Frida Kahlo 弗里达·卡罗

By the end of this lesson, you will have read about the artist, Frida Kahlo.

PROFESSOR: How do we define art? What is art? Everyone has a different idea of what art is. What we consider to be art today may be very different from what our ancestors considered to be art. Take for example the pottery from ancient Greece.

PROFESSOR1: Today, there are art historians who are experts in Greek pottery. To us, this pottery is ancient art; in fact, if you visit the Louvre in France, the most famous art museum in the world, you can view an incredible collection of ancient Greek pottery. But to the ancient Greeks, was it art? Well, not really. They used pottery to store and move things, and to mix liquids.

PROFESSOR2: But today, these utilitarian pieces are kept in our finest art museums. Is it art? It's called "Fountain". It is a major landmark in twentieth century art. In 1917, Marcel Duchamp purchased this urinal.

PROFESSOR3: He took it home, turned it around and wrote "R. Mutt 1917" on it. He called it the "Fountain". It's a urinal. Duchamp submitted his "Fountain" to an exhibition hosted by the Society of Independent Artists in New York City.

PROFESSOR4: This society had claimed that all work submitted would be displayed in the show. But when they saw that this piece was a urinal, they were shocked. They debated for hours over whether or not it was art. In the end, the "Fountain" was hidden from view during the show. This started quite a controversy.

PROFESSOR5: Artists everywhere spoke out, angry that Duchamp's piece had been hidden from view. Duchamp himself claimed he had had a very important reason for submitting the piece, which was that he wanted people to stop seeing art as only those things which are created by hands. He wanted art to be about "intellectual interpretation". He wanted art to be about more than just a beautiful thing which you see in front of you. He wanted to stimulate the mind, to make you think.

PROFESSOR6: He got people thinking. Duchamp had found the urinal and turned it into a piece of art. In fact, he started a movement, "Found Art". Artists all over the world create art like this, now. They find utilitarian objects, place them in an art museum or gallery, and present them as art.

PROFESSOR7: I can think of other utilitarian objects which have been found and then placed in an art museum. Remember that Greek pottery? So, is it art?