The Art of Seeing

The Art of Seeingexplores traditional and contemporary art and artistic media focusing on artas seen from the artist's point of view. The book introduces students to artistic techniques and introductory aesthetic principles. It provides clear, concise presentation, superb illustrations, and strong emphasis on the elements and media.

PART 1: Learning to See 11

 

1 Understanding Art 12

WHAT IS ART? 13

THE CREATIVE IMPULSE 13

Artists on Art: Joseph Raffael on Creativity 15

TYPES OF ART 16

Two- and Three-Dimensional Art 16

Representational and Nonrepresentational Art 17

Fine and Applied Arts 21

Artists on Art: Georgia O’Keeffe on Abstraction 22

Public and Private Art 26

Art Issues: Censorship of Offensive Art 30

CONTENT 32

Sociopolitical Content 33

Power and Propaganda 35

Spiritual Purposes 38

Inner Experiences 42

Beauty 45

CRITICAL OPINION 46

Art Issues: Race and Gender Criticism 50

LASTING GREATNESS IN ART 53

 

2 Visual Elements 56

LINE 57

Seeing Line 57

The World Seen: Islamic Calligraphy 60

Implied Line 63

Descriptive Line 66

Expressive Qualities of Line 68

Directional Line 69

SHAPE AND FORM 69

Degrees of Three-Dimensionality 69

Characteristics of Three-Dimensional Form 75

Artists on Art: Henry Moore on Form and Space 80

Two-Dimensional Illusion of Form 82

Shapes 84

Artists on Art: Arshile Gorky on Elements Conveying Life’s Intensity 87

SPACE 91

Three-Dimensional Art in Space 91

Two-Dimensional Space 94

Scale 105

Spatial Illusion 108

TEXTURE 110

Actual Texture 112

Simulated Texture 113

VALUE AND LIGHT 116

Local and Interpretive Values 117

Lighting 120

Reflections 124

Artists on Art: Leonardo da Vinci on Chiaroscuro 126

Light as a Medium 128

COLOR 132

A Vocabulary of Color 132

Natural and Applied Color 136

Local, Atmospheric, and Interpretive Color 139

Emotional Effects of Color 140

Warm and Cool Colors 143

Advancing and Receding Colors 145

Color Combinations 146

Interaction of Color 149

Limited and Open Palette 152

Artists on Art: Josef Albers on Seeing Colors 153

TIME 156

Actual Movement 156

Illusion of Movement 159

The Captured Moment 159

Change Through Time 159

Artists on Art: Auguste Rodin on The Illusion of Movement 160

 

3 Organizing Principles of Design 164

REPETITION 165

VARIETY 169

RHYTHM 175

BALANCE 177

COMPOSITIONAL UNITY 180

EMPHASIS 185

ECONOMY 187

PROPORTION 189

RELATIONSHIP TO THE ENVIRONMENT 191

Artists on Art: Wassily Kandinsky on Underlying Harmony 194

 

PART 2: Two-Dimensional Media and Methods 197

 

4 Drawing 198

APPROACHES TO DRAWING 198

DRY MEDIA 201

Graphite Pencil 201

Silverpoint 202

Charcoal 203

Chalk 204

Pastel 207

Crayon 209

LIQUID MEDIA 210

Pen and Ink 210

The World Seen: Chinese Landscape Paintings 211

Brush and Ink 213

 

5 Painting 214

APPROACHES TO PAINTING 215

PAINT MEDIA 218

Encaustic 218

Fresco 219

Tempera 223

Oil 224

Art Issues: Cleaning and Restoring Paintings 226

Watercolor 231

Gouache 232

The World Seen: Tibetan Sand Paintings 234

Synthetics 236

Collage 239

Mosaic 240

MIXED MEDIA 243

 

6 Printmaking 244

APPROACHES TO PRINTMAKING 246

PRINTMAKING PROCESSES 247

Relief 247

Artists on Art: Stephen Alcorn on The Art of the Color Linocut 250

Intaglio 252

Planographic: Lithography 259

Stencil 262

Photocopy and Fax Art 262

MIXED PRINT MEDIA 264

 

7 Graphic Design 267

THE GRAPHIC DESIGNER AND VISUAL IDEAS 268

Artists on Art: Peter Good on The Art of Graphic Design 270

TYPOGRAPHY 272

ILLUSTRATION 274

 

8 Photography and

Filmmaking 278

PHOTOGRAPHY 279

Artists on Art: Edward Weston on Photography as a Way of Seeing 289

Digital Photography 291

Creative Use of Digital Imaging 293

FILM 295

Art Issues: Mixing Art and Politics: The Films of Leni Riefenstahl 302

TELEVISION AND VIDEO 304

 

9 Digital Art 308

THE COMPUTER AS A DRAWING MEDIUM 309

THE COMPUTER AS A PAINTING MEDIUM 310

Artists on Art: Janet Cummings Good Compares Computer to Other Media 312

DIGITAL ART IN CYBERSPACE 314

COMPUTERS IN THREE-DIMENSIONAL ART 315

DIGITAL VIDEO 315

Art Issues: Art Websites 316

VIRTUAL REALITY 320

THE COMPUTER AS A UNIQUE ART MEDIUM 321

Interactive Digital Art 322

 

PART 3:  Three-Dimensional Media and Methods 325

 

10 Sculpture 326

PLANNING SCULPTURES 327

CARVING 329

Artists on Art: Michelangelo Buonarroti on Marble-Quarrying 331

The World Seen: Benin Ivory Carvings 332

MODELING 335

CASTING 337

Artists on Art: Benvenuto Cellini on A Near-Disastrous Casting 339

ASSEMBLING 340

EARTHWORKS 342

Art Issues: Preserving Ephemeral Materials 344

INSTALLATIONS, PERFORMANCES, AND MULTIMEDIA 348

 

11 Craft Media 350

CLAY 352

The World Seen: Chinese Porcelains 355

Artists on Art: Paula Winokur on Working in Clay 356

METAL 358

The World Seen: Precious Metalwork from Tsarist Russia 359

WOOD 360

Artists on Art: George Nakashima on A Feeling for Wood 362

GLASS 364

FIBERS 369

The World Seen: Persian Carpets 371

 

12 Product and Clothing Design 374

INDUSTRIAL DESIGN 375

CLOTHING DESIGN 379

The World Seen: Saris of India 384

 

13 Architecture 386

ARCHITECTS’ UNIQUE CONCERNS 387

FUNCTION 389

STRUCTURE 394

The World Seen: Moorish Arches and Domes 401

SOCIALLY RESPONSIBLE ARCHITECTURE 408

 

14 Designed Settings 410

INTERIOR DESIGN 411

ENVIRONMENTAL DESIGN 414

The World Seen: Japanese Stone Gardens 418

AESTHETICS IN THE PERFORMING ARTS 420

 

PART 4: Art in Time 427

 

15 Historical Styles in Western Art 428

ART MOVEMENTS 429

THE BEGINNINGS OF WESTERN ART 429

Prehistoric 429

Aegean 435

Mesopotamian 435

Art Issues: Looting of Art Treasures 436

Egyptian 439

ART OF ANCIENT CULTURES 440

Greek 440

Roman 442

Early Christian and Byzantine 442

MEDIEVAL ART 444

Early Medieval 444

Romanesque 448

Gothic 448

Late Gothic 450

RENAISSANCE ART 450

Early Renaissance in Italy 451

Art Issues: The Camera Obscura: A Trade Secret? 452

High Renaissance in Italy 454

Northern Renaissance 458

Art Issues: Protecting Famous Artworks 460

Mannerism 463

BAROQUE ART 464

Southern Baroque 464

Northern Baroque 468

Rococo 468

EIGHTEENTH- AND EARLY NINETEENTH CENTURY ART 468

Neoclassicism 469

Romanticism 471

LATER NINETEENTH-CENTURY ART 472

Realism 472

Impressionism 475

Post-Impressionism 475

Artists on Art: Paul Gauguin on Cross-Cultural Borrowings 476

TWENTIETH-CENTURY ART 479

Expressionism 481

Fauvism 481

Cubism 483

Futurism 483

Abstract and Nonobjective Art 483

Dada 484

Surrealism 486

Traditional Realism 486

Abstract Expressionism 486

Post-Painterly Abstraction 487

Pop Art 490

Minimalism 490

Technological Art 491

Conceptual Art 492

Earthworks 493

Performance Art 494

Installations 494

New Realism 496

The Craft Object 496

Neoexpressionism 499

Post-modernism 501

Widening of the Mainstream 503

Artists on Art: Deborah Muirhead on Art as Ancestral Exploration 504

Art Issues: Art as Investment 508

 

16 Understanding Art on All Levels 512

PICASSO’S GUERNICA 513

THE TEMPLES OF ANGKOR 518

MICHELANGELO’S SISTINE CHAPEL CEILING 522

FRANK GEHRY’S GUGGENHEIM MUSEUM IN BILBAO 528