Art is Us 2015 week 9

The ninth session of the “Art is Us” art history class for Spring 2015 was held on Thursday, May 14. Artwork from the Surrealism, De Stijl/Neo-Plasticism, Abstract Expressionism, Op Art, Pop Art, and Photo-Realism movements was introduced. Works by Salvador Dali, Jackson Pollock, Josef Albers, Claes Oldenburg, Chuck Close, and Richard Nelson were featured. Concepts from the whole course were reviewed in quizzes. The reason/passion polarity was revealed to be the organizing principle of the entire course.

Art is Us 2015 week 8

The eighth session of the “Art is Us” art history class for Spring 2015 was held on Thursday, May 7. Students brought in “Tribes” puzzles for classmates to solve. Paintings by Harnett and Picasso were compared. We spent extra time on Cézanne, as he is key to understanding modern art. A brief quiz reviewed characteristics of Impressionist and Post-Impressionist periods. The Fauvist and Cubist movements were introduced, featuring work by Matisse, Braque, and Picasso.

Art is Us 2015 week 7

The seventh session of the “Art is Us” art history class for Spring 2015 was held on Thursday, April 30. Artwork from the Realist, Impressionist, and Post-Impressionist periods was shown and discussed. Artists moved away from simply “re-“presenting the world, and started creating “art for art’s sake.” Works by Manet, Whistler, Monet, Renoir, Caillebotte, van Gogh, Toulouse-Lautrec, Degas, Cézanne, Gauguin, Seurat and others are featured.

Art is Us 2015 week 6

The sixth session of the “Art is Us” art history class for Spring 2015 was held on Thursday, April 23. We discussed the homework assignment, a comparison of Titian’s Venus of Urbino and Manet’s Olympia. The presentation covers artwork from the Neo-Classic, Romantic, and Realist periods. In Neo-Classic work we see a return of characteristics from the Greek Classic and Renaissance periods, and a return of Greek Hellenistic and Baroque in Romantic, both with new interpretation and worldview. The Realist movement takes a whole new approach, of “art for art’s sake,” rather than to represent the world around us. Works by Ingres, David, Gericault, Delacroix, Turner, Millet, Courbet, Manet, and others are featured. For homework, there is a quiz, and new comparison and tribes homework assignments.

Art is Us 2015 week 5

The fifth session of the “Art is Us” art history class for Spring 2015 was held on Thursday, April 16. Paintings from the Renaissance and Baroque were compared, and parallels to Greek Classic and Hellenistic art were identified. Underlying human qualities of reason and passion are associated with these two archetypal movements. Examples of Baroque and Northern Renaissance art were presented and analyzed. There are new comparison and tribes homework assignments.

Art is Us 2015 week 4

The fourth session of the “Art is Us” art history class for Spring 2015 was held on Thursday, April 9. We saw examples of art and architecture from the late Gothic, early Renaissance, High Renaissance, and Mannerism periods. Several principles articulated by German art historian Heinrich Wölfflin were introduced.

Art is Us 2015 week 3

The third session of the “Art is Us” art history class for Spring 2015 was held on Thursday, April 2. We discussed the homework assignment comparing two Gothic sculptures, and viewed a presentation covering over 1400 years of art and architecture, from Roman to Early Christian, Byzantine, Romanesque and Gothic periods. We’re starting to see some themes repeat.

Art is Us 2015 week 2

The second session of the “Art is Us” art history class for Spring 2015 was held on Thursday, March 26. We played another game, designed to increase awareness of our thinking processes. We discussed examples of natural and controlled gardens. Characteristics of ancient Greek art were presented in the lecture, and a format for comparing works was provided. These classes are introducing themes to watch for in art, and training us to be independent and objective observers of art.