1 Chapter 1: Elements, Vocabulary, and Iconography of Visual Art
1 Chapter 1: Elements, Vocabulary, and Iconography of Visual Art
To intelligently analyze art, we need the proper terminology to describe the elements that make up the work of art. Below is an infographic that reviews the basic elements of art.
Learn More – Video
For more on each of the elements of art and how to identify them, check out the videos on the Elements of Art from the KQED Art School.
https://lpb.pbslearningmedia.org/collection/elements-of-art/
Entire books have been compiled with definitions of art by more or less famous people. The notion of art is very difficult to define. This is truer than ever in the 20th and 21st centuries, after Marcel Duchamp introduced the “Readymade” (below), elevating a simple urinal to a museum-worthy sculpture. But one of the broadest definitions to which we may agree is that art is a form of communication that uses a visual vocabulary. The objective of this class will be to lend a voice to the work of art, to make it speak by learning a visual vocabulary in order to interpret it.
Let’s talk about a few important distinctions when referring to works of art:
The Arts: A comprehensive term describing creative activities, including (but not limited to) music, theater, writing, movie making, etc.
Visual or Fine Arts: Painting, drawing, sculpture, printmaking, etc.
In general, the more precise the expression, the better. We refer to art by its medium—for example, fresco painting, oil on canvas, bronze, etc. Never use the expression “piece” or “piece of art” when referring to a work—use its correct medium instead. A “work of art,” an “artwork,” “artworks,” etc. are fine expressions to use. We will cover the various types of mediums in art in the next few chapters.
Let’s take a look at three portraits of popes across a period of more than three hundred years. How is each pope represented differently? Can you think of some words to describe these portraits?
These three portraits retrace the changing fortunes of representational art across time. When Velázquez painted, in the seventeenth century, an artist’s fame was measured by his ability to render a person naturalistically. After the Second World War and the advent of conceptual art with Marcel Duchamp, artists who worked realistically and who showed skills or talent were looked upon condescendingly. Most artists worked in an abstract or conceptual idiom. It became next to impossible to represent the human form if one wanted to have an “official” art career. Bacon’s screaming pope was on the verge of acceptability. Today, as contemporary painter Michael Triegel’s pope portrait shows, it has become acceptable again to work representationally, although most contemporary art falls outside of this category. What this tells us is that definitions of art are never stable and constantly change over time. So does the value system of what is “great art” and what is “not so great.”
Iconography
Iconography is defined as the study of the contents of the images. This is es