Friday, 12 June 2015

The Evolution of Art

The Evolution of Art
Main Idea:
Art is reflective of its time period, and is influenced by different aspects of social change.

1600-1700s- scientific revolution, enlightenment
The scientific revolution was a time period where the importance of life was found in reason. Everyone' lives revolved around logic and reason, not creativity, thus the art during this time period illustrated what they already knew. Artists valued the ancient artists like the Greeks and Romans, and wanted to imitate this art.
Although art was not shown publicly during the earlier time periods in the western world, it is still evident that art was reflective of the time period and influenced by different aspects of social change.  The art during this time all depict actual events that were important historical moments.  For example David was the personal painter of Napoleon. David also painted a piece titled Death of Marat. This illustrated the death of a well known writer.David painted the truth, even if it was not necessarily what the public wanted to see. David believed in the importance of following in the footsteps of the greats. David explained, “Thus he who is gifted with a fine sensibility, though without culture, and the philosopher, the poet, and scholar, each in those different things which make up the art of judging” (Haberman 109).  David explains that although a person might have sensibility,common sense, or knowledge, they know nothing without what scholars, poets, and philosophers know.  Art is able to influence what the public knows, and understands, as well as the depth in which they understand things especially  during the time of enlightenment in which learning and thinking was valued.
The style of Neoclassicism was created in order to imitate and copy what was already done and admired previously. Neoclassicism was in itself influential to social change during this time period, because although this style of art basically said to follow exactly what and how the ancient artists said to paint, this art still reflected the time period and what was occurring during the enlightenment.

1800s- Industrial revolution-(romanticism, Realism)
              Between the scientific revolution and the industrial revolution, there were many social changes, thus the changes in what art was thought to. The belief that art should be taught, and the ancient artists should be imitated was completely changed to the belief that art should express who you are, your emotions, feelings, not something that you have seen many others paint over and over again. Art should express individuality, and individuality was valued greatly.
Courbet expressed in his letter of 1861 that he strongly believed that art should not be taught. He emphasized that, “it is not possible to have schools for painting, there are only painters” (Haberman 237). Courbet felt that art was not a subject that could be taught as people are born with the talents and abilities of art.  With the change from the belief that art can be taught, to in this time period where the belief is that art cannot be taught, the evidence of social change is apparent. Courbet also expressed his beliefs of individuality. He felt that people lost their individuality when they try to imitate another person, and Courbet did not want to be apart of a culture that was accepting of imitation, thus Courbet being apart of realism (235). Gustave Courbet started the great movement of Realism, in which he believed that one should only paint what is physically present during that time.

Modern Art
The jump to modern art, has been one of the greatest. No matter what the piece may  be,  the art is always accepted. Unlike other time periods where art had to fit into specific regulations, modern art can be expressed in whatever the artist feels is necessary.


Art Today
Art is reflective of society, whether it be actual evidence of current events or a representation of what you feel inside, your emotions. That's really how art has changed over time, it has adopted all the other forms of a art. Art now, is like a warm blanket on a cold night, welcoming and much appreciated.



Works Cited
“Art.” Art. N.p.: n.p., n.d. N. pag. Print. Excerpt from Art: A History of Painting, Sculpture, Architecture. Ed. Margaret  L. Donovan and Ellyn Childs Allison. New York: Henry N. Abrams, 1985. 830-33.
Bodden, Valerie. History Paintings. Minnesota: Creative Education, n.d. Print.
Haberman. The Era of the French Revolution. N.p.: n.p., n.d. Print.
Haberman. The Era of the French Revolution. N.p.: n.p., n.d. Print.

“Jacques Louis David Biography.” Jacques Louis David. N.p., 2002. Web. 26 Feb. 2015

4 comments:

  1. I agree with the main point you stated, "art is reflective of the time period, and is influenced by different aspects of social change". Like you mentioned, it can be shown in every time period. Art is a way for people to channel their emotions and often times these emotions are based on what is happening in the world at the time. Like you said, early scientific revolution and enlightenment art was straightforward and logical, just like the people of the time. I agree with the points you made about this period of time's art. I disagree with you lack of focus on the art produced after WWI. There was so much social turmoil at that time. There was depression and hopelessness and confusion all over the Western World. I'm wishing that you would have mentioned dadaism. It was a major art movement that kind of transitioned classic art into modern art. Dadaism and other art created after WWI was the beginning of the idea that anything could be art and that it was up to interpretation. This is the most interesting period of art in my opinion, it's raw, full of anger, and extremely reflective of the time period. In your blog you stated, "the jump to modern art has been one of the greatest". I agree that it is a huge shift from classic art, however I don't think it was a jump. It was a transition over time. WWI caused the anger and depression reflected in dadaism, the belief that anything could be art morphed into modern art as we know it. Tracing the journey of art over time makes me wonder where it will go next. We have a society full of social injustice and it has become extremely prevalent as of late. I have even seen a few pieces of art that reflect the police violent that has been a major issue in the United States. I have also seen another art movement, it's far more connected to nature. There are a lot of people that are feeling drawn back to the natural world because so many are stuck in the urban life style. Art that I have seen is heavily focused on nature and aspects of the natural world. Some of my favourite pieces depict a connection between humans and the earth and it's animals. I find that the more society urbanizes, the more art we will see that involves a connection to nature. These are my predictions for where art is going to go next, nobody ever really knows what new creations and movements will arrive until they do. I'm interested in finding out.

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  2. Art is often overlooked in society, sometimes people forget about how much of an impact art really has on us. While reading your blog, I thought about how much art I see on a daily basis. Media itself is a form of art, and as we all know media has a huge impact on the way we live our lives (whether we like to admit it or not). Sometimes we are influenced by media without even realizing it. Art has developed over time, but has always been to express some sort of feeling, idea or event. I completely agree with your idea that art is influenced by social change. I wonder how much art, has influenced social change though. Has it influenced social change at all? I really enjoyed the way you added images of art to give the reader a good idea of the style and movement you are discussing. The images also help the reader stay engaged while reading. The information you selected reinforces your main idea. It is shown that the purpose of each of the art movements correlates with what is happening in the time period. You mention the idea of the influence of greek and roman art, which I completely agree with. The Roman and Greek art forms were some of the first most influential art styles. Their styles and ideas still have a lasting impact today. In your paragraph about the 1600-1700’s you mention “ art during this time all depict actual events that were important historical moments.” (Kelsey Gallant). I started to question why most of the earlier art movements chose to depict actual events instead of creating an original image/idea after reading that sentence. As I read on I began to understand. You talk about how the artist David wanted to educate the public population about reality. Which I think is an important purpose, to further educate people about their own society and values. As the movements changed the purposes changes. In the 1900’s, during world war 1 and world war 2, art was used as a form of propaganda. Which was not a new concept, but stands out during that time. While in today’s society it is used as advertisement. Our society is extremely consumer based, art is used to try to sell us product. Art is everywhere, it is on our tv’s, in the newspapers, even on the back of cars. Art is extremely subjective, people’s opinions on what is art will changed based on their own life experiences. Your blog was extremely successful in illustrating the idea that art is influenced by social change.

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  3. Like you, I too did my blog post on art. To begin, I loved how you included different quotes to reinforce your main idea of how art is reflective of it’s time period. Starting with David and the painting what you see, switching to Courbet and his views of art being talent. Personally I would have to agree with Courbet. Anyone can paint an image they see, but what’s really special is being able to envision and create something original and meaningful. You also did a great job at explaining the different types of art and what was happening in the world around them to make this type of art popular. When reading your blog, I felt the shift and change in the time periods. From reading the two quotes it helped me to understand the dramatic shift. Beginning with art must be copied and learned from the masters, to the individual is completely in control of their own art and art is a form of expression. I believe that art is definitely anything that speaks to the artist. Once it speaks to the artist, or through the artist, it is up to the viewers for interpretation. If art was made from passion surely someone else will find it speaks to them as well. Myself, I love art. I paint as a way to calm myself down. In society today it is a huge coping mechanism and way of self expression. It helps people like me make sense of the world around us. To define art, would be impossible. I would not be lying by saying some art is completely bizarre and a bit out there. Painting a red wall and calling it art? Okay… welcome to my living room. That type of art I wouldn’t personally “consider” art, but some others would. The phrase modern art is used very loosely nowadays classifying pretty much anything as art. Now a question for you. What type of art do you find most appealing? What speaks to you?

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  4. I agree with your thoughts that art is reflective of each time period. In the past people were most likely to follow the norms and not step out of line, which is why people were only painting the things they had seen because they didn't want to seem abnormal. But moving to modern day people care more about expressing who they are than being in the norm which is why more abstract paintings emerged. William Blake was someone who agreed that art is to be expressed through emotion and feeling and I think he would've been a great person to talk about in this as well as he had a big impact of how art should be displayed because he disagreed with so many others who believed that art can't be taught. In a way i agree with Coubert that art is a talent that we are just born with like you mentioned but I also disagree because anything can be taught, it may be harder but through time it can be achieved. I 100% agree with you that modern art today is always excepted for what it is, no matter who the artist is or what the artist was painting it is a way of expression for anyone. But that is what are should be used for in the first place and thats they way it should always been seen as.

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