Graduation Date
1978
Document Type
Thesis
Program
Other
Committee Chair Name
Dr. Lane Skelton
Committee Chair Affiliation
Cal Poly Humboldt Faculty or Staff
Second Committee Member Name
Dr. James W. Carroll
Keywords
Art
Subject Categories
Art
Abstract
The most elementary discussion of art involves some concern with the question: what is art? As anyone who has tackled this question knows, it seems to have no simple answer. This is not to say that it is not fascinating and worthy of much discussion, however it does not need to be answered for the purposes of this paper. The pragmatic nature of this sociological endeavor does not require the philosophical necessity of defining art in terms of attraction and aesthetics. All that is necessary for this paper is that an agreement be reached on what is to be studied. Read, Hauser, and others seem to have arrived at an agreement 1 on at least part of this question : It seems that man has generally managed to change the appearance of his objects after the immediate needs of survival have been met. In fact, it seems that in some cases decoration took the form of magic and was an immediate need for survival in the eyes of the decorators. Firth and others have voiced this latter opinion concerning the place of art in primitive magic or religion. In any case, man has used a similar form of expression from his earliest beginnings. Thus, some form of art or decoration has always been with man. This is an interesting and perhaps fruitful line of investigation; once again, however, further discussion is not necessary for the purposes of this paper. This project will deal with change in the nature of a phenomenon which seems to be universal to man. Thus we avoid a philosophical discussion of the nature of art in general. Although we hope to avoid the philosophical considerations involved in defining art we must place parameters around our area of consideration. If one were to assume at face value the previously given definition of art (i.e., anything that man has decorated) and work toward a general understanding based upon this description, the problems would be enormous. In the first place, the number of categories and objects involved would seem limitless. In the second, one would be faced with the problem of answering the question of a precise definition of art once again. Therefore, in order to make the subject more manageable and to create some order out of the jumble of possible art: music, literature, ceramics, jewelry, etc., the forthcoming discussion shall be limited primarily to painting. This art form is common enough in most cultures to provide a sound basis for comparison. This paper shall hold one art form (i.e., painting) constant and watch it react to changes in society. This is a significantly different approach from observing the changes which occur in preferences for form which follow social and cultural change. By holding society constant as opposed to art, one would probably be led from one art form to another, as various social groups and needs made themselves felt. Using this approach it would be difficult to see the change which occurs in a single art form. The interest of this paper is in the change visible in a single art form over time, thus the form shall be held constant. The change in form or nature with which this paper is concerned shall be indicated by three index points; style, form, and content. A brief description of each index point is in order here. Style is concerned with such visual elements as linear vs. painterly and formal vs. vii viii informal approaches. Form will be concerned with the physical form of the piece (for example, size). Finally, content deals with the choice of subject matter and the manner of presentation (i.e., flattering romantic, etc.). These points will be enlarged upon in a later chapter. A final point which should be touched upon before proceeding concerns the generalizing nature of this sociological inquiry. The concern is not with specific cultures or time periods, but with a search for some more universal constants. Ideally, one would like to be able to say that the variables which shall be examined later have universal Validity. Unfortunately, the scope of this project and my own resources will not allow this. I could never hope to be able to examine enough data to justify a claim of that nature. In order to be of value, therefore, this paper will confine itself to a small but widely chosen random sample of selected societies, widely separated both historically and geographically. This paper shall attempt to generalize a possible approach for dealing with socially influenced change in artistic production.
Recommended Citation
Quincy, Alan, "Society and Artistic Change" (1978). Cal Poly Humboldt theses and projects. 2344.
https://digitalcommons.humboldt.edu/etd/2344