Art History & Appreciation

There are works of art so inherently beautiful or stunning that anyone looking at them ends up choking back tears, or standing transfixed, or simply unable to breathe for several seconds. What you won't often hear is that those are the exceptions, that most paintings, buildings and sculptures require anterior knowledge to be fully appreciated.

Once you know what to look for, the once-abstruse and confusing world of chiaroscuro, Pre-Raphaelite, and oxidation fire becomes navigable and even a welcome place from the ho-hum mundanities of the everyday world. Though, of course, we'd be the last to encourage art appreciation for mere escapism—if a work can't reveal some element of human nature or help us understand things a little better, it isn't worth much.

This is one reason a lot of modern art can't really be considered art at all. It isn't intended to reveal anything, but simply to be "living commentary," a mere reflection, not of reality, but of the artist's inner conflict or angst. Sometimes it's not even that deep, and simply reflects the belief that there is no meaning in the world, that everything is empty, that nihilism is the only truth.

We reject those claims entirely. Everything is meaningful because Christ has made it so. Taken too far that idea is sometimes used to defend all kinds of non-art and just plain bad art, but all it really means is that everything is either consistent with or in rebellion against God's truth, and that artistic endeavours reveal which side the artist is on.

For Christians, understanding art from this perspective should be the primary motive in studying anything from the Sistine Chapel to Rembrandt's portraits to the illustrations of N.C. Wyeth. Art has the potential to entertain and delight, but it also affects the attitudes and thoughts of those who come in contact with it. Understanding a work's context and significance will immensely help us determine whether it's beneficial or pernicious.

Review by C. Hollis Crossman
C. Hollis Crossman used to be a child. Now he's a husband and father who loves church, good food, and weird stuff. He might be a mythical creature, but he's definitely not a centaur. Read more of his reviews here.
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113 Items found Print
Active Filters: 8th grade (Ages 13-14)
All About Maps
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American Art Bingo Volume I
by Kristin Draeger
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American Art History I - Bundle
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American Art History Volume I
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An Introduction to Medieval Ivory Carvings
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Annotated Mona Lisa
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Art Masterpieces to Color
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Artist of the Reformation
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Charlotte in Giverny
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Coloring Paris
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Drawing American Art Volume II
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Francis W. Edmonds
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Girl Who Drew Butterflies
by Joyce Sidman
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2019 Robert F. Sibert Medal winner
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God & the History of Art - DVD
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Gospel Figures in Art
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Great Composers - Great Artists: Portraits
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1994 Printing from Farrar, Straus and Giroux
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Marvelous to Behold
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Masters of Art: Chagall
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Masters of Art: Rembrandt and Seventeenth-Century Holland
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Masters of Art: The Art of the Renaissance
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Masters of Art: The Story of Architecture
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Masters of Art: The Story of Sculpture
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Masters of Art: Van Gogh
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Mathew Brady
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Mathew Brady: Photographing History
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N.C. Wyeth
by N. C. Wyeth, introduction by Kate F. Jennings
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N.C. Wyeth's Wild West
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Old Testament Figures in Art
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Passion for the Impossible
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Picture Study Portfolio Extra Print Pack: Millet (1814-1875)
by Emily Kiser
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Private World of Tasha Tudor
by Tasha Tudor and Richard Brown
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Randolph Caldecott
by Leonard S. Marcus
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Raphael: Painter of the Renaissance
Immortals of Art
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Rembrandt and Titus
by Madeleine Comora
1st edition
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Rembrandt: Master of the Portrait
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Short Lessons in Art History
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Son of Heaven: Imperial Arts of China
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