Introduction to Humanities

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Introduction to Humanities

• Humanities Through The Arts
• By
• F. David Martin and Lee A. Jacobus

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Chapter OneThe Humanities A Study Of Values

• What is humanities?
• The humanities are those studies that are
  directly concerned with human values.
• Unlike the sciences, which are expressed through
  numbers and symbols, human values can be
  perceived, felt, and expressed in subtle and
  enduring ways.
• In the medieval period the word Humanities
  distinguished that which pertained to humans from
  that which pertained to God.

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Humanities a Study in Values

• Humanities covers a broad area of human
  creativity but are distinct from mathematics and
  the hard sciences.
• The separation between the humanities and the
  sciences is illustrated in the way values work
  differently in the two areas.
• Both the scientist and the humanist must make
  value judgments. The development of powerful
  weapons is seen as a positive development for the
  scientist - because of the many possibilities the
  development of the weapon might bring.
• On the other hand the humanist might see the
  development of powerful weapons as a bad thing
  that will eventually affect or even destroy a
  culture, people and or an entire life style.

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A Humanist Approach

• The humanists say, what we need is a study that
  will get us closer to ourselves.
• Of the many ways to study an approach to the
  humanities is through art and the subtle
  enduring ways values are expressed in the arts.

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Taste is an exercise values!

• People are often quick to say they like or
  dislike a piece of work because of taste.
• An there is no accounting for taste.
• The taste of the mass public shifts constantly.
  It does not matter if it is in fashion,
  programs, slang words or terms, etc., it will one
  day go out of style. Examples the cabbage patch
  doll, the pet rock, the eight ball, gold teeth,
  mini skirts, the thong, etc.

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Regardless--

• Everyone can and should be educated about the
  arts and should learn to respond to as wide a
  variety of the arts as possible
• Because when we do there is a change within us -
  something has been added.

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Many facts are involved in the study of the arts

• We can verify the dates of Beethovens birth and
  death the dates of his important compositions,
  as well as, their key signature and numbers.
• We can investigate the history of jazz and the
  claims of Jelly Roll Morton for having been its
  inventor.
• We can make lists of the Impressionist painters
  and those they influenced.
• There are oceans of facts attached to every art
  form. But our interest is not in fact alone.

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What we mean by a study of the arts penetrates
beyond facts

• to the values that evoke our feelings
• In other words we go beyond the facts about a
  work of art and get to the values implied in the
  work.
• We learn to recognize the values expressed in
  such works as well as to understand the ways in
  which they are expressed.

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Responses to Art

• Our responses to art are complex
• Education in the arts permits us to observe more
  closely and thereby respond more intensely to the
  content.
• Consider Eternal City 1934 1937 by Peter Blume
  (p.7 - 5th ed/p.9 - 6th edition)

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Knowledge about a work of art can lead to your
knowledge of the work of art,

• which implies a richer experience.
• THIS IS IMPORTANT as a basic principle since it
  means that we can be educated about what is in a
  work of art, such as its form, shapes, and
  objects, as well as what is external to a work,
  SUCH AS its political references.

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Artistic Form

• Form is the interrelationships of lines, color,
  light, textures and shapes.
• Form of any painting can be analyzed because any
  painting has to be organized

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Perception

• Frequently, we need to know something about the
  background of a work of art that would aid our
  perception.
• Composition is basic to all the arts
• To perceive any work of art adequately, we must
  perceive its structure.

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Abstract Ideas and Concrete Images

• Examine the following poem l(a- by e. e.
  Cummings.
• Cummings poem presents an abstract idea fused
  with a concrete image or word picture.
• It is concrete because what is described is a
  physical event a falling leaf.
• Abstract idea on the other hand deal with words
  or terms such as love, hate, indecision,
  arrogance, jealousy, ambition, justice, civil
  rights, etc.

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What is a work of art?

• A work of art is often said to be something made
  by a person. Not natural beauties. Instead it
  is of human creation!
• Identifying Art Conceptually
• Criteria for determining whether or not something
  is a work of art
• 1. That the object or event is made by an artist,
• 2. That the object or event is intended to be a
  work of art by its maker
• 3. that important or recognized experts agree
  that it is a work of art.
• mass produced works do not qualify as works of
  art.

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Identifying Art Perceptually

• Perception, what we can observe and conception,
  what we know or think we know, are closely
  related. Do they possess artistically perceivable
  qualities?

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Four Factors for Identifying Art Perceptually

• 1. Artistic form All objects and events have
  form. Form is the interrelationships of part to
  part and part to whole. Perceptible unity!
  Artistic form distinguishes art from objects or
  events that are not works of art.
• 2. Content Content is the meaning of artistic
  form. The meaning!
• 3. Subject Matter is the content or meaning of
  the work of art is never directly presented in a
  work of art
• 4. Participation We must not only give but also
  sustain our undivided attention. Only by
  participation can we come close to a full
  awareness of what the painting is all about.
  Good Analysis

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Being a Critic of the Arts Chapter 3

• There are methods and means for becoming a good
  critic and understanding the goals of responsible
  criticism.
• The act of responsible criticism aims for the
  fullest understanding and the fullest
  participation possible.
• It requires being at the height of awareness
  while examining a work of art in detail,
  establishing its context, and clarifying its
  achievement.

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Being A Critic Of The Artscontinued

• You are already an art critic - when you choose
  a film or change the channel looking for
  something better, turn a radio dial looking for
  good music, when you stop to admire a building or
  a sculpture.
• Our experience is one factor which qualifies us
  to make such critical judgments. It helps us make
  critical judgments without hesitation.

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Critics of the arts

• Everyone has limitations as a critic.
• Without some specific critical training ourselves
  we are capable of going only so far.
• By learning some principles about criticism and
  how to put them to work, we can develop our
  capacities as critics.

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Being a Critic of the Arts

• Our basic critical purpose is to learn, by
  reflecting on works of art,
• how to participate with these works more
  intensely and enjoyably
• good criticism will sharpen our perception of
  the form of a work of art and increase our
  understanding of its content.

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Kinds of CriticismDescriptive Criticism

• Descriptive criticism concentrates on the form of
  a work of art,
• Describing the important characteristics of that
  form in order to improve our understanding of the
  part-to-part and part-to-whole interrelationships.
  
• Still, we miss things and oftentimes we miss
  things that are right there for us to observe.
• Good descriptive critics call our attention to
  what we might otherwise miss in an artistic form.

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Kinds of CriticismInterpretive Criticism

• Interpretive criticism gives detailed explanation
  of the content of a work of art.
• It helps us understand how form transforms
  subject matter into content what has been
  revealed about some subject matter and how that
  has been accomplished.

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Kinds of CriticismEvaluative Criticism

• Evaluative criticism to evaluate a work of art
  is to judge its merits (praiseworthy quality).
• At first glance, this seems to suggest that it is
  prescriptive criticism, which prescribes what is
  good as if it were a medicine and tell us that
  this work is superior to that work.

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Kinds of CriticismEvaluative Criticism continued

• If evaluative criticism makes you uncomfortable,
  your reaction is based on good instincts.
• Nevertheless, evaluative criticism of some kind
  is generally necessary.
• Evaluative criticisms three fundamental
  standards perfection, insight, and
  inexhaustibility. -30-