WAYS OF SEEING
Please click on the "Ways of Seeing" link in the right hand column. It will take you to part 1 of this series. You'll find the links for 2 - 4 on the YouTube page. After watching the series and absorbing its relevance today click on the comments link below this post to share your thoughts on Mr. Berger's observations.As you compose you comment take time to include the links of at least two artists whose work is imporant and relevant to your artistic goals.
Check back later to review the spring 2011 calendar I'll be assembling for our course!
Labels: Ways of Seeing
posted by blog master at
6:20 AM
9 Comments:
I found this series facinating. As an art teacher, I have to rely on posters, video clips and slides to show my student's artwork. Many years ago I realized that the average student is never exposed to original artwork and did not recognize the important differance. This motivates me to show my students more original paintings by various artists. My favorite artist is Toulouse Latrec. I saw him at the Smithsonian as a young person. I had studied his work before but this was the first time I had seen his work in person. Many works were unfinished. I don't like his paintings as much as I love his drawings. This is a great example of how important it is to see art live. Seeing Latrec's original works changed my perspective of paintings.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henri_de_Toulouse-Lautrec
Norma
Its also interesting to note that Mr. Lautrec was a lithographer of great reknown. One could argue that his prints have had a greater impact on our culture than his fine art - although I agree - his drawings are sublime!
I was annoyed by the break between section 3 and 4, I feel like there was something left out. I thought Berger's comments were very interesting; I had never really thought of how breaking scenes out of the whole changed the meaning of a work so greatly, and how easy it could be to manipulate an artist's original intent.
However, the impact of viewing art by reproduction and in person has been hugely important to me for years. I remember my response upon stepping into the room of Van Gogh paintings for the first time at the National Gallery in Washington. Paintings that I had seen in books so many times, hanging right there in front of me, it was amazing. Like Norma, I know that many of my students will never see original works. I take my paintings to school to allow the students to critique my work. They are allowed to touch and examine canvas as well as watercolor paper, really heavy stuff like 300 pound. I share my artists' pencils with them, so they can feel the difference between a 9H and a 9B. This first hand experience with art materials is an opportunity I never had as a child.
Artists who have influenced me are Winslow Homer and Edward Hopper. Two American artists who understood the importance of the properties of watercolors, and treated that medium as something other than just a sketch for an oil painting. I am fascinated by the research that indicates that Winslow Homer spent a great deal of time struggling over his paintings and correcting them (http://www.artic.edu/aic/exhibitions/exhibition/homer, also the book accompanying the show ).
Edward Hopper's watercolors have such a fantastic use of the white of the paper (St. Micheal's College, Santa Fe 1925 and Talbot's House 1926) reminding me that what you do not paint is as important as what you do paint, and that in watercolor these whites have to be very carefully planned in advance.
Sarah
Sarah - I agree - it must be incomplete. Youtube is a wonderful format for making vintage media available to everyone but it isn't ideal. It has inspired me to look for a VHS or DVD version of this program at the VMFA library. If I find one and it is remarkably different I'll share it with everyone later this term. It's interesting to note that there are many artists working today who consider painting to be vintage media.... but then, when their technology is obsolete we'll still be looking at Homer, Hopper and Lautrec!
Interesting series and I could easily relate to his theories through my own experiences with “First-time” interactions with paintings that I had previously seen only in prints and books. A visit to Baltimore to view an exhibit of Van Gogh’s work was one of the earliest examples. Seeing the actual vibrant colors, the light and the slabs of paint was a moving experience for me as a college freshman. The most remarkable pieces were several paintings of cherry trees in bloom. I had never conceived that paint could be applied to such a depth as he used on those cherry blossoms.
A more recent reaction occurred when I traveled to California and saw the work of two artists who were strong influences on my figurative painting; Manuel Neri and Nathan Olivera.
Bob
Ways of Seeing inspired me to think about how I could manipulate other artists' work to intentionally change its meaning. It makes me want to explore using appropriated images more and transforming them.
I'm mostly influenced by artists who I know locally. When I have worked with someone personally and understand their motivation & creative process, I get so much more out of their work. Davmo, from Virginia Beach, has some wonderful mixed media drawings that use layers and layers of images that evoke emotion and childhood memories. I don't have a link because everything is blocked here on my school computer, but you can see his work on Facebook under "davmo art fan page". I'm also really inspired by Annie Moon, who is a primitave folk artist in Norfolk who does collage, assemblage and altered books. Unfortunately her work is NOWHERE online, because she hates the internet. ;) Her method and style are so completely different from my own, it motivates me to try new things.
Casey
As someone who is good with technology I might be bias, but honestly any decent photographer can work with lighting or even "photoshop" nowadays to make almost any work look good in print. However, as he mentions in the video, "reproductions distort." They can distort the artwork and the meaning. I always liked how my art 1 students respond to new works that I show them because, like the little kids in the video, my 14-15 year olds draw their ideas and interpretations from their own experiences and give the work "new" meaning. I bet if I took them on a field trip to see the same works live, they would have a totally different reaction.
I love reproductions as teaching tools, but there is definitely something unique about seeing real works right in front of you. I enjoy seeing the whole image as it was meant to be displayed (perhaps) instead of a washed out projection of a partial image, detailed close-up, or digitally enhanced imaged. There is only one "real" work and for better or worse, reproductions aren't 100% accurate on any level.
I agree with Casey though and am now motivated to see how I can manipulate artworks to change the meanings, especially with music and perhaps image order/placement in a presentation.
As far as artist go, I am inspired by Kandinsky's graphic work, "Improvisations," and "compositions." I particularly enjoy the freedom and sense of movement displayed though his line quality and flowing media. http://www.wassilykandinsky.net/
I also enjoy the simplicity of Mondrian with the restraints of limited colors and geometric shapes.
http://www.guggenheim.org/new-york/collections/collection-online/show-list/artist/m/?search=Piet%20Mondrian
Lastly, Greg Stewart for his material manipulation and transitions from 2d to 3d
http://gregstewartsite.org/spore_2009.html
~Linda
John Berger's "Ways of Seeing" gives an art historical tour of the change that the camera, printing and the world wide dissemination of the image produced. He catalogues the ways in which paintings were owned by the one who purchased them - only to be undone by isolating parts of the original work. Meaning changed and time unfolded from the picture plane, these paintings were not only viewed in one's salon but were seen in various ways and for different purposes.
Mr Berger's points are spot on and point to our time where emerging images and replication bombard us at an astounding speed and totality. One can go to an exhibit and see traditonal canvases alongside whole walls of constantly changing video screens. David Hockney throws up a wall of i-pad "paintings"..what we see around us is zapped and the whole game has changed.
Observations from the syllabus links
Jim Dine From his hearts to tools to empty robes - I feel the line, the form, the push and pull of the surface and ...salivate.
David Hockney Utter sureness of his line..from sensitively modeled portraits to a face composed by slash of color for the eye and several lines to define the rest. Pure color. Great joy
Linda, Casey and Bob - I anticipated that your reactions would be informed by your experiences with new and traditional media! It is compelling to think about an authentic experience... seeing an original thing... that only exists in one place... and then to experience the work of someone like Kentridge or Matthew Barney... work that can be broadcast on any white screen or other surface. I don't know who the last anonymous is, as it had no signature, but I must confess that Hockney was one I was also suspect of in the beginning, like Kentridge... but when I saw the right show it was apparent that this man has a great mind, talent and is not afraid to have fun in the studio. Hockney's stage set designs are, as you describe, pure joy.
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