Instructor: Bruce Elliott
Thursdays, October 19 – November 9, 3:00 – 5:00 PM, East Rec
4-week session, Cost: $65
Course Description:
If beauty is indeed in the eye of the beholder, such would be true of art as well. When poets seek metaphors for beauty, they invariably turn to nature: blossoms in springtime, poignancy of sunsets, the cathedral quality of redwood groves. This course will explore the aesthetic relationship between fine art and nature, as viewed through the lens of perception.
We will begin by working from the outside in, tracing the evolution of artistic depictions of natural settings from the Renaissance to Impressionism. We’ll then proceed to pieces by modern artists like Alexander Calder and Mark Rothko that invite active participation by the viewer in the artistic process. The course will culminate by touching upon innovative visual practices that enable viewers within a nature setting to themselves generate a luminous aesthetic experience.
Instructor Biography:
Dr. Bruce Elliott, along with offering numerous classes over the years at Oakmont, Bruce teaches courses in cultural history for lifelong-learning programs at Stanford, Berkeley, Sonoma State and Dominican Universities. His Art History classes highlight key aspects of the dynamic relationship between historical developments and artistic expression.
Course Outline:
Week 1 – Stages in the Cultivation of Perception
Objective Art – Gallery Art Observed – Primacy of the Artist in the Aesthetic Process
Experiential Art – Viewer Participation – Interaction of Viewer with an Art Object
Creative Art – Viewer creating Aesthetic Experience – Selecting Found Art in Nature
Architectural Contrasts – Renaissance versus Gothic – Regularity versus Organic
Renaissance Innovations – Single-point Perspective – Introduction of Dimensionality
Masaccio – Fra Angelico – Botticelli – Piero della Francesca – Titian – Patinir – Bruegel
Baroque Dynamics – Mythological Narratives – Elsheimer – Rubens – Salvator Rosa
Week 2 – Objective Art – Artistic Depiction of Natural Settings
Dutch Golden Age – First Pure Landscapes: Van Ruisdael – Rembrandt – Vermeer
Enlightenment Art – Rococo vs. Classicist: Claude Lorrain Watteau – Fragonard
Romantic Scenes – Sublime vs. Beautiful: Constable – JMW Turner – Caspar Friedrich
Transcendental Art – Hudson River School: Thomas Cole – Frederic Church – Bierstadt
Week 3 – Modern Art – Artwork with Experiential Emphasis
Impressionism – Subjective Experience – Play of Light: Monet – Renoir – Van Gogh
Kinetic Sculptures – Art in Motion: Alexander Calder – Jesus Soto – Joyful Trees
Abstract Expressionism – Application of Optics: Rothko – Pollock – Clyfford Still
Week 4 – Experiencing Art in Nature – Cultivating the Eye of the Beholder
Cultivation of Presence in Spiritual Traditions – Taoist Practices – Zen Buddhism
Three-Dimensional Viewing – Planes of Vision: Foreground, Midground, Background
Vision in Motion – A Viewer creating an Aesthetic Experience within a Nature Setting
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