Art
Beauty Embedded In History
Rhetoric:
What is rhetoric?
Rhetoric is a persuasive tool used to convey or persuade the audience of a specific message. Using rhetoric can enhance the strength of the message the artwork or writing is conveying. Throughout time, rhetoric has been used by writers and artists to portray a certain idea that their commissioner wants to be portrayed. The Church was a strong influence for writers and artists throughout time and the way the Church wanted society to be strongly influenced peoples’ everyday lives. As time went on, artists and writers began to exercise their freedom of expression by painting and writing about more diverse subjects. They used rhetoric to convey these uncommon or out of the normal ideas to the public.
Relation. Expression. Use. Perception.
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Rhetoric relates to our project because we researched the change in the persuasive techniques of art. The rhetorical purposes of art change due to many factors such as historical events, technological advancements or interests of society. By researching multiple time periods, we were able to understand how these factors transform the messages that artists were speaking through their artwork. Art shows rhetoric visually because the artists uses shapes and colors to make the audience feel or think a certain way.
In Prehistoric times, art was practical and tool-based except for a few figurines that emphasized fertility in women. Venus of Willendorf showcased the ideal beauty of this time by using rhetoric to emphasize what was important to society during the Prehistoric age.
Ancient Greek artists used rhetoric to showcase their belief in the gods and to display their knowledge of mathematics and architecture. Sculptures and other art showed the development of Greek ideas and conveyed their ideal beauty of a perfect human which changed slightly over this time.
Through Medieval times, a lot of the advancements made in Ancient Greek times were lost and therefore their art was more rudimentary. The Church was a large influence on the rhetoric of art during this time and what the artists conveyed and what society was supposed to believe.
Venus of Willendorf
