Art has played an important role in society since prehistoric times. It has many roles: aesthetic, expressive, educational and therapeutic. The ability of art to communicate ideas that go beyond the mere representation of reality has allowed it to inspire change and influence people around the world.
The question of what constitutes art is a complicated one. Art can be defined as a piece of work that is created with the intention to make the viewer experience something new or different. The way a piece of art accomplishes this is through various aspects such as color, shape and line, movement, and texture. The meaning of an artwork can be understood through these elements and by understanding how the piece makes the viewer feel.
Most art historians specialize in the study of a particular culture, time period or movement like 19th-century German or contemporary Chinese art. There are even art historians who specialize in the art of a particular artist or style like Michelangelo or Pablo Picasso. These specialized areas allow art historians to focus on the details of an artistic tradition and to develop and refine the methods they use to interpret and analyze an artwork.
During the Renaissance, for example, artistic fervor was at its peak. Patrons like the Medici family in Florence sought to show their wealth and power by funding works of enduring beauty from such luminaries as Botticelli, Leonardo da Vinci and Michelangelo. This era saw the birth of the idea of art as an independent creator that was not to be judged in terms of functional value, but rather in its reverent aesthetic appreciation. Artists were thought of as mavericks, outsiders and eccentrics, from Salvador Dali with his cultivated eccentricity to Jackson Pollock and his manly streaks of paint.
The act of creating art is often a risky enterprise. Throughout history, artists have been criticized, censored, and sometimes killed for their art. Art has the unique ability to unlock higher orders of thinking and can influence your life in ways that other things cannot. It is this power to influence that has allowed it to remain an essential form of communication and expression throughout the ages.
For example, when a street artist creates a mural of two masked figures trying to unmask each other it sparks conversations across the globe and provokes emotions from a wide variety of people. These reactions are rooted in the culture, environment, and history that the people who created and witnessed the piece of art experienced. Art has the power to create awareness, educate, and empower people worldwide to become tolerant of other cultures and to reject discrimination and unjust societal segregation.
This is a great article for teachers to use to introduce students to the concept of art and how it functions in our everyday lives. I especially love the fact that it includes a list of resources for teachers to find out more about the topic. It is a resource that I will definitely be using in my classroom.