WORLD OF ART

EIGHTH EDITION

CHAPTER 1
Discovering a World
of Art

Copyright © 2016, 2013, 2010

World of Art, Eighth Edition
by Pearson Education, Inc. or its affiliates.
Henry M. Sayre
All rights reserved.
 Learning Objectives

1. Differentiate between passive and

active seeing.
2. Define the creative process and
describe the roles that artists most
often assume when they engage in
that process.
3. Discuss the different ways in which
people value, or do not value, works of
art.
 Introduction
1 of 3

• Cai Guo-Ziang utilized gunpowder as an

artistic medium in his Project to Extend
the Great Wall of China by 10,000
Meters..., which created an explosion
that formed an ephemeral red line.
 Gunpowder was an essential Chinese
medium; instead of using it for
destruction, the artist wished to bring
people together through the beauty of
the pyrotechnic display.
Cai Guo-Qiang, Project to Extend the Great Wall of China by 10,000 Meters: Project for
Extraterrestrials No. 10.
Realized in the Gobi desert, February 27, 1993, 7:35 pm.
Photo by Masanobu Moriyama, courtesy of Cai Studio. [Fig. 1-1]
 Introduction
2 of 3

• For the Olympic Games in 2008, Cai

was chosen to direct the visual and
special effects for both opening and
closing ceremonies.
 A trail of 29 "footprints of history" made
in fireworks was fired across the sky
between Tianenmen Square and the
Olympic Stadium, the Bird's Nest.
Cai Guo-Qiang, Footprints of History: Fireworks Project for the Opening Ceremony of the
2008 Beijing Olympic Games.
2008.
Photo by Hiro Ihara, courtesy of Cai Studio. [Fig. 1-2]
Herzog & de Meuron, The Bird's Nest—Beijing National Stadium.
2004–08.
© Xiaoyang Liu/Corbis. [Fig. 1-3]
 Introduction
3 of 3

• For the Olympic Games in 2008, Cai

was chosen to direct the visual and
special effects for both opening and
closing ceremonies.
 However, the work was aired as a video
rather than live due to the conditions of
smog in Beijing.
• Cai believed the video was necessary,
and considered it a second work of art.
 The World as We Perceive It

• Objections to Cai's Footprints of History

mainly centered around the violation of
trust regarding a digital film being
broadcast instead of the "real thing."
• Many of us assume that we can trust
our eyes to give us accurate
information and an understanding of
the world.
 The Process of Seeing
1 of 2

• Visual processing can be divided into

reception, extraction, and inference.
 The human retina "edits" information
perceived from external sources.
• Seeing is inherently creative, as you
decide what details are important.
 The Process of Seeing
2 of 2

• Trompe-l'oeil is a technique literally

meaning "trick the eye."
 Richard Haas is a painter known for such
architectural murals, such as the one on
the west facade of the Oregon Historical
Society.
• Stored visual information can also trick a
viewer, even for images seen on a
regular basis, such as the American Flag.
 Richard Haas, Oregon Historical Society. Portland, OR.
1989.
Keim silicate paint, 14,000 sq. ft. Architect: Zimmer Gunsel Frasca Partnership. Executed
by American Illusion, New York.
Photo courtesy of Richard Haas. © Richard Haas/Licensed by VAGA, New York. [Fig. 1-4]
 Active Seeing

• Jasper Johns's Flag takes a familiar

image and examines it more closely.
 It was painted during the Cold War era,
a time when America obsessed over
patriotism through McCarthyism and the
Space Race.
 Audiences were disturbed by newspaper
scraps visible beneath the surface.
 Jasper Johns, Flag.
1954–55. Encaustic, oil, and collage on fabric mounted on plywood (three panels),
42-1/2" × 5'-5/8". Museum of Modern Art, New York.
Gift of Ms. David M. Levy, 28.1942.30. © 2015. Digital image, Museum of Modern Art,
New York/Scala, Florence. © Jasper Johns/Licensed by VAGA, New York. [Fig. 1-5]
 Active Seeing

• Faith Ringgold's God Bless America was

created during the Civil Rights
movement.
 Here, the stripes have been turned into
prison bars and the star becomes a
sheriff's badge.
 The white woman is portrayed as both
patriotic and racist, a prisoner of
bigotry.
Faith Ringgold, God Bless America, No. 13 from the series American People.
1964. Oil on canvas, 31 × 19". ACA galleries.
© Faith Ringgold, Inc. 1964. [Fig. 1-6]
 The World as Artists See It
1 of 2

• Cai did not choose to go to Dunhuang

simply to extend the end of the Great
Wall of China; the area was the place
where East and West first intersected.
 A terra-cotta figure from the Tang
dynasty shows a Bactrian camel that
would have transported goods.
 The region also has the greatest
collection of early Chinese art.
 Caravaneer on a camel, China.
Tang dynasty, (618–907). Polychrome terra-cotta figure. 17-1⁄8" × 14-1⁄8".
Musée des Arts Asiatiques-Guimet, Paris.
Inv. MA6721.Photo © RMN-Grand Palais (musée Guimet, Paris)/Thierry Ollivier. [Fig. 1-
7]
 The World as Artists See It
2 of 2

• Legend has it that a cave-temple was

dug by a Buddhist monk named LeSun,
over the years becoming more
decorated until it was recognized in the
fourteenth century as the Mogao
Caves.
 492 of these caves are decorated with
murals, together about 40 times longer
than the walls in the Sistine Chapel.
Mogao Caves (Caves of a Thousand Buddhas) Dunhuang, China.
© Joan Swinnerton/Alamy. [Fig. 1-8]
Reclining Buddha, Mogao Caves, Cave 148, Dunhuang, China.
Middle Tang dynasty, (781–847). Length: 51'.
Photo: Tony Law. © Dunhuang Research Academy. [Fig. 1-9]
 The Creative Process

• Artists engage in critical thinking.

 They respond to the unexpected, chance
occurrences and are open to new ways
of thinking.
 The artist manages the process from
seeing to imagining to making,
becoming self-critical and exploring the
possibilities of their work.
 Art and the Idea of Beauty
1 of 2

• Aesthetics refer to our sense of what

is beautiful and vary across cultures
over time.
• Western culture values order,
regularity, proportion, and design,
which are hallmarks seen through
Classical art and architecture.
 Mountain ranges were dismissed until
the nineteenth century in the U.S.
 Art and the Idea of Beauty
2 of 2

• The human body is also a widely

contested source of beauty.
 Imagine tall, slender fashion models
compared to Peter Paul Rubens's fleshy
nudes.
 Pablo Picasso's representations of
women are almost demonic, segmented
and abstracted in a battle between
attraction and repulsion.
 Pablo Picasso, Seated Bather (La Baigneuse).
1930. Oil on canvas, 5' 4-1/4" × 4' 3". Museum of Modern Art, New York.
Mrs. Simon Guggenheim Fund. (82.1950). © 2015. Digital image, Museum of Modern
Art, New York/Scala, Florence. © 2015 Estate of Pablo Picasso/Artists Rights Society
(ARS), New York. [Fig. 1-10]
 Roles of the Artist
1 of 12

1. Artists make a visual record of the

people, places, and events of their
time and place.
 The art of portraiture reflects a desire to
record what the artist sees visually.
 Mickalene Thomas paints portraits of
contemporary African-American women
in poses evoking odalisques, similar to
Manet's Olympia.
 Mickalene Thomas, Portrait of Mnonja.
2010. Rhinestones, acrylic, and enamel on wood panel, 8 × 10'. Smithsonian American
Art Museum, Washington, D.C.
Museum purchase through the Luisita L. and Franz H. Denghausen Endowment,
2011.16. © 2015. Digital image, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Washington,
D.C./Scala, Florence. Courtesy of Mickalene Thomas and Lehmann Maupin, New York
and Hong Kong. © 2015 Mickalene Thomas/Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York. [Fig.
1-14]
 Édouard Manet, Olympia.
1863. Oil on canvas, 4' 3" × 6' 2-3/4". Musée d'Orsay, Paris.
Inv. RF644. Photo © RMN-Grand Palais (musée d'Orsay)/Hervé Lewandowski. [Fig. 1-15]
 Roles of the Artist
2 of 12

1. Artists make a visual record of the

people, places, and events of their
time and place.
 Portrait of Mnonja was sold to the Akron
Art Museum and featured hundreds of
rhinestones.
• The anamorphic cat directly references
the black cat opposite Olympia's feet in
Manet's work.
 Roles of the Artist
3 of 12

1. Artists make a visual record of the

people, places, and events of their
time and place.
 Olympia was also reflective of its time,
though Manet's audience did not wish to
acknowledge it as anything but
appalling.
 The Creative Process
1 of 2

• From Sketch to Final Vision:

Pablo Picasso's Les Demoiselles
d'Avignon
 An early sketch conceived five
prostitutes and two men in the work.
• By removing the male figures, he more
fully engages the audience in the scene.
 Picasso rejects any traditional notion of
beauty in the women's forms.
 Pablo Picasso, Medical Student, Sailor, and Five Nudes in a Bordello (Compositional
study for Les Demoiselles d'Avignon), Paris.
Early 1907. Black chalk and pastel over pencil on Ingres paper, 18-1/2 × 25".
Kupferstichkabinett, Kunstmuseum Basel, Switzerland.
Deposited at the Kupferstichkabinett of the Kunstmuseum Basel by the residents of the
City of Basel, 1967.106. Photo: Kunstmuseum Basel/Martin Bühler. © 2015 Estate of
Pablo Picasso/Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York. [Fig. 1-11]
 The Creative Process
2 of 2

• From Sketch to Final Vision:

Pablo Picasso's Les Demoiselles
d'Avignon
 Originally, all figures looked like the
middle two.
• African masks inspired the new look of the
emotionally-charged figures.
 The impossible multiple points of view
present the painting as an ambiguity of
experience.
Pablo Picasso, Study for Les Demoiselles d'Avignon: Head of the Squatting Demoiselle.
1907. Gouache and Indian ink on paper, 24-3/4 × 18-7/8". Musée Picasso, Paris.
Inv. MP 539. Photo © RMN-Grand Palais/Thierry Le Mage. © 2015 Estate of Pablo
Picasso/Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York. [Fig. 1-12]
 Pablo Picasso, Les Demoiselles d'Avignon.
1907. Oil on canvas. 8' × 7'. Museum of Modern Art, New York.
Acquired through the Lillie P. Bliss Bequest, 333.1939. © 2015 Digital image, Museum of
Modern Art, New York, New York/Scala, Florence. © 2015 Estate of Pablo Picasso/Artists
Rights Society (ARS), New York. [Fig. 1-13]
 Roles of the Artist
4 of 12

2. Artists help us see the world in new or

innovative ways.
 Cai Guo-Qiang's work was designed to
transform viewers' experience of the
world.
 Prior to his work, Ken Gonzalez-Day
researched the history of lynching in
California, finding Native Americans,
Chinese immigrants, and Latinos were
lynched more than other groups.
 Ken Gonzales-Day, "At daylight the miserable man was carried to an oak…," from the
series Searching for California Hang Trees.
2007. Chromogenic print, 35 × 45". Smithsonian American Art Museum, Washington, D.C.
Museum purchase through the Luisita L. and Franz H. Denghausen Endowment, 2012.12.1.
© 2015. Digital image, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Washington, D.C./Scala,
Florence. © 2015 Ken Gonzales-Day. [Fig. 1-16]
 Roles of the Artist
5 of 12

2. Artists help us see the world in new or

innovative ways.
 The photograph "At daylight..."
transforms our view of an oak tree that
is at once mossy, tangled, and majestic
and the site of violent deaths.
 Roles of the Artist
6 of 12

3. Artists make functional objects and

structures (buildings) more
pleasurable and elevate them or
imbue them with meaning.
 The sculpture of a film projector by
Kane Kwei and his workshop functions
as a coffin.
• In Ghana, coffins celebrate a successful
life with ritual significance.
Workshop of Kane Kwei, Coffin in the shape of a film projector, Teshi area, Ghana, Africa.
2013.
© LUC GNAGO/Reuters/Corbis. [Fig. 1-17]
 Roles of the Artist
7 of 12

3. Artists make functional objects and

structures (buildings) more
pleasurable and elevate them or
imbue them with meaning.
 Public space features standards of
aesthetic beauty.
 Self-sufficiency, sustainable building
materials, and suitability to climate and
culture exemplify "green architecture."
 Roles of the Artist
8 of 12

3. Artists make functional objects and

structures (buildings) more pleasurable
and elevate them or imbue them with
meaning.
 The Jean-Marie Tjibaou Cultural Center,
named for a leader of the Kanak people,
features buildings of wood and bamboo.
• Architect Renzo Piano utilized the nearby
ocean breeze in a design that cooled the
inner rooms of the pavilions.
Renzo Piano, Jean-Marie Tjibaou Cultural Center, Nouméa, New Caledonia.
1991–98.
© Giraud-Langevin/Sygma/Corbis. [Fig. 1-18]
 Roles of the Artist
9 of 12

4. Artists give form to the immaterial—

hidden or universal truths, spiritual
forces, personal feelings.
 Western approach to works from African,
Oceanic, Asian, or Native American
cultures often relegates everyday
objects to "works of art."
• These objects may serve a utilitarian or
sacred function, a context far removed
from the Western lens.
 Roles of the Artist
10 of 12

4. Artists give form to the immaterial—

hidden or universal truths, spiritual
forces, personal feelings.
 The Nkisi nkonde from Kongo was used
to pursue witches, thieves, and
wrongdoers and activated by a
communicator driving pieces of iron into
the body of the figure.
• These figures represented animism, but
Europeans saw them as a threat.
 Nkisi nkonde, Kongo (Muserongo), Zaire.
Late 19th century. Wood, iron nails, glass, resin, 20-1/4 × 11 × 8". The University of
Iowa Museum of Art.
Stanley Collection, X1986.573. Image courtesy of the University of Iowa Museum of Art
[Fig. 1-19]
 Roles of the Artist
11 of 12

4. Artists give form to the immaterial—

hidden or universal truths, spiritual
forces, personal feelings.
 Figures of minkonde are still made
today.
• Tania Brugeuera dressed as an nkonde in
a performance enacted in Havana and
the Neuberger Museum of Art in NY.
 Tania Bruguera, Displacement.
1998–99. Cuban earth, glue, wood, nails, textile, dimensions variable. Still from film of
the original performance in Havana, Cuba, 1988, exhibited at the Neuberger Museum of
Art, New York, January–April 2010.
Courtesy of Tania Bruguera studio. [Fig. 1-20]
 Roles of the Artist
12 of 12

4. Artists give form to the immaterial—

hidden or universal truths, spiritual
forces, personal feelings.
 Images of God were protested through
Western history.
• Jan van Eyck depicted a frail, young,
merciful, and richly adorned God in his
Ghent Altarpiece.
 Jan van Eyck, The Ghent Altarpiece.
ca. 1432. Oil on panel, 11' 5" × 15' 1". Church of St. Bavo, Ghent, Belgium.
© 2015 Photo Scala, Florence. [Fig. 1-21]
Jan van Eyck, God, panel from The Ghent Altarpiece.
ca. 1432.
© 2015 Photo Scala, Florence. [Fig. 1-22]
 Seeing the Value in Art
1 of 2

• Francis Bacon's Three Studies of Lucian

Freud was the most expensive artwork
ever sold in 2013.
 This triptych was analogous to shooting
the same scene from three different
angles.
 While interesting as a study, many
people find it hard to like and are
incredulous at its market value.
 Francis Bacon, Three Studies of Lucian Freud.
1969. Oil on canvas, each canvas 6' 6". × 4' 10". Private collection.
Photo © Christie's Images/Bridgeman Images. © 2015 Estate of Francis Bacon. All rights
reserved./DACS, London/Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York. [Fig. 1-23]
 Seeing the Value in Art
2 of 2

• The art market depends on the

participation of wealthy clients.
• Major financial centers support the
most prestigious art galleries, auction
houses, and museums.
• Collectors are motivated mostly by the
pleasure of owning prestigious art.
Artistic Value and the "Culture Wars"
1 of 4

• The value of art is not solely about

money, but intrinsic value.
• Robert Mapplethorpe
 Mapplethorpe died a few months before
the slated exhibition of his work in the
Corcoran Gallery in Washington, D.C. in
1989.
 His homoerotic, sadomasochistic, and
underage subjects evoked ire.
Artistic Value and the "Culture Wars"
2 of 4

• Robert Mapplethorpe
 Because of its subject matter, the show
was moved to a smaller gallery.
 Later shows ran without incident until
police seized photographs at a
Cincinnati gallery, claiming criminal
obscenity.
 Testimony in the following trial focused
on formal qualities of each work.
Artistic Value and the "Culture Wars"
3 of 4

• Robert Mapplethorpe
 Ajitto, for example, shows the human
body with the geometry of a pentagon.
 The jury eventually ruled that
Mapplethorpe's work possessed "serious
artistic value" in the context of the
tradition of arts confronting parts of our
lives that give us pain as well as
pleasure.
 Robert Mapplethorpe, Ajitto.
1981. Gelatin silver print, 30 × 40".
Used by permission of Art + Commerce. © Robert Mapplethorpe Foundation. [Fig. 1-24]
Artistic Value and the "Culture Wars"
4 of 4

• Chris Ofili
 The Holy Virgin Mary became a target
for outrage especially for its inclusion of
elephant dung in the depiction of a
religious figure.
 The Catholic League for Religious and
Civil Rights encouraged people to picket
the museum and mayor Rudolph Giuliani
threatened to cut off the museum's city
subsidy.
The press surround Chris Ofili's The Holy Virgin Mary at the Brooklyn Museum.
© Ruby Washington/New York Times/Redux/eyevine. [Fig. 1-25a]
Demonstration Against the 'Sensation' Art Exhibition outside the Brooklyn Museum, New
York, America – 1999.
Sipa Press/REX. [Fig. 1-25b]
The Avant-Garde and Public Opinion
1 of 3

• The public tends to receive innovative

artwork with reservation because it has
little context to be appreciated.
• Marcel Duchamp's Nude Descending a
Staircase succeeded in scandalizing,
and received parody and ridicule
following its exhibition at the Armory
Show in 1913.
 Marcel Duchamp, Nude Descending a Staircase, No. 2.
1912. Oil on canvas, 4' 10" × 35". Philadelphia Museum of Art.
Louise and Walter Arensberg Collection, 1950. © 2015. Photo: Graydon Wood, 1994,
Philadelphia Museum of Art/Art Resource/Scala, Florence. © 2015 Succession Marcel
Duchamp/ADAGP, Paris/Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York. [Fig. 1-26]
The Avant-Garde and Public Opinion
2 of 3

• Duchamp studied and represented

Marey's Movement as well as studies of
animals and humans in motion by
Eadweard Muybridge.
• The National Endowment for the Arts
(NEA) endeavored to teach the public
how to see and appreciate "advanced
art."
The Avant-Garde and Public Opinion
3 of 3

• Richard Serra's Tilted Arc was installed

with minimal negative reaction in 1981,
but faced removal in March 1985.
 In March of 1989, it was stolen in the
middle of the night, dismantled and
subsequently destroyed.
 The site-specific work lost its meaning
when it was removed
 Richard Serra, Tilted Arc.
Cor-Ten steel, 12' × 120' × 2-1/2". Installed, Federal Plaza, New York City. Destroyed by
the U.S. government March 15, 1989.
© 2015 Richard Serra/Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York. [Fig. 1-27]
 Political Visions

• If art appears to promote a specific

political or social agenda, it is bound to
face public disagreement.
• Michelangelo's David was designed to
be displayed atop the Piazza della
Signoria, signifying Florence's freedom
from foreign, papal, and Medici
domination.
 Citizens also objected to its nudity.
 Michelangelo, David.
1501–04. Copy of the original as it stands in the Piazza della Signoria, Florence. Original
in the Galleria dell'Accademia, Florence. Marble, Height 13' 5".
© Bill Ross/CORBIS. [Fig. 1-28]
 The Critical Process
Thinking about Making and Seeing
Works of Art
• Andy Warhol's Race Riot depicts events
of May 1963 when Bull Connor
employed attack dogs and fire hoses to
disperse civil rights demonstrators led
by Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr.
• Which of the artist's roles was the most
important for creating this work?
 Andy Warhol, Race Riot.
1963. Acrylic and silkscreen on canvas. Four panels, each 20 × 33".
© 2015 Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts/Artists Rights Society (ARS), New
York. [Fig. 1-29]
 Thinking Back

1. Differentiate between passive and

active seeing.
2. Define the creative process and
describe the roles that artists most
often assume when they engage in
that process.
3. Discuss the different ways in which
people value, or do not value, works of
art.