Learning Unit Object:
- Consider the origins of art
- Explore a brief history of Western Art
- Examine multiple perspectives for evaluating
Artifact: What is Art For? (Click here)
In the book “What is art for” written by Ellen Dissanayeke, she coined a word to expressed her view about art and this word is “paleoanthropsychobiological”. We can separate this word into three part to understand. The first part is palaeolithic which means since the palaeolothic or even earlier, the art has existed and it encompasses all of human history. The second part is anthropological which means art includes all human societies.The third part is psychological which means art is a kind of psychological need and it also has psychological effects.
Making special is a kind of human behavior. People have this kind of behavior because they have some particularly things to care deeply about or some activities’s outcome has strong important significance. From this, we can find that people not only can recognize special things, but they also can deliberately to make something special. The author gave an example in her book, in the hunting societies, when people got ready to hunt, hunters would do some special activities before the hunt like pray, bathe or obey food. According to these activities, the author said “ This control of their behavior and emotions can be interpreted as a way of vicariously demonstrating the control they desire in order to successfully achieve their goal” (p 23). So it seems that the behavior of making special is unrelated to aesthetic.But just like the author says “ When one exerts control, takes pain, and uses care and contrivance to do one’s best, the result is generally what is called artistic or aesthetic”( p 23) From this, we can find that making special is indeed related to art. Dissanayeke then talks about making special in ritual ceremonies to prove that it is relate to human survival. She uses ritual ceremonies as an example because she believes “ the shaping and elaborating of behavior and of the material would that we today call the arts were necessary to the performance of ritual ceremonies” ( p 23). People made the ceremony pleasurable and compelling. This can strengthen people’s feeling of affiliation and it is more helpful for them to unite. So it is essential for them to survive during the hard times.
When Dissanayeke shows us the history of western european art, she identifies many different theories. When she talks about the modernism , she mentions a “disinterested” attitude to appreciate art. She says “ “Disinterest” implied that viewers could appreciate any art, even the artwork of eras or cultures far removed from their own whether or not they understood the meaning the works had for the people who made and used them” (p 18). This can show the “universal” of art. Also, art was not mainly about religion, people gave art another kind of knowledge and this was the idea of art for art’s sake. Dissanayeke says this idea “ suggesting that art had no purpose but to “be” and to provide opportunities for enjoying an aesthetic experience that was its own reward, and that one could have no higher calling than to open oneself to these heightened moments” ( p 18). The theory for pro-modernism is very different from that of modernism. It denied the “ disinterest” attitude. About this, the book shows “ To claim that one can appreciate works form alien cultures is an imperialistic act of appropriation-molding them to one’s own standards while blatantly dismissing or ignoring the standards of their makers and users” (p 19). From this, the art is not universal and not “high”. However, pro-modernism has its own problems, Dissanayeke mentions in her book “Postmodernism abandons the crumbling edifice of modernist authority for an equally uninhabitable and esoteric anti structure of relativism, cynicism, and nihilism thatcher that I claim does not have to be the inevitable outcome of the matter” (p 21). To solve the contradiction between modernism and promodernism, the author provide her own theory. She believes art is a normal human behavior. She introduces a view and it is “ species-centered”. This view “ will regard all humans as alike in having the same fundamental needs” (p 210.She then explains this with a lot of examples. She states that since ancient times, people like to make things special deliberately. In ritual ceremonies, making special is helpful for people to get together tightly and will be help them survive during cruel surroundings. After these examples, she concludes “ If you carry one idea away from my talk I hope will be this: art is a normal and necessary behavior of human beings that like talking, playing, working, socializing, learning, loving and nurturing should be encouraged and developed in everyone” (p 26).
Reflections:
This assignment is helpful for me to think about the real meaning of art. Before reading Dissanayeke’s essay, I believe art is elegant and hard to understand. When people try to appreciate an art of work, they not only need to have time, they also need certain knowledge which can help them to understand it. But now, I change my mind. For Dissanayeke, art is a normal human behavior. It encompasses all of human history and includes all human societies. It can show people’s psychological needs. Like human beings, art is also evolving. Dissanayeke shows us the development of western art and we can find that at different eras, people’s values for art are different. In the medieval society, art was god-centered. People believe in god and all art of works are about god. However, as society developed, people’s self-awareness had a dominate place gradually and art became man-centered. After that, Dissanayeke mentions two main kinds of art which are very important. One is modernism and another is pro-modernism. There is a contradiction between these two kinds of art. Modernism claimed that art is of superior values and not everyone can appreciate it. Pro-modernism didn’t agree that and believed that art belongs to everyone. When Dissanayeke mentions the history, she also points out some theories. These throes also can prove that people’s values for art is evolving.
I select this artifact because it will help us to better understand art. From previous artifact, we can know what values are and why they are so important for us. From this artifact, we can find there is connection between art and values. People in different eras have different values for art. Also people use art to express their values. Not only the art is evolving, peoples’ values also are evolving. Therefore, we can appreciate many kinds of art of works and learn different theories. In the mean time, Dissanayeke states her own theory. She believes that art is the sake for life. She uses the ceremony in the hunting societies as an example to prove this. People made their ceremonies pleasurable and compelling. It can strengthen people’s feeling of affiliation and help them unite and survive. Therefore, art is a normal and necessary behavior of human beings. Her views for art is interesting and reasonable. It can help us to think of art in a new way. I believe this artifact is very useful and meaningful.
Futures:
After this unit, I believe my views for art has been changed and I feel that art is more interesting than I thought before. I think I will take some time to go the art gallery in the future. I want to appreciate art from different times and find the difference. I’m also very curious about how art will evolve. The evolvement of art can show us the changing of values of people at their times. From art, we can know our history. We also can predict our future.
Bibliography:
TABLE OF CONTENTS:
Artifact #1: Life Value Assessment
Artifact #6: Creative Spirituality