During my time at Abington, as a requirement for the art major, I have taken at least 3 art history courses. It is expected that you will look at a multitude of works from across the world and throughout history. Depending on the specific subject of the class you will see different works that influenced or reflected that time. Even I can understand that there is something to be learned from these works of art whether it represents a message or lesson that words don’t translate as well or just a lesson in history. However, knowing that a work of art is important and trying to be inspired looking at some painting from hundreds of year ago while sitting 30 feet away from a dull projector is still a difficult task for me. Also I think many art majors can agree there is a small amount of B.S. that goes into art critiques and discussions about works, especially in an art history class. A lot of times it can be tough to view the world through the eyes of a long since dead artist who lived in a completely different world compared to ours. The process usually starts with silence from the class until the teacher gives some insight on the painting, artist, or time during which it was created. Even though it can be boring in a classroom the process of analyzing works while at Abington has actually made a difference in how I approach works of art knowing there is an idea to be pulled from every work. It can even be a fun challenge to try and extract these ideas, albeit stressful when there isn’t a professor to guide the discussion. So with a more in-depth understanding of how to analyze art I could go back to the Philadelphia Museum of Art for the first time since being in college and not just look at work on a surface level. I still have a hard time forcing myself to stop every work and try to understand it. Instead I walked through like it was a department store and I would browse until I found works that compelled me to take a second look.
Ryan,
You were really straight forward and that is something that I can appreciate! I think you’re right, every artist or art student thinks that there is a sort of BS in the air when it comes to art critiques. I hadn’t really thought about how hard it is to put yourself in the shoes of a dead artist, and it makes me appreciate art historians a little more! Art history class do tend to be hard when you’re trying to understand the reasoning behind a work of art that may or may not actually be the reason that the artist was trying to express.
I really liked how honest you were about explaining that it is difficult to stand in front of a piece of art made years ago, by someone you do not know much about, with meaning you do not fully understand the importance of. I liked this so much because I can definitely relate to this thought. Most of what you said I can relate and have thought the same thing which made reading your post enjoyable. As someone who is also an art major, I can agree that taking so many different art history related classes, it has taught me something about viewing art based on a surface level. I now can go to different museums and browse until something catches my eye and I can look at this piece and go through the different steps to learning about this and why this means so much and what exactly makes this work of art important. I like how you said that you can now approach a piece of art and pull what you already know out of a work of art into eventually understanding its importance. Lastly, I really liked how you described walking through the museum like, “a department store”.