HUMANITIESWhat is ART?

John ChiapponeIntro to Humanities

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What is ART – with a capital A?

- An essential definition for all ART would require that ART have limited boundaries.- Artists are constantly expanding those boundaries.- Therefore no essential definition can be reached.

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- Attempts to limit ART will fail. - How do we attempt to limit ART?

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Critics attempt to limit art by creating rules or criteria. For something to be considered art, for example, it has to:

a). have been created with the purpose of being art. b). be beautiful. c). have a positive message. d). be well crafted.

Fountain by Marcel Duchamp, 1917Photographed by Alfred Stieglitz

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Marcel Duchamp abandoned art for chess. This picture was taken of him in 1952 by Kay Bell Reynal.

DUCHAMP

Marcel Duchamp (1887 – 1968), was a French Dadaist and Surrealist artist. He became one of the most influential artists of the 20th century by advising art collectors like Peggy Guggenheim, and by redefining art with his found art objects. Duchamp said:

The creative act is not performed by the artist alone; the spectator brings the work in contact with the external world by deciphering and interpreting its inner qualifications, and thus adds his contribution to the creative act.

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Are limits uncreative?

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- If you try to limit other people’s art, then it’s uncreative.- If you limit your art, or taste in art, by: accepting criteria, rejecting criteria, or defining art, then limits are creative.- Limits are what define a style or movement in art.- They also state what styles we will accept as art.- We can never define art because art is not a movement or style; it’s the sum total of all styles and movements in art.

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We can then define ART as the sum total of all styles and movements in art?

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No because you cannot use the concept to define the concept. We still don’t have an essential definition of what constitutes an art style from a style of fashion – for example.

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How do we define a style of art that we can use?

a). We can reject criteria.b). We can accept criteria. c). We need arguments to support our choices.d). We need an example – like Fountain.

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Jim Din‘A Black Shovel, Number 2’, 1962

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If we use Black Shovel as an example of art. What criteria should we reject?

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We can reject the criteria that:

- The object needs to be made by an artist.- The object needs to be made with the purpose of being art.- The composition needs to be made by the artist.

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What arguments can we use?

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We can use established art as counterexamples:

- What criteria is architecture a counterexample?- The criteria is photography a counterexample?

Previous Rejected Criteria:

- Object must be made by an artist.- Object must be made to be art.- Composition must be made by an artist.

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If we use Black Shovel as an example of art. What criteria should we accept?

- Art is seeing an object or composition as art.- The eye of a photographer is the only needed skill. - Art should be made with as little interference from the artists preconceived notions of art.

Previous Rejected Criteria:

- Object must be made by an artist.- Object must be made to be art.- Composition must be made by an artist.

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How do we go about making this kind of art?

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How do we go about making this kind of art?

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