In “Deriving Meaning” we learned how art communicates complex ideas and emotions and the ways in which this is achieved, as well as how writings about art enrich our experience of it. Select one work of art from the chapter 4 online Power Point. Discuss the meaning that may be derived from that one artwork using two of the following philosophical positions: formalist criticism, ideological criticism, psychoanalytic criticism, structuralism, post-structuralism, deconstruction, feminist criticism, or relational aesthetics. How do the philosophical positions impact the meaning of the work? Do they contradict or complement each other? Discuss each of the 2 philosophical positions individually in your essay.The goal here would be to gain an understanding of each of these philosophical positions and to communicate your understanding. DO NOT WRITE ABOUT The Oath of the Horatii by David!Essays should be a minimum of 500 words, typed, double-spaced, 12 pt. font, free of all spelling and grammatical errors, no plagiarism, Chicago Style formatting with footnotes and bibliography. Make sure that you answer the questions asked in their entirety and proofread your essay carefully prior to posting.
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Chapter 4DERIVING MEANING
Understanding the message.
1. Formal Analysis
2. Content Analysis
3. The influence of historical
context, physical
surroundings, and method of
encounter
4. Writings about art
Jacques-Louis David,
Oath of the Horatii, 1784
Methodologies used in writing about art:
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
Formalist criticism and analysis
Content/Iconographical analysis
Contextual interpretation
Ideological criticism (Marxist Methodology)
Psychoanalytic criticism
Structuralist & Post-Structuralist based criticism; this
includes Deconstruction
7. Feminist criticism
8. Personal Interpretation
Formal Analysis
• An integrated study of all the formal qualities of an
artwork
• Line, color, texture, shape, space, texture, mass, time,
motion, medium, proportion, composition, size
• Formal qualities contribute to meaning
• Adherents of pure formalism view works of art
independently of their context, function, and content
• The videos found on the links below demonstrate
Formal Analysis
FORMAL ANALYSIS – the study of the elements and principles of art and
how they are used in specific works.
The arrangement of elements and principles is called composition.
The visual elements of this building were carefully considered and arranged by
the architects.
U.S. Capitol Building, begun 1793
How would you describe this monument in formalist
terms?
A formal analysis of this object would
involve observing the symmetry and
vertical orientation of the design.
Note that there are several horizontal
accents such as brown and tan stripes.
We should also include an observation
of the use of color, which is
predominantly blue. We could also
include a description of the texture
which appears to be smooth with
areas where traces of pigment have
apparently flaked off.
Further studies would reveal that
This was an image of the Aztec rain
god whose image was widely used to
decorate drinking and water-carrying
vessels.
Tlaloc Vessel,
Aztec, ca. 1440-1469
clay & pigment
Further studies would teach us that
Tlaloc’s worship in Aztec society was
fundamental to the civilization.
Tlaloc’s blessing was considered a
necessity to the continuation of life,
as demonstrated by the
characteristics of the god and the
ceremonies conducted for his
benefit. To the Aztecs, Tlaloc was a
dominant fact of life, and Spanish
missionaries struggled to divest the
“indios” of the rain god, along with
other idols. In fact, the cult of Tlaloc
and its influence never entirely
vanished from Mexican society,
despite efforts of the Roman
Catholic Church.
Tlaloc Vessel,
Aztec, ca. 1440-1469
clay & pigment
Dorothea Lange, Migrant Mother,
Nipomo Valley, 1936.
Gelatin silver print photograph
Lange used formal elements to create a
coherent composition. The woman’s
face is the focal point; it is dramatically
lit. Symmetry is important in organizing
the composition: notice how the children
flank their mother and that the
way that she is presented leads our eyes
to her expression of worry, fear, family
devotion, poverty.
Dorothea Lange was hired by the Farm
Security Administration in the mid
thirties to report and document the
plight of the farm worker/families during
the Great Depression.
Morris Louis,
Blue Veil, 1958-9
Acrylic resin paint
on canvas
93/2” x 158/5”
Formalist criticism – emphasizes formal analysis.
Critic Clement Greenberg promoted works like Morris Louis’s Blue Veil,
because they were “self-critical,” focusing on what was “unique to the
nature of [their] medium,” so that “art would be rendered ‘pure’”
(Greenberg 1961:13).
Blue Veil was “pure” painting because it eliminated brushstrokes,
emphasized the flatness of the painting surface.
CLEMENT GREENBERG
Modernist, Formalist Critic
Greenberg argued that the most important modernist painting
had renounced illusionism and no longer sought to replicate 3dimensional space. Each art form had to develop, and be
critiqued, according to criteria developed in response to its
particular internal forms. In “Modernist Painting” (1961)
Greenberg went on to contend that the subject of art was art
itself, the forms and processes of art-making: modern art focused
on “the effects exclusive to itself” and “exhibited not only that
which was unique and irreducible in art in general, but also that
which was unique and irreducible in each particular art.” Abstract
Expressionist painting, with its focus on abstraction, the picture
plane, and the brush stroke, was ideally suited to this
perspective, although Greenberg took pains to emphasize that
modernism was not a radical break from the past but part of the
continuous sweep of art history.
Content Analysis
• Content is an artwork’s theme or message
• Content is conveyed through the
following:
1. the artwork’s subject matter
2. the iconography or symbolic references
3. the written materials related to the
cultural background
Edward Hopper. Nighthawks, 1942.
Iconography- a system of symbols that
refers to complex ideas.
Visual metaphor – image or element that is
descriptive of something else.
Symbol – image or element that stands for or
represents some other entity or concept.
Symbols are culturally determined and must be
taught.
The iconography here refers to Buddhist
beliefs.
Yama, Tibet, mid-17th to early 18th
century. Distemper (pigments mixed
with egg yolk, egg white, and/or size) on
cloth
•
•
•
•
•
•
Yama is the Indian god of death who was tamed by the
Bodhisattva Manjushri. In later Buddhist traditions, he
became a protector of the religion and its adherents.
He carries a thunderbolt chopper and skull, and wears a
tiger skin, jewelry, and a garland of severed human skulls.
Trampling an agonized being, Yama stands on a black
lotus petal floating in a triangular sea of blood. This ogrefaced form of the god (sometimes known as Yama
Antarasiddhi) guards against the inner demons of
emotional addictions such as lust and hate.
Four smaller manifestations of the more commonly
depicted buffalo-headed Yama, who protects against
outer obstacles, are painted on the four corners, each a
different color. The fifth, a small dark blue image of a
monstrous Yama at the top of the painting, is particularly
intriguing.
He is attended by two monks holding books in a
composition that is reminiscent of portraits of the
renowned Tsong Khapa (1357–1419) with his two main
disciples, Gyalsab and Kedrup.
This Yama was a special protector of Tsong Khapa, who
recorded his vision of him in a poem that describes the
god in great detail.
Yama, Tibet, mid-17th to
early 18th century.
An iconographical
analysis of this painting
allows us to understand
its content.
Clara Peeters, Still Life with
Fruit and Flowers, c. 1612
Dutch Baroque Painting
Clara Peeters, Still Life with
Fruit and Flowers, c. 1612
Dutch Baroque Painting
Luscious fruits and flowers
Celebrate the abundance of
nature, but
Because these fruits of the earth
will eventually
Fade, even rot, they could be
moralizing references
To the transience of earthly
existence (vanitas).
Detailed renderings of insects
Show the artist’s skill, but
they also may have
symbolized the vulnerability
of the worldly beauty
of flowers and fruit to
destruction and decay.
Clara Peeters, Still Life with
Fruit and Flowers, c. 1612
Dutch Baroque Painting
A self-portrait of the artist
appears on the reflective surface
of the pewter tankard on the
right. This is one of the ways she
signed her paintings and
promoted her career.
The coins help focus the
dating of the painting. The
highlighting of money in a still
life could reference the
wealth of the owner-or it
could simply allude to the
value the artist has crafted
here in paint.
An iconographical analysis of this
Chinese painting allows us to
understand its content.
Zhu Da (Bada Shanren),
Quince (Mugua), 1690
Album leaf mounted on
as a hanging scroll; ink
and colors on paper
Zhu Da (Bada Shanren),
Quince (Mugua), 1690
Album leaf mounted on as a hanging scroll; ink and
colors on paper
• Quince is an unusual subject in Chinese
painting, but the fruit carried personal
significance for the artist
• The artist’s signature reads “Bada
Shanren painted this,” using his favorite
pseudonym in a formula and calligraphic
style that the artist ceased using in 1695.
• The red block is a seal with an inscription
drawn from a Confucian text: “teaching
is half of learning.”
• This was imprinted on the work by the
artist as an aspect of his signature.
Contextual Analysis
• The interrelated social and political conditions that
surround a work of art are important to consider
• Context includes several factors, such as:
– Historical events
– Economic situations
– Cultural & religious attitudes
– Geographical factors
– Relationship or references to other works of art
THE INFLUENCE OF
CONTEXT:
→history
→physical surroundings
→method of encounter
It is important to know the
context in which an artwork
was created.
Rembrandt van Rijn. The Company
of Captain Frans Banning Cocq, or
The Night Watch,
c.1642
Rembrandt’s largest, most famous
canvas was made for the Arquebusiers
guild hall. This was one of several halls
of Amsterdam’s civic guard, the city’s
militia and police. Rembrandt was the
first to paint figures in a group portrait
actually doing something. The captain,
dressed in black, is telling his lieutenant
to start the company marching. The
guardsmen are getting into formation.
Rembrandt used the light to focus on
particular details, like the captain’s
gesturing hand and the young girl in
the foreground. She was the company
mascot.
Rembrandt, The Nightwatch, 1642, Dutch Baroque
Context – Shirin Neshat’s series,
Women of Allah, is concerned
with Islamic women and
femininity in a country where
women’s rights are limited by
religious laws.
Shirin Neshat. Speechless,
Women of Allah Series, 1996.
Pen and ink over gelatin silver
print
Shirin Neshat, Speechless, 1996.
Shirin Neshat is a photographer, video
artist and filmmaker born in Iran but
educated in the United States. Her
work focuses on Muslim women and
challenges sexist and racist stereotypes
about Muslim women generated both
within and outside Islam.
Understanding the context of Neshat’s
work aids us in understanding the
images.
Shirin Neshat,
Rebellious Silence,
1994
Shirin Neshat
Allegiance with
Wakefulness,
1994
Orientalism and Colonialism
Orientalism is a term used by scholars for the depiction of Eastern, that is “Oriental” cultures.
These include North African, South Asian, Southeast Asian and in particular what we now refer
to as the “Middle East.”
In the early 19th c. there was a genre in Academic art labeled “Orientalist painting”.
Since the publication of Edward Said’s Orientalism in 1978, Western academics have used this
term to characterize received patronizing Western attitude toward societies outside of their to
justify Western Imperialism.
In Said’s analysis, the West views these “other” societies as static and undeveloped,
exotic…and thereby fabricates a view of Oriental culture that can be studied, depicted, and
reproduced in such a manner.
Implicit is the idea that Western society is developed, rational, flexible, and superior, while
”Oriental” societies embody the opposite values.
Gerome, The Snake Charmer, c. 1870
French Orientalist Painting
Delacroix,
The Death of Sardanapalus, 1827
French Romantic painting
Delacroix constructs the Orient as an exotic
locale, filled with
sexual violence.
The aggression of the men toward the women,
along with other violent motifs in the
painting,implies, in the view of some critics, a
justification for a Western colonialist bias against
the Orient.
Delacroix,
The Death of
Sardanapalus, 1827
French Romantic painting
Ingres, Grande Odalisque, 1827
French Orientalist Painting
Methods of encounter affect our experience and
understanding of works of art
In the museum, viewers are
limited to visually studying this
drum.
In the culture of origin it provided
sound as part of a ritual.
Drum,
Dong son Civilization, Vietnam, 3rd–1st
BCE.
Bronze, 24.5″ × 31″.
Olafur Eliasson, The New York City Waterfalls, 2008
The physical surroundings and location of an artwork also affects its
meaning. Some art can be moved from one location to another and that will
also have an impact on its meaning.
The Danish-born artist, Olafur Eliasson
installed his New York City Waterfalls at four
carefully chosen locations along the banks of
the East River from June through October
2008.
By manipulating the normally flat river into a
series of waterfalls that ranged from 90 to 120
feet tall, Eliasson offered his urban audience a
new kind of experience of nature. What’s
more, by leaving the frames of the waterfalls
undisguised, the artist evoked the scaffolding
that can be seen across the city, testifying to
the dynamic, constantly-changing fabric of the
urban environment.
Olafur Eliasson, The New York City
Waterfalls, 2008
Georgia O’Keefe,
Yellow Calla,
1926
WRITINGS ABOUT ART help us understand the full meaning.
Who writes about art?
art critics
art historians and academics
curators
→
→
→
Love of nature?
or
Female
Sexuality?
The meaning of an artwork is not fixed or permanent.
Writers can add new interpretations to the same works.
Ideological Criticism/Marxist
Analysis
• Rooted in writings of Karl Marx
– According to this approach, all art supports a particular
political agenda, cultural structure, or economic/class
hierarchy
– Consider the social messages that are conveyed
Juan O’Gorman,
Panel of the
Independence—
Father Hidalgo
(Retablo de la
Independencia—
Hidalgo), 1960–
1961. Mural
Ideological criticism – rooted in the writings of Karl Marx, deals
with the political aspects of art.
Even artwork that may seem neutral is still political.
Some artworks function as ideological criticism.
Here is an example of
ideological criticism of a
painting by Vincent van Gogh,
A Pair of Wooden Clogs
(1888):
Note that they are peasant’s shoes and therefore tied to the proletariat.
Van Gogh painted many pictures of working class people and associated clogs with them.
Van Gogh was financially dependent his entire life, often lacking the money to buy paint and
canvas. As a result, he was unable to pay for models, and shoes don’t charge for posing.
He had no patrons, as no one commissioned his work and sold only 1 painting during his
lifetime. His poverty exemplifies hardships suffered by 19th c. artists lacking financial
resources.
Giotto, Last Judgment, Arena Chapel,
Padua Italy, 1305
Proto Renaissance fresco
A Marxist reading of the work of
Giotto, in particular his frescoes in the Arena
Chapel in Padua situates him in a ”new upperMiddle-class. He decorated chapels for the
wealthy, and he conducted his life in a
capitalist style for the period.
For example, he rented looms to weavers at
high profits…
His best known and best-preserved work are
the frescoes illustrating the life of Christ, Mary,
and her parents for a wealthy patron, Enrico
Scrovegni.
Giotto, Last Judgment,
Arena Chapel,
Padua Italy, 1305
Proto Renaissance fresco
Psychoanalytic Criticism
•Experiences of the artist
•The subconscious mind
“Only in art does it still happen that a man
who is consumed by desires performs
something resembling the accomplishment
of those desires and that what he does in
play produces emotional effects-thanks to
artistic illusion-just as though it were
something real.”
Sigmund Freud, Totem & Taboo 1912
Psychoanalytic Criticism
•
•
•
•
•
Psychoanalytic criticism is most appropriate when applied
to works dealing with strong emotional content, dream imagery, or
fantasy
– Surrealism
– Assigns meaning to imagery
– Biographical information is used
– Sigmund Freud, the Viennese psychoanalyst published the first
psychobiographical analysis of an artist in 1910 of Leonardo da
Vinci, in which he explored the personality of Leonardo through
the artist’s iconography and working methods.
Psychoanalytic criticism deals with the experiences of the individual,
in their past, their subconscious mind, or in their social histories.
For Freud, the cornerstone of psychoanalysis was the Oedipus
complex, which refers to various aspects of children’s relationships
to their parents.
Like art history, psychoanalysis also deals with imagery, history, and
creativity
The imagery examined by psychoanalysts is found in dreams, waking
fantasies, jokes, slips of the tongue and neurotic symptoms; it reveals
the unconscious mind (which, like a buried city, is a repository of the
past).
Freud was the first to write a
psychobiographical essay on an artist, and
that artist was Leonardo da Vinci.
“Leonardo da Vinci and a Memory of His
Childhood” (1910) was a psychological
study of Leonardo’s life based on his
paintings. According to Freud, he was a
flawed, repressed homosexual. This was
derived from his biography (according to
Freud) the way he depicted women.
Leonardo da Vinci, Mona Lisa, c. 1505
Psychoanalytic criticism – art as the
product of individuals shaped by
their pasts, their unconscious urges,
and their social histories. (Sigmund
Freud)
Psychoanalytic criticism is
appropriate for work that deals with
strong emotional content, intuition,
dream imagery, or fantasy.
Joan Miró,
The Beautiful Bird Revealing the
Unknown to a Pair of Lovers, 1941.
Gouache and oil wash on paper.
Spanish Surrealist
Vincent van Gogh, A Pair of Wooden Clogs, 1888
Once again we can use the example of Vincent van Gogh’s A Pair of Wooden Clogs (1888) to
demonstrate. More psychological studies have been published about van Gogh than any other
artist. His paintings of shoes which have been a recurring subject in his oeuvre have been read
as reflecting a twinship with his brother, Theo, and also his desire to bond with fellow artist
Gauguin. Additionally they can be connected to his struggles to have a satisfying relationship
with a woman- to be a pair. Note also that the shoes are empty and do not form a visible
narrative as there is no owner; further reflecting an absence of some sort. A psychoanalytical
inquiry would require more information about his personal choices and desire more
biographical info.
Structuralist-Based Criticism
• Social and cultural structures influence the meaning of art
• As study of language, Structuralism was called Semiotics
• The study of signs in verbal or written communication
• Late 20th Century Semiotics came to be applied to all forms of
communication, including art
• From the Greek word sema (meaning sign), is the application of the
science of signs (semiology).
• Semiotics includes Structuralism, Post-Structuralism, and
Deconstruction, all of which have been applied to art.
• Structuralism is generally traced to the “structural linguistics” of
Ferdinand de Saussure, a Swiss professor of linguistics at the
University of Geneva
• In his system, signs are made up of a signifier (the form the sign
takes) and the signified (the concept it represents); the relationship
between these is an arbitrary one
Rene Magritte,
The Treachery of Images, 1928
Post-Structuralism
Deconstruction & Derrida
• Jacques Derrida coined the term “Deconstruction” to indicate a
theoretical project that explores how knowledge and meaning are
constructed
• There is no objective, universal way to achieve knowledge or to
claim truth
• Derrida’s strategy is to open up meanings rather than fixing them
within structural patterns
• Deconstruction holds that from the inside, any system looks natural
and coherent, but that it is in fact filled with unseen contradictions,
myths, or stereotypes.
• He shares with the structuralists the idea that works have no ultimate
meanings conferred by their authors
• Other Post-Structuralist authors: Julia Kristeva and Michel Foucault …
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