analysis

ARTS 1A

Topic 2: History

Topic 2

First, watch the following short video, “Service Episode: Ehren Tool Segment”:

https://youtu.be/A9Gpr7mjCnE

If you need the closed captioning feature, click the “CC” button on the bar at the bottom of the screen.

Pair 1: Ehren Tool and Pamphaios/Nikosthenes

Ehren Tool

I. Gulf War veteran and artist Ehren Tool makes cups to give away rather than to sell. He considers making cups his vocation: something he feels called to do as his life’s work. He supports himself financially by working as a ceramics mechanician in the Department of Art Practice at UC Berkeley, but when he is not working as a lab tech he produces cups. Tool says that cups are ”the appropriate scale to talk about war and violence.” He makes them primarily as gifts for other veterans. “The cup,” Tool says, “it’s a little thing; it’s not confrontational. It’s just a cup.” The cup made by Ehren Tool included in this chapter features a representation of an AH-64A Apache Helicopter, which was used to fire the first shots in Operation Desert Storm.

Ehren Tool

Cup

after 1991

Stoneware with glaze

II. Ehren Tool often depicts scenes of war on his cups, which place them in the category of the history subject: representation of historical events, religious figures, or scenes from literature. In the past, artists who represented history subjects often glorified war, seeking to commemorate or memorialize acts of soldiers. Ehren Tool does not believe in war memorials (“I think that peace is the only adequate war memorial,” he has stated), but in 2007 he made a video, “1.5 Second War Memorial,” in which he depicted several of his cups being shot. He instructs viewers to find out how many soldiers were killed in any particular war, then to multiply the number of casualties by 1.5 seconds, which is the time it takes to watch one of his cups being shot. If the viewer selected World War II, she or he would have to watch “1.5 Second War Memorial” for almost two years.

Pamphaios (potter) and The Nikosthenes Painter

I. Artists have been producing cups with imagery of soldiers for thousands of years. Pamphaios and the Nikosthenes Painter, a team of artists in ancient Greece, produced a kylix: a cup for drinking wine, in which the underside reveals ten running infantrymen bearing shields and carrying helmets. These soldiers possibly participated in a 400-meter race called the “hoplitodromos” or “race of the soldiers,” a feature of the Panathenaic Games, which were held in ancient Athens every four years. The hoplitodromos was both a competition and a military training exercise.

Pamphaios (potter) and the Nikosthenes Painter

Kylix with Running Warriors

Late 6th century B.C.

Glazed terracotta

II. In ancient Greece, vase painters often used the red-figure approach or the black-figure approach to glorify the acts of soldiers on wheel thrown pottery: a technique of making vessels in which clay is centered on a turning wheel while the potter bends the clay between her or his fingers, stretching it upward. In black-figure ware, the figures are black and the background is terracotta red. In red-figure ware, the opposite is the case: red figures are depicted against a black background. The Kylix with Running Warriors is an example of red-figure ware.

Pair 1

Analysis Exercises: Pair 1

Exercise 1: Compare the image on Ehren Tool’s cup with the underside of the ancient kylix. In what ways are these images different from each other?

Exercise 2: While comparing these cups, consider the thousands of years that separates their creation. How does the imagery on the cups indicate that warfare has changed over the centuries? How does the imagery on the cups indicate that warfare has remained the same?

Exercise 3: Ehren Tool is responsible for throwing the cup and producing imagery on it. The ancient Greek kylix is the creation of at least two people. Why might throwing vessels and designing imagery have been distinct pursuits in the ancient world?

Pair 2: Poussin/Mellan and Polykleitos the Elder

Nicolas Poussin

I. Unlike Rembrandt, who both designed and prepared the copper plates for his etchings, French artist Nicolas Poussin produced designs for prints that were then turned over to professional printmakers who prepared the plates. Poussin, who specialized in history subjects—especially stories about ancient Greeks and Romans and their gods—chose to live in Rome so he could study ancient sculpture as well as imagery by artists who were influenced by ancient art. In Poussin’s introductory illustration for the book Quinti Horatii Flacci Opera (The Works of Horace), published in 1642, a female figure who embodies inspiration bestows the ancient Roman writer Horatius with a theatrical mask, signifying his achievement as a storyteller. The winged child above their heads is about to crown Horatius with laurel leaves, another mark of achievement.

This book illustration is not an etching but an engraving. Like etching, engraving is a form of printmaking categorized as intaglio printmaking, in which grooves in a plate are filled with ink and pressed into paper. In etching, the grooves are formed by acid. In engraving, the grooves are formed by the printmaker’s use of a burin: a sharp v-shaped tool used to gouge metal. In the case of Poussin’s Quinti Horatii Flacci Opera (The Works of Horace), the plate was engraved by Claude Mellan, a professional French printmaker who copied an original drawing by Poussin to mass produce this image. Mellan also produced original paintings but he was widely known as a printmaker.

Nicolas Poussin; engraved by Claude Mellan

Frontispiece to the book Quinti Horatii Flacci Opera (The Works of Horace)

1642

Engraving

II. Nicolas Poussin was an enthusiastic advocate for what he called the grand manner: scenes of battles, heroic actions, and the divine. In other words, Poussin was an enthusiast of history subjects. However, not all history subjects contain battles, heroic actions, or divine things. Poussin’s design for Quinti Horatii Flacci Opera (The Works of Horace) has a grand manner theme because it includes representation of ”divine” figures: the winged child and the female personification of inspiration. If this engraving had represented Horatius alone, it would still be categorized as a history subject, but one without a grand manner theme.

Polykleitos the Younger

I. Just as buildings designed by Jørn Utzon and Kunlé Adeyemi may be tied to the subject category of landscape (recall chapter 1), other structures may be discussed in relation to the history subject category. This is the case with the ancient Greek theatre of Epidaurus, designed in the 4th century B.C. by Polykleitos the Younger. Since art historians define the history subject category as subjects associated with history, religion, and literature, we can tie museums (associated with history), buildings used for worship (associated with religion), and theatres (associated with literature) to this subject category.

Polykleitos the Younger

Theatre Epidaurus, Greece

4th century B.C.

Stone

II. The theatres designed by the ancient Greeks were conceived in parts. The theatron was the seating area where the audience sat to view the performance; the circular orchestra was the area used as a stage; and the skene was an area behind the orchestra for the chorus and dancers. The skene opened up into a view of the landscape beyond the theatre. The Greek word theatron stems from a verb form which translates as “I view.” The word theatron has also been used to describe a place of military conflict, as in “theatre of war”. Many Greek plays were tragedies involving military conflict.

A contemporary photograph demonstrates the scale of an actor in relation to the monumental size of the theatron in Epidaurus. Scale is a principle of design that refers to the relative size of an object.

Pair 2

Analysis Exercises: Pair 2

Exercise 1: Consider what it would have been like to watch a play performed in ancient Epidaurus. Which would have been the better seats: those closest to the actors or those farthest away, and why? (Note: The accoustics are excellent at Epidaurus; those who sat in the highest seats could still hear the performance very well.)

Exercise 2: Poussin’s design for the introductory illustration in a book containing writings by the ancient Roman writer Horatius includes figures who appear to be ancient Romans. What did Poussin need to consider when designing this image, to be able to convince viewers that this image represented people from history rather than his own day?

Exercise 3: What types of history subjects interest you?

Pair 3: Polykleitos the Elder and Pablo Picasso

Polykleitos the Elder

I. The designer of the theatre at Epidaurus, Polykleitos the Younger, had a widely-respected teacher: his father, Polykleitos the Elder, who designed a famous sculpture, the Doryphoros. Polykleitos the Elder used mathematical formulae to design the body of the Doryphoros in an attempt to create a perfectly- proportioned human figure. Proportion refers to the harmonious relation of parts to each other, or to the whole. While most consider the concept of a perfectly-proportioned human figure to be an outdated or even harmful idea, this project by Polykleitos the Elder demonstrates that the ancient Greeks valued the concept of the “ideal”: that which they believed to be better than nature itself.

Polykleitos the Elder

Doryphoros

Designed c. 440 B.C.; Roman copy made second century B.C.

Marble

II. Polykleitos the Elder may have chosen to idealize the Doryphoros, which translates as “spear bearer,” because this sculpture honors a soldier. Not only did the sculptor attempt to construct an ideal body to represent the soldier, he also attempted to make him appear somewhat lifelike by showing the figure in a relaxed posture called contrapposto, where the figure rests its weight on one leg, with the opposite knee bent. It is important to note that this sculpture is an ancient Roman copy of a Greek original sculpture by Polykleitos the Elder. This Roman copy is damaged. Not only are parts of the body broken or lost, but the surface of the marble has absorbed dirt. Today it looks considerably different than it would have looked after it was produced in an ancient Roman workshop.

Pablo Picasso

I. Most students who studied at European art academies from the sixteenth century onwards were encouraged to admire history subjects produced by ancient Greek sculptors. As a child, the Spanish artist Pablo Picasso studied art at the Escuela de Bellas Artes in Barcelona, where became an expert in drawing works of ancient Greek and Roman sculpture. In a drawing featured in this chapter, Study of a Torso, Barcelona, Picasso demonstrated to his teachers that he understood how to represent light falling upon an object that has an uneven surface. The representation of shadows and highlights on an object which has an uneven surface is called chiaroscuro, based on the Italian words for light/dark.

Pablo Picasso

Study of a Torso, Barcelona

1895

Charcoal and black pencil on laid paper

II. In art school, students like Picasso typically spent several years learning to draw in preparation for learning to paint. This charcoal and black pencil drawing by Picasso was made on laid paper: handmade paper which dried on screens, leaving the surface somewhat rough. Specifically, Picasso was looking at a copy of a work of sculpture by an ancient Greek artist, Phidias. Like Polykleitos the Elder, Phidias produced sculpture in the fifth century B.C. The subject of Picasso’s drawing is a remnant of architectural sculpture from the Parthenon, the largest temple on the Acropolis, the hilltop which soars above Athens. The figure itself is a representation of a river god.

Pair 3

Analysis Exercises: Pair 3

Exercise 1: If art students like Pablo Picasso were taught to draw by copying ancient Greek and Roman sculpture, how might such a practice affect their concept how to represent actual human bodies?

Exercise 2: Carefully examine the Doryphoros. How does it become clear to you that it is not a representation of a real person, but is instead a form that has largely been invented by the artist?

Exercise 3: If Picasso and other students at art academies were directed by their teachers to draw sculpture representing history subjects, do you think it more likely that their work would become focused on men or women?

Pair 4: Angelica Kauffman and Tsukioka Yoshitoshi

Angelica Kauffman

I. Swiss-born artist Angelica Kauffman was not trained in an art academy because women were were largely forbidden or discouraged from attending art school in Europe until the twentieth century. Taught by her father to draw and paint, Angelica Kauffman nevertheless became and accomplished professional artist. She was invited to be a founding member of the British Royal Academy of Arts in London by Joshua Reynolds, its first president. This invitation was extended to Angelica Kauffman because she was a specialist in paintings that featured history subjects. As a teacher at the academy in London, she coached students in the production of academic art: imagery which retained the values of administrators of European art academies.

Angelica Kauffman

Cornelia, Mother of the Gracchi

c. 1785

Oil on canvas

II. The type of academic art in which Angelica Kauffman excelled was called Neoclassicism: a revival of ancient Greek and Roman ideas and forms. In Cornelia, Mother of the Gracchi, Angelica Kauffman placed at the center of this history painting an ancient Roman woman celebrated for her virtue. When a neighbor shows Cornelia her jewels, Cornelia points to her children, indicating that they, rather than jewelry, are her treasures. Because her sons would grow up to be political reformers in ancient Rome, Cornelia’s virtue was linked to the idea of good government. As an artist working for a government- financed academy, Angelica Kauffman’s choices of history subjects should be considered in light of eighteenth-century European political ideas and practices.

Tsukioka Yoshitoshi

I. Tsukioka Yoshitoshi was a nineteenth-century Japanese printmaker who specialized in ukiyo-e: Japanese woodblock prints which included a wide range of subjects, including history, imagery of people in every-day life, and landscape. One of the series of images designed by Yoshitoshi was “100 Aspects of the Moon,” which included the print Joganden Moon, an image best categorized as a history subject. In this print, the 10th-century courtier and poet Tsunemoto destroys with his bow and arrow a deer he thought might attack Emperor Shujaku.

Tsukioka Yoshitoshi

Joganden Moon From the series “100 Aspects of the Moon”

c. 1885-1892

Woodblock print

II. Ukiyo-e is an example of relief printmaking, in which an artist prepares a block or plate for printing by cutting away from the surface the areas not to be printed. In relief printing the raised surface receives the ink, whereas in intaglio printing the recessed areas receive the ink. In the production of multi-colored ukiyo-e prints, a separate block is carved for each color utilized in the design. As such, a single print could require more than a dozen different blocks, depending upon how many colors of ink are used.

Pair 4

Analysis Exercises: Pair 4

Exercise 1: How effective were Angelica Kauffman and Tsukioka Yoshitoshi as storytellers?

Exercise 2: What were the different lessons that Angelica Kauffman and Tsukioka Yoshitoshi intended to teach with these images?

Exercise 3: Do all artists who produce imagery or architecture tied to the history subject category need to be able to tell a story or teach a lesson? Why or why not?

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