When I heard rumors that our final lecturer was an art historian, I was worried at first because I did not have much formal knowledge of art. And to be honest, art wasn’t a subject I ever took interest in. It was the class in high school that I took only because it was a requirement. I do however, have deep respect for those who are art historians or specialize in art because it requires a lot of attention to detail, something that I don’t have the patience for.
Professor Stewart said that Professor Herbert was strategically our last lecturer so that we would have time to focus on our research paper. The only thing going through my head was that we were ending on an easy note. That made me feel better, until I met Professor Herbert on our first day on class. Like I predicted, I was lost during his lectures. He was so passionate in his lecture that I couldn’t keep up. Though it does help that Professor Herbert has a good sense of humor and that Professor Stewart does a run through of lecture during seminar.
Yes, art history is difficult for me to pay attention to but when I do, I learn some pretty interesting things. For example, I learned that a lot of art accumulated during the time of World War I which I thought was weird at first because who has the time for art when there’s a war to be fought? For example, a painting by Otto Dix showed 3 wounded or injured soldiers almost to the point where they were disturbing. That painting was called The Skat Players, 1920 and it was by a German artist. I thought it was ironic how a German artist portrayed war so harshly when the German military was so harsh towards the Jews during the Holocaust, though that was WWII.
It wasn’t until further research that I discovered Otto Dix volunteered for WWI. After his discharge from the military, he was constantly haunted by the reoccurring nightmares of war scenes. He became a victim of war. This reminds me of the movie, City of Life and Death where the Japanese soldier was also a victim of war. We can see the Japanese soldier’s perspective by following the movie and we can see Dix’s perspective by looking at his paintings.
Most recently, we learned about Purism and Cubism. I guess you can call them polar opposites because Purism idealizes individualism but Cubism idealizes community. Cubism art focused a lot on many different shapes coming together to make 1 general picture. The shapes are often painted in bright colors. Purism on the other hand takes different seemingly mundane objects and gives it meaning. The objects are often painted in soft colors. Purism art incorporates light sources by shading and sometimes multiple perspectives. Purism art has more meaning in the making of the painting such as the brushstrokes rather than the painting itself.
Apart from paintings that can give viewers a sense of meaning, architecture and songs can also give a sense of meaning. My thoughts on art hasn’t changed all that much but there are definitely interesting parts in art that I have come to find fascinating. I never knew that war could have so much to do with art.
Ozenfant, Amédée. Le Pichet Blanc. Digital image. Mattes Art. N.p., n.d. Web. May 2016.
War Times, Peace Times and Other Times 