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AP®︎/College Art History
Why look at art?
Why look at art? This was the question we posed to several of our colleagues at a conference for museum professionals. Special thanks to Laura Mann, Anna Velez, an anonymous professional, and David Torgersen whose voices and insights are included here. Created by Beth Harris and Steven Zucker.
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Who defines what is art and what it isn't?(2 votes)
I think we all do on a very basic level. In its purest sense, art is an expression, and with a certain confidence I would be willing to say we all generally know art when we see it. A different conversation is who defines what is GOOD art and what isn't...(11 votes)
Art has mean different meanings to different people. Why do you like art and what feelings do you have looking art?(3 votes)
I find that if you slow down really look at a painting imagine you are there, you can really transform yourself to another time and place.(15 votes)
Why do people consider "Modern Art" to be real art? When I look at Claude Monet's Impression, Sunrise and then look at Warhol's soup cans... I feel that it's almost an insult to Monet to put them under the same category as "art".(11 votes)
You need to understand the history and philosophy of every piece of art. Comparing Monet with Warhol is not fair at all. Monet's ideas worked on the principles of play of light and color while as Warhol believed that art should be treated as a commodity. According to him, it should be affordable and popular. He believed in idea being superior to craft. His was a new way of thinking. Whether it was good or bad, depends on our perceptions. But then his influence in the art world is of great significance. In today's time, you have Damien Hirst cutting animals, preserving them and projecting them as pieces of art. And he is considered the richest living artist in the world. Many call him a conman but what is it that makes him stand out? Maybe we need to understand that.(17 votes)
- Can looking at art ever be harmful? Can it send bad messages or be deceiving? If so, is it still important to look at that kind of art?(5 votes)
The supposed "harm" that might come from looking at art is exactly the reason why the Nazis wanted to control what people got to see. Like information, art wants to be free to express itself everywhere!(10 votes)
Where is the coolest are museum in the United states?(6 votes)- The coolest museum in the United States in my opinion is definitely the Art Institute of Chicago. I went there in February. It is such a cool museum with all kinds of artwork from the world. The museum organizes different art into various exhibition hall. I was really into the exhibition where they hang up Monet's painting. Just standing there and stare at the painting for a while, I can really feel the beauty and feelings that are expressed in the paintings. Being in a museum like this, not only the artwork itself identified as art, but also how the atmosphere being displayed in the museum is identified as art as well.(3 votes)
1:19What makes that painting special/what is it trying to convey?(2 votes)
That's a "color field" painting by Mark Rothko. He was an abstract expressionist who explored the expressive content of color relationships, separated from any representational image. He was asking the question, "If I just throw some colours together, without actually painting anything, what feelings can I create? What moods?" Some people like to stare at his works a long time, and then close their eyes - or look to the left or right. You'll see an "afterimage" with the opposite colours of the original. The real challenge is to look at them and see if it tells you anything at all about who the artist was - that was the ultimate goal of the expressionists. Imagine talking to the artist who painted these works. What would he sound like? How would he act? What would he say they're about?(14 votes)
Would Clothing count as art since so many of them back then had many differnt patterns on them(1 vote)- "Costume and Fashion" is a subject in Art History at my university. You can find a book with the same title (ISBN-10: 0500204128), and prominent museums such as the Metropolitan have an extensive collection of historical costumes.(1 vote)
- i love art so much that i make my own art!(3 votes)
- I think art was made for humans communicate and express things that language can't(2 votes)
- Art's most important moment is the point at which the artist expresses or creates his or her vision, aka the work of art. Remember, the work of art never existed in time and space before and is the artist's interpretation of an already existing reality, whether, for example, a horse in a field, a can of soup, or an emotion being felt by the artist or someone else.
It is the quality of the artist's expression that determines its place on the hierarchy of "yes, this is good art, or, no, this is terrible."
Why the works' most important moment is the moment of creation rests in the recognition of the artist's importance and talent. An artist with only a modicum of talent will produce a work of art not worth looking at. And why? Because it is the ability (the talent) of the artist to
interpret the thing into an expression that never before existed that determines the value of the art.
I guess my point is that art cannot be sufficiently understood or appreciated unless the viewer consciously takes into consideration, at the moment of viewing, that the work is a creation, that it never existed before, and that fact is critical to an understanding and proper appreciation of the work.(2 votes)
- is music considered art?(2 votes)
Music is an art form whose medium is sound and silence. Its common elements are pitch (which governs melody and harmony), rhythm (and its associated concepts tempo, meter, and articulation), dynamics, and the sonic qualities of timbre and texture. There is also a music section at Khan Academy if you are interested in music: go to Subjects > Arts and Humanities > Music to learn more :-)
Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Music(2 votes)
1:19Video transcript
[MUSIC PLAYING] SPEAKER 1: I think
it's important that people look at art because
we live in a visual world. And understanding,
and looking at, and thinking about
the way images communicate in all kinds of
ways is important to being alive today. SPEAKER 2: If one has
heightened visual acumen, which you get from spending time
looking at things, whether it's looking at newspaper
photos closely, or looking at works in
a museum, or looking at your surroundings,
or birds more closely, that sort of attention
to an environment makes you a better person. You are existing in a more
aware, alert, present space. SPEAKER 3: Sometimes
people think that the only way
of looking at art is going to museums
and places like that. But maybe sometimes art is
everywhere, in the street, if you look at architectural
places, or everything. So you really don't need to
go to a museum to see art. It could be anywhere, in a
park, or looking at buildings, or going to a movie. So I think that's everyday life. SPEAKER 4: It's all
about noticing for me. It's all about trying to see
beyond the first impression. People look at art. And they'd say, I like this. I don't like this. And they move on. They have predetermined notions. But if you can just
stop and take a breath and look a little
deeper at something, you can really start to
notice some kind of detail that you might have
not noticed before. And I think that skill applies
to so many things in life aside from art,
about being able just to slow down and be aware of
actually where you're standing. And just even stop talking, and
just maybe open up your ears, for example. There's so much
detail around that you can absorb if you really
just take a moment, and just let it
come in, and listen. [MUSIC PLAYING]