Week 11: Video Review

Greenberg on Art Criticism: An Interview by T.J. Clark

Clement Greenberg states that writing about art is a lot harder than writing about literature or music. Writing about music you’re a formalist. Music you’re pinned down to the score but visual art doesn’t have a score that you’re pinned down to. His generation was brought up to think money and fame would solve everything but at the same time it was believed if you were good then you wouldn’t be liked by many people.  The interviewer and Clement discuss prejudices in art criticism and that the best art had been made during the last 50 years. Greenberg feels that this art is predominantly abstract.   During the dark 40s, the best artists felt isolated.  He says people who are blue colored are intrigued by abstract art but don’t necessarily understand it.  Greenberg wasn’t worried about his art criticism position. He states to taste art, that it takes everything in you, what you hear, see, read, when arts good it’s everything it should be, backed up by a world of experience.  Experience and aesthetics in art criticism are of personal taste. Clement states that you place limits on nothing and the great art critics of the past new automatically that the value of judgment came first and they weren’t philosophical.  Certain artists have proven themselves and some haven’t but that is enough.  Greenberg felt that writing was just like generating copy.  He believes in modern specialization. 

The Colonial Encounter: Views of Non-Western Art and Culture.

The 1900 World Fair was important to display France with a new self-image.  Art of Dahome is seen as beautiful even though it is usually viewed as being a craft. The Dahome were thought of by other nations as primitive and savage people and not dignified.  The Dahome exhibit was thought of as not civilized by the French and were seen as very barbaric. Images of these people at the fair seemed to support this view. Violence enacted against each other, viewed the French as saving them from themselves. This justified the colonization of African people. Three figures that were shown in the World Fair represented the three aspects of African people. A throne brought back by the French was actually acknowledged at how much had gone into its construction.  The throne was evidence of skilled craftsmanship. Algeria at the World’s Fair was treated differently because it was colonized for a longer time than the Dahome.  Tourism played a big part of how the Algerian display was viewed.  By the early 1900 tourism was on its way to becoming an industry. Pleasure and tourism was used to establish communities that would cater to this new industry.  Arab women were represented as promiscuous and promote the conflation of dance. The Belly dance stood for Arabs and France had no problem promoting  it this way. Naked African men and Women were kept in cages and enclosures along with other exotic animal species.  The Europeans tried to rationalize this type of display as some sort of scientific study and not pornographic. They displayed items that seem to emphasize the racial differences between the Africans and Europeans.  The French created a dichotomy between the Dahome and Algeria exhibits. The art exhibits displayed at the Fair were seen as art but were devoid of any cultural information or meaning.  These types of displays were shown throughout the west but the only information that was displayed was about the person who collected the items, the anthropologist. 

 

An Introduction to the Italian Renaissance

There was a new enthusiasm in the arts and many artists contributed to this new style called the Renaissance.  Romans created art form the natural beauty found around them but that came to an end after the Barbarians conquered the empire. The Byzantines focused less on beauty and focused more on religious themes.  Giotto was one of the first artists that brought back the realistic style of the Romans. He used perspective that would be found in architecture and landscape. Objects seemed closer and farther depending on their objects sizes.  This added depth and realism to his paintings giving them a 3 dimensional look. He influenced many artists such as Ghiberti who created beautiful door panels.  He created realistic vision of the human form. His interests were very similar as Giotto but Ghiberti used perspective to add depth to his reliefs.  Apprentices learned from the skilled craftsmen to work their perspective crafts. They were trained in Guilds.  Donatello’s David, is standing in “contrapposto” which gives a natural appearance to the way he’s standing.  He portrayed him nude to show the human form that people were now used to seeing as beautiful. Ucello used perspective with human and animal forms as did Giotto.  “The Madonna and Child” painted by Francesca used contrasting light and dark to create a depth within the painting. This experimentation with light was used to illuminate different areas called chiaroscuro.  IN the Adoration of the Magi, Botticelli incorporated his patrons the Medicis in the painting. Da Vinci took science and math and applied it to this art. The figures in “The Last Supper”  appear naturally in their surroundings. He studied the systems of the body and for 3 years sketched live models to know how the clothes would drape over the figures. Raffaello was influenced by Da Vinci, he uses his mastery of space and perspective to create “The Transfiguration”. All figures are moving, acting, teaching, discussing an’d figures are personified by these traits.  He paints in a balanced structure.  Michelangelo’s “David” created a powerful symbol of the Republic by driving for perfection. He taught himself by studying art from past artists. He believed that god created man to strive towards gods perfection. His painting of the Sistine Chapel represents man’s relationship to God.  

I really enjoyed the first video; it was very interesting listening to Greenberg talk about art criticism. The second video was interesting and followed along with what was conveyed in our text. The use and display of Africans was almost pornographic and to think the Europeans tried to cover up this fact with science.  The last video was a good way to help understand the history of the Renaissance and how it came to be and who its major players were.