Visual Arts Notes for High School

Summary:

The note discusses the works of artists such as Edouard Manet, Jeff Koons, and Jenny Saville, who all use shocking and confrontational techniques to push the boundaries of art and challenge the expectations of their audiences. It also covers various art movements, techniques, media, and conventions throughout history and explores different art styles such as portrait, still life, architecture, design object, sculpture, and installation, along with their conventions and techniques. Additionally, this note touches upon various contemporary issues that have influenced art and discuss focus areas related to art, including frames, conceptual framework, and practice, covering various elements and factors that artists consider when creating their work.

Excerpt:

Visual Arts Essay

Manet

• Context

Edouard Manet rejected the rigid conventions of Academicism which valued works being “real-to-life” whilst ironically being composed of idealized mythological figures of a fixed aesthetic.

• Artworks

Manet’s 1863 “Olympia” and his 1863 “Le Dejeuner sur l’herbe” negate these artistic boundaries through blatant criticism of what is considered valuable art.

Olympia

• Title

Olympia takes the form of the traditional female nude but diverts from the traditional title of “Venus”. The name “Olympia” was commonly associated with prostitution during the Parisian time, meaning the painting isn’t veiled in mythology but is a current subject matter and accuses her audience of being a customer.

• Appropriation

Olympia is a direct appropriation of Titian’s technical beauty “Venus of Urbino”. Urbino is graced across the canvas as she makes coy and seductive eye contact, luring her audience in with sexuality. Olympia however, evaporates the comfort of the male gaze with her stiff-angled body and direct confrontational eye contact. Her audience can no longer pretend this piece is about feminine beauty.

• Represented Space

Olympia lacks modeling and sfumato as her body is lit in studio lighting, her feet are composed in a 2D manner, and she is framed by a black outline. Manet wasn’t trying to achieve the illusion of life like Academicism but instead confronts his audience with the complexity of painting on a 2D surface through the rejection of represented space.