MIDTERM

Art Appreciation
 Lesson 4
Subject and Content
~Representational art - describes artworks—particularly paintings and
sculptures that are clearly derived from real object sources. Representing
something with strong visual references to the real world.

~Nonrepresentational art – is an abstract art, though there is a difference

between the two. Is a work that does not represent or depict a being, a place,
or a thing in the natural world.

Nonobjective art (Abstract Art) - is often viewed as a subcategory

of nonrepresentational art. It is based on imagery from the real world. It
represents something, whether that be a tree in a landscape, apple in a still
life, or figure in a portrait.

images ideas art

Artists create work that looks like things we recognize. Images like
landscape scenes or portraits of people. Two dimensions w/ paint or colored
pencils. Weave textiles or carve sculptures from marble.

Other Artists create works that don't look like things we see in the real
world. Painting that was full of squiggly colorful lines or a sculpture made of
vague geometric shapes.

What is Abstract Art?

-Doesn't look like things you find in the real world.
-Elements like color, line and form.
-Doesn't include images or shapes of objects that you would recognize.
 -Idea start in the early 20th century when
artists began to move away from strict
depictions of real-world
-elements to express inner ideas, theories,
emotions.
-can look very different from each other.
Artists known for creating
abstract art include:
 Wassily Kandinsky (1866-1944)
 Piet Mondrian (1872-1944).

Painting with Red Spot by Wassily Kandinsky

In a painting by Wassily Kandinsky, Painting with Red Spot, done around
1914, we see a canvas full of colorful shifting forms and lines. Kandinsky
was interested in expressing inner emotional and spiritual feelings. He used
paint to form merging curves and blended edges, but not to form recognizable
things.
Now, compare the Kandinsky painting to a work by Piet Mondrian
called Composition in Red, Yellow, Blue and Black, done in 1921. It's formal
and precise, with bold geometric forms and specific hard-edged areas of
color. Mondrian began his career painting things like landscapes, but
eventually shifted to abstraction. He felt it better allowed him to convey ideas
about balance and harmony.

Composition in Red, Yellow, Blue and Black by Piet

Each artist was exploring different ideas and searching for ways to express
them.
Abstract art is about ideas or even the physical process of creating art. It
might focus on aggressive brushstrokes or crisp geometric forms. It might
explore repeated patterns or blocks of pure color. But it's not anchored to
anything you see in visual reality.

What is Representational Art?

-Recognizable as something you see in the real world.
-It's identifiable as a scene, objects or figures.
-Doesn't have to be limited to completely realistic scenes. The artist might
choose to paint a tree in different colors or create a mystical world with
people and monsters. But we still see things in the work that we recognize as
being 'things.'
-Around for thousands of years. Ancient examples include cave paintings
where very early humans used natural pigments to create images of bison and
other animals they hunted. History of art, works were representational.
-Leonardo Da Vinci (1452-1519)
-Vincent Van Gogh (1853-1890)