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User:LBird BASc/sandbox/ATK/Seminar6/Evidence/Visual Art as Evidence

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Scientific Analysis

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Scientific analysis of artworks is used to determine the the material practice of the artist. It allows for the dating of works, reveal further insight (and therefore act as evidence) into the materials available to artists, and the demographics of the consumers of the works through the scarcity of the materials. For example, the use of ultramarine (lapis lazuli)[1] and gold used in Church commissioned, medieval works as evidence of wealth of the Church as well as the religious values of the time.[2]

Various methods of scientific analysis include: gas chromatography–mass spectrometry, polarised light microscopy (PLM), X-ray diffraction (XRD) and fluorescence (XRF). Such methods allow the pigments and the chemical composition of other components of artworks to be identified.

Subject Matter

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Many aspects of the period the artwork was created can be derived from the subject matter of the works.

Cave paintings - the subject matter of prehistoric cave paintings are often studied to reveal insight into human development and society before written history. The analysis of the animals depicted in Neolithic paintings around the world has suggested that astronomical studies may possibly be dated to 40,000 years ago. The Lascaux Shaft Scene has been used as evidence to suggest a comet stick around 15,200 BC.[3]

Medieval - medieval artworks heavily feature religious images which serves as evidence for the importance of religion in the lives of people as well as the wealth of the Church. Insight into the anti-semitic sentiments of the time are also evidenced in the negative, often demon-like imagery used in the portrayal of Jews. [4]

Realism - the emergence of realist art after the French Revolution reveal the increasingly egalitarian values of the period as the work and middle classes and images of everyday activities began to feature in artworks.[5]This is also indicative of the rising middle class, as the subject matter began to shift away from the major political and social events previously depicted in History art to that of the more everyday in order to appeal to middle class consumers.

Stylistic Features

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Stylistic features and choices particular to specific art movements can also can as evidence towards the attitudes of human society of the composing period. It may also show the trajectory of human development.

Renaissance - artistic features that emerged during the Renaissance period such as the use of perspective and depth perception[6] that relied upon the principles of mathematics suggest a renewed interest, as well as significant development, in the sciences. Increasingly realistic and detailed depictions of the human form provides evidence of the increasing understanding of human anatomy during this period.[7]

Dada - the absurdist and nihilist features of Dadaist works such as unrecognisable forms or nonsensically assembled "readymades" from everyday objects reflects a rebellion against previous artist movements.[8] It serves as cultural evidence of the social disillusionment with previously held values and institutions in response to the horrors of WWI.[9] The use of everyday objects and high reproducibility of Dadaist works which considerably lowered its commercial value reveals insight into the mass rejection of bourgeois values.

  1. ↑ Clark, Robin J.H. “Raman microscopy: application to the identification of pigments on Medieval manuscripts.” Chemical Society Reviews, 1995.
  2. ↑ Mann, Judith Walker. "Medieval Art." Bulletin (St. Louis Art Museum) 20, no. 3 (1992): 1-68. www.jstor.org/stable/40716305.
  3. ↑ Sweatman, M. (2018). Cave paintings reveal use of complex astronomy. from https://www.ed.ac.uk/news/2018/cave-paintings-reveal-use-of-complex-astronomy
  4. ↑ Strickland, Debra Higgs (2003). Saracens, Demons, & Jews: Making Monsters in Medieval Art. Princeton University Press. pp. 241–247. ISBN 0691057192.
  5. ↑ Finocchio, Ross. "Nineteenth-Century French Realism". In Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2000–. online (October 2004)
  6. ↑ Maiorino, G. (1976). Linear Perspective and Symbolic Form: Humanistic Theory and Practice in the Work of L. B Alberti. The Journal of Aesthetics and Art Criticism, 34(4), 479-486. doi:10.2307/430582
  7. ↑ Laurenza, D. (2012). Art and Anatomy in Renaissance Italy: IMAGES FROM A SCIENTIFIC REVOLUTION. The Metropolitan Museum of Art Bulletin, 69(3), 4-48. Retrieved from www.jstor.org/stable/23222879
  8. ↑ Rentzou, E. (2018). What Makes Dada Dada? A Response to Thompson and Mimno. The Journal of Modern Periodical Studies, 8(2), 196-199. Retrieved from www.jstor.org/stable/10.5325/jmodeperistud.8.2.0196
  9. ↑ Becker, A. (2000). The Avant-Garde, Madness and the Great War. Journal of Contemporary History, 35(1), 71-84. Retrieved from www.jstor.org/stable/261182
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