Humanities 10 Questions
WHAT FACTORS INFLUENCE ARTISTS?
3 The factors that infl uence an artist can be social, economic, political, religious, and geographical. In the humanities, an artist is anyone who creates, such as a musician, writer, dancer, painter, printer, photographer, screenwriter, actor or actress, direc- tor, or architect.
Family life infl uences artists, because the people with whom they spend the most time have the greatest impact upon them. A death in the family can shake up an artist, profoundly impacting his or her work. Being married (or unmarried) or part of another relationship can also play an important role in an artist’s life, infl uencing his or her work. For example, the death of Pablo Picasso’s sister deeply affected his work—some of the images in his work symbolized the sadness that he felt and the ways that he struggled with her death. Other artists had illnesses which infl uenced their work and which can be heard in some of their sounds, such as in the melancholy chords of Frederick Chopin. Writers often use happy incidents when telling funny stories or writing comedies. Situations that happen in artists’ lives directly infl uence their work.
Monetary status infl uences artists, because life requires money if only as a means for paying bills. In many cases, art takes a long time to become valuable. Art- ists often receive very little monetary compensation for their art when it is fi rst pro- duced. They may not be understood at fi rst, and may be unappreciated. It may take many years for their work to be recognized, no matter how good it is. Rembrandt Van Rijn, for example, painted what today is considered a great painting, named The Night Watch. But when he painted it, he was unable to obtain the funding for his commission, and he eventually went bankrupt. When he died, he remained ex- tremely poor. Vincent Van Gogh did not sell his paintings, so famous today, such as The Starry Night or The Sunfl owers. His brother sold art, but even he could never sell one of Van Gogh’s paintings.
The time period infl uences an artist and what he or she paints, composes, per- forms, or describes, for each artist represents a particular time, refl ecting the events of his or her day. For example, Auguste Renoir was a successful painter who was from a family of means, able to enjoy painting the outdoors and beautiful, sunny afternoons at the terrace café. He enjoyed life, and many of his paintings refl ect blissful scenes and a carefree life. Francesco de Goya, on the other hand, was a court painter who lived during a major political upheaval during which his country came under foreign occupation. He painted The Execution of the Citizens of Madrid and created prints of the Disasters of War which express the horror and terror of the situation. Artists often refl ect their own times and the events of their lives, whether good or bad.
44 Artists and Styles of Art
Religious beliefs often influence artists. Some artists select topics that are unrelated to religion, but other artists are influenced a great deal by their religious beliefs. Because art is very personal, an artist may intentionally reveal his or her reality by using religion or religious symbolism in his or her art. For example, Salvador Dali’s paintings are con- sidered to be surrealistic in style, but he used many images of Christianity, including Mary (the mother of Christ) and Jesus Christ, in some of his paintings. Rembrandt Van Rijn was a painter and a printmaker known for his portraits, but later in life he created many religious prints on the topic of the life of Christ. Many of those religious prints were never commissioned and were never sold. They may have been created for the artist’s sake alone. Did Rembrandt need to create? Do you think creating these prints of the life of Christ and his trials and tribulations could have actually helped Rembrandt through the difficulties in his own sad life?
Education influences an artist’s work. Where an artist is trained and with whom he or she is able to study may make a big difference. Artists who have parents who are able to teach them the trade at an early age have a head start. Beethoven was able to be taught by Franz Joseph Haydn, whose lessons were a great influence upon his career. Pablo Picasso’s father was an art instructor and taught Picasso to paint. Michelangelo’s father sent him to a very good sculpture school when he was a young boy, giving him the opportunity to learn a number of important techniques. Howard Carter, a great arche- ologist who was able to decipher hieroglyphics and who is credited with finding King Tutankhamen’s tomb in the Valley of the Kings in Egypt, was able to learn much of what he knew because he accompanied his mother, who worked at the British Museum, when boxes of Egyptian artifacts arriving at the museum were uncrated. Because of his mother’s influence, he was being educated at the museum, something that greatly affected his career.
The country and culture in which someone lives can be a major influence upon his or her art. For example, someone living in certain areas of the world or as a part of cer- tain religions might not wish to represent the human form on a sacred building. Those living in other areas of the world would find a holy image or figure in a stained glass window natural. In some areas of the world, people build with domes and arches, and in others they build very flat, low buildings. Buildings and architectural structures reflect both the function and availability of their materials.
Many times artists’ and individuals’ works and research are not known until after their deaths: Vermeer was one such example.
For more than 200 years after his death, Vermeer was overlooked by all but the most discriminating collectors and art historians. His few pictures were attributed to other artists. Only after 1866, when the French critic W. Thore-Burger “rediscovered” him, did Vermeer’s works become widely known and heralded as genuine. http://www. ibiblio.org/wm/paint/auth/vermeer/
The thirty-five (or thirty-six) paintings generally accepted as by Vermeer are divided between Europe (22) and America (14). The Saint Praxedis, which would be the thirty-seventh painting by Vermeer, is only weakly supported by authorities, and it is only rarely on public view. Vermeer’s Concert, once housed in the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum in Boston, was stolen on March 18, 1990, and has not been recov- ered. If you have any information regarding this theft, please report it to the FBI Art Theft Program. http://www.essentialvermeer.com/maps/mapeurope.html
What Factors Influence Artists? 45
Women in History Since antiquity, women have created art and not received recognition for doing so. It is difficult to obtain a proper history of women in art because many records have been manipulated, and a great number of works by women have been credited to their male teachers or relatives, as it was believed that no truly great art could be created by a woman (Heller, 1987). A large number of artists from antiquity remain unknown, and many are of the opinion that perhaps “anonymous was a woman” (NMWA, 1998, p. 1). We know that women were creating art during this period through discoveries of unal- tered records and images of women artists working, yet there are relatively few known female artists of this time. Hypothetically, if not in truth, we may conclude that works were better received with artist unknown, rather than to be attached to the name of a woman. Clearly it was an unacceptable notion that a woman was capable of creating great art. (Source: Jeannie Shubitz, Women, Art and Gender: A History.)
If someone does not make an impact or influence on a group of people, then that someone does not go down in history as having an impact.
If your work is found after you are gone, it is possible that the work can be influ- ential in future generations. If someone else finds your work or your writings later, then the work may be used to influence others. An example of this is the way in which Pablo Picasso “resurrected” the art of and the interest in El Greco (Doménikos The- otokópoulos). This artist was from the period of time between the Renaissance and the Baroque Period, often referred to as “Mannerism.” El Greco elongated his spiritual figures, such as saints found in the Catholic Church, to show the difference between regular individuals and spiritual figures.
The reason many artists were not able to impact the “art world” when they were alive was their art was not seen by the influential people from places where there would have been a significant amount of information spread about their work. If a creator has his or her work shown or distributed only in a small area, say, where they were living, then it is likely that they will not become famous. It may be that their work is discov- ered, however, after they are gone. An example of this is when Pablo Picasso became interested in El Greco’s art. Upon rediscovering it, Picasso prepared El Greco’s work for a revival. Picasso was influenced enough by El Greco’s work that one can notice similarities in a few of his compositions.
During the late nineteenth century, if naturalist Charles Robertson had not trav- eled to the Illinois countryside recording the movements of bees and categorizing them, we would not know their role on our current environment. However, Robertson was not famous during his own lifetime but recently scientists have found his work to be valuable. “Bees provide a unique insight,” Lane said. “They are a window into our impact on the environment because they are directly impacted.”
In the end, all bee researchers have Robertson to thank, for the study could not have been carried out without his in-depth research, according to Marlin.
“I would say that he was probably obsessive—you almost have to be obsessive to do this kind of work,” he said. “The man’s amazing.” (Source: H. Zolkower-Kutz, “Researchers Buzzing About New Bee Study.”)
46 Artists and Styles of Art
A Few Examples of Women Artists Who Did Paint during the Renaissance and Baroque Periods
Catherine de Vigri A religious painter during the Renaissance Period 1413–1463 born in Bologna, Italy
This artist was born into an aristocratic family and was later known as Saint Catherine de Bologna.
She became a nun and established a monastery for the poor in the area where she grew up. She learned to paint from her father and paint altar pieces of religious subjects for the Catholic Church.
Source: http://hubpages.com/education/History-of-Female-Renaissance-Artists.
Sofonisba Anguissola 1531–1625 born in Cremona, Italy
This artist was born into a noble family with five girls. Their father taught the girls to paint. Sofonisba was allowed to travel to Rome and was intrigued with the work of Mi- chelangelo. She painted for twenty years and it has been documented that her work was mainly commissioned by King Philip the First of Spain.
Source: http://hubpages.com/education/History-of-Female-Renaissance-Artists.
Baroque Period Artist Artemisia Gentileschi 1593–1656 born in Rome, Italy
Gentileschi was an Italian Baroque painter and is considered today to have been unique because of her use of high contrast between light and dark. She did portraits which were extremely realistic and detailed. She was able to get some work but was not accepted by many of the powerful people high in the Catholic Church so she was not able to get commissions for altar pieces. She moved to Venice and to Naples in search of work.
Many of the subjects that she did paint were topics representing strong women. She especially painted those women who had gone through extremely hard times. Gentiles- chi painted suffering women from myths and biblical stories. Her subject matter usually depicted victims, suicides, or warriors.
Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Artemisia_Gentileschi