Art Explainer 1: The Power to Look

How does what you see in an artwork tell you how to look? Using three artworks from the Art Institute's collection, this video unpacks a central theme and uses innovative visual storytelling to highlight the choices artists made to shape form and meaning in their works.
Learn more about these artworks:
Yoruba crown:
www.artic.edu/aic/collections/...
Caillebotte cityscape:
www.artic.edu/aic/collections/...
Sherman photo: www.artic.edu/aic/collections/...
Art Explainer videos empower you to look at and understand art from any historical period or culture. Designed for students as well as adults, this video series is produced for the web and usable in a wide range of learning environments, from mobile devices to formal school classrooms.
Artwork credits:
Grant Wood
American Gothic, 1930
Friends of American Art Collection
Yoruba
Crown (Ade), Late 19th/mid-20th century
Cora Abrahamson Endowment
Gustave Caillebotte
Paris Street; Rainy Day, 1877
Charles H. and Mary F. S. Worcester Collection
Cindy Sherman
Untitled Film Still #56, 1980
Restricted gift of Allen Turner, 1988.389
© Cindy Sherman. Courtesy Metro Pictures, New York.
Cindy Sherman
Untitled Film Still #12, 1978
Restricted gift of Paul and Camille Oliver-Hoffmann, 1988.386
© Cindy Sherman. Courtesy Metro Pictures, New York.
Cindy Sherman
Untitled Film Still #24, 1978
Restricted gift of Paul and Camille Oliver-Hoffmann, 1988.387
© Cindy Sherman. Courtesy Metro Pictures, New York.
Cindy Sherman
Untitled Film Still #41, 1979
Restricted gift of Paul and Camille Oliver-Hoffmann, 1988.388
© Cindy Sherman. Courtesy Metro Pictures, New York.
Cindy Sherman
Untitled Film Still #3, 1977
Gift of Robert A. Taub, 2012.357
© Cindy Sherman. Courtesy Metro Pictures, New York.
Cindy Sherman
Untitled #92, 1981
Gift of Edlis|Neeson Collection, 2015.157
© Cindy Sherman. Courtesy Metro Pictures, New York.

[@phalastinie5704]

Just when you think the answer to homework can’t be anymore unclear

[@1000Rahid]

Facts got an english which I have no fucking clue what it has to do with this art bs rather focus on some old literature.

[@qball_boi9305]

Bruh this Art class is doing me dirty smh.

[@iame2271]

Lol

[@carstarsarstenstesenn]

lol this comment reminds me of high school art class. also FreePalestine

[@claramaged1765]

Love it. Wish people could appreciate it more

[@jmcrofts]

Great idea for a series can't wait for more

[@himanshusharma5574]

Anyone in this course now

[@kirkezada]

Dia 09/06/2022 completando ''Olhando para a arte'' no Khan Academy. Sem palavras, Caillebotte grande artista.

[@suhlontro]

my teacher made me watch this, I am very dissapointed

[@charleslipp947]

The ?" ? . . . . . . . . ? . . . . . . . . ?. ? . ?

[@Menstral]

If you are going to critique art then the phrase "Sherman always casting herself as the subject" @2:55 actually says a great deal about her, and many other female artists, including Frida Kahlo. The fact that they overly focus on themselves is indicative of self-aggrandizement or even solipsism, which is worthy of comment. Here is such commentary: kzbin.info/www/bejne/iZWnnpeFprCgac0 . If you are going to talk about "social position and gender" then let us talk about the IQ, life priorities, life decisions and the mindset that place individual people in one or more of these buckets of class and gender. The boring and unscientific postmodern power-based narrative is tired. However the true individual never concerns themselves with such trivial matters matters as '"what group does society see me as?" which is why you end up with Cindy Sherman, which according to your comments @3:00 is fascinated by the trivial (television, costume and make-up) on one hand, and a true superstar like Marie Curie on the other.

[@NuclearRoll]

Menstrel I concur, good comment.

[@henrymcdowell3103]

I'm not convinced that it is bad to be fascinated by the trivial. Most of life is trivial, so the things that we take as "trivial" are certain to have a profound impact on our entire lives. On a related note, I believe that the only people who don't worry about how society sees their group are those in the groups who society privileges. As a white man, I rarely think of myself in terms of my race, not because I am a "true individual" but simply because my society sees "white" as the default race.

[@DirtyBottomsPottery]

The first paragraph of your comment I agree with, but the second I do not. How society sees the individual impacts every aspect of one's life, like job opportunities, or getting shot simply because of the color of one's skin. When those matters are life and death, to say these things are trivial matters reveals obtuse privilege.