When I think
of early man's needs in a physical world fraught with dangers, it is
easy to see how his art responded to them. There was no requirement
for renderings of individuals or detail, but rather general images
and symbols to secure his physical-spiritual well-being. He was a
fully integrated person, and so was his art.
Early Egyptian art was stylized, and little attention was paid to
individual detail. As recording and documenting was a prime
objective, realism would have just added unnecessary difficulty.
The Greeks however, needed more specific drawings to illustrate
their gods, their heroes, as well as their athletes and leaders.
The need for realism arose when wealthy individuals desired records
of their personal achievements, particularly their possessions:
wives, children, dogs, horses, and country estates. The flourishing
of books created a great need for illustrations.
In the more advanced civilizations there was a desire to use art to
decorate the tremendous buildings and structures. Sculptures were in
great abundance.
Art responds to civilization's needs, whether they be real,
imagined, or perceived. Very rarely is it its own master.
"The dejected individual is likely to lose himself in the
incidental configurations of his environment, absorbing them with a
disinterested intensity no longer determined by his previous
preferences." (133)
Kracauer's statement
"This observation (referring to the above), valid for
individuals, also applies to phases of civilization." (134)
Rudolf Arnheim
In the twentieth century, many people's goals for art have been
realized. This is to make art accessible to everyone, and has been
done in a diluted form of posters, reproductions, T-shirt art, art
on mugs, record covers, book jackets, and even the occasional
automobile. You can wear art, sit on and in art, eat on it, with it,
or just plain eat it. Everything today has an element of art to it.
Every soap box, tin foil or plastic fast food container, beer ad, or
company logo, has to be carefully designed, and we all have heard,
"Good art sells!" Teams of graphic artists work full time to keep up
with society's demand for something new, different, and exciting. Is
it any wonder that appreciation for art is at an all time low.
133. Rudolf Arnheim, Toward a Psychology of Art, (Berkeley and L.A., Cal.,
University of California Press, 1966), p. 188
134. ibid., p. 188
