CRITICISM ON INSTITUTIONAL THEORY

Catherine Lord, a professor and art critic, argues that:

✓ If a work of art is defined as institutional, then the practice of making works of art is
essentially conservative.
✓ If the institution is conservative, then the institutional definition precludes creativity.
✓ If a work of art is defined as institutional, then the institutional definition precludes
creativity.
✓ The making of a work of art involves freedom, creativity, originality and spontaneity.
✓ A work of art is not to be defined as institutions, universities / academies, galleries and
critics.
There are certain conventions that defines what art is.

Peggy Zeglin Brand. Lord, Lewis and the institutional Theory of Art. The Journal
of Aesthetics and Art Criticism Vol. 40, no. 3 (1993).
George Dickie defines “institution” as an established, continuing, traditional practice perhaps
complete with a unique history. The particular institution of art encompasses bundle of
systems, comprised of persons with learned roles and patterns of behaviour.
Although the definition he proposes is comprised of necessary and sufficient conditions,
he holds that his definition does not preclude the actual creative activity of artists.
Rather it allows for the constant expansion of the boundaries of art by its very
looseness, its informal character does not preclude experimentation in which
subsystems become new artforms, and subsequently, almost anything is allowed to
become an art Catherine Lord’s contention that institution is essentially conservative, self-
perpetuating, and at times punitive, leads her conclude that the practice of creating
works of art, as an institution, is similarly constituted.

Classical Art

Classical Art encompasses the cultures of Greece and Rome and endures as the
cornerstone of
Western civilization.

The Spread of Greek Culture

Before Philip could extend his empire further, he was assassinated while attending his
daughter’s wedding. His successor was his 20- year-old son, Alexander the Great, who soon
launched an amazing career of conquest. Alexander, whose teacher had been the
famous Greek philosopher Aristotle, inherited his father’s admiration for Greek culture.
Alexander was determined to spread this culture throughout the world. As he marched
with his army from one country to another, the Greek culture that he brought with him
blended with other, non-Greek cultures. The period in which this occurred is known as
the Hellenistic age. It lasted about two centuries, ending in 146 B.C. when Greece fell
under Roman control.

The Rising Power of Rome

Under the rule of Etruscan kings, Rome grew in size and importance. By the end of the
sixth century B.C., it had become the largest and richest city in Italy. The Romans,
however, were never happy under Etruscan rule, and in 509 B.C. they drove the
Etruscans from the city and established a republic.

The Roman Republic

Ridding themselves of the Etruscans did not end Rome’s problems. Finding themselves
surrounded by enemies, the Romans were forced to fight for survival. As nearby
enemies were defeated, more distant foes tried to conquer the young republic. Rome
managed to defend itself against these threats and extended its reach and influence
until all of Italy was under its control. An early victory over Carthage, its chief rival, won
Rome its first overseas province, Sicily. Eventually, Rome controlled territory from
Britain in the west to Mesopotamia in the east

The Greek Influence

Much of Roman art was copied from the Greeks. From the very beginning, well-born
and cultured Romans exhibited a great admiration for Greek art forms of every period
and style. They imported Greek works by the shipload and even brought Greek artists to
Rome to work for them. Generally, it can be said that the Romans became the heirs of
Greek art although they also made important contributions of their own, especially in the
development of architecture. Roman Sculpture and Painting In sculpture and painting,
Roman works reflect the tremendous influence exerted by earlier Greek artists.

Making Connections
➢ Comparing Styles The Romans admired the architecture of the Greeks, but they
used the Greek architectural styles for very different purposes. The Greeks created
structures for beauty and harmony. The Romans often created theirs to show the power
of the Roman Empire.

The Early Medieval Period

In art, the Middle Ages were anything but dark. It was the most splendid of all periods
for bookmaking, a time of a great architectural revival, and an era of important
developments in sculpture.

The Age of Faith

Perhaps a more accurate label for this period would be the Age of Faith. The hearts and
minds of Medieval people were fixed on one all important goal—preparation for eternal
life after death. The Church, which had grown in power and influence since the collapse
of the Roman Empire, guided the people in this quest. The Church influenced the lives
of kings and peasants alike throughout western Europe. Virtually everyone was born
into the faith, and all were expected to place loyalty to the Church above everything
else.
Three Periods of the Middle Ages
They are the Early Medieval, which dates from about the last quarter of the fifth century
to the middle of the eleventh; the Romanesque, which, in most areas, took place during
the eleventh and twelfth centuries; and the Gothic, which The Early Medieval
overlapped the Romanesque and continued in some areas into the sixteenth century.

Early Medieval
From Charlemagne to Feudalism
The period was marked by conflicts, open warfare, and mass migrations of foreigners
into and across lands formerly controlled by the Romans. Under these trying conditions,
the Carolingian dynasty was founded. Although it survived less than 150 years, this
dynasty managed to bring about the revival of a strong, efficient government.
Furthermore, it stimulated a renewed interest in learning and the arts.
The Rise of Feudalism

Feudalism was a system in which weak noblemen gave up their lands and much of their
freedom to more powerful lords in return for protection

The Spread of Monasticism

people labored in the service of learning and art. Many were monks, devoted religious
men who lived under a strict set of rules in remote
communities called monasteries. Monasticism refers to a way of life in which
individuals gathered together to spend their days in prayer and self-denial
Manuscript Illumination
Monks often decorated manuscript pages with delicate miniature paintings done in
silver, gold, and rich colors.

The Romanesque Period

The feudal system, which had developed in the ninth century, reached its peak during
the Romanesque period. It contributed to the constant disputes and open conflict that
continued to mark the Medieval period. Under the feudal system, land was the only
source of wealth and power, but the supply was limited. Nobles, lords, and kings fought
constantly to protect or add to the land under their control.
Castles
Towers of stone were built by the late eleventh century, and by the twelfth century the
nowfamiliar stone castle had evolved. With its tower, walls, moat, and drawbridge, the
castle became the symbol of authority during the Romanesque period.
Gothic Period
Gothic is the term used to identify a period that began around the middle of the twelfth
century and lasted to the end of the fifteenth century and, in some places, into the
sixteenth. the term Gothic was given to buildings that replaced classical forms. THE
MEDIEVAL ART OF STAINED GLASS
With stories depicting the lives of Christ, the Virgin Mary, and saints, stainedglass
windows bring to mind the beautifully colored illuminations found in Medieval
manuscripts.

• Size. In cathedrals such as those at Chartres, Reims, and Paris in France and at León in Spain,
huge areas were devoted to stained glass.
• Color. For color, artisans added minerals to the glass while it was still in a molten state. In this
way, the glass was stained rather than painted; the color was very bright.
• Design. Small pieces of this stained glass were then joined with lead strips and reinforced
with iron bars. The lead strips and iron bars often were made a part of the design.
Renaissance Art
Known as the Renaissance, the period immediately following the Middle Ages in Europe
The style of painting, sculpture and decorative arts identified with the Renaissance
emerged in Italy in the late 14th century; it reached its zenith in the late 15th and early
16th centuries, in the work of Italian masters such as Leonardo da Vinci, Michelangelo
and Raphael. In addition to its expression of classical Greco-Roman traditions,
Renaissance art sought to capture the experience of the individual and the beauty and
mystery of the natural world.

Origins of Renaissance Art

he origins of Renaissance art can be traced to Italy in the late 13th and early 14th
centuries. During this so-called “proto-Renaissance” period (1280-1400), The Florentine
painter Giotto (1267?-1337), the most famous artist of the proto-Renaissance made
enormous advances in the technique of representing the human body realistically

Early Renaissance Art (1401-1490s)

In 1401, the sculptor Lorenzo Ghiberti (c. 1378-1455) won a major competition to
design a new set of bronze doors for the Baptistery of the cathedral of Florence, beating
out contemporaries such as the architect Filippo Brunelleschi (1377-1446) and the
young Donatello (c. 1386- 1466), who would later emerge as the master of early
Renaissance sculpture.
The other major artist working during this period was the painter Masaccio (1401-
1428), known for his frescoes of the Trinity in the Church of Santa Maria Novella (c.
1426) and in the Brancacci Chapel of the Church of Santa Maria del Carmine (c.
1427), both in Florence.
From 1434 until 1492, when Lorenzo de’ Medici–known as “the Magnificent” for his
strong leadership as well as his support of the arts–died, the powerful family presided
over a golden age for the city of Florence. Pushed from power by a republican coalition
in 1494, the Medici family spent years in exile but returned in 1512 to preside over
another flowering of Florentine art, including the array of sculptures that now decorates
the city’s Piazza della Signoria.

High Renaissance Art (1490s-1527)

Leonardo (1452-1519) was the ultimate “Renaissance man” for the breadth of his
intellect, interest and talent and his expression of humanist and classical values.
Leonardo’s best-known works, including the “Mona Lisa” (1503-05), “The Virgin of
the Rocks” (1485) and the fresco “The Last Supper” (1495-98), showcase his
unparalleled ability to portray light and shadow, as well as the physical relationship
between figures–humans, animals and objects alike–and the landscape around them. 
Michelangelo Buonarroti (1475-1564) drew on the human body for inspiration and
created works on a vast scale. He was the dominant sculptor of the High Renaissance,
producing pieces such as the Pietà in St. Peter’s Cathedral (1499) and the David in
his native Florence (1501-04). He carved the latter by hand from an enormous marble
block; the famous statue measures five meters high including its base. Though
Michelangelo considered himself a sculptor first and foremost, he achieved greatness
as a painter as well, notably with his giant fresco covering the ceiling of the Sistine
Chapel, completed over four years (1508-12) and depicting various scenes from
Genesis. 
Raphael Sanzio, the youngest of the three great High Renaissance masters, learned
from both da Vinci and Michelangelo. His paintings–most notably “The School of
Athens” (1508-11), painted in the Vatican at the same time that Michelangelo was
working on the Sistine Chapel–skillfully expressed the classical ideals of beauty,
serenity and harmony. Among the other great Italian artists working during this period
were Sandro Botticelli, Bramante, Giorgione, Titian and Correggio.

Renaissance Art in Practice

Renaissance artists came from all strata of society; they usually studied as apprentices
before being admitted to a professional guild and working under the tutelage of an older
master. Far from being starving bohemians, these artists worked on commission and
were hired by patrons of the arts because they were steady and reliable. Italy’s rising
middle class sought to imitate the aristocracy and elevate their own status by
purchasing art for their homes. In addition to sacred images, many of these works
portrayed domestic themes such as marriage, birth and the everyday life of the family.

Expansion and Decline

In Venice, artists such as Giorgione (1477/78-1510) and Titian (1488/90-1576) further
developed a method of painting in oil directly on canvas; this technique of oil painting
allowed the artist to rework an image–as fresco painting (on plaster) did not–and it
would dominate Western art to the present day. 
Oil painting during the Renaissance can be traced back even further, however, to the
Flemish painter Jan van Eyck (died 1441), who painted a masterful altarpiece in
the cathedral at Ghent (c. 1432). Van Eyck was one of the most important artists
of the Northern Renaissance; later masters included the German painters
Albrecht Durer (1471-1528) and Hans Holbein the Younger (1497/98-1543). 
By the later 1500s, the Mannerist style, with its emphasis on artificiality, had
developed in opposition to the idealized naturalism of High Renaissance art, and
Mannerism spread from Florence and Rome to become the dominant style in Europe.
Renaissance art continued to be celebrated, however: The 16th-century Florentine artist
and art historian Giorgio Vasari, author of the famous work “Lives of the Most
Eminent Painters, Sculptors and Architects” (1550), would write of the High
Renaissance as the culmination of all Italian art, a process that began with Giotto in the
late 13th century.
Impressionism
Impressionism was developed in France during the late 19th and 20th centuries.
(1867-1886). Due to the result of a chaotic transformation from the industrial
revolution, which made the world seem unstable and insubstantial, Impressionism was
developed (in France during the late 19 and 20th centuries, 1867-1886). As the poet
th

and critic Charles Baudelaire (1821–1867) observed in his 1860 essay The Painter of
Modern Life: “Modernity is the transitory, the fugitive, the contingent.”
Impressionist built upon the departing of the realists from the traditional mythological
and religious themes. Tired of displaying realistic artworks, and due to the invention of
photography, impressionist attempted to show the ‘real’. In which the artist started to
involve their perspective of the world.

Artists started to manipulate the:0-Present

• distinctive color palette;
• focused on the use of light;
• painted more the still life depictions of everyday life;
• tone;
• texture as an end-in-themselves;
• Minimized perspectival depth so that the viewer would look at the surface patterns and
relationships of the picture;
• Introduced the ‘creative cropping’ like in photographs but they made it appear natural;
and
• Usually finishes their painting outdoors to capture the natural light.
Impressionist Painters:

• Claude Monet – his painting ‘Impression: Sunrise’ became revolutionary and actually gave
birth to impressionism.

• Pierre-Auguste Renoir
 In Renoir’s famous painting Le Moulin de la Galette (1876), showed the Parisian dance
hall. It depicted the lively and energetic crowd in which showed dancing and socializing
people that enable the viewers to hear the sound of that casual occasion that Parisian
typically enjoyed. Renoir’s painting of this popular Parisian dance hall is dappled by sunlight
and shade, artfully blurred into the figures to produce just the effect of floating and fleeting
light the Impressionists cultivated.

Fauvism
In 1905 a group of young painters exhibited canvases so simplified in design and so
shockingly bright in color that a startled Critic Louis Vauxcelles (1870–1943), described
the artists as wild beasts (fauves).
Their desire was to develop an art having directness of Impressionism but with use of
intense color (in comparison with impression paintings which uses low intensity value of
color) for expressive ends. Fauves liberated hue from its descriptive function and
explored the effects of the uses of different colors in portraying emotions.

• Henri Matisse – he dominant figure of the Fauve group was Henri Matisse (1869–
1954), who believed color could play a primary role in conveying meaning and focused
his efforts on developing this notion. Matisse believed painters should choose
compositions and colors that express their feelings. Here, the table and the wall seem to
merge because they are the same color and have identical patterning.

Expressionism
The use of bold and striking color appealed to German Expressionists. Although color
played vital role in expressionism in the early 20th century, the expressiveness is also
seen in the distortedness, ragged outlines and frantic brushstrokes.

Ernst Ludwig Kirchner- German Expressionist (die brücke) group, under the
leadership of Ernst Ludwig Kirchner, gathered in Dresden in 1905. The members
thought of themselves as the bridge (hence, the name) between the old and the new,
perfecting a better age. They protested the hypocrisy and materialistic decadence of
those in power. Kirchner focused more on the negative effects of industrialization
and the alienation of individuals in the cities. Kirchner’s perspective distortions,
disquieting figures, and color choices reflect the influence of the Fauves and of Edvard
Munch (fig. 13-16), who made similar expressive use of formal elements.
• Vassily Kandinsky- A second major group of the German Expressionists-
Der BlaueReiter (The Blue Rider), under the leadership of Kadisnky and his founding
partner Franz Marc selected the name of their group for the reason that they both like
color blue and horses. The Bridge group produced paintings that captures the artist’s feelings
in visual form and at the same time eliciting visceral message to the viewers. Kandinsky
believed artists must express their innermost feelings by orchestrating color,form, line,
and space. He was one of the first artists to explore complete abstraction in paintings he
called Improvisations.

Surrealism
Sought to channel the unconscious as a means to unlock the power of our imagination.
Cultural Movement expressed through art which took away from rationalism. The
movement represented a reaction against what its members saw as the destruction
wrought by the “rationalism” that had guided European culture and politics in the past and
that had culminated in the horrors of World War I (1914-1918, Sarajevo Bosnia-
Hungary). ). Surrealism was a means of reuniting conscious and unconscious
realms of experience so completely that the world of dream and fantasy would be
joined to the everyday rational world in “an absolute reality, a surreality.” – Andre Breton, The
Surrealist Manifesto, 1924). Heavily adapted from Sigmund Freud’s concept of the
unconscious which Breton saw it as the origin of the imagination.
Pop Art
Pop art movement aimed to haze the boundaries between "high" art and "low" culture.
Pop artists seemingly embraced the post-World War II manufacturing and the booming
of media. Commercial Art.

EASTERN ART

Ancient Chinese Art

Chinese art shows a stylistic unity unparalleled in any other culture. The Han dynasty
(206 BC-AD 220) produced outstanding metalwork, ceramics, and sculpture. The Song
dynasty (960-1278) established standards of idyllic landscape and nature painting in a
delicate calligraphic style.
Japanese Art
Japanese art represented nature from a more spiritual perspective rather thanpursuing
scientific realism; nature was seen as a part of a whole to be projected through the life
and experience of the individual artist, a view that became more clearly expressed with
the arrival of Buddhism in the 6th century

• ZEN BUDDHISM AND MINIMALISM- The less is beautiful, in a Japanese sense of

beauty.

ZEN Paintings
The cause of suffering in life is attachment to material things. The lesser the
possessions, the lesser the suffering. So the secret to happiness is living a simple life.
Southeast Asian Art and Architecture
Buddhist Archaeology
The geography of early Buddhist archaeological sites is in general associated with
rivers, ancient coastlines, and trade routes by land and water.

Buddhist Art
Art and design of the Buddhist world, since the foundation of Buddhism, a philosophy
that seeks enlightenment, by the Buddha Sakyamuni in the 5th century BC. The earliest
Buddhist art developed in India to accommodate the new religion, including pillars and
stupa, domed reliquary shrines that became the focus for pilgrims

Indian Art and Architecture

Works of art and architecture produced on the Indian subcontinent, which is now divided
among India, Pakistan, and Bangladesh. In the Western world, notable collections of
Indian art can be seen in the British Museum, in the Victoria and Albert Museum, and in
the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston.
Hindu Art
The main features of Hindu culture origiated in India. Its earliest sacred texts, the
Vedas, date from c. 1500-900 bc, but the true flowering of Hindu art did not occur until
the Gupta period ( ad c. 320-c. 540), when Buddhism began to wane. Gautama
Buddha sitting under a pipal tree in the Dharmachakra Parvartana Mudra and the
crowned Maitreya seated under the asoka tree, 5th-6th century C.E., late Gupta period.
Detail of a fresco above the doorway. Ajanta caves (Cave XVII), near Aurangabad,
Maharashtra.
Lingaraj Temple with one hundred and fifty smaller shrines, 11th century C.E., Keshari
dynasty/Somavamsi dynasty. Red sandstone. Bhubaneswar, Orissa. Khajuraho Group
of Monuments (detail of the Vishvanath Temple with amatory sculptures), 1020,
Chandella Dynasty. Sandstone. Khajuraho, Madhya Pradesh.

Early Period
Art of the Australian Aborigines. Traditionally almost entirely religious and ceremonial, it
was directed towards portraying stories of the Dreamtime, a creation mythology
reflecting the Aboriginal hunter-gatherer lifestyle. Perishable materials were used, as in
bark painting and carved trees and logs, and few early works of this type survive.

Australian Aboriginal Rock Art

Consideration
Neighboring places influence various Art forms in local community.
1. Historical
2. Cultural
3. Religious
Some art forms preserved throughout time despite outside influence.