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Plato and Socrates, two of the most famous philosophers of all time, were figureheads with the birth of philosophy, generally claiming to be born in Ancient Greece.  Plato considered Socrates to be his mentor and, thusly, much of what is known about Socrates and his philosophies comes from Plato himself.  These two had a great deal to propound on the nature of the world, not limited to the purpose and functions of art.

It has been proposed that Plato might have been a poet before he came under the influence of Socrates and became a philosopher.  Many of his Dialogues have a very poetic nature to them and he is a wonderfully crafted storyteller.  However, while seeming to hold art in a very high esteem, these two also considered art to be a very dangerous thing.  Art is a strong influence on the character of a man and in an ideal society; the arts themselves would have to be closely monitored.  Naturally, this idea causes a great deal of conflict and strife with artists.

Art is something, which imitates reality. While Plato believed that the world itself is an imperfect copy of the true Ideal, art is an imperfect imitation of that original imitation.  Now, while art can be an inspired, great work, it can also be incredibly dangerous.  Art is something, which stirs the senses and brings emotion about in the viewer. Since it makes such an influence on a man’s character, it must be carefully monitored toward exactly the type of art that a man ingests.  At least in the early stages of the life, Plato was a staunch believer that only “good” forms of art are presented for consumption.

Children often take after their parents.  This sounds like a very basic, obvious statement, but it is still often incredibly true.  In the early stages of a child’s life, the opportunities that their parents or caretakers present to the children will help to shape and define those children.  Often, those guardians will present opportunities to those children who match the interests of the guardians themselves and in this way; the children are guided in their development.  Unfortunately, this often comes into play in terms of creativity that becomes repressed.  If the children are not given opportunities to explore themselves through drawing, painting, and other artistic forms, they will quickly learn to believe that they have no skill or interest in the endeavor.

This is unfortunate, because no one is born without the ability to express themselves in a creative way.  Without the opportunity to express that creativity, however, the flame will quickly grow dim and eventually die.  Children need the opportunity to express and explore that creativity and it is imperative of the guardians in their lives to encourage that exploration to happen.  If the children are criticized with their creative expressions, those children will quickly learn to stop that behavior.

Once the creativity and curiosity of painting and art is squashed in a child, it is very hard to get that to blossom again.  They are prone to feelings that they have no talent in that area because, from an early age, they were told that they did not.  This is a tragedy for every child has the potential to explore themselves and their own creativity.  They just need to be given the chance and the encouragement to do so.

Photo: Courtesy of Etamil

Perhaps being the birthplace of the more expansive Expressionist art movement, Germany was the early parent to a type of art form which placed a higher emphasis on the emotions and philosophical implications behind a work of art than on the reality it was trying to recreate.  Germany played a large role in the early 20th Century in challenging the academic traditions which had been put forth regarding art.  Expressionist movement and German Expressionists especially were heavily interested in producing art which expressed communication through a use of intense emotion.  Bold colors and two-dimensional distorted forms are a general trademark of Expressionist work which was born in Germany.

Franz Marc was one of the leading German Expressionist artists.  His work would often display animals in natural settings but through his use of bright primary colors and outstanding simplicity, his work would often produce a strong sense of emotion which German Expressionism is known for.  Erich Heckel was another strong example of a German Expressionist, one who sought to build a bridge between the traditional neo-romantic German art and the new German Expressionist works.  He, along with artists Fritz Bleyl, Ernst Ludwig Kirchner, and Karl Schmidt-Rottluff, formed the group Die Brucke, helping to provide a major impact on the world of art and helping Expressionism to take its roots around the world.

In many cultures and places, art has come out of the galleries, museums, and homes, and been put out in the open where we can all enjoy it. Artists have unified art and nature together and as examples we have many different art parks in many of our major cities.

Artists create these wonderful sculptures in parks and make the beauty of nature blend in with their own creativity.  The artists sculpture, fountain,  or monument seems to blend in with its natural settings and allows people from all walks of life to enjoy art.

In New York there are many of these parks, take the New Yorks Hudson Valley, with its soaring red elephant made by Alexander Calder, among other master sculptures and all of these sit at the PepsiCo, gardens.  These corporate gardens house works by Giacometti, Miro, Rodin, and Henry Moore, all masters in the art world, and all placed in plain view for all observers.

Drawing is a skill which helps children begins to perfect the usage of their hands.  Using a crayon, colored pencil, or even a paintbrush, the children have to use their hands to begin to make shapes which will translate into the picture they want to make.  This allows them to begin to use their hands in a carefully detailed way.  It teaches them to gain a level of control over what their hands do so that their pictures will turn out accurately.  It helps the concentration of the children, giving them the dedication to work on a project until they are satisfied with the work they have put into it.

Learning to color within the lines is another important detail that coloring and painting at an early age helps children to comprehend.  Normally, when coloring, children will simply rush to fill in the space with whichever color they choose, using wide strokes to fill in the space.  This often makes the colors run over the lines defining the image as well as leaving gaps in the space.  By learning to color within the lines, children learn the ability to work more slowly, taking their time to ensure that a good job is completed.  They learn to finish a project by filling in all of the space and to be careful while doing it, ensuring that nothing outside of the lines is errantly colored.  The skill of judging with their eyes on the work their hands are doing is important and painting is one of the easiest ways to get children to master this skill in a way that they find entertaining.  They will be learning without ever realizing the fact.

Photo: Courtesy of Barelyfitz

Art is designed to stimulate the senses, to excite people and get them talking and thinking.  Some art will do this loudly and some art will do this more subtly, but unless art evokes some reaction in the viewer, it cannot properly be considered to be art.  Whether it’s love or hate, art should make the person looking at it feel something.  Some art, though, is specifically designed to ensnare the senses, exciting and stimulating the viewer.

If an artist is working correctly, their work will be able to reach out and grab the person viewing their work.  There may be an undercurrent to the work with which the person looking at the art can identify with and it is this undercurrent which will make that person be arrested by the art.  The artist making this provocative art can be doing it intentionally, trying to shock and excite the viewer, or it can be a natural by-product.  Any artwork which resonates truth, however, will naturally be able to carry that effect.  Truth is the highest standard of all and any work of art which is truthful will accomplish many things at once.

Jackson Pollock is considered by many to be one of the leading artists of the Abstract Expressionist movement.  His work could often be considered representative of the entire movement, as it symbolizes the desire to capture the emotional and expressive sides of the artist’s thoughts on a subject rather than a representation of the reality of the event.  Pollock’s use of action painting, made by spontaneous flinging, dribbling, or smearing of paint onto a canvas, helps to capture more of the act of painting itself rather than what the paint is meant to represent.  However, one of Pollock’s paintings seems to stand out more than the others.  Arguably the most famous and, to date, the most expensive painting ever sold in the world, No. 5, 1948 can be seen as a defining example of Abstract Expression.

The painting was made on an 8 foot by 4 foot piece of fiberboard and has thick amounts of brown and yellow paint drizzled onto it.  The layout of the painting gives it a very nest-like appearance, inspiring different emotions in those viewing it.  Generally, though, this is the most well received of Pollock’s work and this painting can usually be identified as a work of Abstract Expressionism.

One of the most famous novelists of all time, Leo Tolstoy made some resounding contributions to the world of literature.  Many of his works are considered to be masterpieces and are widely studied even today.  His novels War and Peace and Anna Karenina are considered, with their vivid depiction of life in 19th Century Russia, as one of the very best examples of realist fiction.  His novels were not his only contributions to the world, however, for he was also an accomplished essayist and playwright, writing a number of essays on philosophy and art.

“What is Art?” became one of Tolstoy’s best-known musings on the nature of art.  He argues against the theories that art is merely defined by the good, truth, and beauty.  Tolstoy fully believed that much of the art of his day was corrupt and that artists had been seriously misled in their paths.  His platform was that true art needed to connect the artist and the audience through a special emotional bond, which would continue to live on within the members of the audience.  By relating a specific emotion through the work of art, a true artist could inspire that emotion within the others and by this virtue the act becomes true art.

Tolstoy’s views on art expanded into his morality, however.  He considered good art to be something, which inspired feelings of the unity of brotherhood with one’s fellow man.  Bad art was something, which inhibited those feelings.  Therefore, in order to be good art, one’s work needed to bring feelings of unity and peace into the world.  All other forms were merely chaotic and bad art.

Frida Kahlo is one of the most recognized painters of the modern world. She is an icon to the feminist movement and to women, even today because of the strength, love, and compassion she showed throughout her life.

She was born in Coyoacan in 1907, in Mexico City. At the age of 6 she was hit with the terribly debilitating disease of polio, and this disease severely affected  one of her legs, but she did not allow this to stop her.  She wanted to study medicine but in 1925 she was in a terrible accident.  While recovering, she began to paint the reflections of her physical and mental pain.  She is considered one of the best surrealist painters of her time and she expresses both depression and happiness.  Her themes reflect her pain, her happiness, her obsession for children, and the native folklore of her country. She once wrote “Whether my paintings are an honest expression of my being. My themes reflect my feelings, my mood swings, the profound actions that life has produced in me.”

She was married to Diego Rivera the famous Mexican muralist in 1929 and the relationship, although non conventional, was extremely passionate. Diego was everything to Frida, her lover, her universe and her man.  She became internationally known while travelling to New York with Diego and a modern day icon to the modern day woman. A woman who was strong and yet sensitive, she expressed who she was and what she felt through her paintings.

From a very early age, people have the potential to be artists.  The first time a child picks up a crayon and scribbles to the last thing a person will sketch in their life, they are producing art.  Granted, much of this art isn’t coherent until a certain age, when the artist gains some perspective and is able to draw images which are recognizable to the viewer.  Still, from a very early age, children are capable of producing art and should be given the opportunity to experiment with color and shape differentiation.

Child art, in particular, is the name which is given to the art produced by children less than 12 years in age.  The traditional journey of child art goes through a few stages.  The child will generally begin with scribbling, during which they can learn about the differences in colors.  Scribbling will slowly give way to a more controlled form, which is more interested in making basic shapes and patterns.  This, in turn, starts to become more representative.  Children will often attempt to draw people, which are usually not much more than a face with arms and legs coming out of it.  The attempt to represent is an important step, however.

Children will often enter a symbolic stage, where they begin to build a vocabulary of images.  These images will often all look similar to each other, but they begin to take certain defining characteristics.  Space is introduced into the photos, giving a backdrop to the pictures which are drawn.  These photos eventually give way into more realistic depictions, as children become aware of the storytelling possibilities available through pictures.  This evolution of child art shows all of the different ways in which children will learn to develop their skills.