The word "canon", which comes from the Greek language, is used not only in art history terminology, but also in religious rhetoric. The Canon as a set of rules is a reflection of its era.
Instructions
Step 1
The dictionary definition of the canon says that it is a set of fundamental provisions adopted in a particular area. When applied to art, it denotes the prevailing norms, stylistic devices used to create images. Ancient Egypt is one of the first examples in the history of civilization when art was completely subject to rules and laws. This culture created works (painting, sculpture, architecture) that were not intended for aesthetic enjoyment. All monuments were part of a religious event and served to ensure the sacred connection of earthly life with the heavenly circle. Deviation from the canons meant breaking the link between the divine and the profane. Therefore, the tools and techniques were improved, and the canon remained unchanged.
Step 2
Representatives of a younger culture - Greek, which, in turn, can be considered the cradle of European civilization, highly appreciated Egyptian art. So Plato and Aristotle considered the flat image of a person, characteristic of Egypt, to be correct, allowing you to see things close to reality, and the perspective - deceiving. The ancient Greek sculptor and art theorist Polycletus reinterpreted the Egyptian canons and created works that became an aesthetic ideal for Europe for many centuries to come.
Step 3
The formation of Christianity formed its meaning of the term "canon" as a set of ideological principles based on sacred texts. In a narrow sense, a canon is a decree of the Ecumenical Council, which recognized certain books, symbols, the structure of the church, the order of worship and a certain way of life as sacred. In the religious tradition, the standards of the visual arts are subject to the general guidelines of the church. Such an interpretation takes the concept of canon far beyond the limits of its aesthetic understanding as the ideal of the beautiful: we are talking about the expression of holiness through a certain way of image. So, until the Renaissance, icon painting deliberately avoided naturalism (using reverse perspective and other techniques).
Step 4
The Renaissance, on the one hand, once again raised the ideals of antiquity, and on the other, it attached great importance to the individual experience of the artist. In this era, classicism began to form as an artistic style, which gave rise to academicism as a kind of pedagogical principle. And today, a painter, sculptor, musician or architect begins with the reproduction of samples, gradually arriving at their own techniques and forms.
Step 5
In Russian thought, the theoretical understanding of this concept began only in the 20th century. Philosopher A. F. Losev called the canon a “quantitative-structural model” of a work of a certain style, which, in turn, expresses a certain socio-historical reality. Semiotics Yu. M. Lotman argued that a canonical text (and the concept of a text in semiology - the science of sign systems - is interpreted broadly) is a structure that does not resemble a natural language, but, on the contrary, generates information. That is, the canon forms the style, the language of the artist.
