Yvonne Hume's Art History 411 Blog

 Week 5 - Why Have There Been No Great Women Artists?   This week’s reading was about the age-old question, particularly in the last century of why there have been no great women artists. When I think about this question without having to read this article, my natural response is that it is because we live in a male-dominated world (specifically a European male-dominated world). Up until recently, men have been the ones that give attention to the constructs of what is considered genius artwork. Within the last century, women have had to fight for their rights to be considered equal to men, nevertheless, it is still a fight. With this fight, women have had the opportunity to do things like play in male-dominated sports, work alongside men in the workforce, and vote. Regardless, even to this day attention is primarily given to the male gender when it comes to many disciplines.   According to Nochlin, in order to address this question, it takes a feminist to pierce through t...

  The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction by Walter Benjamin is about art in the era of industrialism and capitalism.   Benjamin talks about the reproduction of art at the start of the 19th century and how the process has diminished the aura or value of an art piece.   The Great Wave - Katsushika Hokusai https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/39799      Art has historically been reproduced whether it be replicas by pupils of a master, or masters diffusing their work, or third parties in pursuit of material gain. There were different forms of reproductions from woodcut graphic art, engravings, etchings to lithography. Nonetheless, the reproduction of a beautiful piece has always been a part of history.       In the age of capitalism and the industrial revolution replicating art took on a new meaning. With a snap of a camera or a printing press, replicating became easier and changed the artistic process. One of the...

  The Arnolfini Portrait -Jan van Eyck - 1434 This week’s readings is the idea that paintings are made up of signs and symbols.  The first part of the essay compares the idea of perception as a process of painting to observation in science. Bryson suggests that a formula or method is necessary when creating a painting. Like science, people test methods to formulate innovative art practices. Perception is clouded by one’s stock pile of memories and cannot therefore provide an accurate interpretation.  Bryson also talks about how art is a manifestation of a superstructure and base in society.   The framework of society is in a tier of economic, legal, political institutions, and ideological formations. The base-structure consists of productive forces and relations of production, technology, and plants. From the base-structure the sign must follow.       I like the last part of the essay where Bryson talks about how the semilogical approach ...

  image 1 image 2 According to Kant, Wincklelmann and Ruskin, beauty is a mode of appreciating objects/images that gives us pleasure and that seduce us. The essay sets out to evaluate works of art that is more in sync with contemporary politics and culture.  Historically, western art  considers images of nude white women to be aesthetically pleasing or provides the viewer pleasure. The article argues that in order to look at a piece of art objectively one must free themselves of any political or cultural biases.  White male have been the ones that gave authority to what is considered beautiful.  I believe Mapplethorpe's work is direct response to the Western art's consideration of beauty.  Looking at Robert Mapplethorpes's work, photographs of a chiseled black male figure, would someone consider this piece of art beautiful? Depends on who is looking at it and when. Amelia Jones also brings Renee Cox's photograph to light of a beautiful muscular black woman ...