In my Digital Civilization class we have moved onto the Romanticist movement. A movement focused on the experience of nature, on emotion over reason, imagination, art as a divine outlet, rejection of form, importance of self, and the sympathy for the common man. Whew, now that the bulky definition is out of the way, what is it really? Romanticism was that generation's way of interpreting and understanding the world around them as they built off the Enlightenment.
As we discussed Romanticism and hackers today in class, I was reminded of the movie, Mona Lisa Smile. It is the story of an art teacher, Katherine Watson, who goes to teach at a conservative girls college in the 1950's. It is years after the Romantic movement, but you can still see the ideology. The following video has three clips from the movie, all of which are wonderful. The third one (starts at 5:14), however, is the one that I thought of in class today. Ms. Watson is discussing Van Gogh and paint-by-numbers.
Near the end of the movie, she walks into her office only to find a paint-by-numbers painting by each of her students. This is their way of saying that they are unique individuals though they choose to live within the lines. They are "hacking" Van Gogh", but discovering themselves.
Do we not do this today? Take what came before and interpret it based on our bias and understanding? Then we take that interpretation and try to create something new.
I really like the connection to art here. It has always been interesting to me how art becomes art or in other words what people consider to be good art. Art is very subjective and often times seems to take on a life of its own. So I always wonder, what is the best way to teach art?
ReplyDeleteIn my opinion, the best way to teach art is to teach the elements of art and the evolution of art mediums. But then to let the students determine the value of a work on their own. Do they think Starry Night is amazing because everyone says so, or because they actually like it? I would hope that we are starting to get to the latter.
ReplyDeleteGood clip - I'll have to rent the movie! Thanks! I've often wondered the same thing - how do you teach it? I just know what I like, not so much what is "good"!!
ReplyDeleteI think interpreting something from our own experiences is just one way to interpret art or literature among many, but I also think it's impossible not to have some bias creep in in everything we do - even objective research is done because the researcher had some interest in the outcome to begin with.
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