Student 29 Final Exam Fall 1999

What is art? Please discuss/explain the five major aesthetic theories that we have studied this semester, and give at least two examples of art, literature, or other art forms we have studied this semester in support of your explication of each theory. You must explain the aesthetic theory itself, and then explain the symbolism, construction, or other relevant facts of each work of art mentioned, and clearly explain how that piece of art reflects that particular theory. In addition, you must use different disciplinary resources in your responses; for example, use paintings, sculpture, architectural works, and literature.

*note: this exam was transcribed exactly as the student wrote it on the final; nothing has been altered. This student's essay makes use of multiple resources, including architecture, music, religious traditions, statuary, and painting. It is also quite a good summary of each major school, with a nice attempt at the end to synthesize the material.

When confronted with the question, "What is art?" many people immediately begin to think of painting, such as the Mona Lisa or statutes, such as The David. While the David and Mona Lisa are great artistic accomplishments, it would be wrong to narrow the field of art to merely these mediums. I say this because over the centuries, people of different cultures and areas of the world have expressed their emotions about their inner selves and the world around them in diverse ways including music, literature and architecture. Even more interesting are the theories behind artistic expression, including realism, idealism, functionalism, art in the ordered cosmos, and art as self-expression.

The artistic theory of realism stresses the realistic representation and mathematical precision in the portrayal of all things. One very influential figure in the realm of realism was Leonardo DaVinci. DaVinci is a fine example of a renaissance man. Not only was he a painter, bue an avid learner. He conducted many studies, including studies of animals, architectures, machines and human bodies, and recorded them in his notebooks. In his study of human bodies, DaVinci is said to have hired grave robbers to steal cadavers, which he would dissect for his research. Because this was considered an illegal act in the mid thirteenth-fourteenth centuries in Italy, DaVinci wrote backwards.

As opposed to realism, idealism stresses idealized, perfect 'norms'. The art of ancient Greece is representative of idealism, and is often referred to as Classical Idealism. The Greeks believed the human body to be the most beautiful thing in the world. As the home of the Olympic games, the ancient Greeks reveled in the beauty of the human body at the peak of its form. In art, they would study the most beautiful people and then piece together the best parts of different people. During the Archaic Period )600-480 B.C.) it is very obvious that statues such as the Couros and Kore figurines were pieced together because the parts of the body do not blend also, the figures are very columnistic with their weight equally balanced on both feet. The Kritios boy in 480 B.C. heralded the new Classical age in Greek sculpture, often referred to as "The Golden Age". The parts of the boy blend and seem to be striding forward.

The functionalist theory of art stresses art which served a purpose. An excellent example of functionalism are the pyramids of ancient Egypt. Constructed during the Fourth dynasty of the Old Kingdom (3100-2686 B.C.), the pyramids served as burial tombs for divine pharaoh and astronomical observatories. Located in Giza the pyramids were built for the Pharaohs Cheops, Mycerinius and Chefrea. The largest was that of Cheops. The pyramids contain two passageways, one ascending and one descending. The ascending passageway is referred to as the Grand Gallery and leads into the sarcophagal chamber. The descending passageway leads into an unfinished pit which historians speculate was there to prevent plunder.

Due to the Nile River and three natural barriers, Egypt had a very optimistic outlook on life and the afterlife. The Egyptians regarded their pharaohs as divine and mummified the powerful leaders so that their lea (soul) would have a ba (body) to continue on in the other world. The Grand Gallery has moveable bricks which could be used throughout the year to chart the movements of the heavens. If the unfinished chamber and descending passageway were filled with water, the reflection of the sun would mark the exact center of the pyramid.

"Art in the Ordered Cosmos," is an aesthetic theory emphasizing how various mediums of art reflect how the universe is structured. For example, in the mid 17 and early 1800s, Isaac Newton came up with the theory that the universe was composed of millions of tiny subatomic particles. This theory heavily influenced the classical music of Hayd a, Mozart and Beethoven because the Music of these composers follows a basic blueprint in which many small parts combine to form a whole. The prevalent traits exercised in the music of this period include staccato articulation, proportion, symmetry, alberti-bass, configuration, periodicity, harmony, triadic melody and sonata-allegro form.

The final major aesthetic theory of art is art as self-expression. This theory includes how people express their inner emotions and beliefs through art. A good example of this theory is the sacred Hindu religious text, the Rig Veda. The Rig Veda was first written down when the Aryans conquered India. The text talks of the switch from a nomadic to pastoral society, as well as the omnipresent diety, Parusha. In the Hindu belief system, all people are on the same spiritual path to union with Parusha, in which the bounds between "I" and "you", "people" and "God" are eliminated. Parusha is everything, with 1000 eyes, 1000 hands, and 1000 feet, the diety, as well as the religion is "all encompassing' Obviously art, the expression of humans in regard to their inner selves and the environment around them, is expressed through a variety of mediums, drawings, such as those found in Da Vinci's notebooks; sculptures, such as the figurines of ancient Greece; architecture, such as the pyramids; music, such as that of Beethoven; and literature, such as the Rig Veda are all ways in which people express themselves through art, whether their expression be realistic, idealistic, functionalistic, self reflecting or an expression of the universe.

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