Professor Ricardo L Castro
“A work of art is an expressive and communicative medium of feelings and thought.” Pierre Francastel, 1950.
What is the role of art and architecture in society? How can one learn more about history through art and architecture?
These apparently simple questions encapsulate a series of complex responses that could easily fill several volumes. Since antiquity, these questions have been catalysts for the development of philosophical, aesthetic, societal, and architectural theories. A helpful strategy to respond here is to touch upon the work of 20th century thinkers who have elucidated (or addressed) some of the issues raised by the questions, as well as examine in more detail the examples of the Alhambra and the Generalife.
In his seminal work, Peinture et Societe, Pierre Francastel examines early Renaissance and modern works of art and demonstrates that artists act as the transmitters from one state of civilisation to another.
Ismailimail 