Loss of the Creature
Notice how Rembrandt employed chiaroscuro in his works," began my art history professor. "His technique revolutionized the way that artists portrayed sources of light on the canvas." glanced around me. About twenty students sat neatly behind their desks, faces illuminated eerily by the glow of the overhead projector. The scene was ironic: our professor trying to convey an understanding of chiaroscuro through a painting done five centuries ago, when right before our eyes was a true example of the contrast between light and shadow. Art history is an arena in which the "loss of the creature" is felt most profoundly. In his essay "The Loss of the Creature," Walker Percy notes that biology students are removed twofold from their subjects of study, first by layers of packaging, of labels and names, and second by a confounded array of theories. Similarly, any classroom discussion of art fails to offer what art was intended to do in the first place: a first-hand experience.
One of the most profound examples of how art history innately entails a "loss of the creature" is that of my friend who visited Paris last year.
The Mona Lisa is totally underwhelming," she told me frankly. "It's so small. I don't know why it's so famous."
Those of us who haven't been to Paris can't believe that such a thing could be said about the world's most famous work of art. We all expect to be awestruck upon seeing the Mona Lisa, just as tourists expect to be blown away when they first see the Grand Canyon. However, this was not the first time I've heard this sentiment regarding familiar works of art. Many people feel let down by famous pieces because they bring to the museum or gallery an entire set of preconceptions. Percy calls these preconceptions "seeing the symbolic complex" rather than the thing itself. Rather than viewing Rembrandt's "Philosopher in Meditation" with fresh eyes, I saw it through the eyes...
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