What Can We Learn from Art? I. IntroductionA. Difference b

What Can We Learn from Art?
    Good morning. Today’s lecture is the very first of a series of lectures on art history. So I’d like to spend some time discussing with you the following topic: Why do we need to study art history and what can we learn from it?
    First of all, I’d say, if you study art history, this might be a good way to learn more about a culture than is possible to learn in general history classes. You know, most typical history courses concentrate on politics, economics and war. But art history focuses on much more than this, because art reflects not only the political values of a people, but also their religious beliefs, emotions etc. In addition, information about the daily activities of our ancestors can be provided by art, like what people did for a living, what kind of dress they wore, what ceremonies they held etc. In short, art can express the essential qualities of a time and a place, and a study of it clearly offers us a deeper understanding than can be found in most history books and enables us to learn more things about human society and civilization.
    The second point I’d like to make, is about the type of information. In history books, information is objective. That is, facts about political, economical life of a country are given, but opinions are not expressed. Art, on the other hand, is subjective. It reflects personal emotions and opinions. For example, Francisco Goya was a great Spanish painter, and also perhaps the first truly political artist. In his famous painting, The Third of May, 1808, he showed soldiers shooting a group of simple people. His description of soldiers and their victims has become a symbol of the enormous power or the misuse of this power that a government can have over its people. Over a hundred years later, on another continent, the powerful paintings of Mexican artists depicted their deep anger and sadness about social problems. In summary, through art you can find a personal and emotional view of history.
    Thirdly, art can reflect a culture’s religious beliefs. For hundreds of years in Europe, religious art was almost the only type of art that existed. Churches and other religious buildings were filled with paintings that showed people and stories from the Bible. By contrast, one of the main characteristics of art in the Middle East was, and still is, its absence of human and animal images. This reflects the Islamic belief that these images are unholy. Thus, on palaces, mosques and other buildings, Islamic artists have created unique decoration of great beauty with images of flowers and geometric forms, for example, circles, squares, and triangles. The same is true of other places like Africa and the Pacific islands. Art also reflects the religious beliefs of traditional cultures in these places. As a matter of fact, religion is the purpose for this art and is, therefore, absolutely essential to it. Traditional art in Africa and the Pacific islands is different from Christian art. Christian art influences people’s religious feelings towards God, but the goal of traditional art in Africa and the Pacific islands is to influence spiritual powers, that is, gods, to enter people’s lives. Each tribe or village there has special ceremonies with songs and dances to make sure that crops, animals and people are healthy and increase in number. The dancers in these ceremonies wear masks, headdresses, and costumes that they believe are necessary to influence gods. So these masks and headdresses themselves are a very part of the art. As we’ve said, art depends on culture. Different forms of art result from different cultures.
    Similarly, the way that people view art also depends on their cultural background. This is my fourth point. For most Europeans and Americans, art is mainly for decoration. It is something on a museum wall or in a glass case. It makes homes more attractive. People look at it and admire it: "Oh, what a beautiful painting! " Besides, ideas are often expressed in this art. "This is a wonderful statue," an admirer might say. "It makes such a strong anti-war statement." But in other places, art is not considered to be separate from everyday existence. It has a function. It has a practical role to play in people’s lives. A person in a tribal society might look at a mask and say, "Oh, this is a good mask: it will keep my house safe." In brief, the way in which people enjoy or appreciate art depends on their culture.
    To conclude my lecture, we can say that art is a reflection of various cultures. But at the same time, we have to remember that art also reflects the changes in society that take place when different cultures influence one another. As people from tribal societies move to urban areas, their values and beliefs change accordingly, and their traditional art forms begin to lose their function. At the same time, urban artists begin to learn a lot from traditional art. For example, African masks and figures had a great influence on Picasso’s works. And many American and Canadian artists studied the simplicity of Japanese painting. The result is that as the world gets "smaller", the art of each culture becomes more international.
    OK. This brings us to the end of our lecture. I hope that after today’s lecture, you’ll understand better the significance of a study of art history. Art enables us to know more about human history, for example, people’s views and opinions about certain historical events, and what’s more important, about different cultures: their religious beliefs, perception of art etc.