Lectures on Art - Paper Example

Understanding literary criticism

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To understand the literary criticism, there are a couple of factors that should be in place. Literary criticism is not more of just forming an opinion about a piece of art but rather having supporting evidence to the reasons. For instance, when developing a criticism of a movie, there are a couple of procedures that one ought to follow. The first step includes watching the movie. In the event of watching the film, one should be able to think about the characters, their feelings, as well as their social positions. Their roles in the society should also be keenly evaluated to ascertain why it was so important to have them in the movie.

From the choice of words and other nonverbal communication, one can then deduce the general tone and mood of the film. The words spoken will then help you connect the dots of what was said and what you imagine. The whole idea of this process is to engage you so that you feel part of the movie and you develop a personal set of ideas, feelings, and opinions concerning the film. It is only after being part of the story that one can clearly understand the movie and make a good literal analysis, free from biasedness of any sort. Important things to watch out for a literal analysis include the author, narrator, characters, plot, and setting. One needs to understand these things clearly to form a precise opinion or judgment concerning the same.

There are two types of criticism:

1. Theoretical Criticism

2. Practical Criticism

Whereas theoretical criticism is more of the formulation of theories, principles, and tenets of the nature and value of art, the practical critic is more of how these principles can be applied.

LECTURE 6

Postmodernism and its main features

The concept of postmodernism emerged in the years of 1980. It is the large area that includes the variety of disciplines such as music, literature, fashion, technology, and architecture. The primary factor that led to postmodernism is the change of the political climate in the year 1980. From this point in history, a lot of things changed such as culture, identity, language, and peoples perspective of history. There are several key feature and philosophies that post-modernism is built on and include:

1. Uncertainty.

2. Self-transformation.

3. Incessant choice.

4. Disillusionment with idea of progress

5. Truth being relative.

6. The impact of Information Communication Technology

7. Consumerism is all.

Postmodernist style

This refers to the emphasis of uniformity of a style at the expense of another substance. For instance, during this era, there was a recycling of past cultures and styles. Useless decorations were used for the sake of it, and people started celebrating complexity as well as opposing ideas. The postmodernism style vouched for embracing culture and diversity, and it included mixing of cultures both high and low. Collaging is a term affiliated with post-modernism style whose main idea was intermixing the different styles available. With the embrace of diversity, distinction and differences were put aside, and the theories of absolutism were once again re-evaluated closely.

What is deconstruction?

Deconstruction is the process of simplifying to the extreme. Many complex ideas and theories that existed before the postmodernism era were now simplified for everyone to understand. The motivating idea behind postmodernism is the fact that modern age had lost the enlightenment and now everything that they knew had to be unlearnt and search for truth, and this entailed deconstruction.

LECTURE 7

Feminism: theoretical influences

Feminism is a collection of all the ideas and movements that promote and try to establish gender equality in the field of personal, political, social, as well as cultural. A feminist critic is one who examines all the ways in which literature reinforces or undermines women rights in these fields. They are responsible for creating awareness as well as promoting feminism. Theoretical influences around criticism are based on post-structuralism. The key idea is that there do exist a center to our understanding but only an infinite number of vantage points from which to view everything. Similarly, each of these vantage points has its language and discourse that may or may not be similar to one another.

Feminism premises

The feminist premises is based on the following key points:

1. In the society, women are the oppressed race economically, politically, socially, and psychologically.

2. The woman is sidelined from important matters in the society because of the mere fact that she is a woman.

3. The Western civilization has also promoted belittling females because of their misplaced priorities and baseless beliefs.

4. People believes that after biology has done determined our sex, culture goes ahead to determine or gender as if the two are not related.

Questions to ask in feminist literary analysis

When coming up with a feminist literary analysis, there are a couple of issues that one ought to ask themselves. One, you need to understand what the work reveals about the political, economic, social, as well as psychological operations of women. Secondly, one needs to address the issue of how women are portrayed in the piece of art. Another question that one should purpose to answer is whether these portrayals of women matched the exact period when the literature was written. Finally, one needs to ascertain whether the literary work does reinforce or undermine patriarchal ideology.

LECTURE 8

What is Art?

Art comprises of any material that expresses the human creativity. Art is the application of skills, ideas, and imagination on a tangible piece of an item such as painting, sculptor. The idea behind the art is to produce works that appreciate beauty or evoke emotional power. Art does not follow one-size-fits-all criteria and provide one can reach out to the people through the same, which is considered art. A wise saying goes, Art is not what you see but rather what you make others see. The primary goal of art is to communicate to the world without necessarily using words. Art is one area that has experienced significant advances over the years both active and negative alike. In the past, art was more appreciated as compared to the present day. People took their time to come with great pieces that persisted through time and are still valued in the modern day. Take a look at the ancient art, drawings, hieroglyphics, sculptures, ornaments, songs, curving and even body decoration. They were and still are to be admired. People in the ancient days had a keen eye for detail and were willing to go to great length to achieve the effect of art they wanted to.

Multiple forms and genres of Art

There are various ways and genres of art based on the material and style used. Classification according to material entails drawings, fine art photography, sculpture, glass, metal, and paintings. Different artists can harness different materials to come up with the distinct and accurate representation of their inner thoughts and deepest feelings. On the other hand, forms of art entail several disciplines such as visual, decorative, liberal, performing, design, and crafts.

What is artistic criticism?

Artistic criticism entails giving a opinion about a piece of art that may or may not be similar to another. It is more about reacting to a piece of art according to the feelings and thoughts it invokes from you.

LECTURE 9

Semiotic analysis and approach

This is the scientific study of signs. Verbal communication is the most widespread form of communication and consequentially, over time people have neglected other forms of communication. Semiotic analysis entails the study of all signs including, road signs, pub signs, star signs, drawings as well as paintings. The approach that semiotics uses is not only based on visual signs but all other forms of non-verbal communication. Communication can be divided into two broad categories, verbal and non-verbal. The most common used form of communication is verbal. However, we cannot afford to ignore non-verbal communication. It is usually a more severe and deeper form of communication as compared to oral. People may lie about how they feel, but they always show; it is for that reason one should always be careful about the messages they send using body language.

Symbol, Icon, index

A symbol is purely conventional and arbitrary. Therefore, unless one learns of a symbol, there is no way to know about it and its meaning

An icon is a representative of something else and one with the significant resemblance. The resemblance can either be physical or through quality.

An index is a connection that exists between the current and the signified. For instance, fingerprints are evidence that someone was there and touched something.

Connotation VS denotation

These are the two types of signified. A connotative signified is subjective as it pertains the personal association with the signs. They depend on the interpreter, and each person can have their own version or perspective of the sign. Meanwhile, a denotation is objective, and its meaning is literal and obvious.

LECTURE 10

The 8 Design principles

Each and every design is derived from several elements. These elements include line, shape, value, texture, and space. In selected proportions and styles, these elements are modified to come up with the desired design. The respective principles employed to these elements include:

1. Balance This is the stability of human life. Therefore, to come up with a design, it must harness distribution of physical properties so as to indicate confidence. There is no communication in the form of design that is ever complete without balance. In art, an artist should strive to give their audience the perception that there is the equal spacing of objects.

2. Emphasis this is a striking feature that the artist uses to draw the attention of the audience. It is more like coming up with a focal point of attention or the main idea.

3. Contrast this is the style that is used to depict differences between two objects. There are a couple of ways that an artist can achieve this in their design such as using different colors, shapes, and textures.

4. Proximity refers to the nearness or farness of objects. Proximity is used so that the viewer can depict the distance between.

5. Rhythm this is the repetitive pattern or trend that can be noted in a piece of art. It is the direction that the art suggests to the eye to follow.

6. Proportion Just like proximity, this is the comparison of the size of one object with another. Proportion can be used to decipher proximity.

7. Harmony- how satisfying the art is to the audience. Harmony is the principle that ensures that there is no chaos in style utilized.

8. Unity- this is the concern that objects or tones appear in oneness.