Thinking About Art

A Thematic Guide to Art History

Penny Huntsman

• Publisher: Wiley-Blackwell
• Year: 2015
• ISBN:
  9781118905203
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Kunst
• Subtopic: Kunst Allgemein

Thinking about Art explores some of the greatest works of art and architecture in the world through the prism of themes, instead of chronology, to offer intriguing juxtapositions of art and history.

The book ranges across time and topics, from the Parthenon to the present day and from patronage to ethnicity, to reveal art history in new and varied lights.

With over 200 colour illustrations and a wealth of formal and contextual analysis, Thinking about Art is a companion guide for art lovers, students and the general reader, and is also the first A-level Art History textbook, written by a skilled and experienced teacher of art history, Penny Huntsman.

The book is accompanied by a companion website at www.wiley.com/go/thinkingaboutart.

Chapter 1
Genres and Subjects

---

Learning Outcomes

By the end of this chapter you will be able to:

– define genres in art, give examples and be able to consider how and why they have been represented in particular ways

– define what is meant by subjects in art history (as distinct from genres) and offer a range of examples

– describe the many different ways artists have interpreted subjects in art history, drawing on connections between their visual appearance and the contextual aspects of their production

– compare and contrast different works of art in different mediums but within the same genre or subject.

---

---

Chapter Map

This chapter map provides a visual overview of Chapter 1 – ‘Genres and Subjects’ – together with its key works.

History Genre

Ancient Classical history and mythology

– Jacques-Louis David (1748–1825), Oath of the Horatii, 1784

–Titian (1488/90–1576), Bacchus and Ariadne, 1520–1523

Biblical scenes: narrative in fresco

– Masaccio (1401–1428/29), The Tribute Money, c.1425–1428

Modern history: heroes and villains

– Francisco de Goya (1746–1828), The Third of May 1808, 1814

– Pablo Picasso (1881–1973), Guernica, 1937

Bridging two genres:‘history’ and ‘portraiture’

– Jacques-Louis David, The Death of Marat, 1793

Portraiture

Single portraiture: the portrait as power

– Jacques-Louis David, The Emperor Napoleon in his Study, 1812

– George Gower (c.1540–1596), The Armada Portrait, 1588

– Pablo Picasso, Portrait of Daniel-Henry Kahnweiler, 1910

Group portraiture: relationships between sitters

– Jan van Eyck (c.1390–1441), The Arnolfini Portrait, 1434

– David Hockney (born 1937), Mr and Mrs Clark and Percy, 1970

– Edgar Degas (1834–1917), The Bellelli Family, 1858–1867

Self-portraiture: suffering and confrontation

– Frida Kahlo (1907–1954), The Broken Column, 1944

– Caravaggio (1571–1610), David with the Head of Goliath, 1609–1610

Genre

‘Genre’ scenes: everyday life

– Johannes Vermeer (1632–1675), The Milkmaid, 1657–1658

– William Maw Egley (1826–1916), Omnibus Life in London, 1859

– Edgar Degas, L’Absinthe, 1875–1876

– Edward Hopper (1882–1967), Nighthawks, 1942

Landscape

Owning and working the land

– Thomas Gainsborough (1727–1788), Mr and Mrs Andrews, c.1750

– Meindert Hobbema (1638–1709), The Avenue at Middelharnis, 1689

Landscape as emotional expression

– Vincent van Gogh (1853–1890), Wheatfield with Crows, 1890

– Georgia O’Keeffe (1887–1986), Deer’s Skull with Pedernal, 1936

Still Life

Memento mori

– Harmen Steenwyck (1612–1656), An Allegory of the Vanities of Human Life, c.1640

– Frida Kahlo (1907–1954), Viva la Vida, 1954

– Audrey Flack (born 1931), Marilyn (Vanitas), 1977

Subjects

Religious subjects

Madonnas

– Elisabeth Frink (1930–1993), Walking Madonna, 1981

– Michelangelo (1475–1564), Pietà, 1498–1499

Representations of Christ

– Caravaggio, The Entombment of Christ, 1602–1604

The nude

Religious and mythological nudes

– Myron, The Discus-Thrower (Discobolus), c.450 bce

–Titian, Resting Venus (Venus of Urbino), c.1538

Modern nudes

– Édouard Manet (1832–1883), Olympia, 1863

– Jenny Saville (born 1970), Branded, 1992

Motherhood: mother and child

– Paula Modersohn-Becker (1876–1907), Kneeling Mother Nursing a Baby, 1907

– Barbara Hepworth (1905–1975), Mother and Child, 1934

– Käthe Kollwitz (1867–1945), Woman with Dead Child, 1903

Animals

War: heroisation and protest

– Jacques-Louis David, Oath of the Horatii, 1784

– Francisco de Goya, The Third of May 1808, 1814

– Jenny Holzer (born 1950), Lustmord, 1993

– Pablo Picasso, Guernica, 1937

---

Introduction

This chapter introduces you to two important categories in the description of art-historical works that comprise the theme: subjects and genres. It explains the distinctions between and sub-categories within the terms, and the innumerable ways in which artists have interpreted them. This chapter covers the most ground in the book, and many of its examples can be used as a basis for study under the other five chapter headings.

Genre means ‘type’ or ‘category’. Examples include ‘still life’, ‘landscape’, ‘portrait’ and ‘history painting’. However, genre can also refer to a specific type of painting known as ‘genre’, which depicts scenes from everyday life. There was a system for ranking art in terms of its cultural value known as the ‘hierarchy of genres’. The most well-known formulation was provided in 1667 by André Félibien (1619–1695), a historiographer, architect and honorary consultant to the French Royal Academy of Painting and Sculpture. The history of art tended to follow this ranking until the twentieth century, and knowledge of the hierarchy of genres is very important for the understanding of Western painting, as it provides insight into the scale and treatment of many works.

The subject of a work might be something like ‘fruit’, ‘mountains’, ‘family group’ or ‘war’ and this might help to define the work’s genre. Some works fall into two or more genres, or between subjects and genres. This chapter will provide you with the knowledge and understanding to make these judgements, and the multiple placements of works will be made clear within the text.

In addition, this chapter will enable you to compare and contrast works of art of a common genre, noting points of similarity and difference in relation to both formal and interpretational aspects of the works chosen. Formal aspects might include: composition, scale, use of colour and tone, depiction of light and space, technique and materials and degrees of finish and detail. Interpretational aspects might include: aesthetics (the branch of philosophy which relates to beauty and taste), ideology (a particular set of ideas or values related to certain social groups) or ico...