Theme: Visual Arts

Learning Package: How to View Art

The way we view art has changed with the proliferation of cameras, digital screens, duplicates and photo manipulation. The invention of the camera completely changed our sense of perspective because now we can see things in places our eyes have never travelled to. It has changed the context with which we view art because we can now see a painting or work in a different setting from what the artist intended, thus giving us a different perspective of the art.

Did you know...

The camera’s history can be traced back to the Middle Ages with the first pinhole camera. A physicist by the name of Alhazen discovered the idea of Camera Obscura, which led him to the creation of the first pinhole camera. Camera Obscura, in short, is reproducing an image with colour and perspective preserved.¹.

Videos

1. Ways of Seeing, Episode 1 (1972)
A BAFTA award-winning BBC series with John Berger, which rapidly became regarded as one of the most influential art programs ever made. In the first program, Berger examines the impact of photography on our appreciation of art from the past.
Source: John Berger / Ways of Seeing, Episode 1 (1972) (2012, October 8). tw19751. Retrieved 2022, February 15.

2. Ways of Seeing, Episode 3 (1972)
With the invention of oil paint around 1400, painters were able to portray people and objects with an unprecedented degree of realism, and painting became the ideal way to celebrate private possessions. In this programme, John Berger questions the value we place on that tradition.
Source: John Berger / Ways of Seeing, Episode 3 (1972) (2019, December 21). tw19751. Retrieved 2022, February 15.

3. Walter Benjamin: The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction
An introduction to the art critic Walter Benjamin and his most influential essay, the Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction. Including David Douglas's the Work of Art in the Age of Digital Reproduction.
Source: Walter Benjamin: The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction (2019, March 9). Then & Now. Retrieved 2022, February 15.

4. How to Sound like you Understand Art
Do you question your ability to talk about art in a coherent way? Here are tips for how to sound like you understand art, even if you've never taken a class or set foot in a museum.
Source: How to Sound like you Understand Art (2019, March 9). The Art Assignment. Retrieved 2022, March 10.

5. Art and Empathy
Empathy is a term we hear a lot, but what does it mean and how does it work? Looking back through art history, we find many moments when art has allowed us to share in the feelings of others, from Maya Lin's Vietnam Veterans Memorial, to representations of the Buddhist deity Jizō Bosatsu, the ink drawings of Chittaprosad and Zainul Abedin, the work of Ghana Think Tank, and more.
Source: Art and Empathy (2019, March 9).The Art Assignment. Retrieved 2022, March 10.

6. Art Explainer 1: The Power to Look
How does what you see in an artwork tell you how to look? Using three artworks from the Art Institute's collection, this video unpacks a central theme and uses innovative visual storytelling to highlight the choices artists made to shape form and meaning in their works.
Source: Art Explainer 1: The Power to Look (2019, March 9).The Art Institute of Chicago. Retrieved 2022, March 10

eBooks

1. Photography, A Very Short Introduction

Steve Edwards (2017), Photography, A Very Short Introduction, OUP Oxford.

In this thought-provoking exploration of the subject, Edwards interrogates the way we look and think about photographs, and considers such issues as truth and recording, objectivity and fine art, identity and memory.

Borrow the eBook here.