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JA1. Definition of Art

Statement

Making reference to resources listed in this unit’s Reading Assignment, please address the following:

  • What is your own definition of art?
  • In this first week of the course, what do you think will be your strengths and weaknesses in studying Art History?

Answer

Art, to me, is a way of expressing human experience and thoughts and communicating them to other humans in order to convey an idea or message or just to trigger an emotional reaction. Most artworks have a message or a function, such a message is either hidden or explicit. Art can be a painting, a sculpture, a piece of music, a movie, a play, a poem, a novel, etc.

An artwork can summarize a complex idea that may need a lot of effort to explain it without an artwork. Goya’s “3rd of May 1808” is a great example of how much an artwork can convey a message or an idea. The painting is about French soldiers executing a group of Spanish rebels, and within a few seconds of looking at the painting, the viewer can take a side and decide who is the victim, and the general political and social mood in that time and place; such ideas need a lot more effort to be conveyed with other means of communication such as a book or a speech (Harris & Zucker, n.d.).

In this first week of this course, we learned about the elements of art and the art of analyzing art; during the discussion, I learned about my strengths and weaknesses in studying Art History; I think the skill of reading and analyzing an artwork and extracting the right message from it is a hard-to-earn skill, and it can only be developed by practice, experience, and expanding the one’s general knowledge about the world and history.

My strengths in studying Art History include attention to detail which is a crucial skill for reading the hidden messages in an artwork; I also have a special interest in history which helps me understand the context of an artwork in less time; I also know multiple languages which makes me more open to different cultures and their art. I can also follow examples of analyzing art and use the same approach similar to the one used by Harris & Zucker (n.d.) in analyzing Goya’s “3rd of May 1808”.

My weaknesses in studying Art History include the lack of experience in analyzing art, which can be improved by practice; I also think that the limited knowledge about a specific geographical or historical area can become an obstacle in understanding the context of artwork from that area; I consider myself biased towards specific periods or art styles as I have special interests in ancient history (Greek, Roman, and Egyptian empires) as opposed to modern art which I don’t find attractive. I also think that understanding and feeling the beauty or the shock of an artwork is time-consuming which may be an obstacle due to the limited time I have to study.

To conclude, I don’t think there is a specific formula for defining art or studying it; as these are subjective matters that depend on the viewer’s background, knowledge, and experience. I think that the most important factor in this process is interest as such a thing can not be forced, faked, or implanted in someone’s mind.

word count: 513.

References