Unit 3: What is art?
October 16, 2013
In the reading “What is Art For?”, Ellen Dissanayake gives a detailed insight on the history of Western art and its importance in today’s society. According to Dissanayake, art is hardwired into humans and is “normal and natural as language, sex, sociability, aggression, or any of the other characteristics of human nature.” (pg.1). She also states that art is “palaeoanthropsychobiological” (pg.1). She coined this adjective to encompass everything that is art. This term suggests several notions. The first word in this term is “palaeo”, suggesting that art dates as far back as the earliest of humans (cave paintings). The second term, “anthro”, suggests that art includes all human societies (anthropological or cross-cultural). The third term, “psycho”, suggests that art provokes emotional and psychological responses when viewed. The fourth term, “biological”, suggests that art is innate, that it is a part of humanity and everyone possesses an artistic mind of some sort.
Dissanayake explains that in its earliest years (medieval), arts were “in the service of religion” (pg. 2) and were not regarded as “aesthetically” pleasing. In other words art was only created for religious purposes. Eventually Renaissance artists started to create art that evolved around mankind and its relevant concerns. At this point in time however, art still portrayed a real life or ideal world. It wasn’t until the eighteenth century, when art finally started to break free of conformity and religious constraints. The eighteenth century was considered a focal point in history when man became more independent and in which “a number of social and intellectual trends came together, intertwined and influenced on another, an eventually became in combination and intensity what is now called modernity.” (pg. 2). During the “modernity” era, art was a practice instead of a duty. As the nineteenth century progressed the primary benefactor of artists were the public, instead of the church and court. Art was considered a luxury of the high class and educated, art schools emerged and different art techniques were studied and observed. During this point in time art was considered a privilege. It wasn’t until recently that a new ideology came along regarding art, which is that art doesn’t only have to be for the educated, art can be for everyone because art can be anything. this would be considered today’s era, also known as “postmodernism”, and art was just not how the artist viewed his work but how others did too. Now art can be viewed as abstract, real, or virtual. Art can be a sculpture, painting, collage, or ceramics. Basically in today’s world art is in the eye of the beholder.
Dissanayake did an excellent job explaining the history of Western art, however I still have a hard time wrapping my head around a certain concept. If what she explained is Western art, then what other type of art is there? Or maybe more specifically, how is the history of Western art different than other art around the world?
One Response to “Unit 3: What is art?”
October 18th, 2013 at 6:19 pm
Jax,
your post explained deeply about the changes and developments during the history of arts. I want to share some similar ideas with you and explore several of your points more deeply. In Dissanayake article, arts became more open and widely engaged through out of its history of development. When I read the paragraphs about early development of art that “In medieval times, the arts were in the service of religion, they have always been.”(Dissanayake, 16), I have a question about why art started in the service of religion. I did not find an obvious answer in this article, but I believe in this early stage, art was most meaningful and acceptable in the service of religion rather than in other fields. After five important and unprecedented changes happened in the eighteenth century, art broke the constraints of religious and started to expand to other fields. However, Dissanayake stated that “Art had become if not a religion, an ideology whose principles were articulated by and for the few who had leisure and education enough to acquire them.”(Dissanayake, 18) I want explore more on this sentence as well as your pints about art was considered a luxury of the high class and educated. Dissanayake provided several reasons about why arts was luxury related to education and level of leisure. But I have a deeper explanation of it that during that period, the needs and demands of art were not enough for people and society to accept and engage with. I can also use it to explain why art become a word that can interpret everything. When living and working environment for people became better, people have more income and time to pursue other things such as entertainment and spiritual achievement. As this moment, the needs and demands of art increased sharply and people had more willingness to accept the concepts of arts and engage with arts. Then, the meaning of arts as well as the style and function of arts expanded. Would you agree with me about the development of arts was related to the needs and demands from people and society?