Empire?

For a brief period, the empire was restored under Constantine the Great (reigned 306-337 CE), the first emperor to embrace Christianity (he was officially baptized on his deathbed). By overthrowing his political enemies, Constantine restored the "one rules all" policy. Eventually, Constantine moved the Capital city to Constantinople (modern day Istanbul, Turkey), leaving Rome to the" barbarians" it once conquered. In fact, until Constantine, it was illegal to be Christian.

What is verism?

For example, portraits of Republican leaders are not overly idealized depictions of youthful men. Instead, they are depictions of real men, real men with wrinkles, truthful features, and even signs of aging. The term for this kind of facial realism is verism. Verism, as seen in the portraits above, will be the defining variance between Greek and Roman art during this period. True-to-life depictions were important in the republic age, as lineage and ancestry became important markers of social class.

gesture lines

Gesture lines are the types of lines we might call sketchy or loose; they usually convey a sense of movement.

What is hierarchy of scale?

Hierarchical proportion is a technique used in art, mostly in sculpture and painting, in which the artist uses unnatural proportion or scale to depict the relative importance of the figures in the artwork.

What are some artistic examples of how has society directly influenced art and artistic movements?

Historically, political leaders typically have the had the power to determine what art is remarkable or not: King Louis XIV favored extravagance, Napoleon enjoyed art that was idealized and heroic, the "Founding Fathers" of the United States favored art that communicated honesty, industriousness, and enlightenment. Often, the success of an artist or the prominence of particular artistic styles is simply a product of the society and/or economy that produced it.

How are vertical and diagonal lines often used in art (what do they convey?)

Horizontal lines are restful (think of a sleeping figure), vertical lines are active (think of standing up), and diagonal lines create motion and energy (think of a body moving forward). Scribbled lines create a sense of chaos, whereas lines creating geometric forms impart the feeling of order and structure.

What is post and lintel construction?

In architecture, post and lintel (also called prop and lintel or a trabeated system) is a building system where strong horizontal elements are held up by strong vertical elements with large spaces between them.

What is art theory?

In the Twentieth Century, an explosion of theoretical ideas burst on the art scene. Art History and criticism reacted to the development of new philosophies and theories that questioned truth, how we view the world, how we construct our understanding of language, and how our knowledge is impacted by societal programming. Theory can impact artists DURING the creation of artworks; it can also be applied as a way of understanding an artwork AFTER it is created.

What is composition?

In the visual arts, composition is the placement or arrangement of visual elements or 'ingredients' in a work of art, as distinct from the subject. ... The term composition means 'putting together' and can apply to any work of art, from music to writing to photography, that is arranged using conscious thought.

How/why did Marcel Duchamp impose his own personal meaning on a postcard of The Mona Lisa?

Marcel Duchamp was an artist who wanted to push the envelope and really question society during and after World War I. He took a cheap postcard of Leonardo's Mona Lisa and drew facial hair on her and called it "readymade" art.

Movement

Movement is the path the viewer's eye takes through the work of art, often to focal areas. Such movement can be directed along lines, edges, shape, and color within the work of art.

What is direct natural light?

Natural light appears realistic and close to nature.

Understand the Book of Kells and its medium (what is made from? How many pages? What biblical text does it include? What is the style like?).

One of the greatest books of the Hiberno-Saxon age was the Book of Kells, which contains 340 pages of illuminated manuscripts written in Latin on calf velum. The Book of the Kells is so artistically rendered and painstakingly detailed it was once believed to have been completed by angels. The Book of the Kells received its name for the location of where it was found, at the Abbey of Kells in Ireland. Comprised of the four gospels (Mathew, Mark, Luke and John), the Book of Kells is essentially an extremely decorated version of the early New Testament. Made up of zoomorphic forms (interlacing knots and lines creating animal figures and forms), Celtic interlacing knots, and Christian symbols, the Book of Kells has been at the center of much study and research on the Early Middle Ages.

Pablo Picasso is known for what?

Pablo Picasso almost single-handedly created the style called Cubism, an avant-garde art movement in the early 20th century. He also is credited for being an artist who brought recognition to the atrocities of the Spanish Civil War with his works of art.

Pattern

Pattern is the repeating of an object or symbol all over the work of art.

Proportion

Proportion is the feeling of unity created when all parts (sizes, amounts, or number) relate well with each other. When drawing the human figure, proportion can refer to the size of the head compared to the rest of the body.

Mona Lisa postcard

Reexaming his views on western culture on society following world war 1

Repetition

Repetition works with pattern to make the work of art seem active. The repetition of elements of design creates unity within the work of art.

Rhythm

Rhythm is created when one or more elements of design are used repeatedly to create a feeling of organized movement. Rhythm creates a mood like music or dancing. To keep rhythm exciting and active, variety is essential.

Where was gothic archetitcure born and with what building?

Sandani in France

What is technique?

Technique refers to the technical skills an artist applies to materials to achieve a particular result. Technique can be a very helpful tool in placing an artwork within a particular style. Technique is best understood as what an artist does to his or her materials (pour, splatter, sweep, overlay, wash, chisel, polish, hammer, and the like).

Understand why the Dome of the Rock is significant to history.

The Dome of the Rock was the first Muslim masterpiece built in 687 A.D., half a century after the death of the Prophet Muhammad. This monument is a major theme in Islamic art, whose fundamental purpose is to express the faith revealed in the Qur'an. Judaism is the religion of the Jews. ... Muslims who practice the Muslim or Islamic religion believe that their prophet, Muhammad, also ascended to heaven from Jerusalem. This is supposed to have occurred at a site on the Temple Mount now marked by a mosque called the Dome of the Rock.

Which classical artwork from this module revolutionized the Greek rendering of the human form?

The Doryphoros (Spear Bearer)

Hagia Sophia was originally built in which period? How did the religious use of the building change in later eras?

The Hagia Sophia (Ayasofya in Turkish) was originally built as a basilica for the Greek Orthodox Christian Church. However, its function has changed several times in the centuries since. The Hagia Sophia (Ayasofya in Turkish) was originally built as a basilica for the Greek Orthodox Christian Church. The Hagia Sophia served this pivotal role in Byzantine culture and politics for much of its first 900 years of existence.

Understand the importance of the Parthenon, including who commissioned it, who it was meant to honor, how it used optical effects, and how it incorporated the Golden Mean

The Parthenon is typically heralded as the greatest of all the classical Greek temples. Built inside the Acropolis complex on a rocky hill in the center of ancient Athens, the Parthenon still stands as the paragon of Greek greatness. Commissioned by Pericles, an extremely illustrious Athenian statesman, the Parthenon was built as an offering to Athena, the patron goddess of Athens. Golden mean being a circle surrounded by a square and divided into triangles

What were the main styles of Greek art (in order)?

The first period of Greek Art we will discuss is Archaic art (800 - 480 BCE). During this era, art was extremely geometric, rudimentary, and abstracted.

What is a flying buttress?

The flying buttress is a specific form of buttress composed of an arch that extends from the upper portion of a wall to a pier of great mass, in order to convey to the ground the lateral forces that push a wall outwards, which are forces that arise from vaulted ceilings of stone and from wind-loading on roofs.

What era was the Venus of Willendorf from? What are the characteristics of art from that period?

The nude figure known as Venus of Willendorf is considered to be one of the earliest sculptural depictions of the human form. She is tiny, measuring only about four inches high, and is sculpted from limestone. Many early prehistoric sculptures are female forms. Historians believe this is evidence women were seen with greater importance to the survival and continuance of early humans. The sculpture is very conceptual, with the emphasis on female anatomy (conceptual art focuses more on the idea/concept, rather than a true-to-life transcription). Consequently, this little figure was dubbed Venus after the Greek goddess of beauty and love who was almost always shown nude in ancient times. However, historians consider it unlikely that Venus of Willendorf was meant to represent a goddess.

What is horror vacui and when was it used in ancient art? (Think of a specific example and time period)

They were also fearful of empty space: like artists from other ancient cultures, the archaic artists filled every available space with pattern and decoration (this is called horror vacuii, which is literally, fear of emptiness). Greek

How is Emperor Justinian and His Attendants a good example of Byzantine art?

This mosaic Emperor Justinian and His Attendants contain many religious symbols and gestures (a mosaic, by the way, is an image created by an assemblage of tiny tiles, usually made of ceramic, glass, or shell). Byzantine art is almost entirely concerned with religious expression and, more specifically, with the impersonal translation of carefully controlled church theology into artistic terms.

Unity

Unity is the feeling of harmony between all parts of the work of art, which creates a sense of completeness.

What is Humanism?

Unlike other ancient societies, the Greeks became very interested in representing humans—not just gods or rulers, but people, usually men. This interest was very significant in terms of ideology—the Greeks began to think of themselves as "the measure of all things"; they saw themselves as greatest of earthly creations and on par with the gods' eminence. This love of man and man's potential is called Humanism.

How verticla and diagnoal lines are used in art. What is the importance of lines

Used to give perspetive, movement, energy and can provide emphasizes and a vocal point

What is value?

Value refers to the lightness or darkness of a color or an entire artwork.

Variety

Variety is the use of several elements of design to hold the viewer's attention and to guide the viewer's eye through and around the work of art.

What is contropposto?

an asymmetrical arrangement of the human figure in which the line of the arms and shoulders contrasts with, while balancing, those of the hips and legs.

What is medium?

medium refers to what an artwork is made from. The typical mediums chosen by artists have changed over time. In the Prehistoric Era, for example, art was made from such natural materials as stone, bone, wood, and clay. Over time, materials became much more sophisticated, from bronze sculptures to delicately painted pottery, wall frescos to oil paint.