The Social and Physical Functions of Art PDF

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The Social and Physical Functions of Art...

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The Social Functions of Art In a sense, all works of art perform a social function, since they are created for an audience. Art is considered to have a social function if and when it addresses a particular collective interest as opposed to a personal interest. Art may convey message of protest, contestation, or whatever message the artist intends his work to carry. These social intentions and the actual character of response which works of art evoke from various publics. That is, art performs a social function when; 1) It influences the collective behavior of people; 2) It is created to be seen or used primarily in public situations; and 3) It expresses or describes collective aspects of existence as opposed to individual and personal kinds of experience.

Uses of Art as Social Function Advertisement In all these cases, viewers respond with the awareness that they are members of a group. Artists may try to make us laugh at the same things; to accept certain religious, economic, or social ideologies; to identify with a particular class or ethnic interest; or to see our social situation in new ways. The visual arts can function as languages of praise and celebration, anger and protest, satire and ridicule. Advertising art is a common illustration.

Campbells

Some people think that art designed to influence social behavior is corrupt, impure, "mere" propaganda, and so on. We could not present a complete or accurate picture of art if we ignored its role as propaganda, for example; the history of art offers many examples. It also shows that the excellence of an artwork is often unrelated to its purpose.

Political and Ideological Expression Some artists are interested in the freedom to solve special problems of style or technique, thy use art as tools of propaganda to further voice out their opinions or ideology. Others use style and technique to express their social and political views. They may speak of their artistic responsibility: art does not exist merely to entertain, it must guide and instruct; it must improve our collective existence. Eugene Delacroix "Liberty Leading the People" is one of the early monuments of revolutionary art. The heroic scene of rebellion was initially received with mixed reviews, but it became one of Delacroix’s most popular paintings, an emblem of the July Revolution and of justified revolt.

Liberty-Delacroix

Artistic Expressions of Humanitarian Concern Art has also been used in provoking the reigning regime with protest calling for humanitarian justice. Perhaps the most monumental painting of social protest in our time is Picasso's Guernica. It depicts the Nazi German bombing of Guernica, Spain, by twenty-four bombers, on April 26, 1937 during the Spanish Civil War. It's intense emotional content inspired enormous sympathy for the Spanish people.

Picasso-guernica

Schindler’s List

Life is Beautiful

Schindler's List and the Italian movie Life is Beautiful each portray the horrors of the Holocaust, but in very different manners. Rent and watch as much of either of these great films as you can stand. Be warned that they graphically portray the horrors of the holocaust, and are extremely difficult to watch.

Satire

The social function of satire is to ridicule people and institutions so that they will change. Satire has roots in our fascination with the grotesque, and making grotesque images of real or imagined people is a universal practice. William Hogarth, Honore Daumier, Andy Warhol, Jeff Koons and Duane Hanson are all satirical artists

Daumier-money Graphic Communication Art can also be and inexpensive public language. Cheaply reproduced visual images communicate with amazing persuasiveness, and, combined with words, their meaning is clear and unmistakable. Art plays a crucial role in carrying information from government, business, and industry to every social group or subgroup we can imagine.

School Sign

The Physical Function of Art The physical functions of art are often the easiest to understand. Works of art that are created to perform some service have physical functions. The physical functions of art can be found in works that serve some physical purpose such as architecture, jewelry-making and interior design It is generally categorized into two classes namely tools or containers. Uses of Art as a Physical Function Architecture Architecture is an art form that reflects how we present ourselves across the earth’s landscape, and, like other expressive mediums, it changes with styles, technologies and cultural adaptations. Architecture not only provides worldly needs of shelter, workspace and storage but also represents human ideals in buildings like courthouses and government buildings and manifestations of the spirit in churches and temples. The Parthenon, a Greek temple to the mythic goddess Athena, was built in the fifth century BCE in Athens. All are considered pinnacles of classic Greek architecture. Doric colonnades march across all sides of the Parthenon, the outer boundary of a very ordered interior floor plan.

Parthenon, Athens, Greece Form and Function The function of an object is generally determines in the basic form that it takes. A chair is so designed as to allow the seated body to rest comfortably on it. The shapes, sizes , and different parts are harmoniously related to one another and integrated into an object that fulfills and tells about their particular purpose.

Carbon Chair

Form and Beauty Many things remain the same in shape throughout the years because their functional requirements do not allow for greater variations in their form. Time has proved that their designs best enable them to accomplish their purpose. The vessel is a Romanian water pitcher, circa. 1800CE. Like the majority utilitarian vessels created throughout the course of history, it has been embellished with decoration. The pattern, simple as it is, was created by an artisan who understood the same visual elements and principles of organization. It functions to add visual interest to the overall form of the pitcher. However, the vessel by itself succeeds aesthetically as a form, a physical shape, though it serves a functional purpose, it is also an exquisite arrangement of lines, shapes, and spaces. In fact, despite its simplicity, it is a visually stunning object It employs graceful line, a masterful use of repetition in its cone and circular shapes, and maintains logical proportion between top, bottom, and center. It also exhibits exceptional balance, due to the nature of its creation on a potter's wheel. Therefore, as it employs almost all the visual elements in accordance with the established principles of organization in such a skilled manner, we could say that the vessel itself is a "work of art."

Roman Pitcher

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