Ways of Seeing

HART 117

Peter Talloen
“A thematic introduction to great works of art and architecture, techniques
of analysis, and methods of interpretation.
Examples studied will be taken from cultures around the world, ancient,
medieval, and (early) modern, with the majority coming from the western,
‘Old World’ tradition.
Themes explored will include: form; style; iconography (the subject matter of
art); images of the sacred; architecture and ritual; politics and art; landscapes
and natural settings; private architecture: the house; and perspectives from
sociology”
Required Reading

Stokstad, M. and M.W. Cothren

(2016) Art: A Brief History, Pearsons.
Chapters 1-12/13
 Course Schedule
Lesson 1: Course Introduction: what is ‘art’?
Lesson 2: The Art of the Prehistory
Lesson 3: The Art of the Ancient Near East
Lesson 4: The Art of Ancient Egypt
Lesson 5: First Oral Presentations
Lesson 6: Art in the Ancient Aegean World - 1
Lesson 7: Art in the Ancient Aegean World - 2
Lesson 8: Etruscan Art and Mid-term examination
Lesson 9: Roman Art
Lesson 10: Late Antiquity and the Byzantine World
Lesson 11: Second Oral Presentations
Lesson 12: Romanesque Art and Architecture
Lesson 13: Gothic Art and Architecture
Lesson 14: Renaissance Art and Architecture
Evaluation

(1) Two Oral Presentations – each 10% of Final Grade

(2) One Mid-term and one Final written exam – each
35% of Final Grade
(3) In class participation/attendance - 10% of Final
grade, actual % awarded depending on actual
attendance at the end of the semester
First Oral Presentation: Glossary

Prepare one keyword to present (29th of February)

cyclopean acropolis
altar
construction
arcade ziggurat agora
• Explain the meaning
basilica linear perspective
pieta • If technique, please elucidate
rotunda mosaic
triumphal arch • Give at least one example of
sgraffito polychrome frescoes (f.i. Pompeii) artistic work
• Put into chronological
halo/nimbus iconography colosseum
context
sarcophagus obelisk annunciation

vellum stucco tapestry Length of the presentation:

Oculus
necropolis gilding ca. 3 minutes (2.5 – 3.5 min.)
chryselephantine
kouros portal sculpture
What is Art?
 Is the Great Sphinx of Giza a
piece of art?

• How was it created?

• Who were the builders?

• What was its meaning?

≠ the product of independent,

individualistic, innovating artists

Great Sphinx of Giza, reign of

Khafre (2500 BCE, Egypt)
 WHAT IS ART?

➢ Is our understanding of art consistent throughout space and time?

➢ Works of art demonstrate a combination of imagination, skill, training, and

observation; they embody some of the most cherished beliefs of the culture
that created them (ideology).

➢ Important questions to consider in order to understand art:

▪ Who were the artists and patrons?

▪ What were the ideas and expectations of the original viewers?

 Different Modes of Representation

visual appearance of
the natural world:
realism or naturalism

Adriaen van der Spelt and Frans van Mieris, “Flower piece with
curtain”, 1658. Oil on panel, The Art Institute of Chicago.
 Art should also capture the inner essence, rather than just the outward
appearance of a subject. Move away from recording precise visual
appearance and toward abstraction or stylization.

Imogen Cunningham TWO CALLAS 1929. Georgia O’Keeffe JACK-IN-THE-PULPIT, NO.

Gelatin-silver print, The Museum of Modern IV, 1930. Oil on canvas, Bequest of Georgia
Art, New York. O’Keeffe..
‘Real’ and ‘Ideal’ Bodies

The human body has

always been used to
express ideas and ideals.

MEDICI VENUS HANA-MURASAKI OF THE TAMAYA

Roman copy of a 1st- Kitagawa Utamaro. From the series Array of
century BCE Greek statue. Supreme Beauties of the Present
Marble, Galleria degli Day, 1794. Color woodblock print
Uffizi, Florence. Spencer Museum of Art.
Kiki Smith UNTITLED 1990. Beeswax with microcrystalline wax figures on metal stands, Whitney
Museum of American Art, New York
Art and Ritual
Produced to be works of art? Art for art's sake?

Many works we now label as art were created for use in

communal ritual as tools to establish ties to unseen
powers, sometimes to connect the present with the past
and the future.

MEDICI VENUS
Roman copy of a 1st-
century BCE Greek statue.
Marble, Galleria degli
Uffizi, Florence.
CHALICE OF ABBOT SUGER
Prestigious antique object became
sacred chalice with central role in
the ritual of Holy Communion

From Abbey Church of Saint-Denis,

France. Cup: Ptolemaic Egypt (2nd–1st
century BCE), sardonyx; mounts:
France, 1137–1140 CE, silver gilt,
adorned with filigree, semiprecious
stones, pearls, glass insets, and opaque
white glass with modern replacements;
National Gallery of Art, Washington,
D.C.
Art as Socio-Political Commentary

As sophisticated forms of human

communication, the visual arts shape, and are
shaped by, their socio-political context.
Powerful rulers and governments have used
artworks throughout history to promote their
political interests, and independent-minded
artists have used their art to critique the
powers that be.

Augustus as military commander

(Prima Porta, 20-17 BCE): virtus
 Augustus
“Primus inter pares”: illusion of senatorial regime

Augustus as princeps Augustus as army Augustus as pontifex

senatus commander maximus (Via Labicana, ca.
(30-20 BCE) (Prima Porta, 20-17 12 BCE)
BCE)
Who Are the Artists and Patrons?

Artists
In the ancient world, painters and
sculptors/architects were considered artisans -
in other words, laborers or skilled workers.

The Greek word for art, tekne, is the source

for the English word “technique,” and the
English words “art” and “artist” come from
the Latin word ars, which means “skill.”

Not until the Renaissance did artists such as

Leonardo da Vinci proclaim themselves to be
geniuses with unique (God-given) abilities. François Vase, Volute Krater signed by
Ergotimos (potter) and Kleitias (painter)
(Chiusi, 6 cent. BCE)
Patrons

Throughout history both individuals and

institutions have commissioned works
from artists.

The person or group who commissions

or finances a work of art—the patron—
can have a significant impact on it. The
Great Sphinx conforms to the
conventions of pharaohs and priests in
ancient Egypt.

Great Sphinx of Giza, reign of

Khafre (2500 BCE, Egypt)
The Athenian general Perikles rebuilt Athens’s civic and religious center,
the Akropolis, as a tribute to the goddess Athena and a testament to
the glory of Athens.

Bust of Perikles, Roman copy of Artist impression of the Akropolis

Greek original (430 BCE), Rome
during the 5th century BCE
(Vatican Museums)
How do we find the meaning of art?

All works of art have content, or

meaning, insofar as they seek to
communicate ideas, convey feelings,
or affirm the beliefs and values of
their makers, their patrons, and the
people who originally viewed or used
them. Clara Peeters. Still Life with Fruit and
Flowers. c. 1612.

The study of subject matter is called iconography (literally, “the writing of

images”) and includes the identification of symbols — images that take on
meaning through association, resemblance, or convention.
What is Iconography?

Iconography is a branch of art history that covers

topics related to the visual arts and their deeper
meanings. Iconography involves the classification,
study and identification of depictions in order to
understand the meaning of the subject
represented.

Treatment of the wounded Aeneas,

fresco, 1st century CE Pompeii
The most important aims of iconography are to

1) determine what is depicted in a depiction

2) reveal and explain the deeper meanings that the

artist who made it wanted to give.

A further area of iconography is the study

of specific pictorial subjects, especially
their development, traditions and content
through the ages.

Greek warrior (hoplite) preparing himself in the

presence of his father and mother (Hector, Priam
and Hecuba), Attic red-figure amphora, 500 BC
(Berlin)
History and method of the discipline

The first traces of the iconographic

approach in visual art are seen in ancient
Greek literature. There are descriptions of
works of art in the writings of Philostratos
in the 2nd century CE: his work Imagines
provides an interesting summary of
ancient iconography. However, there was
no real interpretation of visual art until
the 16th century.
Interest in iconography gradually spread in the
17th and 18th centuries. The development is
especially visible in the archaeological
research of the Classical Period
(Antiquarianism).

An example is G.E. Lessing's “Wie die Alten

den Tod gebildet” (“How people in ancient
times described death”; 1769).

During the 19th century, the scientific

study of medieval iconography developed
and created a representative view of
Christian iconography.
At the beginning of the 20th
century, Aby Warburg (1866-1929)
developed a new approach to
iconography, as he based the
creation of visual art on a broader
history: the science, history, social
and political life of the time were
inextricably linked to visual art. It
depended on the correct
interpretation of its objects and
their subject matter.
Warburg had many supporters. The most
important of these was Erwin Panofsky (1892-
1968), who developed Warburg's ideas into a
scheme for iconographic research.

In the influential exposition on the iconographic

method in his book Studies in Iconology (1939),
he identifies three stages :

1) pre-iconographic description,

2) iconographic analysis,

3) iconographic/iconological interpretation.

Although there are many criticisms of Panofsky's scheme, it still forms the
theoretical basis of iconography today.
1) Pre-iconographic description :

The first step is to describe exactly everything seen in the image, without
establishing any connection between them.

When we look at an image for the

first time, we spontaneously make a
mental description of everything
depicted. This description is rather a
superficial (but detailed!) review of
the objects and their situation;
before relating objects to each other
or interpreting them, we make a pre-
iconographic description.
Red-figure Attica kylix, ca. 420 BCE (Madrid)
Let’s try…

Example: A woman wearing a

helmet and a robe and holding a
spear with her right hand stands
on the left side, facing to the right;
In the center, a naked, sword-
holding youth who is dragging a
bull-headed man out off a building
by holding by the horns with his
left hand.
When studying art, it is usually not difficult to make a description.
We can describe things and situations in a description because they
resemble things and situations we know.

It is very important to examine an image carefully when describing its

contents, because the pre-iconographic description is the basis of
every step towards the correct interpretation of the depiction.
 Attention should also be paid to the
composition of the depiction and details
such as the colors used, as they may also
have symbolic significance:

In this amphora we see two fighting

warriors, but the fact that one of them has
white skin indicates that it is a woman, and
her lower position shows she’s about to be
defeated/killed.

Achilles and Penthesileia, black-figure

amphora (Exekias, 550 – 530 BCE)
2) Iconographic analysis:
The purpose of the second iconographic stage is to identify the
subject of the depiction; The things we see are connected to each
other.
This is one of the most important aims of iconography. To do this, it is
necessary to have in-depth knowledge of the subjects and their
different representations.

This stage combines and identifies each element of the first stage
and thus determines the subject of the representation: defining
the iconographic type.
Example: The female figure is
Athena
…….………., who wears a peplos with
aegis and a helmet, and holds a spear
with her right hand; the bull-headed
Minotaurus ; and between
man is the ……………….…
them is the naked, sword-holding
Theseus
young Athenian hero …………………………

Part of a mythological story: King Minos of Crete went to war with the Athenians
and defeated Athens. After this, at intervals of 9 years, he ordered 7 Athenian boys
and 7 Athenian girls to be sent to Crete to be devoured by the half-bull monster
Minotaurus, who lived inside the Labyrinth. To end this Minoan tyrrany, Theseus,
the son of the king of Athens, entered the labyrinth and killed the Minotaurus.
Because artists often depict the same subject, most subjects have multiple
representations. Therefore, depictions of subjects have become traditional, as
there are often similar examples of the same subject. The compositions of both
works are basically the same: The Judgement of Paris.

The Judgment of Paris, red-figure kylix, 5th The Judgment of Paris, red-figure kylix, 5th
cent. BCE (Berlin) cent. BCE (Berlin)
Over time, archaeologists and art historians have developed terms useful in
creating iconographic description. Such iconographic idiom is also often used for
complex descriptions. For example, amazonomachy, gigantomachy and
centauromachy; or pietà.

Gigantomachy, Zeus Altar, 166-156 BCE Pietà by Michelangelo

(Pergamon) (1498-1499, Vatican)
A good knowledge of the subjects in (ancient)
art is essential in the study of iconography.

The analogy of visual art in (ancient) literary

sources such as the Iliad and Odyssey is a
necessary tool. These literary works can be a
direct source for ancient descriptions, with
scenes of pictorial narration of the text.
Early Byzantine copy of the Iliad
(6th century AD)
3) Iconographic/iconological interpretation

The third stage of iconographic research is to determine whether there is a

deeper meaning that the artist wants to give in the depiction. If the answer
is yes, we must find this meaning.

When we say that a description has a deeper meaning, it is understood that

there is another underlying idea that cannot be detected at first glance.
This is especially true in representations that are realistic depictions of
daily life, but often have an underlying, spiritual meaning.

E.g.: Greek warrior (hoplite) prepares himself in

the presence of his father and mother:
preparation (to the enemy), duty (to the city-
state), death (part of life).

The interpretation at this third iconographic

level is almost always of an abstract nature.
Therefore, the personification of abstract
concepts belongs to this stage.

Hector, Priamos and Hecuba,

Attic red figure amphora, 500 BC (Berlin)
For iconographic interpretation, it is necessary to know the secondary or
symbolic meanings of an object, action, or complete depiction in a particular
period.

Example: Theseus and Athena =

protectors of Athens. Theseus killed the
monster (Minotaurus) that ate the
children of Athens. Symbolic meaning:
1) The city of Athens saved the Greek
world from the Persian threat (for the
allies); 2) the leaders of the city protect
the people (for the people of Athens).

Red-figure Attica kylix, ca. 420 BCE (Madrid)

Iconology (“knowledge of images”) is a branch of cultural history that
reveals the cultural, social and historical backgrounds of themes and
subjects in the visual arts.

Through this history, iconology can explain why an artist (or his client)
chose a particular subject in a particular way in a particular place and time.
An iconological research should focus on the artist's social-historical
influences and values. In other words, it should focus on how social
developments are reflected in visual art.

With this approach (Warburg), the object becomes a document of the time
in which it was found.