intro notes | art history

art history:

-requires knowledge of the historical context of an artwork
-central aim: determine original context of artworks
-can shed light on the peoples who made the art & on the times of their creation
-art historians study visual & tangible objects that humans make/build
-what unique set of circumstances gave rise to specific artworks for specific places?
-works can be:

• architecture
• sculpture
• pictorial acts (painting, drawing, printmaking, photography)
• craft arts (ceramics, metalwork, textiles, jewelry)

questions art historians ask:

-how old is it?

• chronology: determine age to find historical context
• physical evidence: (types of materials) can indicate age 
• terminus post quem: "point after which"- earliest date possible
• terminus ante quem: "point before which"- latest date possible
• documentary evidence: when a dated written document mentions the work
• internal evidence: identifiable person/clothing/hairstyle/etc. 
• stylistic evidence: analysis of an artist's distinctive manner of producing an object

-what is its style?

• period style: characteristics of a specific era/span of years w/in a distinct culture
• regional style: variations in style tied to geography
• provenance: place of origin
• personal style: distinctive manner of individual artists 

-what is its subject?

• categories/themes in art:

history:

-history
-mythology
-allegory: literature w moral
-sacred: religion

human figure
living animal
portrait
landscape
still life: arranged objects
genre: scene of everyday life
vedute: urban view

• iconography: "writing of images," study of content & symbols in artwork
• attributes: figure identifiers, SUBJECTIVE

example: 

St. Luke: ox
St. Matthew: winged man
St. Mark: lion
St. John: eagle

• personifications: abstract ideas codified in human form

-who made it?

• if an artwork isn't signed, art historians can attribute it to an artist
• base attributions on internal evidence
• connoisseur: expert in assigning artworks to "the hand" of one artist
• school: group of artists that work in the same style at the same time & place

-who paid for it?

• patrons: those who pay artists to make individual works/employed them on a continuing basis
• patrons often get to say how artists will represent the subject
• corona civica: civic crown 

words artists used- formal analysis

formal elements:

-form & composition

• form: object's shape/structure
• composition: how artist composes/organizes forms in artwork

-material & technique

• medium
• artists shape materials (pigment, clay, gold, marble, etc.) w tools (pens, brushes, chisels, etc.)
• technique: processes that artists employ & distinctive, personal ways they handle materials

-proportion & scale:

• proportion: size relationships btwn parts of people, buildings, objects
• canons: systems of "correct"/"ideal" proportions
• modules: basic unit of measure
• hierarchy of scale: enlarging of elements considered most important

-line: a path of a point moving in space/on a plane

• diagonal
• vertical
• horizontal
• curvilinear
• serpentine

-space: bounded or boundless "container" of objects

• mass: bulk/density/weight of matter in space
• volume: space that mass organizes/divides/encloses 

• 2-D: depicted 3D space on 2D surface (illusionistic)
• 3-D: real space occupied by artwork
• perspective: create illusion of depth or space on 2D surface

linear: convergence of diagonal lines
foreshortening: representing something at angles to the picture plane, illusion that one part of subject is further away than other part 

• atmospheric 
• implied

-light:

• ambient (outside light on a cloudy/normal day)
• direct (spotlighting)
• ideal
• transcendent (refers to religious)
• chiaroscuro (articulation from light to dark)

-color: revealed by light

• additive light: natural/sunlight 
• subtractive light: reflected from pigments & objects

• hue: property giving a color its name
• value: variables in color 
• tonality: degree of lightness or darkness
• intensity: purity of a color
• saturation: brightness or dullness

• primary triad (red, blue, yellow)
• secondary triad (orange, green, purple)
• tertiary triad
• cool palette (blue, green, purple)
• warm palette (yellow, red, orange)
• complementary (opposite colors on color wheel)

-texture: quality of a surface

• true texture: tactile, can feel w touch
• represented texture: depicted as having texture

-pattern
-time
-motion

principles of design:

-balance:

• symmetry
• asymmetry
• relieved (approximate symmetry)
• radial

-emphasis: place/point of most importance

• focal point: bullseye spot in the composition

-repetition: effect of multiplication to create emphasis

• rhythm: cadence or sequence of form in a composition

-unity: style or motif unique to a body of work

-variety: mixture of components to create visual dynamism 

architectural drawings:

• plan: map of a floor/placement of a structure's masses
• section: a vertical plan
• lateral sections: slice across structure's width
• longitudinal sections: cut through building's length
• elevation drawing: head-on view of external/internal wall
• cutaway: combines in a single drawing an exterior w interior view of part of a building

carving & casting:

• carving: subtractive, reduction of original mass/block
• casting: fluid substance put inside a mold (hollow form for shaping)
• relief sculpture: subjects project from the background but still remain part of it 

fig. I-9

The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse- Albrecht Durer
ca. 1498, woodcut
representations of death, famine, war, pestilence

fig. I-16

unfinished statue- Michelangelo Buonarroti
1527-1528, marble