Robert Hughes - Shock of the New

21 August


Robert Hughes - Shock of the New

If you missed today's lesson, please watch the following 1 hour you tube video:

Robert Hughes: Shock of the New episode 7’ Culture as Nature’.
Youtube: http://youtu.be/zgYDuA-fBLg

It covers:

Time period: 1940-1970s

 

Art movements:

Dada
Pop Art
Anti-formalist

 

Subjects: mass media, capitalism, saturation, technology, semiotics, signs, symbolism, assimilation, consumption.

Ideas: how does art adapt to the new world? Fear art will not survive if it does not adapt. disposable, ready-made assemblage, replacement not maintenance, found objects....


Read the discussion points below and write a short response to two of them. 200 words.

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CLASS DISCUSSION: Shock of the new: Culture as Nature

Watch “Shock of the new, Episode 7, Culture as Nature”, Robert Hughes http://youtu.be/zgYDuA-fBLg

 

In groups of 3-4 people, discuss and record your responses to the questions below. (one question per group). Choose one person to present your discussion findings to the class.

Discussion Questions:

First Half of the video:

 

Pop art is:  Popular (designed for a mass audience), transient (short-term solution), Expendable (easily forgotten), Low cost, Mass produced,young (aimed at youth), Witty, Sexy, Gimmicky, Glamorous, Big business.

 

1.      Richard Hamilton’s ‘The Critic laughs’, 1968 (a giant set of edible teeth applied to his electric toothbrush, which later was the basis for a limited edition series and a BBC advertisement) presents an argument ‘that the process of the design, the manufacturing, the marketing and the advertising of the object is primary (more important than) to the object itself. Or in a Marshall McLuhan argument  ‘the message is more important than the medium’.

 

Discuss.

 

Come up with 2 examples where you can see this happening in your creative environment.

 

1.

2.

 

List the impacts of this on western art culture of today. 

 

2.      Marcel Duchamp asked: “What is it, precisely, that makes an object a work of art?”

Discuss.

Define object and work of art.

Come up with a list of parameters.

Why do you consider these things to be worthy criteria?

What is the context and the influence for your decisions?

 

3.      a) Robert Hughes describes Television programming as a “cornucopia of dung”.

The multiple viewing choices in the private environment of  TV encourage the behavior of channel flicking – this mode of delivery changes the way we see and read information.

He observes that ‘whole societies have learned to see in terms of montage and juxtaposition’…. And ours is the ‘cult of the electronic fragment’.

 

How can you see this format of receiving information has affected the visual arts? Positively or negatively?

Positive	Negative

What might the ‘default’ future be?

 

 

 

 

b) ‘Small packets of information are delivered on a platform that ‘equalizes’,  effectively trivial items become important or important information becomes trivialized.

 

Discuss.

 

4.      Robert Hughes values the technical prowess of an artist and an ability to be visually descriptive and earnest over the intuition and instinctual ‘gift’.

 

What do you think is more important? Why? List your reasons for and against.

For	Against

 

Debate.

 

5.      Robert Hughes criticism explores the notion that art movements cannot be viewed out of context, historically and culturally.

Why is thins important? What can we learn from studying a society’s cultural and political history along side it’s visual arts programme?

 

 

JASPER JOHNS + POST WORLD WAR 2

Assignment JASPER JOHNS + POST WORLD WAR 2

 

Watch "Art in the Western World: The Aftermath" on youtube (25mins) http://youtu.be/L5pFbx0cF74?list=PL8Jz61TGii_HbjuNIRUSpKFLn0lUzfiqx

 

1. Summarise Text 2: Jasper Johns Prints 1968-1980 (given out in class: see Felicity to get your copy)

2. Answer reflective questions in response to the video ‘Art in the Western World: the Aftermath’ (available on youtube + shown in the lesson)

Part 1: Summarise Text

Use the resources provided to you in week 1 & 2 to summarise the given text.

Submit:

·      1x written summary of 300 words minimum for part 1 (typed), summarizing the text in your own words and using full sentences and paragraphs (no bullet points).

·      Summarise the key ideas, issues, points or themes.

·      Present your work typed and printed with a TAFE cover sheet (with part 2)

·      Discuss what you imagine these ideas, issues, points or themes mean to in relation to your visual art practice (what is possible?) at the end of your summary.

Due Thursday 4pm, Week 7. (*This date has been reviewed and rescheduled from the original assessment document)

Part 2: Answer reflective questions

Read the text below before writing your answers to the questions. This is intended to make you think; and there are no ‘right or wrong’ answers.

Paintings in the Renaissance show a need to depict content be it religious, historical or mythological subject matter. This depiction of specific representational content relied on the audience to be familiar with the subject, which excluded much of the uneducated population.

Art after the Renaissance, artists made paintings which assumed no educated knowledge of the viewer such as landscape and genre paintings which used the expression of colour rather than religious or classical ideals of form & content to represent an idea. For example, Romantic painter Turner used colours and brush strokes to portray atmosphere and fleeting sensations of a sublime landscape and narrative.

Later the Impressionists took painting to analysis: they analysed the chemistry and psychology of colour; the application of paint, new technology and pigments. Seurat employed scientific studies in optics and the study of colour to create pointillist paintings.

All of these movements and styles had one thing in common; they heralded the depiction of known objects, representational of the world.

Then as a reaction against this establishment, artists began to see painting as a form of expression or emotion itself and rejected forms drawn from observation in favour of non-representational imagery. The Fauves chose colour according to their feelings “wild beast” within them, The surrealists made ‘automatic’ drawings, the abstract expressionists created works from their immediate internal experience of the present.

This can be seen to be a rejection of the imitation of nature and asserting an independence from the perceived visual world; which was (and still is) controversial with the public & artists who paint known subjects. The debate becomes “what is art?” or “why is that art?”; you may have heard many times in response to viewing an abstract piece “I could do that my self”.

Russian Abstract Expressionist Wassily Kandinsky witnessed major events of war, scientific discovery, Europe on brink of war Russia at edge of revolution.

“When religion, science and morality are shaken, and when the outer supports threaten to fall, man turns his gaze away from the external world and toward himself. The elements of the new art are therefore to be found within the inner and not the outer qualities of nature.”

1.     Why do you think this approach is taken for some Abstract Expressionist artists?

2.     Do you think this type of introspection is to satisfy the artist or the viewer?

3.     What relationship does art now have with society?

4.     Thinking about the practice of abstract expressionism in the 1940-50s and the idea of creating non-representational artwork through pure expression; do you think that art has become accessible to everyone? Why?

5.     Do you think anyone can create a work of art? Why?

6.     Where do you place your value in a work of art?

7.     In the Reading “Jasper Johns: Prints 1968-1970” we read that he practices printmaking. The author, Christine Dixon, states,

“for all modern artists, the dialogue between a unique object and its reproduction in multiple is a central argument about cultural authenticity. Multiple copies of one image, such as the original print… serve to disseminate the artist’s idea.”  

Do you think it is still true that today, the idea that a print (rather than a unique or one off image / sculpture) reaches a wider audience? Explain your answer.

8.     Thinking about the signs and symbols from our western culture that Jasper Johns uses in his artworks, how much do you need to know about the artist (Jasper Johns) to understand his work?

9.     Christine Dixon asks, “As for all visual art encountered directly, the primary value is sensory. How does Johns’s imagery fall upon our eyes and our minds?” Respond to this question.

10.  What questions does the idea of producing multiples (eg: printmaking or digital prints) of one image raise in terms of value of a work of art?

Due Thursday 4pm, Week 7.

Submit:

·      Your answers to the questions (include the questions), typed and using full sentences and paragraphs (no bullet points).

·      Minimum word count = 200 words for part 2.

·      Present your work typed and printed with a TAFE cover sheet (with part 1)

Helpful Resources:

Websites

Bauman, 1989, Art of the Western World – Episode 17: The Aftermath, TVS Television Ltd, New York, viewed 9 August 2014, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L5pFbx0cF74&index=17&list=PLxO9GeRLfUk93LIfuPhWo7AaFdqGli4Xq

Magazine Articles

Dixon, C, 1997, Jasper Johns: Prints 1968-1980, National Gallery of Australia, 5 April-13 July 1997, Australia.

DVD

Abstraction: The Painters World (available at TAFE NSW RI Library, Wagga Wagga) no reference information available.

The Bauhaus

COURSE:                     Diploma Visual Arts

PROGRAM:             Art History & Theory

UNITS:                     CUVRES502A  Analyse Cultural History and Theory (GRADED)

STUDENT NAME:
You must type and print your completed worksheet and submit with a cover sheet by the due date.

The Bauhaus – Research Worksheet

1. The two chairs below are from different art movements. Chair A is Art Nouveau and chair B is from the Bauhaus school of Design. Underneath the Bauhaus designed chair, describe how it differs from the Art Nouveau chair.

A: Armchair, ca. 1905. Designer: Henri-Jules-Ferdinand Bellery-Desfontaines (French, 1867–1910)

Chair A:

• Complex in design
• Art and decoration more important than comfort
• Ornate & highly detailed carving
• Quality & expensive materials
• Traditional materials used
•  Manufactured through traditional craftsmanship / skills
• Costly to manufacture (hand made)

B: Marcel Breuer, ‘Cesca’, 1928. Tubular Steel & Wicker (Cane) Stackable chair

Chair B Your answer:

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2. Name the three men who directed the Bauhaus at various times:  

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3. Name the locations the Bauhaus operated from and the years. 

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4. Name each ‘workshop’ area of the Bauhaus: (at least 5)

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5. In the space below paste a visual example (image) of designed products and/or artwork from 4 major workshop areas and annotate each of them. (title, artist / designers, date, materials)

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6. How did the Bauhaus change the designers’ approach to product design compared to previous movements such as Art Nouveau? (use one annotated example from both Art Nouveau and the Bauhaus school to illustrate your answer).

These phrases may help you:

Combination of simplicity, function and aesthetics; breaking down the boundaries of design; moving away from the traditional skills; new materials applied to products; new manufacturing and production techniques; manufacture on an industrial scale.

Annotated example: Art Nouveau

Annotated example: Bauhaus

Your answer & comparison

7. Today we can look to our own environment to witness how the Bauhaus radically changed the western approach to design. Many designed objects in your life originated from the Bauhaus school and there are many copies. (if you are using the internet to research often it is difficult to know if you have found the genuine Bauhaus original design.) 

Find and photograph items similar to the ones pictured below and paste them in the space provided. *you must take your own photos in your own environment to pass this question; complete as much of the annotation about the object as you can.

BAUHAUS DESIGN	YOUR ORIGINAL PHOTOS FROM YOUR ENVIRONMENT & DESCRTIPTION
1. Door Handles, Walter Gropius & Adolf Meyer, 1922, Nickel Plated brass. Manufacturer: S.A. Loevy, Berlin, Germany	What it is: Location: Medium: Date:
2. Kandem Bedside Table Lamp, Marianne Brandt, 1928	What it is: Location: Medium: Date:
3. Table Clock, Marianne Brandt, 1930	What it is: Location: Medium: Date:
4. Furniture Barcelona Chair, Mies van der Rohe, 1929 OR  Nesting Tables (model B9), Marcel Breuer, 1925-26, Chrome-plated tubular steel and lacquered plywood	What it is: Location: Medium: Date:
5. Architecture (international style) The Villa Savoye, Le Corbusier, 1931	What it is: Location: Medium: Date:
6. other (can you find another object or image?)	What it is: Location: Medium: Date:

8. Write down the main ideals and aims of the Bauhaus.

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9. Discuss the ways in which the ideals of the Bauhaus are reflected in a Bauhaus design object. (Use one example of design, architecture or artwork created at the Bauhaus. It can be one you have previously used in this worksheet). Paste the annotated image below with your answer.

10. What is the relationship between form and function in your chosen work in question 9? (Define form and function within your answer.)

11. Compile a Harvard style bibliography of at least 3 resources you have used to complete this worksheet.

*BONUS ACTIVITY*

For this activity you will need: a new piece of paper (A4 or A3), colour pencils, music.

Look at this painting by Kandinsky:  Circles in a Circle, Vasily Kandinsky, 1923, oil on canvas.

The painter Kandinsky believed art should conjure up in us an experience ‘beyond the reach of words’, rather than giving a picture of something that can be named or described. Through this he hoped to find a basic form of communication that speaks to us on a more primary level than words. For him, this kind of abstract art was an attempt to resist words and pictures and replace them with effects that worked directly on the body and the mind. He believed that the experience of sound, colour and shape were connected by sensation.

Activity: Listen to a piece of music and see if you can draw it. What shape is it? Does it have patterns and colours?  Using only a square, circle and rectangle,the primary colours plus black, draw a composition in response to your musical experience.