Relationship Between Society and Art - Essay Example

Art History Unit Introduction Art is a way of expressing oneself, where it can be through ways such as dance, painting, drawing, music, and writing. However, the relationship between society and art is that it illustrates what the society is undergoing at a particular time, as well as the feeling of individuals. For example, if someone was to look at art from the old times one would notice that individuals involved in painting were not dressed as we dress nowadays, as well as the language used (Holmes 56-58). The society molds Art as well as how individuals are willing to make the society and convey themselves. This is usually different across the world and during the eras of time. Many individuals often experience the confusion when they have a different choice of opinions being offered from many sources in terms of the meaning of art. These opinions conflict with each other leading to even more confusion. This paper aims at expounding the relationship between society and art, based on two magazines photos, the photo of Marilyn Monroe and sculpture from MOMA bringing out the three works of Art and interpretation of photographs, from which the particular basis of art stems in. The photographs are from a magazine, and entails of two models, which in this case are titled Superstars and Superbitch. A well dressed gentleman and a lady both with grey suits. They look professional and their pause, looks and dress codes tells a lot. However, there is a caption based from Stout Hilary’s quote that talks about the man being good at his job, and the tells the readers that they are also good at their work. He then asks why the successful women look very different from the men, and how we can break from such labels and forget about it. The relationship between society and art is simple but complex depending on the work of the artist. Artists tend to give a definition to trends of how they look at it, acting as propagandist and defining the movements. The artist also symbolizes the principles of culture or rather act as a mirror. Some artists try to bring out new trends and thoughts, which relies on what and how he or she is trying to do. For example, some of the great artists who left a legend are; Gast John who helped in showing that the perfect American and his greatest point of his age. Audobon, who was ahead of time, was an innovator and a chronicle, showed the next step to Romanticism in its view of nature (Kleiner, 2011, Pg 72). The artist who took pictures of the two photographs “superstars” and “superbitch” seems to be ahead of time and shows what culture has created in the world of Art. He seems to have many knowledge and ideas from the artwork, and seems to tell us that we can as well get this knowledge. Holmes (56-58) claims that the changes in the structure of art comes from the outside, while the direction and nature in which these impulses are developed and perceived depends on the presumptions of aesthetic immanent. However, these presuppositions of aesthetic do not normally bring out the relationship between society and art. The pictures of the models bring out a theme of gender, which is still pertinent today, particularly in recent times. The objective of the photographs is to bring out the character, mood, and the similarity of the models. Like in any other portrait pictures, the photographs have focused on the face of models, but the whole background has been included. For example, the model clothes, in this case, the grey suits, the superstar within them, the hair, the briefcase, and facial expression. The portraits of the images seem to be composed and still, looking at the camera from a direct angle of the camera (Holmes 56-58). The picture of Marilyn Monroe from MoMa, brings out the upper part of her body in style. The photographer has cut the down part of her body. This picture also brings out the theme of gender. The photographer has presented Marilyn as an image that is reproducible. The artist believes that she was a subject that was favorite to many and therefore, when she dies, the artist fragmented, obscured and inverted her picture with a portion placed over with her name. He has also inserted Coca-Cola brand that he places it up-side down because he tries to pair the image of Monroe with this famous brand name. This is because the artist believes that she is an iconic figure the same as Coca-Cola. The sculpture from MoMa collection is of Picasso, which entails of a potted vase and jars that create distended womb and breast. They are clearly visible and refer to the ceramic Picasso’s own works. The artist is said to have brought out the theme of gender, in terms of a pregnant woman as a way of fulfillment because she did not have a third child. It also brings out the theme of gender, where by, the artist has created a pregnant woman out of the sculpture showing off her breast and protruded womb in form of pregnancy. It is a sculpture in form of plastic that has a round face, abdomen and breast that brings out the connection of fertility, containment and womb metaphorically. It also has both formal and symbolic imagination. The theme of gender comes out from “Pregnant woman” in form of a Picasso sculpture from the vases and potter jars layers, which symbolize virginity that stands for belly and breasts of a goddess who is fertile. Many styles of photographs are non-professionals, but these ones are professional models, iconic figure and sculptures bringing out a theme of gender. The lady is referred to as a Superbitch and the gentleman a Superstar. This automatically brings out the theme of gender in today’s world. Men are seen to be superior that women in terms of gender. Even in artwork, women are only considered for beauty, posing while naked, fashion, and other non-professional images. Men on the other hand are considered to be born successful for example, in the professional world and are seen to pose in decent clothes unlike ladies, who pause almost naked (Kleiner 72). Additionally, most of the advertisement that men appears are professionals, bringing out the image of a successful individual unlike in women. The society has become a gender based where men are more highly valued in the society than women. The feminine side of the society has diminished with few exceptions that the photograph seems to bring out, and asks in form of a quote , why successful women are seen to be different than men, as well as how to break such a label for good. According to (Holmes 56-58), pictorial literature and art is a means of expression through stylization and transformation, which is predominant and reflects the cultural process. This particular theme is important because, the idea of gender has been driven away by women’s movement and the feminism emergence in the twentieth century, where women are seen to obtain rights and privileges and other exclusive expression forms which men have historically enjoyed in the society where sexuality, race, class are defined by gender which is dominant. The emergence of history of art and feminist from time immemorial has never re-appreciated women representation as women of subject, receptors, and creator of arts pictorial but rather brought about a broad assessment of gender issues in art (Holmes 56-58). Kleiner (72) adds that art in gender is brought out every day in television, magazines, advertisements and others. It has also become a stereotype where both women and men are experiencing the roles of gender as well as their side effects each day. Gender has not been set on a stone, and therefore, every month, day, and year, our view of gender change. In some countries, individuals are socialized generally as masculine or feminine based on the assumptions and cultural norms in the society. These kinds of assumptions in terms of gender are incorporated in our society, behaviors and beliefs, which are natural, although people take such assumptions for, granted. Art is enjoyed and created by people for many reasons. One of the things that art does is to expand and extend the universal language of visual. Whenever new visual ideas of visual are brought out by an artist, people find them shocking and incomprehensible at times. However, they come to accept them with time. The pictorial images of the models, sculpture and the image of Marilyn Monroe brings out the purpose of art , whereby in time people are able to grasp the illuminating and shocking theme of the images, and the way the images are made. However, once the shock disappears, they will have absorbed the visual image in their own vocabularies. This is because; artist tends to view familiar things, and interprets new events and situations through the visual kind of shorthand. However, this kind of creation may be the intention of the artist or purpose of side effect (Holmes 56-58). Art has also been used to create beauty from the portraits, where the concept of beauty has been brought out. The artist has portrayed the perfection of noble and lofty standards of beauty from the models. However, the society has become more democratic and industrialized, where thoughtful people have broadened their ideas of what and what is not beautiful. The portraits celebrate the color and paint in the picture, as well as show the beauty in the life of the people and in this case the stars. The models have also tried to interpret the subject that is in question. The models bring out the theme of gender, by the masculine and feminine picture. All of them being are portrayed as professionals, but the question the artist poses brings out the theme at hand. However, the matters of the subject do not change over time, although they have come up as events, nature, and human condition, which still attract many artists. Holmes (56-58) asserts that, the media has changed a bit, though some new materials have come up, and the media convention is still coming up, or rather we can explain that the merit of the artistic work has increased. Each artistic work is a way of expressing the theme in the context of events, values, and culture in a specific era. The above explained purposes of art are still applicable today, where they create beauty, interpret their purposes, convey emotions, for social commentary and commemorate significant events. The physical, personal, and social functions of the art overlap any given section of arts. However, the portraits have clearly brought out these functions, in terms of the wonderful the portrait craftsmanship is, its industrial design and architecture, in addition to, the names Superbitch and the Superstar. It plays a social function in the sense that; it has addressed the concept of gender in a collective form in the society, rather than a person’s experience or view. The theme the portrait represents is symbolic, to add to this, the personal function of the art is brought out by facial expression of the models, which shows gratification and self-fulfilled by their profession lives. They seem to be looking directly at the camera (Holmes 56-58). While I was growing up, I loved the portrait of Pablo Picasso which I still, as well as storybooks. Its sculptures compose of breasts and big tummy, which is visible. This figure resembles the work of Picasso in earlier days. Holmes (56-58) explains that the development of fine arts, use and types was established, the times that is much different from recent times. The people who were responsible for such arts worked on things that are unimportant when compared to ours. However, our modern artists have an incredible growth of precision, habits, techniques, ideas, and adaptability, which they have attained, thus making the recent art beautiful. Many of the great artists are men and therefore, we should not assume that women have struggled to know how to paint and be identified with other artistic works, where for many years they have remained constrained in the society. However, the theme these two models bring out is the idea of gender that the artist has tried to bring out two different personalities in the professional world. The caption based from Stout Hilary’s quote that talks about the men being good at their job, and tells the readers that they are also good at their work. He then asks why the successful women look very different from the men, and how we can break from such labels and forget about it. This explains why men are considered to be powerful people in the society while women lesser sex, who only exist for beauty, fashion show and advertisements (Kleiner, 72). The portrait however, brings out the few exceptions who become professional. Superbitch as the artist calls them but at the same time becomes different from men. The society has therefore, molded Art as well as how individuals are willing to make the society and convey themselves. Works Cited Holmes.M. What is gender? Sociological approaches. New York: Sage. 2007, Print, Pg 56-58 Kleiner.F. Gardener’s art through the ages : the Western perspective : Volume 2. New York: Routledge, 2009, Pg 72 Three works of art: http://www.moma.org/collection/browse_results.php?object_id=80174 Read More