MODULE 1 LESSON 1

ART CONCEPTS
Lesson 1: Philosophy of Art

There is no one universal definition of art though there is a consensus that is it the
conscious creation of something beautiful or meaningful using skill and imagination. 
Etymology 

Art is related to the Latin word ‘ars’- which means art, skill or craft. The first known
use of the word comes from 13 century manuscripts. 
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Philosophy of Art
The definition of art has generally fallen into three categories:
1. Art as Representation: Mimesis. Plato first developed the idea of art as mimesis in
Greek meaning copying or imitation. Hence, the primary meaning of art was for centuries
defined as the representation or replication of something that is beautiful or meaningful.
2. Art as Expression of Emotional Content. Expression became important during the
Romantic Movement with artwork expressing a definite feeling as in the sublime or
dramatic. Audience response was important for artwork was intended to evoke an
emotional response. 
3. Art as Form. Immanuel Kant, influential theorist at the end of 18 century, believed that
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should be judged only on its formal qualities because the content of the work of art is not
of aesthetic interest. Formal qualities became important when art became more abstract
in the 20 century and the principles of art and design (balance, rhythm, harmony, unity)
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were used to define and assess art. 

Definition (Comments and Quotes) on Art
1. Art evokes the mystery without which the world would not exist.     
--Rene Magritte
2. Art is a discovery and development of elementary principles of nature.
---Frank Lloyd Wright
3. Art enables us to find ourselves and lose ourselves at the same time.
---Thomas Merton
1. The purpose of art is washing the dust of daily life off our souls.
---Pablo Picasso
5. All art is but imitation of nature.
---Lucius Seneca
6. Art is not what you see but what you make others see.
---Edgar Degas
7. Art is the signature of civilizations.
---Jean Sibelius
8. Art is a human activity consisting in this that one man consciously, by means of certain 
    external signs, hands on to other feelings he has lived through and that others are infected
by 
    these feelings and also experience them.
---Leo Tolstoy    
9. Art is the concrete representation of our most subtle feelings.
---Agnes Martin
10. Art is the elimination of the unnecessary.
 MODULE 1 LESSON 1
ART CONCEPTS
---Pablo Picasso
11. Art without emotion is like chocolate cake without sugar. 
---Laurie Anderson
12. Art is the proper task of life.
---Friedrich Nietzsche           
13. Art is to console those who are broken by life.
---Vincent Van Gogh
14. Art wasn’t supposed to look nice, it was supposed to make you feel something.
---Rainbow Rowell  
15. Art is the only way to run away without leaving home. 
---Twyla Tharp
16. Art is a way of recognizing oneself.
---Loiuse Bourgeois
17. Art helps us identify with one another. 
---Olafur Eliasson
18. Art is the most intense mode of individualism that the world has known. 
---Oscar Wilde