Grade Replacement Opportunity
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Students,
I am now offering a grade replacement opportunity. You would need to write a 2-page, double-
spaced reflection on how this course has changed your way of looking at the world in some
way. You must include references (with citations) to three separate sources from the course,
and this must be turned in via CANVAS INBOX AS AN ATTACHMENT by 9:00 am on
December 3, 2022. This will count as a grade replacement for your lowest grade, and it can
not take the place of your final exam.
Note: Do not include a full MLA header, name, class, title, etc. Just put your name at the top
and start writing on the next line. I would like 2 full pages of actual text along with in-text and
end citations. This means with your name and end citations, you will have 3 pages total. Let
me know if you have any questions!
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Orientation
Introduction
This is an introduction to the course and provides brief descriptions to the most common usable
links. Each lesson will contain a brief description, objective, and instructions. The instructions will
list what is to be achieved in the lesson. Please, carefully read the instructions.
As the title of this course suggests, we will explore the humanities by way of art, history and philosophy. We will explore
of the purposes and processes in the written, visual and performing arts (such as music, painting, architecture, drama,
poetry, literature, and dance) and the ways in which they express the values of cultures and human experience.
This course requires four basic understandings: reading, discussion, creating, and evaluating. We will discuss the
extensive readings in detail. We will create a creative project that emulates the examples we review, and we will
communicate and analyze concepts, using the terminology and concepts we read and learn.
*The challenges of this course stem from many aspects, but the main challenges derive from the creative process,
working among the fog and mist, between black and white. When dealing with humanity, there is no black and white
answers. Yes, there are wrong answers, but having an interpretive sensibility is a must. When processing and creating
projects, for example, it will be in your hands to make choices based upon the examples and learned experiences. I will
not be able to create these projects for you or tell you exactly how to create these projects; therefore, the choices you
make should represent your creativity and originality and, perhaps, more importantly, emulate those you have studied
and reviewed.
Objective
Become familiar with the course platform
Become familiar with course objectives and assignments
Instruction
To complete this introduction, we will:
Step 1-Locate, Read, and Become familiar with the course information, guidelines, discussions, and assignments.
Step 2-Locate and Become familiar with Lessons.
Step 3-Complete Introduction discussion.
Reading: The Neolothic Revolution
A Settled Life
When people think of the Neolithic era, they often think of Stonehenge, the iconic image
of this early era. Dating to approximately 3000 B.C.E. and set on Salisbury Plain in
England, it is a structure larger and more complex than anything built before it in Europe.
Stonehenge is an example of the cultural advances brought about by the Neolithic
revolution—the most important development in human history. The way we live today,
settled in homes, close to other people in towns and cities, protected by laws, eating
food grown on farms, and with leisure time to learn, explore and invent is all a result
of the Neolithic revolution, which occurred approximately
1
1,500-5,000 years ago. The
revolution which led to our way of life was the development of the technology needed
to plant and harvest crops and to domesticate animals.
Before the Neolithic revolution, it’s likely you would have lived with your extended family
as a nomad, never staying anywhere for more than a few months, always living in
temporary shelters, always searching for food and never owning anything you couldn’t
easily pack in a pocket or a sack. The change to the Neolithic way of life was huge and
led to many of the pleasures (lots of food, friends and a comfortable home) that we
still enjoy today.
(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stonehenge#/media/File:Stonehenge2007_07_30 )
Stonehenge, c. 3,000 B.C.E., Salisbury Plain, England
Neolithic Art
The massive changes in the way people lived also changed the types of art they made.
Neolithic sculpture became bigger, in part, because people didn’t have to carry it
around anymore; pottery became more widespread and was used to store food harvested
from farms. This is when alcohol was invented and when architecture, and its interior
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stonehenge#/media/File:Stonehenge2007_07_30
and exterior decoration, first appears. In short, people settle down and begin to live in
one place, year after year.
It seems very unlikely that Stonehenge could have been made by earlier, Paleolithic,
nomads. It would have been a waste to invest so much time and energy building a
monument in a place to which they might never return or might only return
infrequently. After all, the effort to build it was extraordinary. Stonehenge is
approximately 320 feet in circumference and the stones which compose the outer ring
weigh as much as 50 tons; the small stones, weighing as much as 6 tons, were quarried
from as far away as 450 miles. The use or meaning of Stonehenge is not clear, but
the design, planning and execution could have only been carried out by a culture in which
authority was unquestioned. Here is a culture that was able to rally hundreds of people to
perform very hard work for extended periods of time. This is another characteristic of the
Neolithic era.
(https://web.archive.org/web/20140215031034/http://www.antiquities.org.il/article_Item_eng.asp?
sec_id=25&subj_id=240&id=1419)
Skulls with plaster and shell from the Pre-Pottery Neolithic B, 6,000-7,000 B.C.E.,
found at the Yiftah’el archeological site in the Lower Galilee, Israel
Plastered Skulls
The Neolithic period is also important because it is when we first find good evidence
for religious practice, a perpetual inspiration for the fine arts. Perhaps most fascinating
are the plaster skulls found around the area of the Levant, at six sites, including Jericho
in Israel. At this time in the Neolithic, c. 7000-6,000 B.C.E., people were often buried
under the floors of homes, and in some cases their skulls were removed and covered
with plaster in order to create very life-like faces, complete with shells inset for eyes
and paint to imitate hair and moustaches.
The traditional interpretation of these the skulls has been that they offered a means of
preserving and worshiping male ancestors. However, recent research has shown that
https://web.archive.org/web/20140215031034/http://www.antiquities.org.il/article_Item_eng.asp?sec_id=25&subj_id=240&id=1419
among the sixty-one plastered skulls that have been found, there is a generous number
that come from the bodies of women and children. Perhaps the skulls are not so much
religious objects but rather powerful images made to aid in mourning lost loved ones.
Neolithic peoples didn’t have written language, so we may never know.
The earliest example of writing develops in Sumer in Mesopotamia in the late 4th
millennium B.C.E. However, there are scholars that believe that earlier proto-writing
developed during the Neolithic period.
Text by Dr. Senta German
1
1
Reading: Ancient Near East
The Cradle of Civilization
Mesopotamia, the area between the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers (in modern day Iraq), is often
referred to as the cradle of civilization because it is the first place where complex urban centers
grew. The history of Mesopotamia, however, is inextricably tied to the greater region, which is
comprised of the modern nations of Egypt, Iran, Syria, Jordan, Israel, Lebanon, the Gulf states
and Turkey. We often refer to this region as the Near or Middle East.
What’s in a Name?
Why is this region named this way? What is it in the middle of or near to? It is the proximity of
these countries to the West (to Europe) that led this area to be termed “the near east.” Ancient
Near Eastern Art has long been part of the history of Western art, but history didn’t have to be
written this way. It is largely because of the West’s interests in the Biblcial “Holy Land” that
ancient Near Eastern materials have been be regarded as part of the Western canon of the
history of art.
The Land of the Bible
An interest in finding the locations of cities mentioned in the Bible (such as Nineveh and Babylon)
inspired the original English and French nineteenth century archaeological expeditions to the
Near East. These sites were discovered and their excavations revealed to the world a style of art
which had been lost.
Illustrations from: Sir Austen Henry Layard, The Ninevah Court in the Crystal Palace, 1854
The excavations inspired The Nineveh Court at the 1851 World’s Fair in London and a style of
decorative art and architecture called Assyrian Revival. Ancient Near Eastern art remains popular
today; in 2007 a 2.25 inch high, early 3rd millennium limestone sculpture, the Guennol Lioness,
was sold for 57.2 million dollars, the second most expensive piece of sculpture sold at that time.
A Complex History
The history of the Ancient Near East is complex and the names of rulers and locations are often
difficult to read, pronounce and spell. Moreover, this is a part of the world which today remains
remote from the West culturally while political tensions have impeded mutual understanding.
However, once you get a handle on the general geography of the area and its history, the art
reveals itself as uniquely beautiful, intimate and fascinating in its complexity.
The Euphrates
River in 2005
(https://web.archive.org/web/20140215030033/http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Euphrates_Riv
er )
Geography and the Growth of Cities
Mesopotamia remains a region of stark geographical contrasts: vast deserts rimmed by rugged
mountain ranges, punctuated by lush oases. Flowing through this topography are rivers and it
was the irrigation systems that drew off the water from these rivers, specifically in southern
Mesopotamia, that provided the support for the very early urban centers here.
The region lacks stone (for building) and precious metals and timber. Historically, it has relied on
the long-distance trade of its agricultural products to secure these materials. The large-scale
irrigation systems and labor required for extensive farming was managed by a centralized
authority. The early development of this authority, over large numbers of people in an urban
center, is really what distinguishes Mesopotamia and gives it a special position in the history of
Western culture. Here, for the first time, thanks to ample food and a strong administrative class,
the West develops a very high level of craft specialization and artistic production.
Text by Dr. Senta German
https://web.archive.org/web/20140215030033/http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Euphrates_River
Buy tickets
Classical Art and Modern Dress
By Harold Koda
The Costume Institute, The Metropolitan Museum of Art
October 2003
The Roman poet Ovid recounted an ancient myth in which Pygmalion, a sculptor
disenchanted by mortal women, creates an image of feminine perfection. When he
becomes enthralled with his own sculpted ideal, Venus—the Greek Aphrodite—
responds to his prayers and brings the statue to life as Galatea.
Through the centuries, art and fashion have achieved their own transformations, in
the process injecting new qualities not present in the original garments. Even in the
most naturalistic representation of Hellenic dress, subjective and proscribed
stylistic qualities are inevitably introduced. In depicting details of the distinctive
modes of ancient Greek attire, subsequent artists and designers have changed, as
much as preserved, the actual qualities of ancient garb. Among the stylizations
that have most influenced fashion designers is wet-drapery, a term used by art
historians to describe cloth that appears to cling to the body in animated folds
while it reveals the contours of the form beneath (
). This sculptural characteristic—evidenced in figures from the
classical and periods—has emerged in fashion as a signifier of
classicizing intent. From the nineteenth century to the present, designers have
utilized a variety of techniques and materials to replicate its effects in cloth
( ; ).
In certain artistic renderings from antiquity, textiles appear fragile, even ephemeral
— qualities that are substantiated in ancient literary texts. Such gossamer robes,
ESSAYSHEILBRUNN TIMELINE OF ART HISTORY ·
Victory of Samothrace, Musée du
Louvre, Paris
Hellenistic
C.I.50.21.12 1985.155
https://www.metmuseum.org/
https://engage.metmuseum.org/admission/?promocode=48946
https://www.metmuseum.org/toah/essays
https://www.metmuseum.org/toah
https://www.metmuseum.org/toah/hd/haht/hd_haht.htm
https://www.metmuseum.org/toah/works-of-art/C.I.50.21.12
https://www.metmuseum.org/toah/works-of-art/1985.155
shawls, and veilings became one of the most potent associations for fashion, as
exemplified by the popular use of light mull, a sheer cotton fabric of the Empire
period, and also of tulle and chiffon. The classicizing effect is further underscored if
the fabric is white, since there has been a longstanding assumption that ancient
Grecian styles were achromatic. This misconception, thought to derive from the
faded and abraded surfaces of originally polychromed Greek statuary and
, continues to this day in fashion.
Drapery of the and periods of Greek art sometimes appears
purely as a foil for nudity, clinging and spiraling around the body. Often, this effect
occurs in response to compositional requirements rather than to any natural
phenomenon or dressing practice. Such animated drapery frequently takes on a
more schematic form, with fluted edges regularized into a rhythmic pattern of
handkerchief-pointed “swallowtail” folds, a characteristic that has inspired fashion
designers in the twentieth century ( ).
In Greek art, fabrics are rendered with the texture of both regular folds and
irregular pleating ( ). Such differentiated representations have also found
expression in fashion design. By employing a variety of techniques, designers as
disparate as Mariano Fortuny ( ), Madeleine Vionnet, Madame Grès,
Mary McFadden, and Norma Kamali have achieved effects redolent of the stylized
characteristics of cloth seen in the art of ancient Greece.
Citation
Koda, Harold. “Classical Art and Modern Dress.” In Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History. New
York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2000–.
http://www.metmuseum.org/toah/hd/god2/hd_god2.htm (October 2003)
architecture
classical Hellenistic
17.230.35
14.130.9
1979.344.11a,b
https://www.metmuseum.org/toah/hd/grarc/hd_grarc.htm
https://www.metmuseum.org/toah/hd/tacg/hd_tacg.htm
https://www.metmuseum.org/toah/hd/haht/hd_haht.htm
https://www.metmuseum.org/toah/works-of-art/17.230.35
https://www.metmuseum.org/toah/works-of-art/14.130.9
https://www.metmuseum.org/toah/works-of-art/1979.344.11a,b
Further Reading
Koda, Harold. Goddess: The Classical Mode. Exhibition catalogue. New York: Metropolitan
Museum of Art, 2003. See on MetPublications
Additional Essays by Harold Koda
Koda, Harold. “ .” (October 2004)
Koda, Harold. “ .” (October 2003)
Koda, Harold. “ .” (October 2004)
Koda, Harold. “ .” (October 2003)
Koda, Harold. “ .” (October 2003)
Koda, Harold. “ .” (September 2008)
Koda, Harold. “ .” (October 2004)
Koda, Harold. “ .” (October 2003)
Koda, Harold. “ .” (October 2004)
Koda, Harold. “ .” (October 2002)
© 2000–2023 The Metropolitan Museum of Art. All rights reserved.
Dress Rehearsal: The Origins of the Costume Institute
Classicism in Modern Dress
Orientalism: Visions of the East in Western Dress
The Chiton, Peplos, and Himation in Modern Dress
The Greek Key and Divine Attributes in Modern Dress
Paul Poiret (1879–1944)
Christian Dior (1905–1957)
Contemporary Deconstructions of Classical Dress
Haute Couture
The Chopine
http://www.metmuseum.org/research/metpublications/Goddess_The_Classical_Mode
https://www.metmuseum.org/toah/hd/dreh/hd_dreh.htm
https://www.metmuseum.org/toah/hd/god1/hd_god1.htm
https://www.metmuseum.org/toah/hd/orie/hd_orie.htm
https://www.metmuseum.org/toah/hd/god3/hd_god3.htm
https://www.metmuseum.org/toah/hd/god5/hd_god5.htm
https://www.metmuseum.org/toah/hd/poir/hd_poir.htm
https://www.metmuseum.org/toah/hd/dior/hd_dior.htm
https://www.metmuseum.org/toah/hd/god4/hd_god4.htm
https://www.metmuseum.org/toah/hd/haut/hd_haut.htm
https://www.metmuseum.org/toah/hd/chop/hd_chop.htm
Reading: Architecture
Architecture is an art form that reflects how we present ourselves across the earth’s
landscape, and, like other expressive mediums, it changes with styles, technologies
and cultural adaptations. Architecture not only provides worldly needs of shelter,
workspace and storage but also represents human ideals in buildings like courthouses
and government buildings and manifestations of the spirit in churches and cathedrals.
Traditional architecture has survived over thousands of years in one form or another,
while contemporary design offers new approaches in how we use materials and
technology to shape the look of our environment.
Early Developments in Building Design and Techniques Methods
The basic methods of building design and construction have been used for thousands
of years. Stacking stones, laying brick, or lashing wood together in one form or another
are still used today in all parts of the world. But over the centuries, innovations in
methods and materials have given new expression to architecture and the human
footprint on the landscape. We can look to historical examples for clues that give
context to different style periods.
In western culture, one of the earliest settlements with permanent structures was
discovered at Catalhoyuk (http://www.catalhoyuk.com/history.html) in Turkey (pictured
below). The rich soil that surrounds the settlement indicates the inhabitants relied in
part on farming. Dated to about 7500 BCE, the dwellings are constructed from dried
mud and brick and show wooden support beams spanning the ceilings. The design of
the settlement incorporates a cell-like structure of small buildings either sharing
common walls or separated by a few feet. The roofs are flat and were used as
pathways between buildings.
http://www.catalhoyuk.com/history.html
Restoration of interior,
Catalhoyuk,
Turkey. Image licensed
under Creative
Commons.
A significant advance came with the development of the post and lintel system. With
this, a system of posts –either stone or wood – are placed at intervals and spanned by
beams at the tops. The load is distributed down the posts to allow for areas of open
space between them. Its earliest use is seen at Stonehenge (below), a prehistoric
monument in southern England dating to about 3000 BCE.
Stonehenge, Wiltshire County, England. Image:
David Ball. Image licensed under Creative
Commons.
Post and Lintel support in contemporary
use. Image by Christopher Gildow. Used
with permission.
A colonnade continues the post and lintel method as a series of columns
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Column) and beams enveloping larger areas of space.
Colonnades can be free standing or part of a larger structure. Common in Egyptian
(http://www.touregypt.net/featurestories/luxortemple4.htm) , Greek and Roman
architectural design, their use creates visual rhythm and implies a sense of grandeur.
Over time columns became categorized by the capital style at their tops. The smooth
and unadorned Tuscan and fluted Doric columns give way to more elaborate styles:
the scrolled Ionian and the high relief Corinthian.
Greek and Roman capitals: Top
row: Tuscan, Doric. Middle Row: Ionic.
Bottom Row: Corinthian and a composite
Ionic Corinthian. Classical Orders,
engraving from the Encyclopédie vol. 18.
Public domain.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Column
http://www.touregypt.net/featurestories/luxortemple4.htm
The Parthenon, a Greek temple to the mythic goddess Athena, was built in the
fifth century BCE in Athens and is part of a larger community of structures in
the Acropolis (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Acropolis_of_Athens) . All are considered
pinnacles of classic Greek architecture. Ionic colonnades march across all sides of the
Parthenon, the outer boundary of a very ordered interior floor plan.
The Parthenon, Athens, Greece. 447 BCE.
Digital image by Kallistos and licensed under
Creative Commons
Floor plan of the
Parthenon. Licensed
through Creative
Commons.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Acropolis_of_Athens
Another example is the colonnade surrounding St. Peter’s Square in the Vatican,
Rome.
Gian Lorenzo Bernini, Colonnade at St. Peter’s Square, the
Vatican. 1656–67. Photo by D.F. Malan. Licensed through Creative
Commons.
The colonnade is part of our contemporary surroundings too. Parks and other public
spaces use them to the same effect: providing visual and material stability in spanning
areas of open space.
Contemporary colonnade. Image: Christopher
Gildow. Used with permission.
The development of the arch gave architecture new alternatives to post and lintel
construction. Arches appeared as early as the 2nd millennium BC in Mesopotamian
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mesopotamia) brick architecture. They supply strength and
stability to walls without massive posts and beams because their construction
minimizes the shear load imposed on them. This meant walls could go higher without
compromising their stability and at the same time create larger areas of open space
between arches. In addition, the arch gave buildings a more organic, expressive visual
element. The Colosseum in Rome (below), built in the first century CE, uses repeated
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mesopotamia
arches to define an imposing but decidedly airy structure. The fact that it’s still standing
today is testament to the inherent strength of the arch.
The Colosseum, Rome, Italy. First century CE. Photo
by David Iliff. Image licensed through Creative
Commons.
Roman aqueducts are another example of how effectively the arch was used. Tall and
graceful, the arches support themselves in a colonnade and were used to transport a
network of water channels throughout ancient Rome.
Roman aqueduct, c. First century CE. Image in the
public domain.
From the arch came two more important developments: extending an arch in a linear
direction formed a vault, encapsulating tall, narrow spaces with inverted “U” shaped
ceilings. The compressive force of the vault required thick walls on each side to keep it
from collapsing. Because of this many vaults were situated underground – essentially
tunnels – connecting areas of a larger building or providing covered transport of
people, goods and materials throughout the city.
An arch rotated on its vertical axis creates a dome, with its curving organic scoop of
space reserved for the tops of the most important buildings. The Pantheon
(http://www.greatbuildings.com/buildings/Pantheon.html) in Rome sports a dome with
an oculus – a round or elliptical opening at the top, that is the massive building’s only
light source.
Dome of the Pantheon with oculus, Rome. 126
CE. Image in the public domain.
These elements combined to revolutionize architectural design throughout Europe and
the Middle East in the form of bigger and stronger churches, mosques and even
sectarian government buildings. Styles changed with
technology. Romanesque architecture was popular for nearly three hundred years
(800 – 1100 CE). The style is characterized by barrel or groin
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Groin_vault) vault ceilings, thick walls with low exterior
buttresses and squared off towers. Buildings reached a point where they struggled to
support their own weight. The architectural solution to the problem was a flying
buttress, an exterior load-bearing column connected to the main structure by a
segmented arch or “flyer.”
http://www.greatbuildings.com/buildings/Pantheon.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Groin_vault
Diagram of a flying
buttress from St. Denis
basilica, Paris. From
the Dictionary of French
Architecture from 11th to 16th
Century (1856), licensed
through Creative Commons.
Flying buttresses became a kind of exoskeleton that transferred the heavy weight of
Romanesque stone roofs through their arches and into the ground, away from the
building. They became catalysts for the Gothic style based on higher, thinner walls,
pointed arches, ribbed (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ribbed_vault) vaults, and spired
towers. Also, the thinner walls of the Gothic style allowed for more stained glass
windows and interior illumination.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ribbed_vault
Church of St. Denis,
France. Seventh–twelfth centuries
CE. Image in the public domain
St. Denis basilica in France (above) is one of the first Gothic-style churches, known for
its high vaulted ceilings and extensive use of stained glass windows. The architecture
of the church became a symbol of spirituality itself: soaring heights, magnificently
embellished interiors and exteriors, elaborate lighting and sheer grandeur on a
massive scale.
The Doges Palace in Venice, Italy (pictured below) housed the political aristocracy of
the Republic of Venice for a thousand years. Built in 1309 CE, its rhythmic levels of
columns and pointed arches, divided by fractals (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fractal)
as they rise, give way to elaborate geometric patterns in the pink brick façade. The
ornamental additions at the top edge reinforce the patterns below.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fractal
The Doges Palace, 1309 CE, viewed from St. Mark’s
Square, Venice, Italy. Image by Martti Mustonen and
licensed through Creative Commons.
ARCHITECTURE IN CHINA & THE FAR EAST
Chinese architecture refers to a style of architecture that has taken shape in East Asia
over many centuries. The structural principles of traditional Chinese architecture have
remained largely unchanged. Chinese architectural (and aesthetic) design is based on
symmetry, a general emphasis on the horizontal and site layouts that reflect a
hierarchy of importance. These considerations result in formal and stylistic differences
in comparison to the West, and display alternatives in design.
The Chinese have used stone, brick and wood for centuries. The Great Wall
(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Wall_of_China#/media/File:The_Great_Wall_of_China
_at_Jinshanling-edit ) , begun in the 5th century BCE, was intended to keep
nomadic invaders out of Northern China. The stone wall covers 5500 miles in its
entirety. The rigid material takes on a more flexible appearance as it conforms to the
contours of the landscape surrounding it.
CROSS-CULTURAL INFLUENCES
As overland and marine trade routes expanded between Eastern and Western
civilizations so did the influence of cultural styles in architecture, religion and
commerce. The most important of these passages was the Silk Road, a system of
routes that developed over hundreds of years across the European and Asian
continents. Along this route are buildings that show cross-cultural influences in their
design.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Wall_of_China#/media/File:The_Great_Wall_of_China_at_Jinshanling-edit
The Dome of the Rock in Jerusalem offers different cultural influences manifest in one
building: a classic Greek colonnade at the main entrance, the gold dome and central
turret supporting it, western style arches and colorful Islamic surface embellishment.
(https://s3-us-w
archive-read-only/wp-content/uploads/sites/415/2015/06/21035146/Israel-20132-Jerusalem-Te
Dome_of_the_Rock_SE_exposure )
The Dome of the Rock, on the Temple Mount, in the Old City of Jerusalem, Photo Credit A
Creative Commons
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Reading: Early Christian Art
The beginnings of an identifiable Christian art can be traced to the end of the second century and
the beginning of the third century. Considering the Old Testament prohibitions against graven
images, it is important to consider why Christian art developed in the first place. The use of
images will be a continuing issue in the history of Christianity. The best explanation for the
emergence of Christian art in the early church is due to the important role images played in
Greco-Roman culture.
As Christianity gained converts, these new Christians had been brought up on the value of
images in their previous cultural experience and they wanted to continue this in their Christian
experience. For example, there was a change in burial practices in the Roman world away from
cremation to inhumation. Outside the city walls of Rome, adjacent to major roads, catacombs
were dug into the ground to bury the dead. Families would have chambers or cubicula dug to bury
their members. Wealthy Romans would also have sarcophagi or marble tombs carved for their
burial. The Christian converts wanted the same things. Christian catacombs were dug frequently
adjacent to non-Christian ones, and sarcophagi with Christian imagery were apparently popular
with the richer Christians.
Junius Bassus Sarcophagus
Junius Bassus, a Roman praefectus urbi or high ranking government administrator, died in 359
C.E. Scholars believe that he converted to Christianity shortly before his death accounting for the
inclusion of Christ and scenes from the Bible. (Photograph above shows a plaster cast of the
original.)
Themes of Death and Resurrection (Borrowed from the Old Testament)
A striking aspect of the Christian art of the third century is the absence of the imagery that will
dominate later Christian art. We do not find in this early period images of the Nativity, Crucifixion,
or Resurrection of Christ, for example. This absence of direct images of the life of Christ is best
explained by the status of Christianity as a mystery religion. The story of the Crucifixion and
Resurrection would be part of the secrets of the cult.
While not directly representing these central Christian images, the theme of death and
resurrection was represented through a series of images, many of which were derived from the
Old Testament that echoed the themes. For example, the story of Jonah—being swallowed by a
great fish and then after spending three days and three nights in the belly of the beast is vomited
out on dry ground—was seen by early Christians as an anticipation or prefiguration of the story of
Christ’s own death and resurrection. Images of Jonah, along with those of Daniel in the Lion’s
Den, the Three Hebrews in the Firey Furnace, Moses Striking the Rock, among others, are widely
popular in the Christian art of the third century, both in paintings and on sarcophagi.
All of these can be seen to allegorically allude to the principal narratives of the life of Christ. The
common subject of salvation echoes the major emphasis in the mystery religions on personal
salvation. The appearance of these subjects frequently adjacent to each other in the catacombs
and sarcophagi can be read as a visual litany: save me Lord as you have saved Jonah from the
belly of the great fish, save me Lord as you have saved the Hebrews in the desert, save me Lord
as you have saved Daniel in the Lion’s den, etc.
One can imagine that early Christians—who were rallying around the nascent religious authority
of the Church against the regular threats of persecution by imperial authority—would find great
meaning in the story of Moses of striking the rock to provide water for the Israelites fleeing the
authority of the Pharaoh on their exodus to the Promised Land.
Christianity’s Canonical Texts and the New Testament
One of the major differences between Christianity and the public cults was the central role faith
plays in Christianity and the importance of orthodox beliefs. The history of the early Church is
marked by the struggle to establish a canonical set of texts and the establishment of orthodox
doctrine.
Questions about the nature of the Trinity and Christ would continue to challenge religious
authority. Within the civic cults there were no central texts and there were no orthodox doctrinal
positions. The emphasis was on maintaining customary traditions. One accepted the existence of
the gods, but there was no emphasis on belief in the gods.
The Christian emphasis on orthodox doctrine has its closest parallels in the Greek and Roman
world to the role of philosophy. Schools of philosophy centered around the teachings or doctrines
of a particular teacher. The schools of philosophy proposed specific conceptions of reality. Ancient
philosophy was influential in the formation of Christian theology. For example, the opening of the
Gospel of John: “In the beginning was the word and the word was with God…,” is unmistakably
based on the idea of the “logos” going back to the philosophy of Heraclitus (ca. 535 – 475 BCE).
Christian apologists like Justin Martyr writing in the second century understood Christ as the
Logos or the Word of God who served as an intermediary between God and the World.
Early Representations of Christian and the Apostles
Christ, from the Catacomb of Domitilla
An early representation of Christ found in the Catacomb of Domitilla shows the figure of Christ
flanked by a group of his disciples or students. Those experienced with later Christian imagery
might mistake this for an image of the Last Supper, but instead this image does not tell any story.
It conveys rather the idea that Christ is the true teacher.
Christ draped in classical garb holds a scroll in his left hand while his right hand is outstretched in
the so-called ad locutio gesture, or the gesture of the orator. The dress, scroll, and gesture all
establish the authority of Christ, who is placed in the center of his disciples. Christ is thus treated
like the philosopher surrounded by his students or disciples.
Comparably, an early representation of the apostle Paul, identifiable with his characteristic
pointed beard and high forehead, is based on the convention of the philosopher, as exemplified
by a Roman copy of a late fourth century B.C.E. portrait of the fifth century B.C.E. playwright
Sophocles.
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Reading: Romanesque
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southwell )
The name gives it away–Romanesque architecture is based on Roman architectural elements. It
is the rounded Roman arch that is the literal basis for structures built in this style.
All through the regions that were part of the ancient Roman Empire are ruins of Roman aqueducts
and buildings, most of them exhibiting arches as part of the architecture. (You may make the
etymological leap that the two words are related, but the Oxford English Dictionary shows arch as
coming from Latin arcus, which defines the shape, while arch-as in architect, archbishop and
archenemy-comes from Greek arkhos, meaning chief. Tekton means builder.)
When Charlemagne was crowned Holy Roman Emperor in 800 C.E., Europe began to take its
first steps out of the “Dark Ages” since the fall of Rome in the fifth century. The remains of Roman
civilization were seen all over the continent, and legends of the great empire would have been
passed down through generations. So when Charlemagne wanted to unite his empire and
validate his reign, he began building churches in the Roman style–particularly the style of
Christian Rome in the days of Constantine, the first Christian Roman emperor.
After a gap of around two hundred years with no large building projects, the architects of
Charlemagne’s day looked to the arched, or arcaded, system seen in Christian Roman edifices as
a model. It is a logical system of stresses and buttressing, which was fairly easily engineered for
large structures, and it began to be used in gatehouses, chapels, and churches in Europe. These
early examples may be referred to as pre-Romanesque because, after a brief spurt of growth, the
development of architecture again lapsed. As a body of knowledge was eventually re-developed,
buildings became larger and more imposing. Examples of Romanesque cathedrals from the early
Middle Ages (roughly 1000-1200) are solid, massive, impressive churches that are often still the
largest structure in many towns.
In Britain, the Romanesque style became known as “Norman” because the major building scheme
in the 11th and 12th centuries was instigated by William the Conqueror, who invaded Britain in
1066 from Normandy in northern France. (The Normans were the descendants of Vikings –
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Norse, or north men – who had invaded this area over a century earlier.) Durham and Gloucester
Cathedrals and Southwell Minster are excellent examples of churches in the Norman, or
Romanesque style.
The arches that define the naves of these churches are well modulated and geometrically logical
– with one look you can see the repeating shapes, and proportions that make sense for an
immense and weighty structure. There is a large arcade on the ground level made up of bulky
piers or columns. The piers may have been filled with rubble rather than being solid, carved
stone. Above this arcade is a second level of smaller arches, often in pairs with a column between
the two. The next higher level was again proportionately smaller, creating a rational diminution of
structural elements as the mass of the building is reduced.
The decoration is often quite simple, using geometric shapes rather than floral or curvilinear
patterns. Common shapes used include diapers – squares or lozenges – and chevrons, which
were zigzag patterns and shapes. Plain circles were also used, which echoed the half-circle
shape of the ubiquitous arches.
Early Romanesque ceilings and roofs were often made of wood, as if the architects had not quite
understood how to span the two sides of the building using stone, which created outward thrust
and stresses on the side walls. This development, of course, didn’t take long to manifest, and led
from barrel vaulting (simple, semicircular roof vaults) to cross vaulting, which became ever more
adventurous and ornate in the Gothic.
The third and fourth images on this page are from Gloucester Cathedral; all other images depict
Southwell Minster.
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Video: Laurie Simmons
Laurie Simmons – ‘I’ve Been Laurie Simmons – ‘I’ve Been ……
“Laurie Simmons, I’ve Been a Number of Different Artists.” YouTube, uploaded by Tate, 7 April
2016,
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FMU4i-DV2k8.
Reading: Gothic Architecture
Forget the association of the word “Gothic” to dark, haunted houses, Wuthering Heights, or
ghostly pale people wearing black nail polish and ripped fishnets. The original Gothic style was
actually developed to bring sunshine into people’s lives and especially into their churches. To get
past the accrued definitions of the centuries, it’s best to go back to the very start of the word
Gothic, and to the style that bears the name.
The Goths were a so-called barbaric tribe who held power in various regions of Europe, between
the collapse of the Roman Empire and the establishment of the Holy Roman Empire (so, from
roughly the fifth to the eighth century). They were not renowned for great achievements in
architecture. As with many art historical terms, “Gothic” came to be applied to a certain
architectural style after the fact.
The style represented giant steps away from the previous, relatively basic building systems that
had prevailed. The Gothic grew out of the Romanesque architectural style, when both prosperity
and peace allowed for several centuries of cultural development and great building schemes.
From roughly 1000 to 1400, several significant cathedrals and churches were built, particularly in
Britain and France, offering architects and masons a chance to work out ever more complex
problems and daring designs.
The most fundamental element of the Gothic style of architecture is the pointed arch, which was
likely borrowed from Islamic architecture that would have been seen in Spain at this time. The
pointed arch relieved some of the thrust, and therefore, the stress on other structural elements. It
then became possible to reduce the size of the columns or piers that supported the arch.
So, rather than having massive, drum-like columns as in the Romanesque churches, the new
columns could be more slender. This slimness was repeated in the upper levels of the nave, so
that the gallery and clerestory would not seem to overpower the lower arcade. In fact, the column
basically continued all the way to the roof, and became part of the vault.
In the vault, the pointed arch could be seen in three dimensions where the ribbed vaulting met in
the center of the ceiling of each bay. This ribbed vaulting is another distinguishing feature of
Gothic architecture. However, it should be noted that prototypes for the pointed arches and ribbed
vaulting were seen first in late-Romanesque buildings.
The new understanding of architecture and design led to more fantastic examples of vaulting and
ornamentation, and the Early Gothic or Lancet style (from the twelfth and thirteenth centuries)
developed into the Decorated or Rayonnant Gothic (roughly fourteenth century). The ornate
stonework that held the windows–called tracery–became more florid, and other stonework even
more exuberant.
The ribbed vaulting became more complicated and was crossed with lierneribs into complex
webs, or the addition of cross ribs, called tierceron. As the decoration developed further, the
Perpendicular or International Gothic took over (fifteenth century). Fan vaulting decorated half-
conoid shapes extending from the tops of the columnar ribs.
The slender columns and lighter systems of thrust allowed for larger windows and more light. The
windows, tracery, carvings, and ribs make up a dizzying display of decoration that one encounters
in a Gothic church. In late Gothic buildings, almost every surface is decorated. Although such a
building as a whole is ordered and coherent, the profusion of shapes and patterns can make a
sense of order difficult to discern at first glance.
After the great flowering of Gothic style, tastes again shifted back to the neat, straight lines and
rational geometry of the Classical era. It was in the Renaissance that the name Gothic came to be
applied to this medieval style that seemed vulgar to Renaissance sensibilities. It is still the term
we use today, though hopefully without the implied insult, which negates the amazing leaps of
imagination and engineering that were required to build such edifices.
Please watch our new video (see below)Please watch our new video (see below)
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Part 1: Cathedral of Notre Dame de Chartres, c.1145 and 1194u2013c.1220. Authored by:
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Read: The Enlightenment and
Benjamin Franklin
Only concern yourself with the content from the single page that is hyper linked.
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america/a/the-enlightenment (https://www.khanacademy.org/humanities/us-history/colonial-
america/colonial-north-america/a/the-enlightenment)
“The Enlightenment.” Khan Academy, Khan Academy, www.khanacademy.org/humanities/us-
history/colonial-america/colonial-north-america/a/the-enlightenment.
https://www.khanacademy.org/humanities/us-history/colonial-america/colonial-north-america/a/the-enlightenment
Read: The Impact of The
Enlightenment
http://www.ushistory.org/us/7a.asp (http://www.ushistory.org/us/7a.asp)
“The Impact of Enlightenment in Europe.” Ushistory.org, Independence Hall Association,
www.ushistory.org/us/7a.asp.
http://www.ushistory.org/us/7a.asp
Readings – Reading: Architecture
The Industrial Revolution
Beginning in the 18th century the Industrial Revolution made fundamental changes in agriculture,
manufacturing, transportation and housing. Architecture changed in response to the new industrial
landscape. Prior to the late 19th century, the weight of a multistory building had to be supported
principally by the strength of its walls. The taller the building, the more strain this placed on the
lower sections. Since there were clear engineering limits to the weight such load-bearing walls
could sustain, large designs meant massively thick walls on the ground floors, and definite limits
on the building’s height.
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Construction_tour_eiffel4 )
Eiffel Tower, Start of construction of second
stage, May 1888. Image in the public
domain
Forged iron and milled steel began to replace wood, brick and stone as primary materials for large
buildings. This change is encapsulated in the Eiffel Tower, built in 1889. Standing on four huge
arched legs, the iron lattice tower rises narrowly to just over 1000 feet high. The Eiffel Tower not
only became an icon for France but for industry itself – heralding a new age in materials, design
and construction methods.
In America, the development of cheap, versatile steel in the second half of the 19th century
helped change the urban landscape. The country was in the midst of rapid social and economic
growth that made for great opportunities in architectural design. A much more urbanized society
was forming and the society called out for new, larger buildings. By the middle of the 19th century
downtown areas in big cities began to transform themselves with new roads and buildings to
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accommodate the growth. The mass production of steel was the main driving force behind the
ability to build skyscrapers during the mid 1880s.
Steel framing was set into foundations of reinforced concrete, concrete poured around a grid of
steel rods (re-bar) or other matrices to increase tensile strength in foundations, columns and
vertical slabs.
Modernist Architecture
The move to modernism was introduced with the opening of the Bauhaus school in Weimar
Germany. Founded in 1919 by the German architect Walter Gropius, Bauhaus (literal translation
“house of construction”) was a teaching and learning center for modern industrial and
architectural design. Though not a movement or style in itself, Bauhaus instructors and staff
reflected different artistic perspectives, all of them born from the modern aesthetic. It was partly
the product of a post- World War I search for new artistic definitions in Europe. Gropius’s
commitment to the principle of bringing all the arts together with a focus on practical, utilitarian
applications. This view rejected the notion of “art for art’s sake”, putting a premium on the
knowledge of materials and their effective design. This idea shows the influence of
Constructivism (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Constructivism_(art)) , a similar philosophy
developed concurrently in Russia that used the arts for social purposes. Bauhaus existed for
fourteen years, relocating three times, and influencing a whole generation of architects, artists,
graphic and industrial designers and typographers.
In 1924 Gropius designed the Bauhaus main building in Dessau. Its modern form includes bold
lines, an asymmetric balance and curtain walls of glass. It’s painted in neutral tones of white and
gray accented by strong primary colors on selected doors.
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Bauhaus )
Bauhaus in Dessau, Germany, 1925-26,
Image in public domain
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Constructivism_(art)
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Frank Lloyd Wright is considered one of the 20th century’s greatest architects. Wright designed
buildings, churches, homes and schools, but is best known for his design of Falling Water
(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fallingwater#/media/File:Fallingwater_-_DSC05639.JPG) , a home in
the Pennsylvania countryside for Chicago department store owner Edgar Kaufman. His design
innovations include unified open floor plans, a balance of traditional and modern materials and the
use of cantilevered forms that extends horizontal balance.
The Guggenheim Museum in New York City is an example of Wright’s concern with organic forms
and utilization of space. The main element in the design is a spiral form rising from the middle of
the cantilevered main structure. Paintings are exhibited on its curved walls. Visitors take the
elevator to the top floor and view the works as they travel down the gently sloped hallway. This
spiral surrounds a large atrium in the middle of the building and a domed skylight at the top.
(https://s3-us-west-
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content/uploads/sites/415/2015/06/21035152/
Solomon-R-Guggenheim-Museum-
Levels )
Atrium, Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum,
Manhattan, New York, 1959, Image in the
public domain
Post Modern & Contemporary Architecture
Postmodern architecture began as an international style whose first examples are generally cited
as being from the 1950s, but did not become a movement until the late 1970s and continues to
influence present-day architecture. Postmodernity in architecture is generally thought to be
heralded by the return of “wit, ornament and reference” to architecture in response to the
formalism of the International Style.
Michael Graves’s Portland Building
(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Portland_Building#/media/File:Portland_Building_1982 ) from 1982
personifies the idea behind postmodernist thought. A reference to more traditional style is evident
in the patterned column-like sections. Overt large-scale decorative elements are built into and
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fallingwater#/media/File:Fallingwater_-_DSC05639.JPG
https://s3-us-west-2.amazonaws.com/courses-images-archive-read-only/wp-content/uploads/sites/415/2015/06/21035152/Solomon-R-Guggenheim-Museum-Levels
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Portland_Building#/media/File:Portland_Building_1982
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Portland_Building#/media/File:Portland_Building_1982
onto the exterior walls, and contrasts between materials, colors and forms give the building a
graphic sense of visual wit.
We can see how architecture is actively evolving in the contemporary work of Frank Gehry and
Zaha Hadid. Gehry’s work is famous for its rolling and bent organic forms. His gestural, erratic
sketches are transformed into buildings through a computer aided design process (CAD). They
have roots in postmodernism but lean towards a completely new modern style. They have as
much to do with sculpture as they do with architecture. Seattle’s Experience Music Project
(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/EMP_Museum) is an example of the complexity that goes into his
designs. Its curves, ripples and folds roll across space and the multi-colored titanium panels
adorning the exterior accentuate the effect.
Green Architecture
In the last decade there has emerged a strong interest in developing “green” architecture –
designs that incorporate ecologically and environmentally sustainable practices in site
preparation, materials, energy use and waste systems. Some are simple: buildings oriented to the
south or west helps with passive solar heating. Others are more complex: Solar voltaic cells on
the roof to generate power to the building. Green roofs are made of sod and other organic
material and act as a cooling agent and recycle rainwater too. In addition, technological
innovations in lighting, heating and cooling systems have made them more efficient.
A branch of the Seattle Public Library uses green design. A glass curtain wall on the north side
makes use of natural lighting. Overhanging wooden roof beams shades harsh light. The whole
structure is nestled under a green roof of sod and over 18,000 low water use plants. Seven
skylights on the roof provide more natural lighting.
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Reading: Mosque Architecture
Mimar Sinan, courtyard of the Süleymaniye Mosque, İstanbul, 1558
From Indonesia to the United Kingdom, the mosque in its many forms is the quintessential Islamic
building. The mosque, masjid in Arabic, is the Muslim gathering place for prayer.Masjid simply
means “place of prostration.” Though most of the five daily prayers prescribed in Islam can take
place anywhere, all men are required to gather together at the mosque for the Friday noon prayer.
Mosques are also used throughout the week for prayer, study, or simply as a place for rest and
reflection. The main mosque of a city, used for the Friday communal prayer, is called a jami
masjid, literally meaning “Friday mosque,” but it is also sometimes called a congregational
mosque in English. The style, layout, and decoration of a mosque can tell us a lot about Islam in
general, but also about the period and region in which the mosque was constructed.
Diagram reconstruction of the Prophet’s
House, Medina, Saudi Arabia
The home of the Prophet Muhammad is considered the first mosque. His house, in Medina in
modern-day Saudi Arabia, was a typical 7th-century Arabian style house, with a large courtyard
surrounded by long rooms supported by columns. This style of mosque came to be known as a
hypostyle mosque, meaning “many columns.” Most mosques built in Arab lands utilized this style
for centuries.
Common Features
The architecture of a mosque is shaped most strongly by the regional traditions of the time and
place where it was built. As a result, style, layout, and decoration can vary greatly. Nevertheless,
because of the common function of the mosque as a place of congregational prayer, certain
architectural features appear in mosques all over the world.
Sahn (Courtyard)
The most fundamental necessity of congregational mosque architecture is that it be able to hold
the entire male population of a city or town (women are welcome to attend Friday prayers, but not
required to do so). To that end congregational mosques must have a large prayer hall. In many
mosques this is adjoined to an open courtyard, called a sahn. Within the courtyard one often finds
a fountain, its waters both a welcome respite in hot lands, and important for the ablutions (ritual
cleansing) done before prayer.
Mihrab and minbar, Mosque of Sultan Hassan, Cairo, 1356-63 (photo: Dave
Berkowitz, CC BY)
Mihrab, Great Mosque of Cordoba, c. 786
(photo: Bongo Vongo, CC BY-SA)
Mihrab (Niche)
Another essential element of a mosque’s architecture is a mihrab—a niche in the wall that
indicates the direction of Mecca, towards which all Muslims pray. Mecca is the city in which the
Prophet Muhammad was born, and the home of the most important Islamic shrine, the Kaaba.
The direction of Mecca is called the qibla, and so the wall in which the mihrab is set is called the
qibla wall. No matter where a mosque is, its mihrab indicates the direction of Mecca (or as near
that direction as science and geography were able to place it). Therefore, a mihrab in India will be
to the west, while a one in Egypt will be to the east. A mihrab is usually a relatively shallow niche,
as in the example from Egypt, above. In the example from Spain, shown right, themihrab’s niche
takes the form of a small room, this is more rare.
Minbar (Pulpit)
Mimar Sinan, Minaret, Süleymaniye
Mosque, Istanbul, 1558
The minbar is often located on the qibla wall to the right of the mihrab. A minbar is a pulpit from
which the Friday sermon is delivered. Simple minbars consist of a short flight of stairs, but more
elaborate examples may enclose the stairway with ornate panels, doors, and a covered pulpit at
the top.
Minaret (Tower)
One of the most visible aspects of mosque architecture is the minaret, a tower adjacent or
attached to a mosque, from which the call to prayer is announced. Minarets take many different
forms—from the famous spiral minaret of Samarra, to the tall, pencil minarets of Ottoman Turkey.
Not solely functional in nature, the minaret serves as a powerful visual reminder of the presence
of Islam.
Qubba (Dome)
Most mosques also feature one or more domes, called qubba in Arabic. While not a ritual
requirement like the mihrab, a dome does possess significance within the mosque—as a symbolic
representation of the vault of heaven. The interior decoration of a dome often emphasizes this
symbolism, using intricate geometric, stellate, or vegetal motifs to create breathtaking patterns
meant to awe and inspire. Some mosque types incorporate multiple domes into their architecture
(as in the Ottoman Süleymaniye Mosque pictured at the top of the page), while others only
feature one. In mosques with only a single dome, it is invariably found surmounting the qibla wall,
the holiest section of the mosque. The Great Mosque of Kairouan, in Tunisia (not pictured) has
three domes: one atop the minaret, one above the entrance to the prayer hall, and one above the
qibla wall.
Mosque lamp, 14th century, Egypt or Syria,
blown glass, enamel, gilding, 31.8 x 23.2
cm (Metropolitan Museum of Art)
Because it is the directional focus of prayer, the qibla wall, with its mihrab and minbar, is often the
most ornately decorated area of a mosque. The rich decoration of the qibla wall is apparent in this
image of the mihrab and minbar of the Mosque of Sultan Hasan in Cairo, Egypt (see image higher
on the page).
Furnishings
There are other decorative elements common to most mosques. For instance, a large calligraphic
frieze or a cartouche with a prominent inscription often appears above the mihrab. In most cases
the calligraphic inscriptions are quotations from the Qur’an, and often include the date of the
building’s dedication and the name of the patron. Another important feature of mosque decoration
are hanging lamps, also visible in the photograph of the Sultan Hasan mosque. Light is an
essential feature for mosques, since the first and last daily prayers occur before the sun rises and
after the sun sets. Before electricity, mosques were illuminated with oil lamps. Hundreds of such
lamps hung inside a mosque would create a glittering spectacle, with soft light emanating from
each, highlighting the calligraphy and other decorations on the lamps’ surfaces. Although not a
permanent part of a mosque building, lamps, along with other furnishings like carpets, formed a
significant—though ephemeral—aspect of mosque architecture.
Mosque Patronage
Most historical mosques are not stand-alone buildings. Many incorporated charitable institutions
like soup kitchens, hospitals, and schools. Some mosque patrons also chose to include their own
mausoleum as part of their mosque complex. The endowment of charitable institutions is an
important aspect of Islamic culture, due in part to the third pillar of Islam, which calls for Muslims
to donate a portion of their income to the poor.
Mihrab, 1354–55, just after the Ilkhanid
period, Madrasa Imami, Isfahan, Iran,
polychrome glazed tiles, 343.1 x 288.7 cm
(Metropolitan Museum of Art)
The commissioning of a mosque would be seen as a pious act on the part of a ruler or other
wealthy patron, and the names of patrons are usually included in the calligraphic decoration of
mosques. Such inscriptions also often praise the piety and generosity of the patron. For instance,
the mihrab now at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, bears the inscription:
And he [the Prophet], blessings and peace be upon him, said: “Whoever builds a mosque for
God, even the size of a sand-grouse nest, based on piety, [God will build for him a palace in
Paradise].”
The patronage of mosques was not only a charitable act therefore, but also, like architectural
patronage in all cultures, an opportunity for self-promotion. The social services attached the
mosques of the Ottoman sultans are some of the most extensive of their type. In Ottoman Turkey
the complex surrounding a mosque is called a kulliye. The kulliye of the Mosque of Sultan
Suleyman, in Istanbul, is a fine example of this phenomenon, comprising a soup kitchen, a
hospital, several schools, public baths, and a caravanserai (similar to a hostel for travelers). The
complex also includes two mausoleums for Sultan Suleyman and his family members.
Kulliyesi (view of kitchens and caravanserai), Istanbul
Süleymaniye
Licenses and Attributions
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8. Industrial Revolutions8. Industrial Revolutions
Lesson-Revolution
If you go back to 1800, everybody was poor. I mean everybody. The Industrial Revolution kicked
in, and a lot of countries benefited, but by no means everyone.
-Bill Gates
Although industrialization in Britain began in the
eighteenth century, it was not until the end of
the Napoleonic Wars in 1815 that its impact
became apparent in the continent; but by 1850,
industrialization permeated all of Europe. The
development of steam power fueled the creation
of railroads, new cities, and a new factory
system. These advancements revolutionized
Europe, reconfiguring the structure of society
and the nature of the economy. Europe
advanced rapidly during this period, but it did so
at a cost: the factory system cheapened the labor value of workers, factory conditions were often
horrible, and a rift between the working class and factory owners began to develop.
The term, Industrial Revolution was coined in the 1830’s to describe the immense boom of
inventions and technological developments together with the burgeoning growth of industry in
Great Britain. Between 1800 and 1760, industry in Britain had grown at an annual rate of 0.7 per
cent; between 1800 and 1830 it grew at an annual rate of 3 per cent; with the greatest rate of
growth in the 1780’s, at the end of the American and French Revolutions. The British Isles were
fertile soil, for this prodigious development of industry for several reasons:
The expanding Atlantic economy and British mercantilist economic system proved quite fruitful.
Britain’s worldwide overseas empire, including enormous profits in the Atlantic slave trade before
its abolition, provided growing markets for British manufactured goods. Indeed, a significant
element of colonial development was to provide markets for manufactured goods as well as a
source of raw materials.
An abundance of navigable waters was an asset at a time when it was much easier to move
goods by water than overland. No part of England was more than twenty miles from a navigable
stream. In the 1770’s a canal building boom enhanced the number of waterways available for
transport.
Both England and Wales had enormous deposits of iron and coal,
critical raw materials for Industrial development.
The lack of internal tariffs allowed the efficient movement of raw
materials and manufactured goods throughout the country. France
had a number of internal tariffs, and before the imposition of
the Zollvereign in Germany, each of the independent principalities
had its own system of protective tariffs.
The Agricultural revolution created a period of bountiful crops at
low prices, such that the typical English family spent far less on
food than other parts of Europe. The English were second only to
the Dutch in agricultural productivity. Less money spent on necessary food stuffs meant that more
money was available to purchase manufactured goods, such as shoes, clothes, even toys. The
availability of money to buy these goods created a demand for them, which stimulated production.
Britain had an effective central bank and a well developed credit market, unlike France.
Government was stable and predictable, again unlike France. The government allowed the
economy to grow with few controls, thus encouraging personal initiative, technological change,
and free market enterprise.
Britain had a large class of hired agricultural workers whose numbers increased as farm lands
were enclosed. They were relatively mobile, not being bound to the land as in Eastern Europe,
and as a result constituted a ready and available work force.
Innovations in Textiles
The British cotton industry provided the first true factories of the Industrial revolution. Cotton
textiles had first been imported by the British East India Tea Company, and a cotton industry
developed as early as 1760. The putting-out system of merchant capitalism had worked well in
Britain, but there was a constant growth in demand, such that the system could no longer keep
up. Among its shortcomings was a constant shortage of available spun yarn. This problem was
resolved about 1765 by James Hargreaves, an illiterate carpenter and jack of all trades who
invented a machine known as the cotton jenny (obviously short of “Engine,” as in Cotton Gin.) At
the same time, a barber/manufacturer named Richard Arkwright invented (or pirated) a water
frame. The jenny was deceptively simple; it allowed the spinner to move a sliding carriage back
and forth and turn a wheel with her free hand to power the machine. As a result, by 1765 one
worker, usually a woman could spin one hundred threads simultaneously, whereas with the old
spinning wheel, she could spin only one thread of yarn. Whereas before it was the weaver who
had to wait on spun yarn, it was now the weaver (usually a man) who could not keep up with the
supply of spun yarn. By the 1780’s yarn output increased by 13 per cent per year; by the 1790’s
ten times as much yarn was produced as had been in 1770. By 1831, the textile industry, largely
mechanized at this point, accounted for 22 per cent of Britain’s entire industrial production.
The spinning jenny and water frame seemed to work well only with cotton. Flax (for linen) and
wool were hard to spin with the new machines. That factor and the obvious comfort of cotton over
wool caused production of cotton textiles to explode.
The water frame was structured differently, and had the capacity for several hundred spindles. It
required much more power than human exertion alone could provide, and thus relied on water
power. As a result, specialized factories that employed large number of people developed. Some
employed as many as a thousand people. The yarn spun by the water frame was course and
strong and normally had to be put out for re-spinning on jennies. About 1790, Samuel
Crompton developed a revised technique which produced a finer yarn, but also required more
strength than a human arm could supply; as a result, all cotton spinning became concentrated in
factories.
Improved manufacturing made cotton goods much cheaper, such that people of all classes could
afford them. Their most obvious use was for underwear, which previously had been made of linen
and worn by only the very wealthy. At that point, it was called “body linen.” The poor wore course
(and generally filthy) outer garments with nothing underneath. Now they wore cotton slips and
underpants as well as cotton dresses and shirts. Additionally, weavers, who had been among the
poorer class, became the best paid workers in Britain, because of the supply of yarn and shortage
of weavers to manufacture it. Weavers were known to walk through the streets with five pound
notes stuck in their hatbands, and dressed like the middle class.
With increased demand for weavers, many agricultural laborers became weavers. The increased
demand for weavers (and the high wages they commanded) led to the inevitable invention of the
“better mousetrap,” in this case a power loom. That device was invented in 1785
by Edmund Cartwright.
Working conditions were less satisfactory in early factories than for cottage workers. Until the late
1789’s, most factories were built in rural areas where they had access to water power. Few
people were willing to work in them, as they resembled the poor houses where destitute people
worked for little pay. Because so few able workers were willing to labor in the factories and the
demand for labor was there, factory owners turned to child labor. Most child workers were children
who had been abandoned by their parents and left in the care of local parishes. Many of these so
called “foundlings” were “apprenticed” to factory owners. The result was, the parish saved money
as it didn’t have to feed the children and the factory owners gained workers over whom they held
authority approaching that of a slaveholder. Children from poor families who stayed together also
worked long hours for cruel masters, but the exploitation of orphans was unprecedented. Many
started work at age five and were required to work for their “master” for up to fourteen years. They
were fed, housed, and locked up at night in factory dormitories and received little or no pay. They
worked 13-14 hours per day, six days per week, and discipline was maintained with harsh
physical punishment. It was this exploitation that pricked the conscience of reformers and led to
humanitarian attitudes towards children and child labor in the early nineteenth century. The novels
of Charles Dickens, often difficult reading, often deal with child labor. Almost all of the subjects of
his novels are orphans who are mistreated by cruel masters.
Energy for Factory Operation
The need for energy to operate machines has been a constant issue. In the Middle Ages, the
water wheel was developed to grind grain, and wind mills were used to pump water and drain
swamps. Still, animals were the primary source of energy. The obvious limitations of these
methods was a key factor in keeping many families in poverty.
Wood was also a primary source of energy, both as fuel
and for the manufacture of charcoal which was mixed with
iron ore in blast furnaces to produce pig iron. The huge
demand for wood soon exceeded the ability of the British
forests to provide it, and the iron industry thus stagnated.
Russia, with its enormous forests, soon became the
primary producer of pig iron, but its own limitations soon
stalled production there also.
“Pig Iron” was so named because of the method of
manufacture. Iron produced in blast furnaces was poured
directly on to beds of sand to cool. Individual rivulets of molten iron branched from the main
stream, creating a resemblance to piglets nursing a sow. Hence, the main stream became known
as the “sow” and the branches, the “pig” iron. Although the pig iron was much thicker and heavier
than that produced in the “sow,” it had a high carbon content and was brittle.
Since Britain had large deposits of coal, it soon presented itself as a source of energy. It was used
to heat homes and also to provide heat for the manufacture of beer, glass, soap, etc. As coal
demand increased, it became necessary to dig deeper and deeper in the mines to meet the
demand, and mines were constantly filling with water. Mechanical pumps, usually powered by
animals, were used to bring water to the surface, and expensive and tedious process. In one
mine, five hundred horses walked in a huge circle to pump water from the mines. The first
primitive steam engines, invented by Thomas Savage in 1768 and Thomas Newcomen in 1705,
attempted to solve this problem. The engines were extremely inefficient. They burned coal to
produce steam which was injected into a cylinder. The steam was cooled, creating a vacuum
which allowed the pressure of the earth’s atmosphere to push a piston down and operate the
pump.
The steam engine was vastly improved (not invented) by James Watt in 1763. Watt worked at the
time for the University of Glasgow making scientific instruments. He was asked to repair a
Newcomen engine used in a physics course, and eventually improved it by adding a separate
condenser to condense the steam without cooling the cylinder. He made numerous other
refinements over a period of twenty years, often implying other inventors and technicians,
including John Wilkinson, who first developed the ability to bore cannon cylinders with accuracy.
By the 1780’s the steam engine was a commercial success in Britain.
Although it was designed for use in the coal mines, Watt’s steam engine quickly proved useful in
other industries. It had something of a domino effect, as it made the production of more coal
possible which made the operation of even more steam engines practical. It was used instead of
water wheels to mill flour, in breweries, and in the mills exported to crush sugar cane. Watt’s stem
engine was the most fundamental technological advance of the Industrial revolution.
Among the other industries that benefited from the steam engine, steam driven bellows in blast
furnaces helped iron makers switch from charcoal to coke (made from coal) to smelt iron. Henry
Cort produced the “puddling furnace” by which molten iron was “cooked” in a tremendous vat,
and the melted iron racked from the top for processing. He also developed the steam powered
“rolling mill” whereby iron could be produced in every shape and form. Iron output burgeoned as a
result. Whereas in 1740, British iron production had been 17,000 tons, by 1788 it had reached
68,000 tons; by 1796 125,000 tons, and by 1806, 260,000 tons. Iron, once scarce and expensive,
became the basic building block of the economy. (Where would we all be without the cast iron
frying pan?)
The Railroads
The railroad was the last and most extensive invention of the Industrial revolution, which
demonstrated more than any other development the power and speed of the new age. Massive
train stations became the cathedrals of industry, engineers who built tunnels through mountains
and bridges across rivers and valleys became public icons. New phrases were added to everyday
vocabulary from the railroads: “building up a head of steam;” “get off track;” “blow your own
horn.,” even “highball.”
Prior to the development of the steam engine, overland shipment of freight relied solely on
horsepower. It was limited and expensive. Rivers and canals were far more efficient and
economically feasible. It was only logical that steam would be used to develop a means of
transporting both freight and people.
Coal mines had long used plank roads and rails to move wagonloads of coal within the mine and
to the surface. The rails reduced friction, and made it possible for horses or manpower to pull
much more than they might otherwise. The first effective steam locomotive engine was built in
1825 by George Stephenson. Five years later in 1830, his first locomotive, the Rocket, traveled
across the newly constructed Manchester and Liverpool railway at sixteen miles per hour,
breakneck speed at that time. Many companies followed suit and built large trunk lines across
Britain.
The impact of the railroads was enormous. The cost of shipping was reduced dramatically.
Markets which had been small and local because of transportation costs grew larger and more
centralized. Larger markets led to larger factories with more sophisticated machinery in more
industries. These factories produced goods more cheaply and thus spelled the death knell of the
old putting out cottage industry system.
The development of the railroads also led to the development of the urban working class. Railroad
construction created a strong demand for manual labor. Many landless farm laborers and poor
peasants, who were accustomed to leaving villages for temporary employment worked on railroad
construction. When the work was finished, many searched for similar work either with the railroad
or in factories or construction. By the time these men sent for their families to join them, they had
been transformed into urban workers.
Industry and Population
By 1831, Britain produced two thirds of the world’s coal and more than one half of its iron and
cotton cloth. By 1860, it produced twenty per cent of the world’s industrial goods. (In 1750, it had
produced only 2 per cent.) Between 1780 and 1851, the nation’s gross national product
quadrupled. At the same time, the British population encountered explosive growth, from 9 million
in 1780 to 21 million in 1851.
Economists of the time viewed the population explosion with pessimism. Among them, Thomas
Malthus wrote an essay entitled On the Principle of Population. Malthus argued that population
would always grow faster than the food supply, and that the only hope of warding off such
“positive checks” on population growth as war, famine, and disease was “prudential restraint,” that
is by marrying late in life. He did not believe this would happen, however, because of the
attraction of the young to the opposite sex and their proclivity to marry young and have children.
Another leading economist, David Ricardo, was also pessimistic. He spoke of the “iron law of
wages,” meaning that the pressure of population growth would cause wages to remain at
subsistence levels. Workers would live just above starvation level.
The glum predictions of Malthus and Ricardo led to the designation of economics as the “dismal
science.”
In the long run, they were both wrong, however the process was so drawn out that few ever saw
its conclusion. Throughout the industrial revolution, the economy and population growth ran neck
and neck. No one who saw the birth of the revolution lived to see the favorable outcome. There
were some negative developments, however. With the increase in industrialization and population
growth, the wealthy seemed to grow even more so while the poor sank deeper into poverty. This
is an issue that will be discussed at length at a later point.
Reference
Gates, Larry E. Jr. “The Industrial Revolution in Britain.” Historydoctor.net. Accessed 9 June
2019.
Merriman, John. “Lecture 8: Industrial Revolution.” YouTube. uploaded by Yalecourse 2 Sept.
2009, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JX0uusVkJcI&p=3A8E6CE294860A24&playnext=
1&index=7
Reading: Florence in the Trecento
(1300s)
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2.amazonaws.com/course
s-images-archive-read-
only/wp-
content/uploads/sites/415/
2015/04/21035100/Cimabu
e_Trinita_Madonna-
350 )
Cimabue, Santa Trinita
Madonna (Madonna and
Child Enthroned), 1280-
90, tempera on panel
(Galleria degli Uffizi,
Florence)
A New Style Emerges
During the late thirteenth century, artists in a handful of Italian cities began to move away from the
Italo-Byzantine style. The Roman artist Pietro Cavallini created frescoes and mosaics featuring
solid, monumentalizing figures; the sculptor Nicola Pisano studied ancient Roman sculpture;
Sienese artists seem to have broken new ground in exploring perspective.
Meanwhile, back in Florence, Cimabue’s paintings showed more interest in depicting space and
modeling figures with gradations of light and shade. These ideas spread as artists travelled
https://s3-us-west-2.amazonaws.com/courses-images-archive-read-only/wp-content/uploads/sites/415/2015/04/21035100/Cimabue_Trinita_Madonna-350
throughout Italy and southern France in search of work, creating a network of artistic centers that
all exerted influence on one another.
Giotto di Bondone, The Ognissanti
Madonna, 1306-10, tempera on panel, 128
x 80 1/4″ or 325 x 204 cm (Galleria degli
Uffizi, Florence)
Giotto
As the new century opened, the painter Giotto di Bondone observed many of these currents and
forged them into something distinctively Florentine and enormously influential.
Where earlier works of art engage us with the embellished splendor of the heavenly, Giotto’s
paintings capture our attention by representing holy figures and stories as if in a majestic but
earthly realm. Bold modeling of draperies and the bodies beneath them gives his figures greater
volume and a sense of sculptural relief. Clever kinds of perspective create the illusion that a
space is opening up in front of the viewer, as if we might be peering onto a stage.
Giotto, Meeting at the Golden Gate, Arena (Scrovegni) Chapel, Padua, c. 1305.
Perhaps just as importantly, Giotto was a master of visual storytelling – a skill evident in his most
important surviving project, the frescoes in the Arena Chapel in Padua (c. 1305). Here the
monumentality of the figures, the quiet dignity of their movements, and the way architectural and
landscape settings seem to echo the action all conjure up a solemn aura of the sacred. Like many
of the narrative paintings attributed to Giotto, the scenes use closely observed human gestures
and careful composition to enhance the drama and emotion of the moment depicted.
Maso di Banco, Pope Sylvester’s Miracle, c. 1340 (Bardi Chape, Santa Croce,
Florence)
Art After Giotto
Giotto had an enormous workshop full of students and assistants, making it hard to tell which
works he painted and which were by his pupils. Even more confusingly, his style was so
immediately influential that it is still difficult to say who his formal students were. What we do know
is that, in the years immediately after his death, the artists who were the most “Giottesque”
received the lion’s share of the important commissions for new projects. The success of artists
like Bernardo Daddi, Maso di Banco, and Taddeo Gaddi demonstrates that wealthy patrons were
on board with Giotto’s new vision for art.
Sometime around mid-century, though, certain artists began to drift from the clear, spare art of
Giotto’s school. Many experimented with visually crowded compositions or with complex subjects
represented through elaborate symbols and schemes. Some even seem to have purposefully
echoed the ornamental, formal art of the Italo-Byzantine period. This has led art historians to
wonder whether these changes in style were caused by Florence’s collective despair after the
outbreak of the bubonic plague—a sickness that wiped out over half the city’s population in one
year alone (1348).
Andrea Bonaiuti, Triumph of St Thomas Aquinas, c. 1365-67, Guidalotti Chapel
(Spanish Chapel) (Santa Maria Novella, Florence)
Most scholars now think the situation was more mixed than this theory might lead us to believe. In
fact, late fourteenth-century art is hard to generalize. This is partly because no single workshop
dominated the art of Florence as much as Giotto and his school had in previous decades. But it is
also because artists of the time were skilled at adapting their own style to the specific tastes of
each patron and to the context and function of each image.
Overall, however, Florentine art from 1348 to 1400 did not experience the same kind of major
stylistic shift that characterized Giotto’s years on the scene. Rather, the fundamental influence of
Giotto continued into the early 1400s. In the end, the long fourteenth century was Giotto’s century.
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Florence in the Trecento (1300s). Authored by: Dr. Joanna Mac Farland. Provided by: Khan
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Reading: The Reformation and the
End of the Renaissance
Frans Hogenberg, Iconoclasm 1566, 1566-70
A Challenge to the Church in Rome
In art history, the sixteenth century sees the styles we call the High Renaissance followed by
Mannerism, and—at the end of the century—the emergence of the Baroque style. Naturally, these
styles are all shaped by historical forces, the most significant being the Protestant Reformation’s
successful challenge to the spiritual and political power of the Church in Rome. For the history of
art this has particular significance since the use (and abuse) of images was the topic of debate. In
fact, many images were attacked destroyed during this period, a phenomenon called iconoclasm.
The Protestant Reformation
Today there many types of Protestant Churches. For example, Baptist is currently the largest
denomination in the United States but there are many dozens more. How did this happen? Where
did they all begin? To understand the Protestant Reform movement, we need to go back in history
to the early 16th century when there was only one church in Western Europe—what we would
now call the Roman Catholic Church—under the leadership of the Pope in Rome. Today, we call
this “Roman Catholic” because there are so many other types of churches (ie Methodist, Baptist,
Lutheran, Calvinist, Anglican—you get the idea).
The Church and the State
So, if we go back to the year 1500, the Church (what we now call the Roman Catholic Church)
was very powerful (politically and spiritually) in Western Europe (and in fact ruled over significant
territory in Italy called the Papal States). But there were other political forces at work too. There
was the Holy Roman Empire (largely made up of German speaking regions ruled by princes,
dukes and electors), the Italian city-states, England, as well as the increasingly unified nation
states of France and Spain (among others). The power of the rulers of these areas had increased
in the previous century and many were anxious to take the opportunity offered by the Reformation
to weaken the power of the papacy (the office of the Pope) and increase their own power in
relation to the Church in Rome and other rulers.
Keep in mind too, that for some time the church had been seen as an institution plagued by
internal power struggles (at one point in the late 1300s and 1400s church was ruled by three
Popes simultaneously). Popes and Cardinals often lived more like Kings than spiritual leaders.
Popes claimed temporal (political) as well as spiritual power. They commanded armies, made
political alliances and enemies, and, sometimes, even waged war. Simony (the selling of church
offices) and nepotism (favoritism based on family relationships) were rampant. Clearly, if the Pope
was concentrating on these worldly issues, there wasn’t as much time left for caring for the souls
of the faithful. The corruption of the Church was well known, and several attempts had been made
to reform the Church (notably by John Wyclif and Jan Hus), but none of these efforts was
successfully challenged Church practice until Martin Luther’s actions in the early 1500s.
Lucas Cranach the Elder, Martin Luther, Bust in
Three-Quarter View, 1520 (The Museum of Fine
Arts, Houston)
Martin Luther
Martin Luther was a German monk and Professor of Theology at the University of Wittenberg.
Luther sparked the Reformation in 1517 by posting, at least according to tradition, his “95 Theses”
on the door of the Castle Church in Wittenberg, Germany—these theses were a list of statements
that expressed Luther’s concerns about certain Church practices—largely the sale of
indulgences, but they were based on Luther’s deeper concerns with church doctrine. Before we
go on, notice that Protestant contains the word “protest” and that reformation contains the word
“reform” —this was an effort, at least at first, to protest some practices of the Catholic Church and
to reform that Church.
Indulgences
The sale of indulgences was a practice where the church acknowledged a donation or other
charitable work with a piece of paper (an indulgence), that certified that your soul would enter
heaven more quickly by reducing your time in purgatory. If you committed no serious sins that
guaranteed your place in hell, and you died before repenting and atoning for all of your sins, then
your soul went to Purgatory—a kind of way-station where you finished atoning for your sins before
being allowed to enter heaven.
Pope Leo X had granted indulgences to raise money for the rebuilding of St. Peter’s Basilica in
Rome. These indulgences were being sold by Johann Tetzel not far from Wittenberg, where
Luther was Professor of Theology. Luther was gravely concerned about the way in which getting
into heaven was connected with a financial transaction. But the sale of indulgences was not
Luther’s only disagreement with the institution of the Church.
Faith Alone
Martin
Luther was very devout and had experienced a spiritual crisis. He concluded that no matter
how “good” he tried to be, no matter how he tried to stay away from sin, he still found himself
having sinful thoughts. He was fearful that no matter how many good works he did, he could
never do enough to earn his place in heaven (remember that, according to the Catholic Church,
doing good works, for example commissioning works of art for the Church, helped one gain
entrance to heaven). This was a profound recognition of the inescapable sinfulness of the human
condition. After all, no matter how kind and good we try to be, we all find ourselves having
thoughts which are unkind and sometimes much worse. Luther found a way out of this problem
when he read St. Paul, who wrote “The just shall live by faith” (Romans 1:17). Luther understood
this to mean that those who go to heaven (the just) will get there by faith alone—not by doing
good works. In other words, God’s grace is something freely given to human beings, not
something we can earn. For the Catholic Church on the other hand, human beings, through good
works, had some agency in their salvation.
Gutenberg Bible (British Museum)
Scripture Alone
Luther (and other reformers) turned to the Bible as the only reliable source of instruction (as
opposed to the teachings of the Church).
The invention of the printing press in the middle of the 15th century (by Gutenberg in Mainz,
Germany) together with the translation of the Bible into the vernacular (the common languages of
French, Italian, German, English, etc.) meant that it was possible for those that could read to learn
directly from Bible without having to rely on a priest or other church officials. Before this time, the
Bible was available in Latin, the ancient language of Rome spoken chiefly by the clergy. Before
the printing press, books were handmade and extremely expensive. The invention of the printing
press and the translation of the bible into the vernacular meant that for the first time in history, the
Bible was available to those outside of the Church. And now, a direct relationship to God,
unmediated by the institution of the Catholic Church, was possible.
When Luther and other reformers looked to the words of the Bible (and there were efforts at
improving the accuracy of these new translations based on early Greek manuscripts), they found
that many of the practices and teachings of the Church about how we achieve salvation didn’t
match Christ’s teaching. This included many of the Sacraments, including Holy Communion (also
known as the Eucharist). According to the Catholic Church, the miracle of Communion is
transubstantiation—when the priest administers the bread and wine, they change (the prefix
“trans” means to change) their substance into the body and blood of Christ. Luther denied that
anything changed during Holy Communion. Luther thereby challenged one of the central
sacraments of the Catholic Church, one of its central miracles, and thereby one of the ways that
human beings can achieve grace with God, or salvation.
The Counter-Reformation
The Church initially ignored Martin Luther, but Luther’s ideas (and variations of them, including
Calvinism) quickly spread throughout Europe. He was asked to recant (to disavow) his writings at
the Diet of Worms (an unfortunate name for a council held by the Holy Roman Emperor in the
German city of Worms). When Luther refused, he was excommunicated (in other words, expelled
from the church). The Church’s response to the threat from Luther and others during this period is
called the Counter-Reformation (“counter” meaning against).
The Council of Trent
In 1545 the Church opened the Council of Trent to deal with the issues raised by Luther. The
Council of Trent was an assembly of high officials in the Church who met (on and off for eighteen
years) principally in the Northern Italian town of Trent for 25 sessions.
Selected Outcomes of the Council of Trent:
1. The Council denied the Lutheran idea of justification by faith. They affirmed, in other words,
their Doctrine of Merit, which allows human beings to redeem themselves through Good
Works, and through the sacraments.
2. They affirmed the existence of Purgatory and the usefulness of prayer and indulgences in
shortening a person’s stay in purgatory.
3. They reaffirmed the belief in transubstantiation and the importance of all seven sacraments
4. They reaffirmed the authority of both scripture the teachings and traditions of the Church
5. They reaffirmed the necessity and correctness of religious art (see below)
Session of the Council of Trent in Matthias Burglechner, “Tyrolischer Adler,”
vol.IX
The Council of Trent on Religious Art
At the Council of Trent, the Church also reaffirmed the usefulness of images—but indicated that
church officials should be careful to promote the correct use of images and guard against the
possibility of idolatry. The council decreed that images are useful “because the honour which is
shown them is referred to the prototypes which those images represent” (in other words, through
the images we honor the holy figures depicted). And they listed another reason images were
useful, “because the miracles which God has performed by means of the saints, and their salutary
examples, are set before the eyes of the faithful; that so they may give God thanks for those
things; may order their own lives and manners in imitation of the saints; and may be excited to
adore and love God, and to cultivate piety.”
Violence
The Reformation was a very violent period in Europe, even family members were often pitted
against one another in the wars of religion. Each side, both Catholics and Protestants, were often
absolutely certain that they were in the right and that the other side was doing the devil’s work.
The artists of this period—Michelangelo in Rome, Titian in Venice, Durer in Nuremberg, Cranach
in Saxony—were impacted by these changes since the Church had been the single largest patron
for artists. And now art was now being scrutinized in an entirely new way. The Catholic Church
was looking to see if art communicated the stories of the Bible effectively and clearly (see
Veronese’s Feast in the House of Levi for more on this). Protestants on the other hand, for the
most part lost the patronage of the Church and religious images (sculptures, paintings, stained
glass windows etc) were destroyed in iconoclastic riots.
Other Developments
It is also during this period that the Scientific Revolution gained momentum and observation of the
natural world replaced religious doctrine as the source of our understanding of the universe and
our place in it. Copernicus up-ended the ancient Greek model of the heavens by suggesting that
the sun was at the center of the solar system and that the planets orbited around it.
At the same time, exploration, colonization and (the often forced) Christianization of what Europe
called the “new world” continued. By the end of the century, the world of the Europeans was a lot
bigger and opinions about that world were more varied and more uncertain than they had been for
centuries.
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Reading: The High Renaissance
The High Renaissance is just that—the height of the Renaissance! When you think of the
Renaissance, the names that come to mind are probably the artists of this period: Leonardo and
Michelangelo, for instance. When many people think of the greatest work of art in the Western
world, they think of Michelangelo’s Sistine Ceiling. This is a period of big, ambitious projects.
Fra Filippo Lippi, Madonna and Child with
Two Angels, tempera on wood, ca. 1455–
1466 (Galleria degli Uffizi, Florence)
What exactly is the High Renaissance, and how is it different from the Early Renaissance?
As the humanism of the Early Renaissance grows, a problem begins to develop. Have a look
again at Fra Filippo Lippi’s Madonna and Child with Angels. We see in this painting an image of
the Madonna and Christ Child that has become so real, the figures so human, that we can hardly
tell that these are spiritual figures (except for the faint shadow of a halo). On the other hand, as
we have seen in the Middle Ages, if you want to make your figure spiritual then you sacrifice its
realism.
It’s almost as if there is this feeling in the Early Renaissance that if you want to be spiritual, then
your painting can’t look real, and if you want it to be real, then it loses some spirituality. It has to
be one or the other. Well, Leonardo da Vinci comes along, and basically says—you don’t have to
make that choice. It’s not either/or. Leonardo is able to create figures that are physical and real—
just as real as Lippi’s or Masaccio’s figures and yet they have an undeniable and intense
spirituality at the same time. So we can say that Leonardo unites the real and spiritual, or soul
and substance.
The best way to see this is in this painting by Verrocchio, to whom Leonardo was apprenticed
when he was young.
Andrea del Verrocchio (with Leonardo), Baptism of Christ, 1470-75, oil
and tempera on panel, 70 3/4 x 59 3/4 inches or 180 x 152 cm (Galleria
degli Uffizi, Florence)
Verocchio asked Leonardo to paint one of the angels in his painting of the Baptism of Christ,
which we see here. Can you tell which angel is Leonardo’s?
One angel should look more like a boy—that’s the Early Renaissance angel (the one painted by
Verrocchio) and the other angel should look like a High Renaissance angel, like a spiritual figure
—truly like an angel sent by God from heaven (that’s Leonardo’s angel).
Can you tell which one is by Leonardo? Take a minute and look closely.
Detail. Andrea del Verrocchio (with Leonardo), Baptism of Christ, 1470-75, oil
and tempera on panel, 70 3/4 x 59 3/4 inches or 180 x 152 cm (Galleria degli
Uffizi, Florence)
(Answer: the angel on the left)
Leonardo’s angel is ideally beautiful and moves in a graceful and complex way, twisting to the left
but raising her head up and to the right. Figures that are elegant and ideally beautiful are a key
characteristic of the High Renaissance.
Leonardo da Vinci
Leonardo’s Early Life and Training
Leonardo was born illegitimate to a prominent Tuscan family of potters and notaries. He may have
traveled from Vinci to Florence where his father worked for several powerful families including the
Medici. At age seventeen, Leonardo reportedly apprenticed with the Florentine artist Verrocchio.
Here, Leonardo gained an appreciation for the achievements of Giotto and Masaccio and in 1472
he joined the artists’ guild, Compagnia di San Luca. Because of his family’s ties, Leonardo
benefited when Lorenzo de’ Medici (the Magnificent) ruled Florence. By 1478 Leonardo was
completely independent of Verrocchio and may have then met the exiled Ludovico Sforza, the
future Duke of Milan, who would later commission the Last Supper.
Leonardo in Milan
Four years later, Leonardo arrived in Milan bearing a silver lyre (which he may have been able to
play), a gift for the regent Ludovico from the Florentine ruler, Lorenzo the Magnificent. Ludovico
sought to transform Milan into a center of humanist learning to rival Florence.
Leonardo flourished in this intellectual environment. He opened a studio, received numerous
commissions, instructed students, and began to systematically record his scientific and artistic
investigations in a series of notebooks. The archetypal “renaissance man,” Leonardo was an
unrivaled painter, an accomplished architect, an engineer, cartographer, and scientist (he was
particularly interested in biology and physics). He was influenced by a variety of ancient texts
including Plato’s Timaeus, Ptolemy’s Cosmography, and Vitruvius’s On Architecture. Leonardo is
credited with having assisted Luca Pacioli with his treatise, Divina Proportione (1509). Joining the
practical and the theoretical, Leonardo designed numerous mechanical devices for battle,
including a submarine, and even experimented with designs for flight.
In a now famous letter, Leonardo listed his talents to the Duke, focusing mostly on his abilities as
a military engineer. The letter begins:
Having until now sufficiently studied and examined the experiments of all those who claim to be
experts and inventors of war machines, and having found that their machines do not differ in
the least from those ordinarily in use, I shall make so bold, without wanting to cause harm to
anyone, as to address myself to Your Excellency to divulge my secrets to him, and offer to
demonstrate to him, at his pleasure, all the things briefly enumerated below.
In ten short paragraphs, Leonardo enumerated the service he could perform for the Duke — he
said (among other things) that he could build bridges, tunnels, fortresses, and “make siege guns,
mortars and other machines, of beautiful and practical shape, completely different from what is
generally in use.”
What might seem amazing to us is that it is not until the very last paragraph that Leonardo
mentions art, and he mentions it so modestly! Here is what he wrote:
In time of peace, I believe I am capable of giving you as much satisfaction as anyone, whether
it be in architecture, for the construction of public or private buildings, or in bringing water from
one place to another. Item, I can sculpt in marble, bronze or terracotta; while in painting, my
work is the equal of anyone’s.
Return to Florence, Then France
In 1489, Leonardo secured a long awaited contract with Ludovico and was honored with the title,
“The Florentine Apelles,” a reference to an ancient Greek painter revered for his great naturalism.
Leonardo returned to Florence when Ludovico was deposed by the French King, Charles VII.
While there, Leonardo would meet the Niccolò Machiavelli, author of The Prince and his future
patron, François I. In 1516, after numerous invitations, Leonardo traveled to France and joined
the royal court. Leonardo died on May 2, 1519 in the king’s chateau at Cloux.
Leonardo’s Death and the Changing Status of the Artist
Finally, having grown old, he remained ill many months, and, feeling himself near to death,
asked to have himself diligently informed of the teaching of the Catholic faith, and of the good
way and holy Christian religion; and then, with many moans, he confessed and was penitent;
and although he could not raise himself well on his feet, supporting himself on the arms of his
friends and servants, he was pleased to take devoutly the most holy Sacrament, out of his bed.
The King, who was wont often and lovingly to visit him, then came into the room; wherefore he,
out of reverence, having raised himself to sit upon the bed, giving him an account of his
sickness and the circumstances of it, showed withal how much he had offended God and
mankind in not having worked at his art as he should have done. Thereupon he was seized by
a paroxysm, the messenger of death; for which reason the King having risen and having taken
his head, in order to assist him and show him favour, to then end that he might alleviate his
pain, his spirit, which was divine, knowing that it could not have any greater honour, expired in
the arms of the King. (Vasari)
This story is a good indication of the changing status of the artist. Leonardo, who spent the last
years of his life in France working for King Francis I, was often visited by the King! Remember
that the artist was considered only a skilled artisan in the Middle Ages and for much of the Early
Renaissance.
In the High Renaissance, beginning with Leonardo, we find that artists are considered
intellectuals, and that they keep company with the highest levels of society. Quite a change! All of
this has to do with Humanism in the Renaissance of course, and the growing recognition of the
achievement of great individuals (something virtually unheard of in the Middle Ages!). Artists in the
Early Renaissance insisted that they should in fact be considered intellectuals because they
worked with their brains as well as with their hands. They defended this position by pointing to the
scientific tools that they used to make their work more naturalistic (scientific naturalism): the study
of human anatomy, of mathematics and geometry, of linear perspective. These were clearly all
intellectual pursuits!
Leonardo da Vinci, Self-
Portrait
Look closely at this self-portrait. Isn’t it clear that Leonardo thought of himself as a thinker, a
philosopher, an intellectual?
Leonardo’s Naturalism
Ancient Greek physicians dissected cadavers. The early church’s rejection of the science of the
classical world, along with the possibility of bodily resurrection led to prohibitions against
dissection. Both Leonardo and Michelangelo performed them — probably exclusively on the
bodies of executed criminals. According to his own count, Leonardo dissected 30 corpses during
his lifetime.
Letter to the Duke of MilanLetter to the Duke of Milan
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Lesson-Modernism and
Postmodernism
People use the term “modern” in a variety of ways, often very loosely, with a lot of implied
associations of new, contemporary, up-to-date, and technological. We know the difference
between a modern society and one that remains tied to the past and it usually has less to do with
art and more to do with technology and industrial progress, things like indoor plumbing, easy
access to consumer goods, freedom of expression, and voting rights. In the 19th century,
however, modernity and its connection with art had certain specific associations that people
began recognizing and using as barometers to distinguish themselves and their culture from
earlier nineteenth century ways and attitudes.
Édouard Manet, A Bar at the Folies-Bergère, oil on canvas, 1882 (Courtauld Gallery, London)
Chronologically, Modernism refers to the period from 1850 to 1960. It begins with the Realist
movement and ends with Abstract Expressionism. That’s just a little over one hundred years.
During that period the western world experienced some significant changes that transformed
Europe and the United States from traditional societies that were agriculturally based into modern
ones with cities and factories and mass transportation.
Here are some important features that all modern societies share.
Capitalism
Capitalism replaced landed fortunes and became the economic system of modernity in which
people exchanged labor for a fixed wage and used their wages to buy ever more consumer items
rather than produce such items themselves. This economic change dramatically affected class
relations because it offered opportunities for great wealth through individual initiative,
industrialization and technology—somewhat like the technological and dot.com explosion of the
late 20th and early 21st century. The industrial revolution which began in England in the late 18th
century and rapidly swept across Europe (hit the U.S. immediately following the Civil War)
transformed economic and social relationships, offered an ever increasing number of cheaper
consumer goods, and changed notions of education. Who needed the classics when a
commercial/technically oriented education was the key to financial success? The industrial
revolution also fostered a sense of competition and progress that continues to influence us today.
Urban Culture
Claude Monet, Le Boulevard des Capucines, 1873-74, oil on canvas, 80.3 x 60.3 cm (Nelson-
Atkins Museum of Art)
Urban culture replaced agrarian culture as industrialization and cities grew. Cities were the sites
of new wealth and opportunity with their factories and manufacturing potential. People moving
from small farms, towns to large cities helped to breakdown traditional culture and values. There
were also new complications such as growing urban crime, prostitution, alienation, and
depersonalization.
In a small town you probably knew the cobbler who made your shoes and such a personal
relationship often expanded into everyday economics—you might be able to barter food or labor
for a new pair of shoes or delay payments. These kinds of accommodations that formed a
substructure to agrarian life were swept away with urbanization. City dwellers bought shoes that
were manufactured, transported by railroads, displayed in shop windows, and purchased only for
cash. Assembly lines, anonymous labor, and advertising created more consumer items but also a
growing sense of depersonalization. The gap between the “haves” and the “have nots” increased
and were more visible in the city.
Technology
William Maw Egley, Omnibus Life in London, 1859, oil on canvas, 44.8 x 41.9 cm (Tate)
“The omnibus – a horse-drawn carriage that picked up and deposited people along an established
route – was introduced into London on 4 July 1829 and quickly became a popular mode of
transport” ( Tate (http://www.tate.org.uk/art/artworks/egley-omnibus-life-in-london-n05779)
). William Maw Egley, Omnibus Life in London, 1859, oil on canvas, 44.8 x 41.9 cm (Tate,
London)
Technological advances such as industrialization, railroads, gas lighting, streetcars, factory
systems, indoor plumbing, appliances, and scientific advances were rapidly made and these
changes dramatically affected the way people lived and thought about themselves. One
consequence was that people in industrialized areas thought of themselves as progressive and
modern and considered undeveloped cultures in undeveloped countries as primitive and
backward.
Secularism
Modernity is characterized by increasing secularismand diminished religious authority. People did
not abandon religion but they paid less attention to it. Organized religions were increasingly less
able to dictate standards, values, and subject matter. Fine art moved from representing human
experience and its relationship to God’s creation, to a focus on personal emotions and individual
spiritual experiences that were not based in any organized and institutionalized religion.
Optimism
The modern world was extremely optimistic—people saw these changes as positive. They
welcomed innovation and championed progress. Change became a signifier of modernity.
Anything that was traditional and static signaled outmoded, old-fashioned, conservative
http://www.tate.org.uk/art/artworks/egley-omnibus-life-in-london-n05779
Joseph Stella, The Brooklyn Bridge: Variation on an Old Theme, 1939, oil on canvas, 70 × 42
inches / 177.8 × 106.7 cm (Whitney Museum of American Art)
and was to be avoided by the new modern public. Modern Europe and the U.S. internalized these
positions and used modernity as a way of determining and validating their superiority. The
nineteenth century was also a period of tremendous colonial growth and expansion, in the name
of progress and social benefit and all of these activities were spearheaded by newly industrialized
western countries.
Many artists closely identified with modernity and embraced the new techniques and innovations,
the spirit of progress, invention, discovery, creativity and change. They wanted to participate in
creating the modern world and they were anxious to try out new ideas rather than following the
more conservative guidelines of Academic art. This is not to say that these mid-nineteenth century
artists were the first to challenge an older generation or set of ideas. Many academic artists had
argued over formal issues, styles and subject matter but this was much like a good natured
agreement within a club; everyone in the group agreed to disagree.
A middle-class audience
Winslow Homer, Croquet Scene, 1866, oil on canvas, 40.3 x 66.2 cm (Art Institute of Chicago)
By the mid-1850’s polite academic disagreements were being taken out of the Academy and onto
the street. Artists were looking increasingly to the private sector for patronage, tapping into that
growing group of bourgeois or middle class collectors with money to spend and houses to fill with
paintings. This new middle class audience that made its money through industrialization and
manufacturing had lots of “disposable income”, and they wanted pictures that they could
understand, that were easy to look at, fit into their homes, addressed subjects they liked. Not for
them the historical cycles of gods, saints and heroes with their complex intellectual associations
and references; instead, they wanted landscapes, genre scenes, and still life. They were not less
educated than earlier buyers, but educated with a different focus and set of priorities. Reality was
here and now, progress was inevitable, and the new hero of modern life was the modern man.
Modernity is then a composite of contexts: a time, a space, and an attitude. What makes a place
or an object “modern” depends on these conditions.
The Avant-Garde
Throughout the 19th century there were artists who produced pictures that we do not label
“modern art” generally because the techniques or subjects were associated with the conservative
academic styles, techniques and approaches. On the other hand, modern artists were often called
the “avant garde.” This was originally a military term that described the point man (the first soldier
out)—the one to take the most risk. The French socialist Henri de Saint-Simon first used the term
in the early 1820’s to describe an artist whose work would serve the needs of the people, of a
socialist society rather than the ruling classes.
Kazimir Malevich, Suprematist Composition: White on White, 1918, oil on canvas, 31 1/4 x 31 1/4
inches / 79.4 x 79.4 cm (The Museum of Modern Art)
Malevich “viewed the Russian Revolution as having paved the way for a new society in which
materialism would eventually lead to spiritual freedom.” MoMA
(http://www.moma.org/collection/object.php?object_id=80385)
The avant garde is also used to identify artists whose painting subjects and techniques were
radical, marking them off from the more traditional or academic styles, but not with any particular
political ideology in mind. Avant garde became a kind of generic term for a number of art
movements centered on the idea of artistic autonomy and independence. In some cases the
avant garde was closely associated with political activism, especially socialist or communist
movements; in other cases, the avant garde was pointedly removed from politics and focused
primarily on aesthetics. The avant garde was never a cohesive group of artists and what was
avant garde in one nation was not necessarily the same in others.
Finally, although modern artists were working throughout many countries in Europe and the
United States, most 19th art and much 20th century modern art is centered in France and
produced by French artists. Unlike England which was politically stable in the 19th century,
France went through a variety of governments and insurrections all of which provided a unique
political and cultural environment that fostered what we know as modern art.
http://www.moma.org/collection/object.php?object_id=80385
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Reading: Photography
Early Development
The first attempts to capture an image were made from a camera obscura, used since the 16th
century. The device consists of a box or small room with a small hole in one side that acts as a
lens. Light from an external scene passes through the hole and strikes the opposite surface inside
where it is reproduced upside-down, but with color and perspective preserved. The image is
usually projected onto paper adhered to the opposite wall, and can then be traced to produce a
highly accurate representation. Experiments in capturing images on film had been conducted in
Europe since the late 18th century.
Using the camera obscura as a guide, early photographers found ways to chemically fix the
projected images onto plates coated with light sensitive materials. Moreover, they installed glass
lenses in their early cameras and experimented with different exposure times for their images.
View from the Window at Le Gras
(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:View_from_the_Window_at_Le_Gras,_Joseph_Nic%C3%A9phore_
Ni%C3%A9pce ) is one of the oldest existing photographs, taken in 1826 by French inventor
Joseph Niepce using a process he called heliography (“helio” meaning sun and “graph” meaning
write). The exposure for the image took eight hours, resulting in the sun casting its light on both
sides of the houses in the picture. Further developments resulted in apertures– thin circular
devices that are calibrated to allow a certain amount of light onto the exposed film. Apertures
allowed photographers better control over their exposure times.
During the 1830’s Louis Daguerre, having worked with Niepce earlier, developed a more reliable
process to capture images on film by using a polished copper plate treated with silver. He termed
the images made by this process “Daguerreotypes”. They were sharper in focus and the exposure
times were shorter. His photograph Boulevard du Temp from 1838 is taken from his studio window
overlooking a busy Paris street. Still, with an exposure of ten minutes, none of the moving traffic
or pedestrians (One exception. See if you can find it!) stayed still long enough to be recorded.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:View_from_the_Window_at_Le_Gras,_Joseph_Nic%C3%A9phore_Ni%C3%A9pce
(https://s3-us-west-2.amazonaws.com/courses-images-archive-
read-only/wp-
content/uploads/sites/415/2015/06/21035143/daguerre-
boulevard-du-temps )
Louis Daguerre, Boulevard du Temps, 1838. Image in the
public domain
At the same time in England, William Henry Fox Talbot was experimenting with other
photographic processes. He was creating photogenic drawings by simply placing objects (mostly
botanical specimens) over light sensitive paper or plates, then exposing them to the sun. By 1844
he had invented the calotype; a photographic print made from a negative image. In contrast,
Daguerreotypes were single, positive images that could not be reproduced. Talbot’s calotypes
(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henry_Fox_Talbot#/media/File:Latticed_window_at_lacock_abbey_1835
) allowed for multiple prints from one negative, setting the standard for the new medium.
Though Daguerre won the race to be first in releasing his photographic process, Talbot’s negative
to positive process would eventually become the dominant process.
Impact On Other Media
The advent of photography caused a realignment in the use of other two-dimensional media. The
photograph was now in direct competition with drawing, painting and printmaking. The camera
turns its gaze on the human narrative that stands before it. The photograph gave (for the most
part), a realistic and unedited view of our world. In its early beginning, photography was
considered to offer a more “true” image of nature because it was created mechanically, not by the
subjective hand of an artist. Its use as a tool for documentation was immediate, which gave the
photo a scientific role to play. The sequential, instantaneous exposures by Eadweard Muybridge
(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eadweard_Muybridge#/media/File:The_Horse_in_Motion )
helped to understand human and animal movement, but also highlighted that photography could
be used to expand human vision, imaging something that could not be seen with the naked
eye. The relative immediacy and improved clarity of the photographic image quickly pitted the
camera against painting in the genre of portraiture. Before photography, painted portraits were
https://s3-us-west-2.amazonaws.com/courses-images-archive-read-only/wp-content/uploads/sites/415/2015/06/21035143/daguerre-boulevard-du-temps
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henry_Fox_Talbot#/media/File:Latticed_window_at_lacock_abbey_1835
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eadweard_Muybridge#/media/File:The_Horse_in_Motion
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eadweard_Muybridge#/media/File:The_Horse_in_Motion
afforded only to the wealthy and most prominent members of society. They became symbols of
social class distinctions. Now portraits became available to individuals and families from all social
levels.
Photography as an Art
It wasn’t long before photographers recognized the aesthetic value of a photograph. As a new
medium, photography began the march towards being considered a high form of art. Alfred
Stieglitz understood this potential, and as a photographer, editor and gallery owner, was a major
force in promoting photography as an art form. He led in forming the Photo Secession in 1902, a
group of photographers who were interested in defining the photograph as an art form in itself, not
just by the subject matter in front of the lens. Subject matter became a vehicle for an emphasis on
composition, lighting and textural effects. His own photographs reflect a range of themes. The
Terminal (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alfred_Stieglitz#/media/File:Steiglitz-Terminal ) (1892)
is an example of “straight photography”: images from the everyday taken with smaller cameras
and little manipulation. In The Terminal Stieglitz captures a moment of bustling city street life on a
cold winter day. The whole cold, gritty scene is softened by steam rising off the horses and the
snow provides highlights. But the photo holds more than formal aesthetic value. The jumble of
buildings, machines, humans, animals and weather conditions provides a glimpse into American
urban culture straddling two centuries. Within ten years from the time this photo was taken horses
will be replaced by automobiles and subway stations will transform a large city’s movement into
the twentieth century.
Photojournalism and photography’s many subject placements
Photography is a medium that has multiple subject placements. It is used as an art medium, in
journalism, in advertising, the fashion industry, and we use it to personally document our lives. It
is one, if not the most, pervasive form of documentation in the world. These multiple subject
placements make it a complex phenomena to analyze.
The news industry was fundamentally changed with the invention of the photograph. Although
pictures were taken of newsworthy stories as early as the 1850’s, the photograph needed to be
translated into an engraving before being printed in a newspaper. It wasn’t until the turn of the
nineteenth century that newspaper presses could copy original photographs. Photos from around
the world showed up on front pages of newspapers defining and illustrating stories, and the world
became smaller as this early mass medium gave people access to up to date information…with
pictures!
Photojournalism is a particular form of journalism that creates images in order to tell a news story
and is defined by these three elements:
Timeliness — the images have meaning in the context of a recently published record of events.
Objectivity — the situation implied by the images is a fair and accurate representation of the
events they depict in both content and tone.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alfred_Stieglitz#/media/File:Steiglitz-Terminal
Narrative — the images combine with other news elements to make facts relatable to the viewer
or reader on a cultural level.
As visual information, news images help in shaping our perception of reality and the context
surrounding them.
Photographs taken by Mathew Brady and Timothy O’Sullivan during the American Civil War
(below) gave sobering witness to the carnage it produced. Images of soldiers killed in the field
help people realize the human toll of war and desensitize their ideas of battle as being particularly
heroic.
(https://s3-us-west-2.amazonaws.com/courses-images-archive-read-only/wp-content/uploads/sites/415/
osullivan )
https://s3-us-west-2.amazonaws.com/courses-images-archive-read-only/wp-content/uploads/sites/415/2015/06/21035144/harvest-of-death-timothy-h-osullivan
“The Harvest of Death” Union dead on the battlefield at Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, photographed Ju
Available through US Library of Congress
Photojournalism’s “Golden Age” took place between 1930 and 1950, coinciding with advances in
the mediums of radio and television.
Dorothea Lange was employed by the federal government’s Farm Security Administration to
document the plight of migrant workers and families dislocated by the Dust Bowl and the Great
Depression in America during the 1930’s. Migrant Mother, Florence Owens Thompson
(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dorothea_Lange#/media/File:Lange-MigrantMother02 ) , Nipomo
Valley, California is an iconic image of its hardships and the human resolve to survive. Like
O’Sullivan’s civil war photos, Lange’s picture puts a face on human tragedy. Photographs like this
helped win continued support for president Franklin Roosevelt’s social aid programs.
Modern Developments
Edwin Land (http://www.ideafinder.com/history/inventors/land.htm) invented the instant camera,
capable of taking and developing a photograph, in 1947, followed by the popular SX-70 instant
camera in 1972. The SX-70 produced a 3-inch-square-format positive image that developed in
front of your eyes. The beauty of instant development for the artist was that during the two or
three minutes it took for the image to appear, the film emulsion stayed malleable and able to
manipulate. The artist Lucas Samaras used this technique of manipulation to produce some of the
most imaginative and visually perplexing images in a series he termed photo-transformations
(http://www.getty.edu/art/gettyguide/artMakerDetails?maker=3793&page=1) . Using himself as
subject, Samaras explores ideas of self-identity, emotional states and the altered reality he
creates on film.
Polaroid SX-70 Instant Camera. Licensed
through Creative Commons
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dorothea_Lange#/media/File:Lange-MigrantMother02
http://www.ideafinder.com/history/inventors/land.htm
http://www.getty.edu/art/gettyguide/artMakerDetails?maker=3793&page=1
Digital cameras appeared on the market in the mid 1980s. They allow the capture and storage of
images through electronic means (the charge-coupled device
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charge-coupled_device) ) instead of photographic film. This new
medium created big advantages over the film camera: the digital camera produces an image
instantly, stores many images on a memory card in the camera, and the images can be
downloaded to a computer, where they can be further manipulated by editing software and sent
anywhere through cyberspace. This eliminated the time and cost involved in film development
and created another revolution in the way we access visual information.
Digital images start to replace those made with film while still adhering to traditional ideas of
design and composition. Bingo Time by photographer Jere DeWaters (below) uses a digital
camera to capture a visually arresting scene within ordinary surroundings. He uses a rational
approach to create a geometric order within the format, with contrasting diagonals set up between
sloping pickets and ramps, with an implied angle leading from the tire on the lower left to the white
window frame in the center and culminating at the clock on the upper right. And even though the
sign yells out to us for attention, the black rectangle in the center is what gets it.
Jere DeWaters, Bingo Time, 2006, digital color print. Used
by permission.
In addition, digital cameras and editing software let artists explore the notion of staged reality: not
just recording what they see but creating a new visual reality for the viewer. Sandy Skogland
(http://www.all-art.org/history658_photography13-28.html) creates and photographs elaborate
tableaus inhabited by animals and humans, many times in cornered, theatrical spaces. In a series
of images titled True Fiction Two she uses the digital process – and the irony in the title to build
fantastically colored, dream like images of decidedly mundane places. By straddling both
installation and digital imaging, Skoglund blurs the line between the real and the imagined in art.
The photographs of Jeff Wall (https://www.theartstory.org/artist/wall-jeff/artworks/) are similar
in content—a blend of the staged and the real, but presented in a straightforward style the artist
terms “near documentary.”
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http://www.all-art.org/history658_photography13-28.html
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Modern Developments. Authored by: Christopher Gildow. Located at:
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Reading: Defining Art from Modernity
to Globalization
Modernity to Globalization
This section addresses art and architecture from around 1850 up to the present.
During this period, art changed beyond recognition. The various academies still held sway in
Europe. It is true that the hierarchy of the genres was breaking down and the classical ideal was
becoming less convincing.
What counted as art in much of the nineteenth century remained pretty stable. Whether in
sculpture, painting, drawing or printmaking, artworks represented recognizable subjects in a
credible human-centered space. To be sure, subjects became less high-flown, compositional
effects often deliberately jarring and surface handling more explicit. There were plenty of
academicians and commentators who believed these changes amounted to the end of civilization,
but from today’s perspective they seem like small shifts of emphasis.
In contrast, art in the first part of the twentieth century underwent a rapid gear change. Art
historians agree that during this time artists began to radically revise picture making and
sculpture. With the invention of photography and it being employed as the dominant conveyor of
realism, painting undergoes a period of experimentation. Painters flattened out pictorial space,
broke with conventional viewpoints and discarded local color. (‘Local color’ is the term used for
the color things appear in the world. From the early twentieth century, painters began to
experiment with non-local color.) Sculptors began to leave the surface of their works in a rough,
seemingly unfinished state; they increasingly created partial figures and abandoned plinths or,
alternatively, inflated the scale of their bases. Architects abandoned revivalist styles and rich
ornamentation. To take one often cited example from painting, while the art of Paul Cézanne
(1839–1906) is based on a recognizable motif, say a landscape, when looking at these paintings
we get the distinct impression that the overall organization of the colors and structural elements
matters as much or more than the scene depicted. To retain fidelity to his sense impressions,
Cézanne is compelled to find a new order and coherence internal to the canvas. Frequently this
turns into incoherence as he tries to manage the tension between putting marks on a flat surface
and his external observation of space.
In fifteen years some artists would take this problem – the recognition that making art involved
attention to its own formal conditions that are not reducible to representing external things –
through Cubism to a fully abstract art. Conventionally, this story is told as a heroic progression of
‘movements’ and ‘styles’, each giving way to the next in the sequence: Post-Impressionism,
Fauvism, Cubism, Futurism, Dada, Constructivism, Surrealism… Each changing of the guard is
perceived as an advance and almost a necessary next step on the road to some preset goal. This
rapid turnover of small groups and personal idioms can seem bewildering and, in fact, this is a
minimal version of this story. Whether they sought new expressive resources, novel ways of
conveying experience or innovative techniques for representing the modern world, modern artists
turned their backs on the tried and tested forms of mimetic resemblance. But what counted as art
changed too. Bits of the everyday world began to be incorporated into artworks – as collage or
montage in two-dimensional art forms; in construction and assemblage in three-dimensional ones.
The inclusion of found materials played a fundamental role in modern art. The use of modern
materials and technologies – steel, concrete, photography – did something similar. Some artists
abandoned easel painting or sculpture to make direct interventions in the world through the
production of usable things, whether chairs or illustrated news magazines. Not all artists elected
to work with these new techniques and materials, and many carried on in the traditional ways or
attempted to adapt them to new circumstances.
Autonomy and Modernity
Broadly speaking, there are two different ways of thinking about modern art, or two different
versions of the story. One way is to view art as something that can be practiced (and thought of)
as an activity radically separate from everyday life or worldly concerns. From this point of view, art
is said to be ‘autonomous’ from society – that is, it is believed to be self-sustaining and self-
referring. One particularly influential version of this story suggests that modern art should be
viewed as a process by which features extraneous to a particular branch of art would be
progressively eliminated, and painters or sculptors would come to concentrate on problems
specific to their domain. Another way of thinking about modern art is to view it as responding to
the modern world, and to see modern artists immersing themselves in the conflicts and
challenges of society. That is to say, some modern artists sought ways of conveying the changing
experiences generated in Europe by the twin processes of commercialization (the
commodification of everyday life) and urbanization. From this point of view, modern art is a way of
reflecting on the transformations that created what we call, in a sort of shorthand, ‘modernity’.
Greenberg and Autonomy
While it has its roots in the nineteenth century, the approach to modern art as an autonomous
practice is particularly associated with the ideas of the English critics Roger Fry (1866–1934) and
Clive Bell (1881–1964), the critic Clement Greenberg (1909–94) and the New York Museum of
Modern Art’s director Alfred H. Barr (1902–81). For a period this view largely became the common
sense of modern art (O’Brian, 1986–95, 4 vols; Barr, 1974 [1936]). This version of modernism is
itself complex. The argument presumes that art is self-contained and artists are seen to grapple
with technical problems of painting and sculpture, and the point of reference is to artworks that
have gone before. This approach can be described as ‘formalist’ (paying exclusive attention to
formal matters), or, perhaps more productively drawing on a term employed by the critic Meyer
Schapiro (1904–96), as ‘internalist’ (a somewhat less pejorative way of saying the same thing)
(Schapiro, 1978 [1937]).
Rather than cloaking artifice, modern art, such as that made by Wassily Kandinsky (1866–1944)
drew attention to the conventions, procedures and techniques supposedly ‘inherent’ in a given
form of art. Modern art set about ‘creating something valid solely on its own terms’ (Ibid., p. 8).
For painting, this meant turning away from illusion and story-telling to concentrate on the features
that were fundamental to the practice – producing aesthetic effects by placing marks on a flat,
bounded surface. For sculpture, it entailed arranging or assembling forms in space.
(https://s3-us-west-2.amazonaws.com/courses-images-archive-read-only/wp-
content/uploads/sites/415/2015/05/21035119/Vassily_Kandinsky_1913_-
_Landscape_With_Red_Spots )
Wassily Kandinsky, Landscape with Red Spots, 1913. Work is in the public
domain.
It important to understand that the account of autonomous art, however internalist it may seem,
developed as a response to the social and political conditions of modern societies. In his 1939
essay ‘Avant-garde and kitsch’, Greenberg suggested that art was in danger from two linked
challenges: the rise of the dictators (Stalin, Mussolini, Hitler and Franco) and the commercialized
visual culture of modern times (the kitsch, or junk, of his title). Dictatorial regimes turned their
backs on ambitious art and curried favor with the masses by promoting a debased form of realism
that was easy to comprehend. Seemingly distinct from art made by dictatorial fiat, the visual
culture of liberal capitalism pursued instant, canned entertainment that would appeal to the
broadest number of paying customers. This pre-packaged emotional distraction was geared to
easy, unchallenging consumption. Kitsch traded on sentimentality, common-sense values and
flashy surface effects. The two sides of this pincer attack ghettoized the values associated with
art. Advanced art, in this argument, like all human values, faced an imminent danger. Greenberg
argued that, in response to the impoverished culture of both modern capitalist democracy and
dictatorship, artists withdrew to create novel and challenging artworks that maintained the
https://s3-us-west-2.amazonaws.com/courses-images-archive-read-only/wp-content/uploads/sites/415/2015/05/21035119/Vassily_Kandinsky_1913_-_Landscape_With_Red_Spots
possibility for critical experience and attention. He claimed that this was the only way that art
could be kept alive in modern society. In this essay, Greenberg put forward a left-wing sociological
account of the origins of modernist autonomy; others came to similar conclusions from positions
of cultural despair or haughty disdain for the masses.
The period from around 1850 onwards has been tumultuous: it has been regularly punctuated by
revolutions, wars and civil wars, and has witnessed the rise of nation states, the growth and
spread of capitalism, imperialism and colonialism, and decolonization. Sometimes artists tried to
keep their distance from the historical whirlwind, at other moments they flung themselves into the
eye of the storm. Even the most abstract developments and autonomous trends can be thought of
as embedded in this historical process. Modern artists could be cast in opposition to repressive
societies, or mass visual culture in the west, by focusing on themes of personal liberty and
individual defiance. The New York School championed by Greenberg coincided with this political
situation and with the high point of US mass cultural dominance – advertising, Hollywood cinema,
popular music and the rest. In many ways, the work of this group of abstract painters presents the
test case for assessing the claim that modern art offers a critical alternative to commercial visual
culture. It could seem a plausible argument, but the increasing absorption of modern art into
middle-class museum culture casts an increasing doubt over these claims. At the same time, the
figurative art that was supposed to have been left in the hands of the dictators continued to be
made in a wide variety of forms. If figurative art had been overlooked by critics during the high
point of abstract art, it made a spectacular comeback with Pop Art.
The Emergence of Modern Art in Paris
Let’s take a step back to the middle of the nineteenth century and consider the emergence of
modern art in Paris. The new art that developed with Gustave Courbet (1819–77), Manet and the
Impressionists entailed a self-conscious break with the art of the past. These modern artists took
seriously the representation of their own time. In place of allegorical figures in togas or scenes
from the Bible, modern artists concerned themselves with the things around them. When asked to
include angels in a painting for a church, Courbet is said to have replied ‘I have never seen
angels. Show me an angel and I will paint one.’ But these artists were not just empirical recording
devices. The formal or technical means employed in modern art are jarring and unsettling, and
this has to be a fundamental part of the story. A tension between the means and the topics
depicted, between surface and subject, is central to what this art was. Nevertheless, we miss
something crucial if we do not attend to the artists’ choices of subjects. Principally, these artists
sought the signs of change and novelty – multiple details and scenarios that made up
contemporary life. This meant they paid a great deal of attention to the new visual culture
associated with commercialized leisure.
Greenberg contrasted the mainstream of modern art, concerned with autonomous aesthetic
experience and formal innovation, with what he called ‘dead ends’ – directions in art that he felt
led nowhere. Even when restricted to the European tradition, this marginalized much of the most
significant art made in interwar Europe – Dada, Constructivism and Surrealism (Greenberg,
1961). The groups of artists producing this art – usually referred to collectively as the ‘avant-
garde’ or the ‘historical avant-garde’ – wanted to fuse art and life, and often based their practice
on a socialist rejection of bourgeois culture (see, in particular, Bürger, 1984). From their position in
western Europe, the Dadaists mounted an assault on the irrationalism and violence of militarism
and the repressive character of capitalist culture; in collages, montages, assemblages and
performances, they created visual juxtapositions aimed at shocking the middle-class audience
and intended to reveal connections hidden behind everyday appearances. The material for this
was drawn from mass-circulation magazines, newspapers and other printed ephemera. The
Constructivists participated in the process of building a new society in the USSR, turning to the
creation of utilitarian objects (or, at least, prototypes for them). The Surrealists combined ideas
from psychoanalysis and Marxism in an attempt to unleash those forces repressed by mainstream
society; the dream imagery is most familiar, but experiments with found objects and collage were
also prominent. These avant-garde groups tried to produce more than refined aesthetic
experiences for a restricted audience; they proffered their skills to help to change the world. In this
work the cross-over to visual culture is evident; communication media and design played an
important role. Avant-garde artists began to design book covers, posters, fabrics, clothing,
interiors, monuments and other useful things. They also began to merge with journalism by
producing photographs and undertaking layout work. In avant-garde circles, architects,
photographers and artists mixed and exchanged ideas. For those committed to autonomy of art,
this kind of activity constitutes a denial of the shaping conditions of art and betrayal of art for
propaganda, but the avant-garde were attempting something else – they sought a new social role
for art. One way to explore this debate is by switching from painting and sculpture to architecture
and design.
Responses to the Modern World
Marcel Duchamp (1887–1968), who is now seen as one of the most important artists of the
twentieth century, occupies an important place in destabilization of the art object. Duchamp
started out as a Cubist, but broke with the idea of art as a matter of special visual experience and
turned his attention to puns and perceptual or conceptual conundrums (Duchamp, 1975). These
activities brought him into the orbit of Dada in Paris and New York, but this was probably nothing
more than a convenient alliance. Duchamp played games with words and investigated the
associations of ordinary objects. He also messed around with gender conventions, inventing a
female alter ego called Rrose Sélavy – a pun on ‘Eros, c’est la vie’ or ‘Eros is life’. Critics and
other artists have particularly focused on the strain of his work known as the ‘readymades’. From
1914, Duchamp began singling out ordinary objects, such as a bottle rack, for his own attention
and amusement and that of a few friends. Sometimes he altered these things in some small way,
adding words and a title or joining them with something else in a way that shifted their meaning;
with Bicycle Wheel, he attached an inverted bike wheel to a wooden stool – he seems to have
been particularly interested in the shadow play this object created. We can see this odd object
among the clutter of Duchamp’s studio on West 67th Street in the photograph by Henri-Pierre
Roche. He called these altered everyday things ‘assisted readymades’.
Duchamp was interested in interrogating the mass-produced objects created by his society and
the common-sense definitions and values that such things accrued. Mischievously, he probed the
definitions and values of his culture for a small group of like-minded friends. It isn’t at all clear that
any of this was meant to be art; in fact, he explicitly posed the idea of making ‘works’ that could
not be thought of as ‘art’ (Nesbit, 2000). Nevertheless, artists in the late 1950s and the 1960s
became fascinated with this legacy and began to think of art as something the artist selected or
posited, rather than something he or she composed or made. According to this idea, the artist
could designate anything as art; what was important was the way that this decision allowed things
to be perceived in a new light. This was to lead to a fundamentally different conception of
art practice.
Art as concept: Duchamp, In Advance of the BrokenArt as concept: Duchamp, In Advance of the Broken……
With the breakup of the hegemony of the New York School, artists began to look at those features
of modern art that had been left out of the formalist story. During this period, Duchamp came to
replace Picasso or Matisse as the touchstone for young artists, but he was just one tributary of
what became a torrent. Perhaps most significantly, painting and anything we might
straightforwardly recognize as sculpture began to take a back seat. A host of experimental forms
and new media came to prominence: performance art, video, works made directly in or out of the
landscape, installations, photography and a host of other forms and practices. These works often
engaged with the representation of modernity and the shifting pattern of world power relations we
call ‘globalization’.
National, International, Cosmopolitan
Whether holding itself apart from the visual culture of modernity or immersed in it, modern art
developed not in the world’s most powerful economy (Britain), but in the places that were most
marked by ‘uneven and combined development’: places where explosive tensions between
traditional rural societies and the changes wrought by capitalism were most acute (Trotsky, 1962
[1928/1906]). In these locations, people only recently out of the fields encountered the shocks and
pleasures of grand-metropolitan cities. As the sociologist of modernity Georg Simmel (1858–
1918) suggested: ‘the city sets up a deep contrast with small-town and rural life with reference to
the social foundations of psychic life’. In contrast to the over-stimulation of the senses in the city,
Simmel thought that in the rural situation ‘the rhythm of life and sensory mental imagery flows
more slowly, more habitually, and more evenly’ (Simmel, 1997 [1903], p. 175). This situation
applies first of all to Paris (see Clark, 1984; Harvey, 2003; Prendergast, 1992). In Paris, the grand
boulevards and new palaces of commercial entertainment went hand in hand with the ‘zone’, a
vast shanty town ringing the city that was occupied by workers and those who eked out a
precarious life. Whereas the Impressionists concentrated on the bourgeois city of bars,
boulevards and boudoirs, the photographer Eugène Atget (1857–1927) represented the Paris that
was disappearing – the medieval city with its winding alleys and old iron work – or those working-
class quarters composed of cheap lodgings and traders recycling worn-out commodities (Nesbit,
1992; see also Benjamin, 1983). This clash of ways of life generated different ways of inhabiting
and viewing the city with class and gender at their core. Access to the modern city and its
representations was more readily available to middle-class men than to those with less social
authority, whether they were working people, women or minority ethnic or religious groups (Wolff,
1985, pp. 37–46; Pollock, 1988, pp. 50–90).
(https://s3-us-west-2.amazonaws.com/courses-images-archive-read-
only/wp-
content/uploads/sites/415/2015/05/21035120/Eug%C3%A8ne_Atget_Fr
ench_-_Chiffonier_Ragpicker_-_Google_Art_Project )
Eugène Atget, Chiffonier (Ragpicker), c. 1899–1901. Work is in the
public domain.
https://s3-us-west-2.amazonaws.com/courses-images-archive-read-only/wp-content/uploads/sites/415/2015/05/21035120/Eug%C3%A8ne_Atget_French_-_Chiffonier_Ragpicker_-_Google_Art_Project
Contradictions
Before the Second World War, the alternative centers of modernism were also key sites of uneven
and combined development: Berlin, Budapest, Milan, Moscow and Prague. In these places, large-
scale industry was created by traditional elites in order to develop the production capacities
required to compete militarily with Britain. Factory production was plopped down into largely
agrarian societies, generating massive shocks to social equilibrium. In many ways, Moscow is the
archetypal version of this pattern of acute contradictions. Before the 1917 Revolution, Moscow
was the site of enormous and up-to-date factories, including the world’s largest engineering plant,
but was set in a sea of peasant backwardness. This is one reason that Vladimir Lenin described
Russia as the weakest link in the international-capitalist chain.
This set of contradictions put a particular perception of time at the center of modern art.
Opposition to the transformations of society that were underway could be articulated in one of two
ways, and in an important sense both were fantasy projections: on the one hand, artists looked to
societies that were seen as more ‘primitive’ as an antidote to the upheavals and shallow glamour
of capitalism. On the other hand, they attempted a leap into the future. Both perspectives –
Primitivism and Futurism – entailed a profound hostility to the world as it had actually developed,
and both orientations were rooted in the conditions of an uneven and combined world system.
The vast urban centers – Paris, Berlin, and Moscow – attracted artists, chancers, intellectuals,
poets and revolutionaries. The interchange between people from different nations bred a form of
cultural internationalism. In interwar Paris, artists from Spain, Russia, Mexico, Japan and a host of
other places rubbed shoulders. Modernist artists attempted to transcend parochial and local
conditions and create a formal ‘language’ valid beyond time and place, and ‘the school of Paris’ or
the ‘international modern movement’ signified a commitment to a culture more capacious and
vibrant than anything the word ‘national’ could contain. The critic Harold Rosenberg (1906–78)
stated this theme explicitly. Rejecting the idea that ‘national life’ could be a source of inspiration,
he suggested that the modernist culture of Paris, was a ‘no-place’ and a ‘no-time’ and only Nazi
tanks returned the city to France by wiping out modernist internationalism (Rosenberg, 1970
[1940]).
A Move to New York
‘No-place’ then shifted continent. Perhaps for the only time in its history, after the Second World
War modernism was positioned at the heart of world power – when a host of exiles from
European fascism and war relocated in New York. American abstract art was centered on New
York and a powerful series of institutions: the Museum of Modern Art, Peggy Guggenheim’s
gallery Art of This Century and a host of small independent galleries run by private dealers
(including Betty Parsons, Samuel Koontz and Sidney Janis). In the main, these artists, such as
Jackson Pollock (1912–56), Mark Rothko (1903–70), Arshile Gorky (1904–48), Robert Motherwell
(1915–91) and Barnett Newman (1905–70), and associated critics (Greenberg and Rosenberg)
were formed during the 1930s in the circles of the New York Left: they were modernist
internationalists opposed to US parochialism in art and politics. After the war, they retained this
commitment to an international modern art, while the politics drained away or was purged in the
Cold War. The period of US hegemony in modern art coincided with the optimum interest in
autonomous form and pure ‘optical’ experience. This was the time when artists working in the
modernist idiom were least interested in articulating epochal changes and most focused on art as
an act of individual realization and a singular encounter between the viewer and the artwork. At
the same time, these artists continued to keep their distance from mainstream American values
and mass culture. Some champions of autonomous art are inclined to think art came to a
shuddering halt with the end of the New York School. Alternatively, we can see Conceptual Art as
initiating or reinvigorating a new phase of modern art that continues in the global art of today.
It should be apparent from this brief sketch that the predominant ways of thinking about modern
art have focused on a handful of international centers and national schools – even when artists
and critics proclaim their allegiance to internationalism. The title of Irving Sandler’s book The
Triumph of American Painting is one telling symptom (Sandler, 1970). There is a story about
geopolitics – about the relationship between the west and the rest – embedded in the history of
modern art. These powerful forms of modernism cannot be swept aside, but increasingly critics
and art historians are paying attention to other stories; to the artworks made in other places and in
other ways, and which were sidelined in the dominant accounts of art’s development. A focus on
art in a globalized art world leads to revising the national stories told about modernism. This
history is currently being recast as a process of global interconnections rather than an exclusively
western-centered chronicle, and commentators are becoming more attentive to encounters and
interchanges between westerners and people from what has helpfully been called the ‘majority
world’, in art as in other matters. This term – majority world – was used by the Bangladeshi
photographer Shahidul Alam, to describe what the term ‘third world’ had once designated. We use
it here to characterize those people and places located outside centers of western affluence and
power; they constitute the vast majority of the world’s inhabitants and this reminds us that western
experience is a minority condition and not the norm.
The Local and the Global
The reality is not that the majority world will be transformed into a high-tech consumer paradise.
In fact, inequality is increasing across the world. What is referred to as globalization is the most
recent phase of uneven and combined development. The new clash of hypermodern and
traditional forms of economic activity and social life are taking place side by side; megacities
spring up alongside the ‘planet of slums’, and communication technologies play an important role
in this clash of space and time. Recent debates on globalization and art involve a rejection of
modernist internationalism; instead, artists and art historians are engaged with local conditions of
artistic production and the way these mesh in an international system of global art making.
Modern art is currently being remade and rethought as a series of much more varied responses to
contemporaneity around the world. Artists now draw on particular local experiences, and also on
forms of representation from popular traditions. Engagement with Japanese popular prints played
an important role in Impressionism, but in recent years this sort of cultural crossing has
undergone an explosion.
Drawing local image cultures into the international spaces of modern art has once more shifted
the character of art. The paradox is that the cultural means that are being employed – video art,
installation, large color photographs and so forth – seem genuinely international. Walk into many
of the large exhibitions around the globe and you will see artworks referring to particular
geopolitical conditions, but employing remarkably similar conventions and techniques. This
cosmopolitanism risks underestimating the real forces shaping the world; connection and mobility
for some international artists goes hand in hand with uprootedness and the destruction of habitat
and ways of life for others.
Conclusion
This overview has provided examples of the shifting perceptions and definitions of art across time.
The first part demonstrated the changing role of the artist and diverse types of art in the medieval
and Renaissance periods. The second part outlined the evaluation of art in the academies, issues
of style, and changes to patronage, where art and its consumption became increasingly part of
the public sphere during the period 1600 to 1850. The last part addressed the way in which artists
broke from all conventions and the influence of globalization on art production, in the period 1850
to the present.
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Reading: The Baroque
Gian Lorenzo Bernini, Cathedra Petri (or Chair of St. Peter), gilded bronze, gold,
wood, stained glass, 1647-53 (apse of Saint Peter’s Basilica, Vatican City,
Rome)
Rome: From the “Whore of Babylon” to the Resplendent Bride of Christ
When Martin Luther tacked his 95 theses to the doors of Wittenburg Cathedral in 1517 protesting
the Catholic Church’s corruption, he initiated a movement that would transform the religious,
political, and artistic landscape of Europe. For the next century, Europe would be in turmoil as
new political and religious boundaries were determined, often through bloody military conflicts.
Only in 1648, with the signing of the Treaty of Westphalia, did the conflicts between Protestants
and Catholics subside in continental Europe.
Martin Luther focused his critique on what he saw as the Church’s greed and abuse of power. He
called Rome, the seat of papal power, “the whore of Babylon” decked out in finery of expensive
art, grand architecture, and sumptuous banquets. The Church responded to the crisis in two
ways: by internally addressing issues of corruption and by defending the doctrines rejected by the
Protestants. Thus, while the first two decades of the 16th century were a period of lavish spending
for the Papacy, the middle decades were a period of austerity. As one visitor to Rome noted in the
1560s, the entire city had become a convent. Piety and asceticism ruled the day.
By the end of the 16th century, the Catholic Church was once again feeling optimistic, even
triumphant. It had emerged from the crisis with renewed vigor and clarity of purpose. Shepherding
the faithful—instructing them on Catholic doctrines and inspiring virtuous behavior—took center
stage. Keen to rebuild Rome’s reputation as a holy city, the Papacy embarked on extensive
building and decoration campaigns aimed at highlighting its ancient origins, its beliefs, and its
divinely-sanctioned authority. In the eyes of faithful Catholics, Rome was not an unfaithful whore,
but a pure bride, beautifully adorned for her union with her divine spouse.
View of the Cerasi Chapel in Santa Maria del Popolo in Rome with Annibale
Carracci’s altarpiece, The Assumption of the Virgin, 1600-01, oil on canvas,
96 in × 61 inches and to the right, Caravaggio’s Conversion of Saint Paul
(Conversion of Saul), 1601, 91 in × 69 inches
The Art of Persuasion: to Instruct, to Delight, to Move
While the Protestants harshly criticized the cult of images, the Catholic Church ardently embraced
the religious power of art. The visual arts, the Church argued, played a key role in guiding the
faithful. They were certainly as important as the written and spoken word, and perhaps even more
important, since they were accessible to the learned and the unlearned alike. In order to be
effective in its pastoral role, religious art had to be clear, persuasive, and powerful. Not only did it
have to instruct, it had to inspire. It had to move the faithful to feel the reality of Christ’s sacrifice,
the suffering of the martyrs, the visions of the saints.
Caravaggio, The Crowning with Thorns, 1602-04, oil on canvas, 165.5 x 127 cm
(Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna)
The Church’s emphasis on art’s pastoral role prompted artists to experiment with new and more
direct means of engaging the viewer. Artists like Caravaggio turned to a powerful and dramatic
realism, accentuated by bold contrasts of light and dark, and tightly-cropped compositions that
enhance the physical and emotional immediacy of the depicted narrative. Other artists, like
Annibale Carracci (who also experimented with realism), ultimately settled on a more classical
visual language, inspired by the vibrant palette, idealized forms, and balanced compositions of the
High Renaissance. Still others, like Giovanni Battista Gaulli, turned to daring feats of illusionism
that blurred not only the boundaries between painting, sculpture, and architecture, but also those
between the real and depicted worlds. In so doing, the divine was made physically present and
palpable. Whether through shocking realism, dynamic movement, or exuberant ornamentation,
seventeenth-century art is meant to impress. It aims to convince the viewer of the truth of its
message by impacting the senses, awakening the emotions, and activating, even sharing the
viewer’s space.
Giovanni Battista Gaulli, also known as il Baciccio, The Triumph of the Name of
Jesus, Il Gesù ceiling fresco, 1672-1685
The Catholic Monarchs and Their Territories
The monarchs of Spain, Portugal, and France also embraced the more ornate elements of
seventeenth century art to celebrate Catholicism. In Spain and its colonies, rulers invested vast
resources on elaborate church facades, stunning, gold-covered chapels and tabernacles, and
strikingly-realistic polychrome sculpture. In the Spanish Netherlands, where sacred art had
suffered terribly as a result of the Protestant iconoclasm (the destruction of art), civic and religious
leaders prioritized the adornment of churches as the region reclaimed its Catholic identity.
Refurnishing the altars of Antwerp’s churches kept Peter Paul Rubens’ workshop busy for many
years. Europe’s monarchs also adopted this artistic vocabulary to proclaim their own power and
status. Louis XIV, for example, commissioned the splendid buildings and gardens of Versailles as
a visual expression of his divine right to rule.
View of paintings by Peter Paul Rubens in the Alte Pinakothek, Munich
The Protestant North
In the Protestant countries, and especially in the newly-independent Dutch Republic (modern-day
Holland), the artistic climate changed radically in the aftermath of the Reformation.
Judith Leyster, Self-Portrait, c. 1630, oil on canvas,
651 x 746 cm (National Gallery of Art, Washington)
Two of the wealthiest sources of patronage—the monarchy and the Church—were now gone. In
their stead arose an increasingly prosperous middle class eager to express its status, and its new
sense of national pride, through the purchase of art.
By the middle of the 17th century a new market had emerged to meet the artistic tastes of this
class. The demand was now for smaller scale paintings suitable for display in private homes.
These paintings included religious subjects for private contemplation, as seen in Rembrandt’s
poignant paintings and prints of biblical narratives, as well as portraits documenting individual
likenesses.
Willem Claesz Heda, Banquet Piece with Mince Pie, 1635, oil on canvas, 42 x
43-3/4 inches (National Gallery of Art, Washington)
But, the greatest change in the market was the dramatic increase in the popularity of landscapes,
still-lifes, and scenes of everyday life (known as genre painting). Indeed, the proliferation of these
subjects as independent artistic genres was one of the 17th century’s most significant
contributions to the history of Western art. In all of these genres, artists revealed a keen interest in
replicating observed reality—whether it be the light on the Dutch landscape, the momentary
expression on a face, or the varied textures and materials of the objects the Dutch collected as
they reaped the benefits of their expanding mercantile empire. These works demonstrated as
much artistic virtuosity and physical immediacy as the grand decorations of the palaces and
churches of Catholic Europe.
Francisco de Zurbarán, Saint Francis of Assisi
According to Pope Nicholas V’s Vision, c. 1640, oil
on canvas, 110.5 x 180.5 cm (Museum Nacional
d’Art de Catalunya, Barcelona)
“Baroque”—the Word, the Style, the Period
In the context of European history, the period from c. 1585 to c. 1700/1730 is often called the
Baroque era. The word “baroque” derives from the Portuguese and Spanish words for a large,
irregularly-shaped pearl (“barroco” and “barrueco,” respectively). Eighteenth century critics were
the first to apply the term to the art of the 17th century. It was not a term of praise. To the eyes of
these critics, who favored the restraint and order of Neoclassicism, the works of Bernini,
Borromini, and Pietro da Cortona appeared bizarre, absurd, even diseased—in other words,
misshapen, like an imperfect pearl.
By the middle of the 19th century, the word had lost its pejorative implications and was used to
describe the ornate and complex qualities present in many examples of 17th-century art, music
and literature. Eventually, the term came to designate the historical period as a whole. In the
context of painting, for example, the stark realism of Zurbaran’s altarpieces, the quiet intimacy of
Vermeer’s domestic interiors, and restrained classicism of Poussin’s landscapes are all “Baroque”
(now with a capital “B” to indicate the historical period), regardless of the absence of the stylistic
traits originally associated with the term.
Nicolas Poussin, Landscape with St. John, 1640, oil on canvas, 39-1/2 x 53-5/8
inches (Art Institute of Chicago)
Scholars continue to debate the validity of this label, admitting the usefulness of having a label for
this distinct historical period, while also acknowledging its limitations in characterizing the variety
of artistic styles present in the 17th century.
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