Investigating

Gustav Klimt 'The Kiss' (1907-1908) oil-on-canvas painting with added gold leaf, silver and platinum.

Opulently gilded and extravagantly patterned, The Kiss, Gustav Klimt’s fin-de-siècle portrayal of intimacy, is a mix of Symbolism and Vienna Jugendstil, the Austrian variant of Art Nouveau. Klimt depicts his subjects as mythical figures made modern by luxuriant surfaces of up-to-the moment graphic motifs. The work is a highpoint of the artist’s Golden Phase between 1899 and 1910 when he often used gold leaf—a technique inspired by a 1903 trip to the Basilica di San Vitale in Ravenna, Italy, where he saw the church’s famed Byzantine mosaics. https://www.timeout.com/newyork/art/top-famous-paintings-in-art-history-ranked

Investigation GRADING RUBRIC (Art and themes) ART 2.docx

How do we look at painting?

Looking at paintings is like going on a journey of many possibilities through time, personality, environment, and personal response. In order to fully understand a painting, you must consider 6 aspects of its making:

The subject
The technique
The symbolism
The formal qualities
The historial style and context
Your personal interpretation

During this investigation, we will look at all six for the artworks you have selected. It is advisable to pick artworks that will guide you in the artwork you will create later this trimester.

Understanding an artwork

Human beings have always had a need for art, and art has always been produced because an artist has wanted to say something and chose a particular way of saying it. In order to gain some appreciation for the many forms of art to which we have access today, one must understand the basics of art from which they have grown. Analyzing structure may seem a bit cold when applied to a creative field, but structure is necessary to all artistic areas, including music, dance, and literature.

Subject, form and content have always been the three basic parts of a work of art.

The subject includes the idea and motivation (the what),

The form is understood as the use of elements and use of media in constructing an artwork (the how),

And the content is the total message (intention) of the work as developed by the artist and interpreted by the viewer (the why).

Formal Analysis

Task # 1

Now that you have put some thought into your idea, let's look closely at the style. In your formal analysis, answer 4 of the prompts below, one from each section. Clearly label which thinking strategy you are using to analyze your artwork. Use Bloom's Taxonomy to demonstrate your higher order thinking skills in your formal responses.

While developing the artwork, the artist will be concerned with composition, or formal structure. Composition understands order of elements and their relations in one unity (lat. con = with, and ponere = together, meaning putting things together). As the creative procedure unfolds, the artist hopes that its result will be organic unity – meaning that each part contributes to the overall content, or meaning.

The artist uses the media to implement the art elements: line, shape, form, space, value, texture, and color. These elements are the fundamental constituents of any artwork. The principles of organization those elements are:

1. harmony, 2. variety, 3. balance, 4. proportion, 5. dominance, 6. movement, and 7. economy.

But these principles are not laws, they are not ends in themselves, they only help in finding certain solutions for unity. The use of the principles in artwork is highly subjective and intuitive.

SUBJECT(the what)

1. Iconography analysis

2. The personal connection between the artist and the subject/iconography

FORM (the how) check out this link for useful description vocabulary

Harmony vs. variety (where does the artwork fall along this continuum considering all elements?)
Composition (How did the artist use the principles of design to organize the composition?

CONTENT (the why)

1. Emotional or intellectual message of an artwork (intention)/ artists' intention

2. Artist's function and purpose

EVALUATION

1. visual communication: ability to communicate intention through selection of subject matter and way of using media.

2. visual agency: its ability to captivate viewers or trigger a specific response from the audience

https://kpu.pressbooks.pub/learningtolearnonline/blooms-graphic/

Excellent responses will demonstrate your thinking skills in a combination of Evaluating, Creating & Analyzing
Substantial responses will demonstrate your thinking skills in a combination of Understanding, Applying, Analyzing
Adequate responses will demonstrate your thinking skills in a combination of Remembering, Understanding, Applying
Limited responses will demonstrate your thinking skills in all in Remembering

Purposes of Art

Purposes of art grade 10 (1).pptx

Cultural Context

Now that you have formally analyzed your artwork, let's take a closer look at how cultural context influences artists and their audiences.

In order to fully understand an artwork, you must consider both its content and (cultural) context.

Content: Why the artist created the work (purpose)

The emotional or intellectual message of an artwork (intention)
Title
Size
The subject matter (what you see)
Medium/media
Genre
Function
Where it's displayed

Context: The set of circumstances or facts that surround the making of the art

Personal to the artist:

language
religious beliefs
traditions
ethnicity
economic/socio-political views
personality
social behavior
education/training
historical circumstances

Society surrounding the artist

scientific advancements
historical events
cultural events
role of media
technological developments
exposure or accessibility to art
value of art in culture or society

Why was the artwork made?

assignment
commission
vandalism
artist individual creation
study/practice piece

Antonio Berni in 1920 - https://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antonio_Berni

Antonio Berni

Now let's look closely at Antonio Berni's artwork and see what we can learn about how Berni's cultural context impacted the meaning in his artwork. We must describe who he is and what experiences (historical, political, social, aesthetic and intellectual) he brought to the creation of his work.

Antonio Berni | Manifestación (Public Demonstration), 1934, tempera on burlap, 180 x 249.5 cm, MALBA, Buenos Aires.

Antonio Berni | Desocupados (1934), tempera on burlap, 218 x 300 cm, Private collection

Antonio Berni | Chacareros (1936), oil on burlap, 212 x 320 cm MALBA, Museum Collection Sívori, Buenos Aires.

Cultural Context brain frame

Task # 2

Select a painting that explores an idea/concept, style, technique or subject matter that you are interested in exploring in your own trimester 3 painting.

Create a cause and effect brain frame on padlet that includes a picture of the artist and one painting he/she created in addition to 5 factual causes for why the artwork has been made based on the cultural context of the work. Then research to find 3 effects that explain who or what the artist influenced with the creation of their artwork (conceptually, technically, stylistically, etc) or what major impact the work had in the art world.

Use at least 4 online sources and include in-text citation. Include your MLA works cited in the last box on padlet.

CAUSES .... Describe how the artist's cultural context contributed to the artwork being made. When considering cultural context, you might consider: artist's language and education/training, socio-political views, historical circumstances, religion or popular beliefs at the time, scientific advancements, original setting for the work, who paid for the work (was it commissioned?) and/or technological developments that affected that specific artwork. Use the cause and effect visual frame to demonstrate the cultural context as the "causes".

EFFECTS... Explain what role the artwork had in the art world. Who did the artist influence with the creation of their artwork? How did they influence others (conceptually, technically, style, etc)? Explain how the artist influenced at least 2 other artists. Consider the art movements with which they are associated.

Useful resources:

Image Citations

Artist name, name of artwork, year, medium, dimensions, owner

ex. Vincent van Gogh, The Starry Night, 1889, oil on canvas, 73.7 x 92.1 cm. (The Museum of Modern Art)

Investigation Task # 1 (Art and themes proposal)

Oil Painting Proposal

Task # 3

What do you want to make your oil painting about? What is motivating you? How will you select imagery to express your point of view?

After researching a theme of choice, write a proposal for your oil painting that will guide you through the investigation. You can find a copy in google classroom.

BIG QUESTION

What makes something a work of art? Is art defined by particular boundaries? If so, what are they and how have they changed over the course of history?

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