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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.

The Renaissance was an influential time in Europe, ushering the land out of the Middle Ages and into what would eventually become Modern Europe.  It allowed interest in science to flourish as well as a redefinition of the terms of beautiful art.  While this movement generally started in Italy, it did spread across the rest of the land and one of the places most affected by the Renaissance was Spain.  During this time frame, from around 1492 until the late 16^th Century, Spain was one of the major world powers and this gave the country the luxury to allow advances in many areas, from world exploration to science and the arts.

El Greco was one of the most influential painters to come out of the Spanish Renaissance.  He focused heavily on religious themes with his art, yet his style was a unique one which heavily foreshadowed art trends to come.  While his contemporaries were never quite sure what to make of his art, he found great admiration in the 20^th Century, as his work is very similar to what developed with Cubism and Expressionism.  Luis de Morales is another famous artist from the Spanish Renaissance, producing a very famous painting of Madonna and Child.  He was often called “The Divine Morales” by his peers, due to the intense spirituality and realism given in his art.

A form of personal philosophy which was born over the 20^th Century by the novelist Ayn Rand, Objectivism takes the views that man is a heroic being whose only true moral purpose during life is his own happiness.  The philosophy expands on the idea that reality is independent from consciousness and that individuals are only in contact with that reality through their sensory perceptions.  Concept formation is how individuals will begin to understand and interpret that reality into their own lives.  Art itself is an important part of Objectivism, as it is how man can transform large, metaphysical ideas and ideals into a tangible, physical form to which they can react and understand.

Rand chose the name Objectivism for her philosophy, basing it off of musings of other philosophers, such as Kierkegaard and Sartre, who helped establish and define Existentialism.  She felt that her idea sprang forth from Existentialism but that her ideas were a little more specific.  Knowledge and ideals are objective, not intrinsic or subjective.  These values do not make a part of the reality, which actually exists, but at the same time, those values are not defined on a person-by-person basis.

The role of art is an important one with Objectivism, for it allows human beings to understand concepts as if they were perceptions.  The art becomes a selective representation of reality based on the artist’s particular viewpoint of metaphysical judgments.  Objectivism itself considers art as an ethical way to convey an idea or a moral for its purpose is not to educate but merely to project a certain set of ideas. In fact, Objectivism says that art should be uplifting and that is should show things that uplift. Good Art should represent the rational man, and the ideals that are associated with human reason.

Photo: Infiltec

One of the most famous paintings known to the world is Edvard Munch’s The Scream.  This work of art was first created by Munch in 1893 and was first titled, “The Scream of Nature.”  Munch went on to recreate a series of this painting however, using different materials over the next 17 years.  In 1895, Munch recreated the painting in lithograph before repainting it again in 1910 with oil and pastels.  The work has since found a place in our culture, becoming almost as recognizable to the common person as, perhaps, the Mona Lisa or Starry Night.

The painting is popular because of it’s stark, almost disturbing figure which is standing in the middle of a road, hands clapped to its face, screaming.  The sky is a deep red and a body of water is in the background.  Munch recorded an incident in his diary in which he was walking with two friends down a path and, as the sun was setting, the sky suddenly turned a blood red and Munch suddenly felt a deep exhaustion, as if he could feel “an infinite scream passing through Nature.”  This feeling, captured so acutely, became the painting which is now known as The Scream.  This painting helped to usher in works of art which have more Expressionistic backgrounds, capturing the feeling of the moment instead of the sights.

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George Dickie, a professor of philosophy at the University of Illinois in Chicago, postulated a theory about the relationship between art and the audience meant to receive it.  His theory set about to define what art actually is and the context in which it applies to society.  According to Dickie, art is something that is consciously presented to an audience with the intention of it being art.  He does not seek to determine how this art is made; he gives no qualifications about what it takes exactly to make something art.  What is important is the person presenting the piece.  If they do not present the piece as art, the piece is not art.  It is only based on the intentions that a work can become art.

By the same token, however, the audience, which receives the artwork, is just as important.  In order for something to be truly art, it needs to be shown to a group of people who have the ability to understand it and the intentions of the artist.  They do not necessarily have to understand the theme of the work or, even to truly accept it as art.  Having the potential to accept the work as art, though, is important.  Without the audience, the work simply remains as a work and does not truly become art.

This definition is actually rather broad in what it aims to accomplish.  It simply states that unless an artist is consciously presenting a piece as art, it is not that.  By turn, if the audience is not able to accept the piece as a work of art, it is not art.  Therefore, a painting submitted to a field of cows is not art, but the same painting in a gallery would be.

Photo:  Courtesy of Hibino

Art is more godlike than science. Science discovers: art creates - John Opie

Creativity is one of the most important parts that makes an artist.  Without the act of creation, no artist exists.  Taking an idea that they have, whether it be an entertaining story or a commentary on the society around them, an artist has something to say.  However, without the creative process, the artist would not have any way to express these ideas.  The entire beauty of art comes from the artist making something new to show the world, using this as a way to express their innermost thoughts and desires to the world.

The act of creation is what gives artists a special power.  They are allowed to make statements about things which they have come to recognize and they accomplish this by giving the world something new to ponder.  There is an unending amount of beauty in this world and it is the responsibility of the artist to effectively capture and display this beauty to the world.  Only artists have the ability to create this beauty.  Using all the powers of their imagination and talent, they can give the world a gift that never would have existed without the influence of that artist.  Therefore, their act of creation leaves a mark of beauty on the world that can never be taken away.

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Adults have learned over the course of time that using art to express some of the inner most feelings that they have trouble expressing to the world can be a very therapeutic experience.  Most of these adults, though, have the ability to find the words to explain the works of art that they express.  They can understand what they are going through on the inside and, even if it is very hard for them, can usually find the means to talk about it.  What happens to those who don’t have the words to express some of these inner feelings?  Children can go through terrible trauma just as much as adults and leaving these feelings to persist on the inside can seriously hurt a child.

This is how painting can help children express some of their inner feelings, whether it is joy or pain.  Drawing or painting a picture to represent how they feel can often allow these children to be able to release a lot of the inner emotion that they feel.  Expressing these feelings can be a very important thing for repressing these emotions can lead to future complexes which can potentially make life very hard for these children.  Therefore, teaching and encouraging these children to express themselves through their painting can lead to a healthy lifestyle for them.

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