But is it Art?

An interdisciplinary exploration of the nature and concept of art

OBJECTIVES:

1. Be able to discuss several definitions of art and to apply them to various works of art from music, drama, poetry, literature, and the visual arts.

2. Be able to critique each "definition" of art and to discuss various cases which that particular "definition" seems unable to explain or to which it cannot apply.

3. Be able to formulate your own "definition" of art and to apply it to several works of art.

FAMOUS QUOTATIONS:

On Functionalism:

"I should be sorry my lord, if I have only succeeded at entertaining them; I meant to make them better." Handel "Music is a moral law; it gives a soul to the universe." Plato

"Let us suppose that the idea of art can be extended to embrace the entire range of man-made things, including all tools and writing in addition to the useless, beautiful, and poetic things of the world. By this view, the universe of man-made things simply coincides with the history of art." George Kuber The Shape of Time

On Naturalism: "The Artist is the confidente of nature." Rodin

"Art is a lie which helps us perceive the truth." Norman Rockwell

On art as vehicle of communication and emotion (Expressionism):

"Give me the best instrument in Europe but listeners who do not feel with me in what I am playing and all my pleasure is spoiled." Mozart (Mozart was a classical composer who much more closely in this course will represent for us eighteenth-century rationalism)

"When I play, I make love, it is the same thing." Rubenstein

"Works of art express the deepest inwardness." Theo van Doesburg

OUTLINE

I. Functional Theories of Art

A. Art as a handicraft and as a manufactured good (Antiquity)

i. Criteria by which it would be judged

ii. Examples: But is it art?
*The Parthenon (Architecture)
*Spoon from the West African culture of Benin
* table spoon
*Chinese calligraphy *sample piece of handwriting
*an airplane
*A toilet
*Duchamp's Fountain, one of his Readymades

B. Art as Educational

i. Criteria by which we would judge it
ii. Examples: But is it art?
*Aristotle on Drama and a clip from Sophocles: Oedipus Rex
*Blood and gore in modern television.
*A medieval cathedral
*traffic signs

C. What would the role of the artist be on this view of art?

D. Problems and difficulties with a functionalism view of art

II. Naturalism

A. Art as a copy of reality

i. Criteria by which we would judge it
ii. Examples: But is it art?
*Da Vinci's art
*Mirror Image
*Realism in literature: passages from The Jungle
*newspaper clipping
*Debussy: realism in music
*idealism: Michelangelo

B. What would the role of the artist be according to this view of art?

III. Art as self-expression (Expressionism)

A. Art as vehicle for communication of emotions

i. Criteria by which we would judge it
ii. Examples: but is it art?
*Chopin's Nocturnes
*Munch's The Scream
*example from poetry

B. What would the role of the artist be according to this view of art?

IV. Formalism

A. Definition of Formalism: art as the sum total of the whole and the relationship of its parts

i. Examples: but is it art?
*Mozart and form in music
*write a poem in this form
*the gardens of Versailles

V. Conclusion: What is your notion of art?

IDST 2310 Conclusions   | Data at a Glance  |  Project Overview  |  About the Author

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