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Aesthetics Lesson 4: Theories

Explore Aesthetic Theories through Art History

Andy Warhol, Brillo Boxes, 1964, Installation at The Andy Warhol Museum, Pittsburgh, PA ©AWF

This lesson uses discussion prompts to guide students' awareness of various beliefs about art. Through the powerpoint presentation and writing activities, students develop a knowledge of how art history evolves in tandem with philosophical aesthetic theories.

Suggested Time Frame:

Activity, "I believe" statements: 15 minutes
PowerPoint Part 3 & Handout introduction: 30 minutes
Writing Assignment: 30-60 minutes

Total time: 1-2 hours

Objectives:

Students learn about theories of aesthetics through art examples and philosophical quotations
Students apply aesthetic theories in their analysis of Andy Warhol’s Electric Chair prints
Students discuss their own perspectives about aesthetic theory

Procedure

Artworks used in Handout 4.2 that illustrate various aethetic theories

Use the Aesthetics Handout 4.1 ("I believe" statements) to warm-up. Students should number their top three personal beliefs about art. Tally the class results and discuss students’ choices and what larger cultural forces, experiences and values influence them.
Use the PowerPoint Presentation Part 3 to introduce historical aesthetic theories.
Present the Aesthetic Handout 4.2 Theories Table.
Have students work on Aesthetic Handout 4.3 (Aesthetic Theories writing prompts) individually or in small groups.

Assessment

Warhol Education Rubrics

Click the Warhol Rubric headers below to reveal associated rubrics to which this lesson applies.

Critical Thinking

	Developing	Emerging	Proficient	Advanced	Exemplary
CT.2	Contextual Thinking: Conducts analysis of contextual information to determine relevant and logical reasoning that supports their decision process and opinions.	Has a hard time identifying relevant contextual data.	Understands data and make decisions in varying contexts with greater accuracy.	Utilizes contextual data skillfully to form logical arguments and relevant explanations.	Understands data and make decisions in varying contexts with greater accuracy.	Utilizes contextual data skillfully to form logical arguments and relevant explanations.

Aesthetics

	Developing	Emerging	Proficient	Advanced	Exemplary
AE.2	Historical Aesthetics: understanding of aesthetic qualities of works of art as they relate to a historic period and the impact of technological advances on various artforms	Sees little or no influence that culture has on the forms and techniques of artmaking from a specific time period.	Recognizes how some works of art are visually and stylistically related to genres and periods in which they were created.	Identifies aesthetic qualities as they relate to works of art in specific time periods.	Makes comparisons between the historic styles of artwork from different time periods.	Applies knowledge of historical genres and aesthetics to their own artmarking or critique of an artwork.

Communication

	Developing	Emerging	Proficient	Advanced	Exemplary
CO.1	Reading: Comprehension of textual information	Comprehends the literal meaning from a range of texts about a work of art, an artist or concept but is still working to grasp big ideas and varying points of view.	Identifies some big ideas in various texts and is beginning to distinguish between fact and opinions within the text.	Identifies significant big ideas and is able to makes connections between the themes of texts and more complex cultural issues related to a work of art.	Taps into prior knowledge and supports thinking beyond the text with specific evidence from the text or personal knowledge about a work of art.	Displays original thinking about ideas in texts and makes these ideas relevant to the work of art or concept at hand.

Historical Context

	Developing	Emerging	Proficient	Advanced	Exemplary
HC.1	SocioCultural and Political: Understands how art relates to social movements, political events, or historical figures.	Interprets works of art as having limited influence or relationships to social movements, political events, or historical figures.	Increasingly recognizes that artworks can be shaped by or can express social movements, political events, or historical figures.	Explains how culture impacts artists and/or art through political events, historical figures and cultural contexts of an artwork.	Interprets, constructs opinions, and draws conclusions about an artwork based upon analysis of historical, political and cultural contexts.	Combines all previous knowledge about socio-political contexts to create new predictions, questions or insights about the relationship between art and history.

Media and Related Items

Presentation