For this semester, I took two classes that fall under the heading of “art”. One was literature and the other was an art history class. Having started off college as an English Literature major and never having taken an art history class before, I am now asking myself why, upon reflection, I’d rate my art history class so much higher than my literature.
The literature class focuses on Italian short stories and poetry from the late 1800s to the early 1900s and analyzes the change in the importance and power of the use of words in this time period. Sounds abstract and cool right? My art history class focused on the first 5 centuries after the death of Christ and analyzes the development of early christian iconology. Umm, no one told me I was going to have to go to church. So why did I like the art history so much more?
The difference lies on the emphasis on context. The lit class is all about style and less about the time period in which the writers lived. The art history class, on the contrary, is all about the time periods in which certain images became popular and has very little to do with an individual artists style or technique (fresco, what’s that?).
Why is context important?
Without context, the recent terrorist attacks in Mumbai are just a case of angsty young Pakistanis.
Without context, the American Revolution was just a bunch of men suffering from cabin fever.
Without context, Obama is just a polished orator and stylish new age politician. Not the first black man to become president of the United States or the inheritor of an economy in crisis who comes at a time when the US is in need of hope.
Without context, all the negativistic poetry we’ve been reading is just a bunch the ideas of a bunch of crabby old men, not a response to the violation of the freedom of expression during the birth of fascism.
Without context, christian images give an identiy and sense of uniformity to all churches and most religions but don’t expose the slow, progressive fabrication of a religion as it moved into the Occident.
Get my point? Context is imoprtant because it changes how we read information. Thus, whoever tells you you shouldn’t read between the lines deserves a talking to.
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Emmy! I know you’re counting down your last days. I hope everything is going swell. In the event you’re planning a list minute trip to Venice you should be aware of this promotion they have going on, pair of wellies included:
http://www.reuters.com/article/oddlyEnoughNews/idUSTRE4B94JM20081210?feedType=RSS&feedName=oddlyEnoughNews&rpc=69
Ha ha ha, perhaps we should learn Japanese:
http://www.nytimes.com/slideshow/2008/10/22/dining/1022-COMICS_index.html