Video Review

Greenberg on Pollock: An interview by T.J. Clark

The key concepts/ideas are Greenberg was told in the 1940s that one day Pollock would be a great painter.  Pollock painted his first spatter-drip piece in 1947.  Although Pollock despised easel painting, his paintings remained until the end easel.  He knew that his paintings weren't murals but rather goes from the easel to the mural.  Pollock started to move away from orderliness although Greenberg believes that his paintings were orderly.  Pollock is associated with Dionysian.  Pollock refused some of his own works.  Greenberg states that this is because they were not appealing to the eye.  Pollock chose his way of applying paint because of the way the paint broke the plane.  His "drip" paintings can be characterized as Apollonian instead of Dionysian.  Pollock felt alone and isolated.  Artists wanted fortune and fame during Pollock's time.  Pollock only sold about one picture a year during that time.  Pollock at the end of his life wished he would have looked more at impressionists.

An Introduction to the Italian Renaissance

The key concepts/ ideas of the Italian Renaissance are the renewal of excitement for the arts.  Natural beauty was the center of ancient roman art until the Barbarians took over.  Giotto was among some of the firsts to give life back to the realistic style of the Romans by using perspective found in architecture and landscape.  Ghiberti was an apprentice under Giotto.  He created beautiful biblical scenes out of door panels.  Donatello created the sculpture of "David."  The figure stands on one leg and is considered beautiful in its nude form.  Uccello makes new ideals of animal and human figures.  Masaccio's figures portray psychological and physical depth.  Francesca experiments with, "The Madonna and Child," which contrasts light and dark value to add depth.  The Catholic Church conveys Christianity through art.  Da Vinci used science and math to appear natural in their context.  Raffaello is considered the master of composition.

I think these videos will help with the art criticism project because I think any information going into being a critic of someone else's work will be helpful.  It is a little more information than I had before going into the project.  There were many things I learned from the two videos therefore I think they will aid in my art criticism  project.

I enjoyed the videos they taught me more about the Italian Renaissance and I learned more about the life of Pollock.  They did add depth to my understanding of art criticism by giving visuals and ideas of how to be an art critic.  The videos were very helpful.