The School of Athens - Rachel

Ninth-century depiction of Charlemagne with popes Gelasius I and Gregory the Great

Debating societies

Coffeehouse

Freemasonry

Historiography of the Salon

Way of Seeing

Critical theory is the examination and critique of society and culture, drawing from knowledge across the social sciences and humanities.

• Core concepts are: (1) That critical social theory should be directed at the totality of society in its historical specificity (i.e. how it came to be configured at a specific point in time), and (2) That critical theory should improve understanding of society by integrating all the major social sciences, including geography, economics, sociology, history, political science, anthropology, and psychology.

MATHEMETICS

PHILOSOPHY

CULTURAL

“There is a way which is supremely effective. Just look at yourself as you are, see yourself as you are, accept yourself as you are, and go ever deeper into what you are.

Nisargadatta Maharaj, Indian mystic

• Art critics usually criticize art in the context of aesthetics or the theory of beauty
• contributed to feminist readings of popular culture,

The first writer to acquire an individual reputation as an art critic in 18th C. France was La Font de Saint-Yenne who wrote about the Salon of 1737 and wrote primarily to entertain while including anti-monarchist rhetoric in his prose.

• UNESCO non-governmental organisation, called theInternational Association of Art Critics which has around 76 national sections and a political non-aligned section for refugees and exiles [1].
• Since in the early 21st century, online art critical websites and art blogs have cropped up around the world to add their voices to the art world. Some notable blogs include anaba, ArtCal, Art Fag City, Bad at Sports, Art Critical, From the Mayors Doorstep, Bloggy, James Wagner, Fallon and Rosof, CultureGrrl, Winkleman Blog, Two Coats of Paint, Personism, The James Kalm Report, Beauty Flow Magazine, Sharkforum blog, Wooster Collective blog, and Brian Sherwin‘s Myartspace Blog.

• 1960s, conceptual art was described as anti-establishment
• images of Marilyn Monroe popularized by Andy Warhol
• conceptual art creates disharmony in society, jarring people out of their traditional understanding of art.
• helps the viewer understand an important statement about society
• George Brecht (1926-2008)

1890 to 1905

• Art Nouveau produced works for the public enjoyment.
• Neoclassicism (Greek, Roman, and Renaissance themes)transitioned art to the modernist movements
• “Stile Liberty” in Italy and “Jugendstil” or “youth style” in German.
• Edvard Munch’s “The Scream.”1893, first Paris show at La Maison de l’Art Nouveaux gallery. Now hangs in the National Gallery in Oslo, Norway.
• “Art Nouveau” magazine, were distributed around Europe due to advances in printing.
  
• The lithograph “Tropon” by Henry van de Velde (1898) shows the distinct color choices of an Art Nouveau Print with brilliant ochre, dull green, and orange, combined with the letters of the word “tropon.”
• sought to create an international style.
• Louis Comfort Tiffany (1848-1933) Lamp - Tiffany & Company, founded by Charles Tiffany
• public places

• Gerne non-representational (which means that the artist’s forms may vary from a small degree of inaccurate representation of images to total abstraction with no recognizable imagery).
• Cubism (Georges Braque and Pablo Picasso), Neoplasticism, and Abstract Expressionism in early 1900s
• Artists often mirrored changes in science and technology in the twentieth century with abstract art forms.
• With simple shapes, the observer sees the importance of line. When shapes are not clearly defined in abstract art, other elements like color and line might become more important.
• Solid colors, including blue, purple, red, brown, grey, white and black.
• We see that the subject and the specific shapes are not individually important. Rather, shapes combine to achieve balance.
• Esphyr Slobodkina Red Circle (c. 1938)
• Marcus Rothkovich pioneer of the style of the 1950s and 1960s called color field theory in which large areas of color decorate the whole canvas. The field of color implies that the forms move beyond their borders into infinity. In “Untitled Work” (1955), the artist uses three rectangles (red, black, and white on yellow) to create a color composition on the picture. Rothko painted many rectangle compositions, and in his final years he painted contemplative murals at Houston’s Rothko Chapel. Rothko died in 1970.