What is Art Reflection
It is extremely difficult to define art or beauty. Many would say that both are subjective to the viewer’s perception. Others would state that art and beauty are ever- changing and cannot ultimately be defined. However, both of these avoid actually answering the question. Shelly Esaak sums art up with two broad adjectives. “Art is form and content.” A student art exhibition of the Department of Art History at Sweet Briar College in Virginia further developed this definition by defining art by how it is created stating art is "the use of skill and imagination in the creation of aesthetic objects, environments, or experiences that can be shared with others." In his essay “What Is Art?” published in 1896 Leo Tolstoy says that art must create an emotional link between the audience and the artist. One of the most intriguing things about art is that it has not and will not ever be definitively classified.
That which has been said concerning art can easily be applied to the following discussion of the definition of beauty. Those alive during the Enlightenment period determined the beauty of art based on how closely the art imitated nature. Aristotle stated that “the beautiful is that which is desirable in itself.” Every individual has their own twisted definition of beauty and, just like art, a mutual consensus cannot ever be reached. Another approach besides an analysis of beauty can be used when evaluating art. This method is based on Bloom’s Taxonomy of Learning Domains. An example will be given using Vincent van Gogh’s Starry Night. One must first ask about their opinion of the painting. In extremely brief terms our opinion was quite high based on the skill, precision, and complexity evident in the painting. Next you must ask in which ways you would render the subject differently. We could not find any ways we would render the subject differently. Vincent van Gogh is very precise in the way he paints. Next we analyze the message that we perceive is being portrayed. van Gogh is most likely attempting to display a scene which all of us are familiar with but in a new and exaggerated manner. Following the guidelines of the taxonomy we would next ask ourselves what questions we have for the artist. If given the opportunity we would ask what town is being portrayed, what van Gogh perceives the dark mass in the left of the painting to be, and what moments in his life inspired the creation of this painting. A further dissection of the painting’s subject would then be performed. Finally, in an effort to promote total comprehension of the painting the viewer would then be asked to describe the features, subject, and meaning of the painting to another who has not before seen the painting. Sources: 1) http://arthistory.about.com/cs/reference/f/what_is_art.htm 2) http://www.arthistory.sbc.edu/artartists/artartists.html 3) http://www.csulb.edu/~jvancamp/361r14.htm 4) http://www.imprint.co.uk/pdf/Introduction.pdf 5) http://quote.robertgenn.com/getquotes.php?catid=26 6) http://www.nwlink.com/~donclark/hrd/bloom.html 7) http://www.vangoghgallery.com/painting/starryindex.html 8)http://www.artble.com/artists/vincent_van_gogh/paintings/starry_night/more_information/analysis | Assignment Links
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