language of art lecture [notes]

the view of old european immigrants.

art itself is not a language but an insight. the truth is not told, it is shown. it's purpose is the improvement of human experience. it is not didactic. when philosophy fails, use poetry. it can serve a revolution and be propaganda. it is the quality and not the literal content or the colour arrangement that compels. art has her own language - a silent language - but is not a language herself]. it involves meticulous execution and colour choosing.

the self is a limited universe. in midieval art, there was communication without effort and artists were teachers. the eastern european saint icon was a window of communication. renaissance art was true to life and had depth and volume. in the 19th century the pre-raphaelites had a language of flowers. so did manet. lemon=sour disposition; mirror=vanity or self-knowledge. the reformation killed the renaissance. the counter reformation was an uncreative period with church propaganda. the ecstasy of st. terese. [exception to the otherwise mediocre].

art of 1600s Holland read like a book with the sophisticated bourgeois. the 1900s bourgeois academic painting told short stories and anecdotes, until the impressionists arrived. the pre-raphaelites exhibited passionate emotion restricted by victorian culture and was rich in symbolism. rosetti painted elizabeth, and jane morris as narcisstic beauties.

art improves our skill in handling the world.

impressionists caught contemporary life. lower, middle class girls - a new emerging class - who could spend on leisure. 1860s france - joie de vie. manet painted the scandalous 'olympia'. 'nana'. clear language. ridiculed for painting a contemporary kept woman.

baudelaire said that the artist creates a universal language. work, suffering, gift. art is always in opposition to its predecessor.

now: language has fallen through, where only the ego remains, and critics are left to speak.

cezanne can express ideas in colour. can drink it. can lose yourself in it. there was a new way to perceive nature. a new literacy that was away from the academy. the louvre shows us the dictionary. how do we develop our language skills of art? by comparing, comparing, comparing.

every great artist invents a new language in opposition to themaster and to the current scheme of things. interpreting every aspect of reality. the artist creates a new scheme of things.