What is Art?

I have been reading The Intellectual Life of the Early Renaissance Artist by Francis Ames-Lewis.  I am not very far into it, but it promises to be interesting.  In it Ames-Lewis gives an account of the evolution of the artist from a craftsman/tradesman to an artist with socially elevated standing during the early Renaissance.  He traces the change of paintings from functional objects (stimuli for devotion or decorations for furniture and interiors) into objects that are ends in themselves, with "no self-evident function [and which] appear to serve in an abstract way as visual stimuli to intellectual activity." (p.3)

I think this is a crucial part of the answer to the question What is Art?  It must be a stimuli to intellectual activity. 

Lady with an Ermine, Leonardo da Vinci, Czartoryski Museum, Kraków

John Ruskin expands on this definition in The Two Paths.  Ruskin was writing in 1859, almost one hundred years after the very infancy of the first industrial revolution and in the middle of the second industrial revolution.  It was a time of great technological advancement and an enormous shift in society from agriculture and local production to large scale mass production of manufactured goods.

"It would be well if all students would keep clearly in their mind the real distinction between those words which we use so often, "Manufacture," "Art," and "Fine Art." "MANUFACTURE" is, according to the etymology and right use of the word, "the making of anything by hands,"--directly or indirectly, with or without the help of instruments or machines. Anything proceeding from the hand of man is manufacture; but it must have proceeded from his hand only, acting mechanically, and uninfluenced at the moment by direct intelligence. Then, secondly, ART is the operation of the hand and the intelligence of man together; there is an art of making machinery; there is an art of building ships; an art of making carriages; and so on. All these, properly called Arts, but not Fine Arts, are pursuits in which the hand of man and his head go together, working at the same instant. Then FINE ART is that in which the hand, the head, and the _heart_ of man go together. Recollect this triple group; it will help you to solve many difficult problems. And remember that though the hand must be at the bottom of everything, it must also go to the top of everything; for Fine Art must be produced by the hand of man in a much greater and clearer sense than manufacture is. Fine Art must always be produced by the subtlest of all machines, which is the human hand. No machine yet contrived, or hereafter contrivable, will ever equal the fine machinery of the human fingers. Thoroughly perfect art is that which proceeds from the heart, which involves all the noble emotions;--associates with these the head, yet as inferior to the heart; and the hand, yet as inferior to the heart and head; and thus brings out the whole man."

John Ruskin, A Dalmatian Pelican

And finally, the Art Renewal Center and Fred Ross further codify the definition of art here and in their whole collection of the philosophy behind art:

"Just because something causes you to have a feeling of aesthetic beauty does not make it a work of art.  A work of art is the selective recreation of reality for the purpose of communicating some aspect of what it means to be human or how we perceive the world."  --Fred Ross

Premier Deuil, William Bouguereau, Museo Nacional de Bellas Artes (Buenos Aires, Argentina)

Masters of Human Expression

I have been listening to John Ruskin's The Two Paths.  He talks about the aim of different schools of art and I was particularly drawn to his description of the Florentine school as that is what I seek in my own work:

Well, there you have the truth of human expression proposed as an aim. That is the way people look when they feel this or that--when they have this or that other mental character: are they devotional, thoughtful, affectionate, indignant, or inspired? are they prophets, saints, priests, or kings? then--whatsoever is truly thoughtful, affectionate, prophetic, priestly, kingly--that the Florentine school tried to discern, and show; that they have discerned and shown; and all their greatness is first fastened in their aim at this central truth--the open expression of the living human soul. 
 
This made me think of a print we got when we visited the Museo del Prado in Madrid.  Antonio Gisbert was the first director of the Prado in 1868 and was part of the Spanish eclectic school of painters.  He finished El fusilamiento de Torrijos y sus compañeros en la playa de Málaga ("The Execution of Torrijos and his companions at Málaga Beach") in 1888.

Antonio Gisbert, El fusilamiento de Torrijos y sus compañeros en la playa de Málaga, Museo del Prado

When I saw this in the Prado (it is huge, it covers an entire wall) it stopped me in my tracks.  It is truly breathtaking.  Each figure is life sized I believe.  In this work Antonio Gisbert achieved a masterpiece of "the open expression of the living human soul."  Look at the painting at full resolution here and examine the varying expressions and attitudes of them all.

Here is another splendid example of human expression:

Walter Langley, Waiting for the Boats, private collection

I first saw this painting on the Art Renewal Center's website.  It is extraordinary and I was quite surprised to learn it was painted in watercolor and pencil.  I was not familiar with Walter Langley (1852-1922) before, and he is now one of my favorite artists.  His work reminds me of David Kassan's.  I was extremely fortunate to see Mr. Kassan work at a Portrait Society conference and view some of his work in person there and in New York City. 

All of them are absolute masters of human expression.

Why Realism? by Frederick Ross

I can't say it any better.  For all my students who have ever asked me "What is the deal with modern art?  I just don't get it."  Please read this courtesy the Art Renewal Center.

The Da Vinci Initiative

After my post yesterday I remembered an email I had received from the Art Renewal Center about the Da Vinci Initiative.  I went looking around their site at the lesson plans they have available and low and behold:

"The Da Vinci Initiative is developing a series of educational videos and K-12 lesson plans. These lesson plans intend to both train teachers who may be unfamiliar with certain technical art skills, and provide a direct learning experience for K-12 students in art classrooms. These resources will be made available online for homeschooling parents as well as adults interested in learning skill-based art methods and techniques."

Click here for a link to their Drawing with Envelopes lesson plan.