Lessons From Art History, Part One of Four

I don't think a subject, class, or professor has ever before moved me to... not to tears, or triumph, but some strange combination of the two.

Do you have any idea what is shaped by art? What shapes art? Do you know that each brush stroke created by these famous painters was motivated by some sort of rebellious social movement? That the reason we wear the clothes we wear, live in our houses, even know what a painting is--it's all from these masters?

To hear someone call out a beloved painting of yours as "the death of art" or a favorite artist as "the anti-Christ of painters" rings offensive in the way it would if someone slapped your face. Life lessons are abundant if you search for them. Here are things I have found while sitting in this marvelous class. If you are taking courses at Utah Valley University, I recommend this mind-expanding class. It hurts to stretch your boundaries. In a good way.

LIFE LESSON LEARNED FROM GIOTTO:
One person can change it all.

Chiaroscuro: shadows, value contrasts, the many shades of grey between light and dark. You wouldn't think that a simple inclusion of this into a singular painting would revolutionize figure painting, yet it did. And what a good thing to be aware of--all the shades of grey that exist in the world, in your life, in people. We are not a black and white world, we are shades of grey.


LIFE LESSON LEARNED FROM MICHELANGELO:
Carve until you set something free.

Michelangelo refused to use proportions, measurements, and other confounded entrapments of the Renaissance standard for beauty. He chiseled away at a block of stone until a masterpiece revealed itself, and he used only his eye to judge. He broke/refused the set standards of the time, and in doing so he broke the mold... and set new standards which we adhere to today: an artist's only measurement of greatness should be his own intention and eye.


LIFE LESSON LEARNED FROM MANTEGNA:
A little bit of humor goes a long way.

This is a piece of the Camera Picta which is a painted illusory ceiling... above a marriage bed. Cupids peek over the ledge at what the couple could be doing, a peacock (symbol of ferility) stands overhead... this is all on a flat surface, people. 


More to come!