What Makes an Artist “Great”? : Crash Course Art History #4

Michelangelo. Vincent Van Gogh. Pablo Picasso. The story of art history is told through the biographies of individual celebrity artists. In this episode of Crash Course Art History, we’ll learn about where the myth of the Great Artist comes from - and why it might be time for a new perspective.
Introduction: "Great Artists" 00:00
Guilds 00:55
The Medicis 02:13
Vasari & the "Great Artist" 03:08
Art Academies 05:20
Great (Women) Artists 07:15
Modern Ideas of Greatness 08:58
Review & Credits 10:25
Image Descriptions: docs.google.com/document/d/1E...
Sources: docs.google.com/document/d/1G...
***
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Пікірлер: 69

  • @roguepumpkin1514
    @roguepumpkin1514Ай бұрын

    Reminds me of how we still apply the great artist myth to collaborative mediums like movies and television. Often the director or show runner is solely credited as the genius behind them despite hundreds of people being involved in the making and production of them.

  • @funkymunky

    @funkymunky

    Ай бұрын

    This. I make a point of adding "and crew" after every director's name I drop in casual conversation. It's delicate. But potent.

  • @kedartondare

    @kedartondare

    Ай бұрын

    Allow me to elaborate why directors and TV runners get credited for what they do, No doubt it's a collaborative medium nevertheless you cannot call the essence of the films and TV concepts as collaborative, sure the involvement could be present of others but it's only limited to the understanding of its idea. Not necessarily the cast and crew should take part, besides playing the mere part that they have been attributed with. It's as if asking the construction workers should also be given credit for developing the idea of a beautiful architecture, no it's the architect and the engineer who solely reserves the right of credit for developing that idea, surely the construction workers will earn credit for their exceptional work attribution. 😊

  • @ilikestuff8218

    @ilikestuff8218

    Ай бұрын

    I mean same thing with scientists.

  • @locksmith6096

    @locksmith6096

    Ай бұрын

    Same thing with pop artists and CEOs of big companies

  • @johnhagan-zr4pm

    @johnhagan-zr4pm

    Ай бұрын

    In times past, the director or producer was the driving force behind the film e.g Francis Ford Coppola remortgaged his house to produce Apocalypse Now Selznick had a huge input in producing films that faithfully copied classic books e.g. Gone With The Wind Ken Russell films Ingmar Bergman films Jean Luc Goddard films Woody Allen films The list goes on and on Of course untalented people like to think that they can do the same as these people But why don't they ? Nowadays films are made by Committees or Bankers or Political Groups Hollywood is dying and being replaced by new media.

  • @EayuProuxm
    @EayuProuxmАй бұрын

    4:17 Tangential, but those babies are hella buff. They need to drop the workout routine.

  • @lhfirex
    @lhfirexАй бұрын

    What I find pretty interesting is, I saw plenty of great artists in museums when I lived in Japan. That's a culture that doesn't really praise individuals compared to collectives, and yet they still treat their art history/criticism the same way a lot of Europeans do. I don't know if that's because Japan adopted a lot of the Western (for lack of a better term) approaches to education and intellectual pursuits, so they decided to present things that way, or if they thought Hokusai and others were great individual artists back in their time as well.

  • @Surax
    @SuraxАй бұрын

    7:15, the AGO in Toronto currently has an exhibit of women artists in Europe from 1400-1800. On till July 1, 2024, it showcases all the ways women made their mark in the art world at the time.

  • @justforplaylists

    @justforplaylists

    Ай бұрын

    Oh, thanks, I'll be in town before then, I'll have to check it out.

  • @Beryllahawk
    @BeryllahawkАй бұрын

    All through this I kept recalling something I saw over on the Art Assignment, a video clip where a woman was saying "Art must be beautiful, Artist must be beautiful." That moment really stuck with me as a kind of condensation of this myth of the great artist. Especially because it REALLY hammers home the need to question the truth and usefulness of that myth. Which, not so incidentally, is why I started taking my fiction writing a hell of a lot more seriously.

  • @andybearchan
    @andybearchanАй бұрын

    I was watching another yt video about the invention of the guitar. There wasn't one person who made a guitar one day. There were ouds, lutes, mandors, and gitterns. But this was NOT a march of progress change. The style of music changed, who made music change, and the cost and types of materials changed. We have the guitar the way it is now because it suits our current musical tastes and is an affordable approachable instrument. Maybe the future popular artists will be a type of art that computers can't copy.

  • @maldaror7097
    @maldaror7097Ай бұрын

    What makes an artist great is the artist, what makes an artist significant is being noticed.

  • @MohammadAhmad-fi3pt

    @MohammadAhmad-fi3pt

    Ай бұрын

    that's just it!

  • @michaelbuelow9275
    @michaelbuelow9275Ай бұрын

    "... Chicken nugget of genius ..." made me laugh!

  • @DomyTheMad420
    @DomyTheMad420Ай бұрын

    all this info and i'm just jiddy i learned the etymological source of "masterwork"

  • @melodyplatz3159
    @melodyplatz3159Ай бұрын

    I am loving this Crashcourse series! Thank you!

  • @monicareid8858
    @monicareid8858Ай бұрын

    Loving this series. I took Art History many years ago. This is a VERY different take!

  • @juliusjoosteofficial
    @juliusjoosteofficialАй бұрын

    I'd like to learn more about the narrative they mention at 08:09 about the Greek myth of the potter's daughter and her charcoal drawing of her lover's shadow. Where can I read more about it? I can't seem to find any reference in the Sources document.

  • @jn261

    @jn261

    Ай бұрын

    there's a little background info here: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Butades

  • @isacami25
    @isacami25Ай бұрын

    this is such an interesting take on how "great" artists are made

  • @kts8900
    @kts890023 күн бұрын

    Sarah I love the educational content you make. You walk the line of content, joke, and relatability. I missed you since the Art Assignment.

  • @Allovimo
    @AllovimoАй бұрын

    I am so enjoying this!

  • @Davlavi
    @DavlaviАй бұрын

    Very cool thanks.

  • @Megalesios
    @MegalesiosАй бұрын

    Hoping to hear about Picasso, Dali and Warhol in the next episode!

  • @fugithegreat
    @fugithegreatАй бұрын

    I love this so much! Break those old myths and bring the artists that got written out or written off to the forefront. I was recently flipping through an encyclopedia of Great Artists (printed in like 1977) and I had to look hard to find anyone who wasn't a European male. The ratio of men to women was probably 500 to 1, and it made my blood boil.

  • @EayuProuxm
    @EayuProuxmАй бұрын

    It'd be nice to see a covering of the ideas of how art history was created and recorded on non-European cultures.

  • @RangdhonuTime-cm1ow
    @RangdhonuTime-cm1owАй бұрын

    Knowledge sharing.❤

  • @shoutinglove
    @shoutingloveАй бұрын

    This series is 1000x better and more informative then the art history course I had to take and pay nearly $2k for 🙃

  • @user-ts3tt5mv9r
    @user-ts3tt5mv9rАй бұрын

    I can smell the “certain austrian painter” memes coming from a mile away

  • @kathrien
    @kathrienАй бұрын

    Hi ❤ l'm from Syria and study biology from here (Crash Course)

  • @reddenver
    @reddenverАй бұрын

    I missed you so much!!

  • @Tranitaur
    @TranitaurАй бұрын

    Great episode, thanks for sharing.

  • @TSwiftie13-eh2ul
    @TSwiftie13-eh2ulАй бұрын

    thank you👏👏

  • @DuranmanX
    @DuranmanXАй бұрын

    Im curious how this translates to East Asian artists like Hokusai, who is prominent despite the lack of European influence

  • @guest_informant

    @guest_informant

    Ай бұрын

    This is a really great point. Smart History covers them occasionally. Unkei, Josetsu, Kanō Sansetsu, Hokusai and many others all seem to have gained individual prominence without any help from Vasari 🙂

  • @willmendoza8498
    @willmendoza8498Ай бұрын

    Wonderful series

  • @sunilrana83
    @sunilrana83Ай бұрын

    Than you ❤❤❤❤❤❤❤ for helping a 5 class kid

  • @randomdancer758
    @randomdancer758Ай бұрын

    i´m so happy

  • @bailou_
    @bailou_Ай бұрын

    Im curious how art was thought about during this time period in different cultures and locations. Asian art specifically but other of course. What made a capital G great artist in China/Zhongguo or Ayutthaya/Thailand etc. ?

  • @philipmurphy2
    @philipmurphy2Ай бұрын

    Artists are far better then most celebrities these days in reality

  • @krizzay95
    @krizzay95Ай бұрын

    Did she just call me a screen? 😂

  • @Cherry_with_science
    @Cherry_with_scienceАй бұрын

    ❤❤

  • @GaasubaMeskhenet
    @GaasubaMeskhenetАй бұрын

    Guild to commission shift reminds me a lot of the AI shift that's happening now

  • @wolfgangdarkly
    @wolfgangdarklyАй бұрын

    Maybe a Frida Kahlo?

  • @Genny-Zee
    @Genny-ZeeАй бұрын

    Colleen Barry

  • @djjoe8899
    @djjoe8899Ай бұрын

    I don't know if I add Warhol into the great category.

  • @auntyshakira747
    @auntyshakira747Ай бұрын

    Da Vinci was certainly a genius for sure

  • @DMitsukirules
    @DMitsukirulesАй бұрын

    Artist are not geniuses. Often times they aren't smart at all. I work as an artist so this isn't shade, but an obvious derivation from dealing with artist in an industry that mixes art and math. Artist being able to interface is always the bottleneck. Furthermore, many artist of the past people consider great made art in "secrecy." They did it to protect the sauce. Art is not that hard. Anyone can do it with dedication to the craft, and many times to get the super high quality paintings people always laud as "real" art or whatever, it just involves a lot of time and techniques like tracing. Even sculpting is a super advanced form of tracing generally. I think people just put magic to artist and then mix that with celebrity. It happens always. A mechanic might work as a mechanic a long time and have similar skills relatively speaking to an artist, it's just no one cares because you don't show fixing cars in history books.

  • @HuggieBear39
    @HuggieBear39Ай бұрын

    Bob Ross was a MASTER.

  • @SK28th
    @SK28thАй бұрын

  • @1neurotic
    @1neuroticАй бұрын

    They used to be DaVinci era but past say 1881 they are just tallented. Taking a pic of a soup can isnt genius painting starry night isnt either they didnt give the world anything else like Gallego or DaVinci

  • @prtrainor
    @prtrainorАй бұрын

    Yes, Frieda is a great of Art History.

  • @fugithegreat

    @fugithegreat

    Ай бұрын

    She's definitely capital-G Great, but it sucks that she's also usually just the token woman artist that people throw in to be "inclusive".

  • @silikei1810
    @silikei1810Ай бұрын

    Unforgiving authenticity

  • @Francisqolito
    @FrancisqolitoАй бұрын

    So what makes an artist great?

  • @foodball_studio
    @foodball_studioАй бұрын

    I am trying to understand art

  • @maldaror7097

    @maldaror7097

    Ай бұрын

    you already do, just love the art you love

  • @alanarmstrong3186
    @alanarmstrong3186Ай бұрын

    So what makes a great artist is made up by arbitrary societal standards? Cool take but it doesn't help me understand what makes an artist great... Was Pablo Picasso not great? Andy Warhol? Michelangelo?

  • @PopescuAlexandruCristian
    @PopescuAlexandruCristianАй бұрын

    It's true that there are no great artists.... anymore

  • @samwill7259
    @samwill7259Ай бұрын

    I'm going to say "No" in that in general I don't believe genius...exists, at least not as a separate force in people. All humans are good at something and no one is born predestined to do something greater than another Genius and mastery is something you pursue, not something you simply are.

  • @zeropoint2594

    @zeropoint2594

    Ай бұрын

    I would put in another way: Genius exists in everyone at all times it´s just that many people don´t realize that and because of that they never found "their" genius like you said all humans have something they are good at and I think that everyone has a vision only they have so they can do things only they can do at least that´s what I think

  • @zachhoff9876
    @zachhoff9876Ай бұрын

    Easy.. they're not. Just got on the right side of the hype machine.

  • @Andy61880
    @Andy61880Ай бұрын

    I thought you would talk about about what makes and artist great and then you divert us by talking about women artist and discrimination faced by them. I agree about the discrimination part but make a separate video about.

  • @Moondog66602
    @Moondog66602Ай бұрын

    I bet money it's actually a woman behind alot of these artists, who end up getting no credit

  • @b00nz0r
    @b00nz0rАй бұрын

    In today’s world? How well they can simp for the rich

  • @aR3tardedtiger
    @aR3tardedtigerАй бұрын

    Just like great musicians, great artists are decided by the fans