Understanding Art

548 Pages·1992·81.164 MB·English

by  Lois Fichner-Rathus

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Understandin
Art
THIRD EDITION
FICHNER-RATHUS
LOIS
Trenton State College
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Prentice Hall, Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey 07632
LibraryofCongressCataloging-in-PublicationData
Fkhnir-Rathus, Lois(date) —
Unpd.ersctmandingart/LoisFichner-Rathus. 3rded.
Includesindex.
ISBN0-13-932203-5(pbk) —
1 Visualperception. 2. Composition(Art) 3. Art history.
7I.0T1itMle—.dc2N07430.5.F5 1992 91-28865
C1P
For my daughters—Allyn, Jordan, and Taylor
Acquisitionseditor:BudTherien
Editorial/productionsupervision:HildaTauber
Prepressbuyer:HerbKlein
Manufacturingbuyer:PatriceFraccio
Marketingdirector:ChrisFreitag
Pagelayout:Karen Noferi,Maria Piper
Photoresearch:Joelle Burrows
Photoeditor:Lori Morris-Nantz,Anita Duncan
Coverdesign:Suzanne Behnke,ShereeGoodman
Coverphotoresearch:Lois Fichner-Rathus
Coverphotograph:AviewofConstantin Brancusi'sstudio in Paris
taken bytheartistAlexanderLiberman in1955,showing its
fantasticaccumulationofforms."The Kiss" isvisibleontheback
cover. FromAlexanderLiberman, TheArtistinHisstudio,
rev.ed.,1988.
© 1992, 1989, 1986byPrentice-Hall, Inc.
ASimon&SchusterCompany
Englewood Cliffs, NewJersey07632
All rightsreserved. Nopartofthisbookmaybe
reproduced, inany formorbyanymeans,
withoutpermission inwritingfrom the publisher.
Print9ed8in7the6Un5ite4d3StatesofAmerica
10
ISBN D-13-T322D3-S
Prentice-Hall International (UK) Limited, London
Prentice-HallofAustralia Pty. Limited, Sydney
Prentice-HallCanada Inc., Toronto
Prentice-Hall Hispanoamericana, S.A., Mexico
Prentice-Hall ofIndia Private Limited, NewDelhi
Prentice-HallofJapan, Inc., Tokyo
Simon&SchusterAsia Pte. Ltd., Singapore
Editora Prentice-HalldoBrasil, Ltda., RiodeJaneiro
Contents
Brief
1 WHAT IS ART? MEANINGS, PURPOSES, STYLES 1
2 THE LANGUAGE OF ART:
ELEMENTS, COMPOSITION, AND CONTENT 31
3 DRAWING
73
4 PAINTING 89
5 PRINTMAKING 105
6 SCULPTURE 121
7 ARCHITECTURE 145
8 CAMERA ARTS: PHOTOGRAPHY,
CINEMATOGRAPHY, AND VIDEO 175
9 THE ART OF EVERYDAY LIVING: CRAFTS AND DESIGN 202
10 THE ART OF THE ANCIENTS 234
11 CLASSICAL ART: GREECE AND ROME 260
12 CHRISTIAN ART:
FROM CATACOMBS TO CATHEDRALS 293
13 THE RENAISSANCE 320
14 THE AGE OF BAROQUE 351
15 MODERN ART 378
16 THE TWENTIETH CENTURY: THE EARLY YEARS 409
17 CONTEMPORARY ART 434
18 BEYOND EUROPE AND THE UNITED STATES:
A WORLD OF ART 471
GLOSSARY 499 INDEX 512

Contents
PREFACE xv
Expressionistic Art 29
1 Abstract Art 29
WHAT ART? MEANINGS. COMPARE AND CONTRAST
IS
. .
PURPOSES, STYLES Kokoschka's The Tempest and van
1
Eyck's Giovanni Arnolfini and His
PURPOSES OF ART 2 Bride 28
To Create Beauty 3
To Provide Decoration 3
To Reveal Truth 4
To Immortalize 6
To Express Religious Values 7
To Express Fantasy 9 THE LANGUAGE OF ART:
To Stimulate the Intellect and Fire the ELEMENTS, COMPOSITION.
Emotions 10 AND CONTENT
To Create Order and Harmony 12 31
To Express Chaos 13
To Record and Commemorate ART AS LANGUAGE 32
Experience 14
To Reflect the Social and Cultural
ELEMENTS OF ART 32
Context 16
To Protest Injustice and Raise Social Line 32
Consciousness 18 Shape 34
To Elevate the Commonplace 20 Light 37
To Express the Universal 22 Color 39
To Sell Products 22 Psychological Dimensions of Color: Hue,
To Meet the Needs of the Artist 22 Value, and Saturation 39
Complementary versus Analogous
Colors 41
STYLES OF ART 24
Local versus Optical Color 43
Realistic Art 24 Texture 45
Realistic versus Representational Art 27 Mass 48
Space 49 Fluid Media 80
Overlapping 50 Pen and Ink 80
Relative Size and Linear Perspective 50 Pen and Wash 82
Atmospheric Perspective 54 Brush and Ink 82
Time and Motion 56 Brush and Wash 85
Cartoons 85
New Approaches to Drawing 86
COMPOSITION 60
COMPARE AND CONTRAST
Proportion and Scale 62 . .
Unity 63 Nadelman's Head ofa Woman and
Balance 66 Tiepolo's Hagar and Ishmael in the
Rhythm 67 Wilderness 82
Pattern 69
4
CONTENT 69
The Levels of Content 69
Iconography 70 PAINTING 89
Content in Nonobjective Art 72
COMPARE AND CONTRAST PAINT 90
. . .
Van Ness's Summer Sunlight and
TYPES OF PAINTING 90
Liberman's Photo ofPicasso 44
Fresco 90
COMPARE AND CONTRAST Encaustic 92
. . .
Matisse's Open Window, Collioure and Egg Tempera 92
Oil 94
Murphy's Self-Portrait with Pansy 55
Acrylic 97
Watercolor 102
A CLOSER LOOK
Claes Oldenburg: On Clothespins, Baseball COMBINING PAINTING WITH OTHER
Bats, and Other Monuments 64 MATERIALS 104
COMPARE AND CONTRAST COMPARE AND CONTRAST
. . . . . .
Mondrian's Composition with Red, Blue, Runge's The Time of Day: Morning and
and Yellow and His Broadway Boogie- a Navajo Ceremonial Painting 97
Woogie 71
5
3
PRINTMAKING 105
DRAWING 73
METHODS OF PRINTMAKING 106
CATEGORIES OF DRAWING 74 RELIEF 107
Materials 74 Woodcut 107
Dry Media 74 Wood Engraving 109
Silverpoint 74
Pencil 75 INTAGLIO 110
Charcoal 76
Chalk and Pastel 77 Engraving 110
Crayon 80 Drypoint 111
VI CONTENTS
1
Etching A CLOSER LOOK
1 1
Mezzotint and Aquatint 113 The Vietnam Memorial 129
Some Other Etching Techniques 114
COMPARE AND CONTRAST
. . .
LITHOGRAPHY 114 Gonzalez's Woman Combing Her Hair
and Rodin's The Walking Man 132
SERIGRAPHY 118 A CLOSER LOOK
Christo: Of Running Fences
MONOTYPE 119 and Skirted Islands 144
COMBINING PRINTMAKING MEDIA
7
WITH OTHER MEDIA 120
A CLOSER LOOK
Why Modern Art May Never Become Old ARCHITECTURE 145
Masterpieces 100
STONE ARCHITECTURE 146
Post and Lintel Construction 146
6 Arches 150
Vaults 151
Domes 152
SCULPTURE
121
WOOD
ARCHITECTURE 153
TYPES OF SUBTRACTIVE AND ADDITIVE Post and Beam Construction 155
SCULPTURE 123 Trusses 156
Carving 123 Balloon Framing 156
Modeling 124
Casting 124
CAST-IRON ARCHITECTURE 158
The Lost-Wax Technique 124
Plaster Casting of Human Models 126
Construction 126
STEEL-CAGE ARCHITECTURE 159
TYPES OF MATERIALS 127
REINFORCED CONCRETE
Stone Sculpture 127
ARCHITECTURE 164
Wood Sculpture 130
Clay Sculpture 132
Metal Sculpture 133
OTHER ARCHITECTURAL METHODS 167
Steel-Cable Architecture 167
MODERN AND CONTEMPORARY
Shell Architecture 168
MATERIALS AND METHODS 134 Solar Architecture 168
Constructed Sculpture 134
Assemblage 136
CONTEMPORARY MUSEUMS: FUNCTIONS
Ready-Mades 138
AND FORMS 170
Mixed Media 138
Kinetic Sculpture 140 A CLOSER LOOK
Light Sculpture 142
Earthworks 143 A Pyramid in Paris 157
CONTENTS VII
8 9
CAMERA ARTS: PHOTOGRAPHY, II IE ART OF EVERYDAY LIVING:
CINEMATOGRAPHY. CRAFTS AND DESIGN 202
AND VIDEO 175
PHOTOGRAPHY 176 CRAFTS 203
Cameras 178 Ceramics 203
Films 178 Methods of Working with Clav 203
A Brief History of Photography 179 The Potter's Wheel 204
The Camera Obscura 179 Glazing 204
Development of Photosensitive Types of Ceramics 205
Surfaces 179 Glass' 207
Heliography 180 Techniques of Working Glass 207
The Daguerreotype 180 Examples of Glassware 208
The Negative 181 Fiber Arts 210
Portraits 181 Weaving 210
The Advent of Photojournalism 182 Applying Designs to Fabrics 212
Photojournalism During the Depression Other Fiber Arts 213
and the War Years 183 Metalwork and Jewelry 214
Photography as an Art Form 185 Furniture 216
A Highly Selective Survey of
Antiques 216
CINEMATOGRAPHY 189 Contemporary Examples 218
Varieties of Cinematographic
Techniques 190
Fixed Cameras and Staged
Productions 191 DESIGN 219
The Mobile Camera 192
Graphic Design 219
Editing 192
Color 193 Package Design 219
Animation 194 Posters 220
Special Effects 194 Logos 221
Varieties of Cinematographic Clothing Design 221
Experience 195 Functions of Clothing 221
Propaganda 195 Fashion and Fad in Clothing
Design 232
Satire 196
Social Commentary 196 Industrial Design 226
Fantasy 196 Form and Function 226
Symbolism 197 Interior Design 227
Examples of Interiors 227
Urban Design 230
VIDEO 198 The Rectangular Plan 230
The Circular Plan 230
Television 198
Paris 231
How Television Works 199 Washington, D.C. 231
Music Videos 199 The Utopia of the Visionary 233
Video Art 199
Women and Video Art 200 A CLOSER LOOK
COMPARE AND CONTRAST A Little Somethingfor the Birds 225
. . .
Marey's Chronophotograph of the Flight of
a Bird and Balla's Swifts: Paths of A CLOSER LOOK
Movement+Dynamic Sequences 189 The Parks of Frederick Law Olmsted 232
VI CONTENTS
11