This document discusses the art of being artless and amateur art. It contains photos of famous artists like Alfred Stieglitz, Walker Evans, Dorothea Lange, Bob Ross, Andy Warhol, Grandma Moses, Lee Krasner, Franz Klein, Willem De Kooning, Jackson Pollock, and Winston Churchill in their studios or creating art. The document also includes vintage snapshots. It quotes an interview where Michael Kimmelman discusses how the spread of technology has led us to expect perfection in art, music, and photography from professionals. However, art was not always about perfection, and amateurs once had a more intimate connection to professionals by making art themselves before cameras and recordings. What is now lost
33. “But a deeper issue may be our new equation of art with
perfection, an equation hastened by the spread of
technology. We now expect flawless recordings by musicians,
perfect photographs by artists. We have easy access to all
this, which means that, as in so many other aspects of life, we
prefer to cede these endeavors to professionals, figuring we
can't do them as well, as if something like art is worth doing
only if you do it like a professional. Art isn't about perfection.
Before cameras, travelers sketched so that they could record
what they saw on trips, as souvenirs, in the same way that
bourgeois families, in the days before recordings, used to listen
to music by making it themselves at home on the piano or
singing in the parlor. There was a more intimate connection
between the amateur musician or artist and the professional,
because amateurs had firsthand experience. What's lost
today is not just the accidental masterpiece but also that
sense of art not as a remote commodity but as something we
all make. “
Interview with Michael Kimmelman
34. Read:
• Chapter 2, “The Art of Being Artless”
Respond on Verso:
• Reflect on the reading.
Respond on Flipgrid:
• Find a photograph that is deeply meaningful to
you. Share the photo & describe its importance.
Bring the photo to class next week to share.
Respond on Instagram: #art111happyaccidents
• Take 10 photographs this week of moments
that you wanted to remember…for their
beauty, importance, etc.
• DO NOT edit them! Be content with “happy
accidents”