Nike of Samothrace or Winged Victory, Greek Hellenistic period (220-190 BC) The Louvre, Paris.
It is thought that this work was originally created to celebrate a naval victory. The dramatically flowing drapery on the figure as well as the wings lend credence to the idea that it was in honor of a naval battle for she stands in the prow of a ship.
Dying Gaul, Roman Copy from Greek Bronze, 230-220 BC.
The work was commissioned for the Altar at Pergamon and was commissioned by Attalus I in honor of the Roman victory over the Gauls. The enemy was depicted in a noble manner so it could be shown that they had defeated worthy adversaries.
Pity, c. 1795 by William Blake.
From Shakespeare’s Macbeth, Act I, Scene VII when Macbeth what would happen after Duncan is murdered “And pity, like a naked new-born babe, Striding the blast, or heaven’s cherubim, horsed Upon the sightless couriers of the air.”
Blake’s unique style developed from his training as an illustrator and his unbounded imagination.
The Mock Turtle’s Story, 1907 illustrations by Arthur Rackham for Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll.
…They had not gone far before they saw the Mock Turtle in the distance, sitting sad and lonely on a little ledge of rock, and, as they came nearer, Alice could hear him sighing as if his heart would break. She pitied him deeply. “What is his sorrow?” she asked the Gryphon, and the Gryphon answered, “very nearly in the same words as before, It’s all his fancy, that: he hasn’t got no sorrow, you know. Come on!”….
Cook’s Barn, 1939 by Marvin Cone.
A friend and fellow teacher of Grant Wood, when you look at Cone’s work you can tell the two artists were working together and sharing techniques. He and Wood collaborated at the Stone City Art Colony.
Seated Woman with Bent Knee, 1917 by Egon Schiele
Schiele was arrested and imprisoned for immoral artwork. His work was often more explicit than this example; his work is raw and uncompromising. He died at 28 from influenza.
January by Jean and Paul Limbourg.
This is a page from one of the greatest surviving Illuminated Manuscripts. Manuscripts were small devotional books made for wealthy individual to use in their personal worship. This one was made for the Duc of Berry who wanted his life and his properties represented. The attention to detail in these small paintings by the Limbourg brothers is remarkable.
String of Puppies, 1988 by Jeff Koons, various collections.
Koons took this image off a card licensed by the photographer and reproduced it. He was sued and the court found that it was copyright infringement. Koons claimed it was an image of everyday life that he reproduced. More “fair use” info.
Cosmic Thing, 2003 by Damian Ortega,
Answering the question “What is Art?” is a big job.
I believe that it cannot be answered definitively and must be left up up to the individual.
Let me tell you about a personal experience of mine that related to this subject. I was in graduate school working on my masters degree in art history and working at my father’s law office. He had occasion to need a definition of art, as a citizen of the town he represented, had taken it upon himself to hoist an old VW bug up on a stump in his yard. When asked to remove it by the local government, the citizen refused saying it was art and he had a right to display it. This caused my father to have to take the man to court to try and compel him to remove the car from the stump. The city was claiming it was not only and eyesore, but a danger.
My father’s thought he could get his art historically educated daughter to define art for him, and surely this old car on a stump would not fall within that definition. Well, I told him I could not give him one definitive definition of what art was and that I was sorry, but in some people’s eyes, a VW was art. He does not often become angry with me, but this time he did. I wanted to be able to solve his problem, but I knew I could not, as I feel it is an individual interpretation when it comes deciding what is and is not art.
In the end, it turned out the stump was on someone else’s property and it was removed, but the question of whether or not it was art, is still not resolved.
Composition by Piet Mondrian, Solomon R. Guggenheim, New York.
Working to build his paintings from the simplest elements of lines and basic colors, Mondrian believed that he could control the line and color and control the art. He was the leader of the De Stijl movement in art.
Your Daily Art 