EDWARD'S LECTURE NOTES:
More notes at http://tanguay.info/learntracker
C O U R S E 
Art History for Artists, Animators and Gamers
Jeannene Przyblyski, California Institute of the Arts
https://www.coursera.org/course/livearthistory
C O U R S E   L E C T U R E 
Artists and their Contexts Throughout History
Notes taken on April 22, 2014 by Edward Tanguay
Jacques-Louis David, "Intervention of the Sabine Women", 1799
very complicated painting
very large, almost cinematic in its scale
tells of a complicated story drawn from Roman history
observe the feet of the figures
animators could learn a great deal from Jacques-Louis David since one of the difficulties for artists and animators is to make figures and characters that are weighted believably and move through space believably because they have the illusion of weight and substance
David's feet inform the lifelikeness of the character all the way to the tops of their heads, the toes are ready, the flesh has a life in it
we think of these paintings almost like movies before movies were made almost because you can sense what is next to happen because of the weight and the embodied sense of the figures
Piero della Francesca, "Flagellatin of Christ" 1455
painted when perspective and linear perspective were just beginning to be refined
a way of imagining three dimensional space on a two dimensional surface
used the convergence of othagonal lines to create the illusion of depth
it has a theatrical space, it's a picture that is better at rendering architecture than the figures which look flat in comparison
Nidha Mal, "Prince and Ladies in a Garden"
mid 18th century in India
all of the figures and background seem to occupy the same plane
some artists are not concerned with the illusion of three-dimensionality at all, some cultures aren't either
artists work in particular times and contexts
according to the skills, techniques and conventions of those times and contexts
what is interesting is when artists attempt to represent the context between different cultures
here you feel the stress of those conventions
Utagawa Sadahide, "English, Dutch, and Russians enjoying a stroll on a rest-day in Yokohama", 1861
port in Yokohama was just being open to foreign trade
an artist who was used to representing a world of people who looked just like him, was now representing a contemporary world of people who did not look like him
people who were caucasion and had different organization of their facial features
Alfred H. Barr, "Cubism and Abstract Art", 1936
flow chart of the history of modern art
first curator of Museun of Modern Art in New York
facing a very skeptical public that things modern art might be a big joke
shows that modern art has a history that is linear and progressive
modern art is posed on two different paths:
1. non-geometrical abstract art
2. geometrical abtract art
a noble attempt to make sense of the art of his times
today's situation in art
contemporary artists are global
through the virtues of fairly easy travel, the Internet, and amazing digital archive at our fingertips
you can feel as if all of art history is available to you and you can do whatever you will with it
Huang Yong Ping, "The History of Chinese Painting and the History of Modern Western Art Washed in the Washing Machine for 2 Minutes" 1987
if you put two histories of art through the washing machine uncritically and you run them through the wash cycle, what you get is not something better, or clearer, what you get is a greyed down mass of pulp
artwork:
Intervention of the Sabine Women
Jacques-Louis David, 1799
represents in Roman history, the Sabine women interposing themselves to separate the Romans and Sabines, as a sequel to Poussin's The Rape of the Sabine Women
very complicated painting of Roman
very large, almost cinematic in its scale
observe the feet of the figures: animators could learn a great deal from Jacques-Louis David since one of the difficulties for artists and animators is to make figures and characters that are weighted believably and move through space believably because they have the illusion of weight and substance
artist: jacqueslouisdavid
Flagellation of Christ
Piero della Francesca, 1455
painted when perspective and linear perspective were just beginning to be refined
a way of imagining three dimensional space on a two dimensional surface
used the convergence of othagonal lines to create the illusion of depth
it has a theatrical space, it's a picture that is better at rendering architecture than the figures which look flat in comparison
artist: pierodellafrancesca