Reflection

My experience in this course has allowed me to focus on 20th-century artists while gathering observations on their artwork and the similarities in theme and concept. While reflecting on the writings of Danto, Greenberg, Tolstoy, and Dewey, I considered these theories in conjunction with the art movements of the last 100 years. This context was enormously helpful in understanding the profound shift in today's art movements and the artist's role. I see an evolution in art as a platform for engagement and activism. Although the change is often slow and nonlinear, I recognize the arts' potential to catalyze dialogue and change. 

Beyond an aesthetic pursuit, McLuhan, Benjamin, and Baudrillard have led us towards a collective appreciation of how art functions in society and a vital medium of understanding in a technologically advanced and changing world. 

With the foundational context of Art 630 (non-Western art), where we studied the origins of ancient art movements, I especially enjoyed a shift in Art Theory 530. In surveying modern art theorists with key artist roles of the 20th century, I was able to discover more layers of understanding as to how we arrived at 19th—and 20th-century Western art and the ongoing conversation about art, culture, and identity. 

In contrast to my previous blog, I engaged with the theory of Western art of recent history with a more nuanced direction. By the start of this class, I became preoccupied with the evolution of the female gaze, and the undeniable odds that artists (who are female) have faced to participate in art history, and I dedicated the female experience as the subject of my final project. MotherXArtistXWomen

Voluptuary (close up), 2023, Stephanie Metz

For this final reflection assignment, I reviewed all of my blog posts, edited them for grammar, added labels, updated images, added or updated references, and cleaned up formatting.

 
Louise Bourgeois with her sculpture  
Stephanie Metz with hers 2024










Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Dante on Warhol's, Brillo Box

Image
The art critic, Arthur Danto in Vol. 61 of The Journal of Philosophy, “The Art World” (1964)  draws upon Socrates' theory on art as a mirror held up to nature, “reflecting what we can already see, so art, insofar mirrorlike, yields idle accurate duplications of the appearances of things, and is of no cognitive benefit whatever.” Danto’s observations on the philosophy of art “requires something that the eye cannot decry—an atmosphere of artistic theory, a knowledge of the history of art: an art world.” (Danto 1964).    Brillo Box, (Pop Art) 1964 Andy Warhol blurred the lines between commercial art and fine art, his famous work, “Brillo Box (1964) displays facsimiles of the logo for Brillo Pad cartons, stacked neatly in a tower, four boxes high. The bold red and blue block letters in a playful and cartoon-like font replicate the colors of the American flag and evoke a sentiment of bucolic suburban life, the routine of household chores, and a snapshot of American domesticit...
Read more

Dewey’s Art as Experience and the Aesthetic Prowess of Judith Rothschild

Image
Dewey’s philosophy of Art As Experience (1934) describes the idea as a “rhythm of intake and outtake". He writes that an aesthetic experience should involve a certain quality of unity and wholeness that occurs before reflection. He believed that if the audience encountered a unified and dynamic experience during their engagement, followed by an impression or reflection the full experience or rhythm would be complete. For example, while walking among Japanese gardens, or becoming engrossed in the symphony an aesthetic experience becomes art. This intake of a unified experience prompts an outtake of response and reflection creating a whole rhythm. Dewey’s idea extends beyond the gallery and the viewer and affects the artist in a similar rhythm as they create and merge experience, ideas, and emotions with art through the intake and outtake of the creative process. Dewey’s core concept of experience defines art as being that is more than the final product for the artist and the audien...
Read more