Abstract This paper deals with the issue of the industrial revolution and it's impact on American woodworking. The paper discusses pre-industrial revolution times, what happened during the industrial revolution and tells what is in the future of American woodworking.
From the paper:
"The Industrial Revolution had a tremendous impact on American woodworking. It took woodworking from little shops in villages to huge industrial factories within large cities throughout America. The Industrial Revolution also changed the tools used in woodworking and altered production methods as well. "This was a period in history when new inventions changed the way that people built things and changed where people worked and how they lived" (Industrial Revolution Booklet, 1998, p.1)."
Abstract This paper examines Dorothea lange's famous controversial photograph: "Migrant Mother". The author looks at how the photograph became a symbol for propaganda for the New Deal. This photograph caused a stirr in the government and became a controversial topic. The author looks at the career of Dorothea Lange and her involvement in government.
From the paper:
"Dorothea Lange's "documentary" photograph, Migrant Mother, became a symbol for a plethora of causes after successfully being created as propaganda to legitimize the New Deal. When Dorothea Lange shot Migrant Mother, she had completed her transition from portraitist to documentary photography and was working with the Farm Security Administration. Lange's work was required to fit the New Deal's ideology handed down from the Roosevelt administration. In order to achieve these mandates, Lange significantly manipulated her subjects. Due to these actions, her photograph is easily adaptable. Migrant Mother not only catalyzed relief aid to the migrants; people later manipulated it into other symbols."
Abstract This report explores the design of The Vietnam Veterans Memorial, the designer and the contributors. It also explores the mysterious healing and understanding that The Wall of Names has brought to the nation, due to its intense, yet delicate symbolism.
From the paper:
"In American history, war has always ended in the glorification of the soldiers who served fighting for their country. The Vietnam War, however, marked a change in this patriotic veneration. Shrouded in uncertainty, the war left the American public questioning their faith in a secretive government, and therefore questioned their faith in those who served for it. President Nixon described this disastrous public view when he said, "No event in American history is more misunderstood than the Vietnam War. It was misreported then, and it is misremembered now.... Never have the consequences of their misunderstanding been so tragic."
Tags: sodier, kill, die, memory, respect, remember, honor, death
Abstract This paper explores the works of Leon Battista Alberti, Adolf Loos, and Jennifer Bloome and compares and contrasts their opinions on combining different forms of art and architecture. It also examines why it is important for architecture to be aesthetic and practical.
From the paper:
"According to the AOL World Book Encyclopedia's definition of
architecture, architecture is an art form like painting or poetry writing. However, architecture is not entirely like these arts in its practice. The World Book states one of the essential differences between architects and other artists is the fact that while other artists have a certain amount of creative control in the fashioning of "rough drafts" of their work, architects face additional constraints because their work costs so much money to fashion."
Abstract This paper describes the origins of American popular music in European and African culture. The author claims that In effect, American music is a hybrid of musical movements from blues and spirituals to European folk music.
From the Paper "Much of American culture bears the mark of the melting pot effect. Essentially a land of immigrants, America has served, in many ways, as a palette from which popular culture draws an innumerable array of shades. As such, popular social trends often are a reflection of the hybrid mainstream instinct. Pop music, in its incubational phases, is highly indicative of that notion. This is particularly evident in ostensibly indigenous musical movements like blues/folk music and spirituals, both of which employ extensive European and African influences, social imports that create a tapestry of globally unique and distinctively American sounds."
Tags: art, jazz, music, race relations, rock, social traditional, values, blues, folk, Africian American
Abstract This paper examines the iconography of the gods and goddesses within traditional Indonesian art, looking at the ways in which they are dressed reflect larger stylistic concerns within the culture as well as illuminating the relationship between the gods and their worshippers.
From the Paper "Before examining this particular issue in greater detail it is important that we provide an overview of the country's religious mix and heritage. The majority of the current population is Muslim, but it is an Islam strongly influenced by Hinduism and Buddhism as well as the islands" older, indigenous pagan and animistic beliefs. The island of Bali is home to most Indonesians of Hindu descent, while in the current day there are small Christian population scattered throughout the country. There are also followers of Confucianism.?
Abstract This paper shows the evolution of magic through history, and gives examples of some famous magicians and their tricks. Magicians discussed are Houdin, Houdini and Copperfield among others.
From the Paper "Magic has enticed and amazed people since ancient times. Many magicians have come forward to distinguish themselves as masters, with original stunts and tricks that have revolutionized the craft. My purpose in this research paper is to show the evolution of magic through history, and to give examples of some famous magicians and their tricks."
Abstract The paper investigates the aesthetic and moral principles that have had a major influence on historic photographers. It looks at the issues of photographing an unsolicited subject and the artistic right of free speech.
From the Paper "Photographic images of unaware subjects have had a significant impact on society. Some of those images have artistic quality, and some have created public outrage. This photographic method of capturing reality can be has both aesthetic and ethical implications.
Capturing reality is not a new idea. Jean-Baptiste-Sim?on Chardin (1699-1779) recorded the plainer features and rituals of life unlike his contemporaries. Chardin's paintings of common objects were a ?healthy antidote to the dreamy ephemera of Bouccher and Fragonard (which tended to shut out political, economic, and social realities)? (Cole 200)."
Abstract The paper begins with a general overview of the meaning of religion in Michelangelo's art and then moves its focus to the panel of the Drunkenness of Noah. It explains the basic story that this piece hopes to capture and compares how this Biblical story differs in a way to what is portrayed in the picture.
From the Paper "Michelangelo's frescoes for the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel are regarded by nearly all art historians as being amongst the most significant ? and most lovely -- of all works of art created in the West since the beginning of the Christian era. It is no doubt because of their artistic importance that it is easy to overlook their religious significance, for while the religions stories that Michelangelo gave vision to are well known and in no way original to the artist, the images were overwhelmingly original. We cannot fail to be impressed by their beauty when we look at them and so we may forget to see what is actually contained in them."
Tags: Noah, flood, Seth, Ham, Japeth, Genesis, Italy, art
This essay examines the origins of the unconventional Dada art movement. These pioneers of the avant-garde thrived for a few short years after World War I before splintering into several groups in the early 1920s.
Abstract The Dada art movement was about using protest, confrontation and chaos in the arts as a way to change an unjust society recovering from the horrors of World War I. By explaining the origins of the Dadas and looking at their most famous sculpture, "The Spirit of Our Time", this essay explains how the Dada artists were making direct challenges to modern culture and technology long before it was fashionable.
From the Paper "By the late 19th century machine technology was everywhere, available to millions, and part of humanity's daily existence. The products of machines, such as giant structures and trains, planes, and automobiles, were infinitely more "useful" to people than traditional art had ever been. Some artists became envious of scientists and wanted to match their achievements, and some scientists wanted to be thought of as artists."
Abstract The paper discusses the works of Frank Lloyd Wright, the greatest and most influential architect in the history of American art and design who gave us some of the most beautiful and dazzling structures. The author explains how he is remembered mainly for his residential houses as he was the first architect to change the design of American houses to make them suitable for modern living although he gained fame international fame with his design of Imperial Hotel in Tokyo.
From the Paper "American should be proud of those who have given it the reputation of being the country with most talented people. It should praise those who have added a new dimension to its art, literature and architecture. The reason being that a country is known by the people who belong to it and some of these people by the power of sheer genius can take their country to new heights of fame and pride. America boasts of numerous highly talented people in various fields, but it has only very few well-known personalities in the field of architecture and design. This is not because the country does not provide encouraging and conducive environment, but it is because of the nature of the work itself. Ceramics, Architecture and lighting may appear to be rigid fields, which allow introduction of new techniques, and style only rarely but it all depends on the magnitude of creative genius residing within the one who enters this area. Very few people in these fields art, design and ceramic work can bring dramatic changes to previous styles and design and introduce better techniques and give the country its own architectural identity. One such person was the American architect and artist, Frank Lloyd Wright."
Abstract This paper studies Richard Avedon and his ability to create a series of images of women as well as men that seemed to catch something of their inner lives, making each of his subjects unique in looks and personality. It includes several of his pictures and details the expression and meaning of each of them. Also, it gives an historical overview of his life and how he exemplified the 1950's era. It compares his work to the work of several photographers such as Weston and Steichen.
From the Paper "The work of photographer Richard Avedon during this Ozzie-and-Harriet decade thus stands out for his ability to capture a sense of unique personality in each of his subjects. Despite the fact that during the 1950s he was working as a photographer for fashion magazines like "Harper's Bazaar" ? hardly an avant-garde publication or one dedicated to stripping society of its sexist images of women ? he managed to create all throughout this decade a series of images of women as well as men that seemed at least to catch something of their inner lives, a good deal of what made each one of these subjects unique. The fact that he was able to wrap these substantive images in a style that was coolly and elegantly minimalist ensured his success not only in this decade but in the years since."
The comparison of the styles of two paintings - Vincent Van Gogh's "Woman with a Spade as Seen from Behind" and "'The Shop Girl" by Jacques-Joseph Tissot.
Abstract This paper compares the differing styles of these two artists. Both painting were of women but the writer shows how Van Gogh's is of a woman working in the field while Tissot's painting depicts elegant women in a shop. Even though they were painted in similar time frames, the latter painting is of a modern culture greatly ignored by Van Gogh in his works.
From the Paper "Vincent Van Gogh is a master artist whose works have fascinated the society for decades. The manner in which he portrays his subjects and the deliberation of each stroke gives a life like result that is a pleasure to see. Vincent Van Gogh went through life searching for the elusive perfection that he could capture on canvas. Though many would say that his works are itself a perfect presentation, Van Gogh proved to be his own biggest critic. He stated in one his Letter 257 c. January 3, 1883, "By working hard, old man, I hope to make something good one day. I haven't yet, but I am pursuing it and fighting for it..." thus were immortalizing his own life. We could have aptly used these words to write his eulogy for the search for something better is what he portrays on canvas."
The paper discusses Evelyn Welch's illustration of the history of art and architecture during the rule of the two dynasties, the Visconti and Sforza, in her book, "Art and Authority in Renaissance Milan."
1,560 words (approx. 6.2 pages), 0 sources, 2001, $ 51.95
Abstract This paper examines the tensions and arrangements between the city government and the court in Evelyn Welch's "Art and Authority in Renaissance Milan." Images are used to legitimize the authority of the dukes as well as the details of the multitude of problems that occurred during the constructions of the monumental cathedral of Santa Maria Maggiore, the Ospedale Maggiore, and the Castello di Porta Giovia along with the grievances that the artists and architects had with the Milanese court and government.
From the Paper "In the first chapter, Welch discusses the images that were used to claim authority in Milan. Unlike the King of France, the signori of Milan in the fourteenth and fifteenth-century could not declare their authority as God-given. The Milan rulers, from the first duke (Gian Galeazzo Visconti) to the last (Ludovico Maria Sforza), used various sources of confirmation of their position from distant papal or imperial investitures. But the most effective means of imposing authority over the Milanese citizens and residents of the surrounding countryside was to produce countless images that asserted ducal ownership of buildings, works of art, and people. Some of these images took the form of family arms, portraits, and color codes. Bridges and towers were branded with a coat of arms when absorbed under new dominions. Some signori asserted their authority with equestrian portraits. Images were represented differently in art and literature depending on the audience and the time. Art was used as a collaborator for political control (which was not uncommon). There was a constant transition in leadership. Two dynasties controlled Milan - the Visconti and the Sforza. The Viscontis, native Milanese, were based in the surrounding countryside. The Sforzas, originally mercenary soldiers, were from the Romagna and acquired their rights over Milan through a marriage to the daughter of the last Visconti duke. In art, historical armed conflict was disguised. Successive rulers changed ancestral histories. A leader that became powerful through tyranny was transformed as reverent. But regardless of even great court commissions, the images of authority were only effective if their audiences were predisposed to accept the court's authority. There was a reciprocal relationship between the art and the audience. "
Tags: photographs, buildings, paintings, sculptures, other, items, greatly, enhances, story
Abstract A paper which discusses the relationship between art and commerce in today's society. The writer shows that the two cannot remain apart and it is unwise to expect them to run parallel to each other without ever touching upon each other's boundaries. However he surmises that it would have been better if the two had focused on their own purposes because their union in today's society has produced unpleasant and disturbing results.
From the Paper "Similarly commerce cannot exit without art too. We regularly see businessmen using quality advertisements to gain an edge over their rivals. What is advertising if not a form of art. Similarly businessmen realize that it is important to appeal to the aesthetic sense of people in order to increase their customer base. For example even the largest and toughest companies in the American corporate world regularly employ artistic methods to infuse some art in their products. Some of the most expensive and highly exclusive and exquisite products have been called true pieces of art such as 'Ferrari', but we know very well that Ferrari was not designed or created in appreciation of art. It was purely a commercial product which was expected to increase annual revenues and that's what it has been doing for many years now. "
