IB Philosophy 2.2.2 the Artistic Process Notes

How does the artistic process vary across cultures in terms of function, form, and content?

1. Topic 2.2.1 examined who the artist is and whether the concept is culturally universal. This topic turns from the identity of the artist to the process of creation itself.
2. This question reveals that there is no single way to make art.
3. The process is shaped by the cultural context in which the artist works.
4. The function of art varies dramatically across cultures. In medieval European culture, the primary function of visual art was religious devotion: artists produced altarpieces, frescoes, and illuminated manuscripts that served liturgical purposes.
5. The artistic process was shaped by theological requirements, guild regulations, and the demands of ecclesiastical patrons (church officials and institutions who commissioned and funded religious art; these institutional constraints on artists are examined further in 2.2.3).
6. In West African traditions, much artistic production serves social and spiritual functions: masquerade costumes, carved figures, and textiles are created for rituals, ceremonies, and community events.
   1. The artistic process involves not just technical skill but knowledge of ritual protocols, spiritual meanings, and community expectations.
7. The process is inseparable from its social context.
8. The form of art is also culturally shaped.
   1. Chinese landscape painting (shanshui) follows conventions developed over centuries: the use of ink and wash, the representation of mountains and water, and the integration of poetry and calligraphy into the painting.
9. The artistic process involves years of copying canonical works and mastering inherited techniques before developing a personal style.
10. In the Western avant-garde, by contrast, the artistic process often involves a deliberate rejection of tradition. Movements such as Dadaism, Abstract Expressionism, and Fluxus made the process of breaking with convention central to the work itself.
11. Jackson Pollock's drip paintings, for instance, elevated the physical act of painting to the level of artistic content. The art critic Harold Rosenberg coined the term action painting to describe Pollock's method: the canvas became 'an arena in which to act' rather than a surface on which to represent.

Collaboration, Collingwood and Cross-Cultural Comparison

1. The philosophical implication is that the process itself (the body's movements, the rhythms of pouring and dripping) constitutes the artwork's content. There is no longer a gap between making the work and what the work means. Making and meaning are the same thing.
2. The content of art reflects cultural values and concerns.
3. Aboriginal Australian art (discussed in 2.2.1) communicates Dreamtime narratives that encode the relationship between people, land, and ancestors.
   1. The artistic process for Aboriginal Australians involves a responsibility to represent these narratives accurately, within the constraints of what the artist is culturally authorised to depict.
4. The collaborative nature of many artistic processes challenges the Western ideal of the solitary genius. Film, theatre, architecture, and large-scale installation art all involve teams of people working together.
5. In many traditions, the artistic process is inherently communal: West African drum ensembles, Balinese gamelan orchestras, and community mural projects all produce art through collective effort.
6. Collingwood's distinction between art proper and craft (discussed in 2.1.1 and 2.2.1) is illuminating here: the artistic process, for Collingwood, is exploratory rather than planned.
7. However, this description fits some processes (improvisational jazz, abstract painting) better than others (architecture, filmmaking), suggesting that the theory captures one mode of artistic creation rather than a universal model.
8. The question of whether the artistic process is universal or culturally specific connects to 2.1.1's discussion of whether art itself can be defined across cultures. If the process varies as much as the product, then any theory of artistic creation must be flexible enough to accommodate these differences without reducing them to a single model.
9. The key analytical skill is the ability to compare artistic processes from different traditions and to identify how cultural factors (religion, social structure, patronage systems, aesthetic values) shape not just what art looks like but how it is made.

Technology and the Transformation of Art

1. The IB syllabus asks: "What is the impact of technology on the production and concept of art?" This question has become increasingly urgent as digital technologies transform every aspect of artistic creation, from the tools artists use to the very definition of what counts as art.
2. Technology has always shaped the artistic process. The development of oil painting in fifteenth-century Flanders, the invention of the printing press, the emergence of photography in the nineteenth century, and the rise of cinema in the twentieth century each transformed both the process of creation and the kinds of art that were possible.