From Willendorf to Amsterdam .... illusionism in art

  For my Grade 10s .......
This article is due TODAY - Friday 23rd May 2014

This post should be used together with the DVD -'How Art Made the World - More Human than Human' (BBC). If you missed this, then borrow it from your teacher or download it. LINK

Just as we have been exploring  3-D illusionism in our practical work, so we will look at how other artists have worked both in real 3-dimensions and with the illusion of  3-dimensions during the long history of art.

Willendorf Venus, Austria,
c.39,OOO - 28,OOO BCE
Limestone carving; Height (12cm)

BAROQUE Vermeer

The Milkmaid (interactive link) 

c. 1658-1661 

Oil on canvas (45.5 x 41 cm)

Use this presentation to follow the steps from the Willendorf Venus to the Baroque Milkmaid.

Critical thinking activity:

Read these 2 articles from ‘How Art made the World’

http://www.pbs.org/howartmadetheworld/episodes/human/venus/
http://www.pbs.org/howartmadetheworld/episodes/human/egypt/

Now write a 1 page article for your studio blog entitled:

The Peak Shift principle - how human survival shapes our ideas of beauty

The best article will be published!

Hint: (For those of you who are new to research and critical thinking....)

INTRODUCTION: (...THINK OF A CATCHY SENTENCE LATER ..... a 'teaser')
Step 1: Summarize 'the Peak Shift principle' in no more than THREE sentences.

CONTENT:
Step 2: Explain how this works in the Venus of Willendorf. What is the survival factor here?
Step 3: Now explain how it changes for the Egyptians - show this in a sculpture. What is now the survival factor?

CONCLUSION:
Step 4: Do you think this principle still works for us in the 20th and 21st centuries? You could write a few sentences about the distortion in Alexander's Butcher Boys? (Or other real life examples you have seen in the media?)

Now go back and put in your 'teaser' - your catchy introduction.........
Spellcheck and share the doc with studio@dghs.co.za (make sure you have made the doc PUBLIC)

Due - Friday 23rd May 2014