Abstract This paper discusses the contributions of Robert Adam to architecture, with an emphasis on his design innovations. These include his introduction of the classical revival style in both architecture and interior decoration during the last half of the 1700s. The paper describes Adam as reacting against the Neo-Palladian styles that was in vogue in the first part of the century. The paper also touches on some of the artistic works that influenced Adam's style, such as Etruscan vases. Adam's interior design is also examined and noteworthy examples of his architecture and interior design are cited with illustrations.
Outline:
Interior and Exterior Designs Preceding and During the Time of Robert Adam Adam's Visual Design Composition
Contextural Design
Adam's influence on Early Neoclassical Design
Conclusion
From the Paper "The materials used by the designers during the 18th century reflected the industrial revolution, in that they were able to utilize improved older materials. Bricks were fired at higher temperatures and became different colors. Stucco and ceramic tiles were also utilized, with decorative or highly colored motifs that carried designs or imitated brick. Improved casting techniques allowed designers to use decorative ironwork to create delicate, Neoclassical patterns that were used in balconies and window frames. Structural ironwork was also used in staircases, increases and iron plates that helped fireproof structures. "
Abstract This paper is a biography of John Adams and his time as president. It also discusses his wife Abigail. The paper explores Adam's personal combative style and his controversial political writings. The author expands on his reputation as a powerful politician.
From the Paper "John Adams was born in the Massachusetts Bay Colony. A Harvard-educated lawyer, he soon became identified with the patriot cause and became a delegate to the First and Second Continental Congresses. He was one of the leaders in the movement for independence from England. Adams also has the distinction of being the only founding father not to own slaves during his life. The World Almanac Book of Facts reports that during the Revolutionary War he served in France and ..."
Tags: John Adams, Federalist, president, Abigail, Jefferson, Continental Congress
Abstract This paper follows John Adams through his career with an emphasis on the " the most insignificant office that ever the invention of man contrived or his imagination conceived? the job of George Washington's vice-president.
From the Paper "John Adams was very much involved with the government before he was elected president. He was a consulter and a writer for newspapers that critiqued the government of the day. John Adams was elected as a member of the Massachusetts legislature. However, this prestigious position was revoked as he rejoiced when the Bostonians dumped the hated British tea into the Boston harbor. During the Boston Massacre, shots were fired upon the citizens of Boston who taunted and heckled the British troops. None other than "John Adams represented the British soldiers to be innocent and in danger of being railroaded by the colonists if action was not taken" (Degregorio, 24). When Britain retaliated, John Adams was elected as a radical to the First Continental Congress in 1774. John Adams held strong ambitions for foreign policy and helped write the resolutions of May 10, 1776. He also strongly defended the Declaration of Independence such that he had certified it with his signature."
Abstract The paper portrays the feelings expressed in this painting, how they offer a duality of good and evil, but also the sadness and depression of being a mortal human, in Adam and Eve's expression in this piece. The paper discusses how in many ways, the heads being linked together beneath the Tree of Knowledge helps to explain why they must always dually remember their act, regardless of the fact that Eve committed the act initially alone.
From the Paper "The art study will examine a painting depicting Adam and Eve joined at the head to the Tree of Knowledge. In many ways, the sadness of the painting reinforces the Biblical contract with God, which Eve broke in order to eat an apple off of this ancient tree of good and evil. The sadness in their expressions forges this alliance of loss and shame, as Adam and his wife were eventually expelled from the Garden of Eden for this act."
Abstract AnselAdams was one of America's most famous photographers. This paper introduces and discusses AnselAdams the man, his innovative photographic techniques, and their impact on traditional photography.
From the Paper "By the mid 20s, Adams began to realize he could make a living with his photography. He decided to concentrate on his photographic work, instead of a career as a concert pianist. This was a turning point in his life, and while he continued to enjoy music throughout his life, photography became his vocation, and his lifelong passion. In 1927, he received the patronage of Albert M. Bender, a wealthy San Francisco insurance magnate, and it changed his life. Bender helped him publish his first portfolio of photographs, but even more importantly, he helped Adams develop his self-confidence and abilities, which allowed him to become more creative and artistic."
Tags: Zone, System, Yosemite, National, Park, Black, and, White, Bulletin
Abstract The paper examines how AnselAdams was a "straight photographer" who captured the beauty of natural America, particularly the West. The paper explores how he was also a national icon who worked tirelessly for the preservation of the national parks and furthered the cause of environmental groups such as the Sierra Club. The writer proposes that Adam's art was an expression of himself, in the sense that he found the sublime in nature and transmitted it so that others could experience the same refulgence.
From the Paper "An artistic sensibility characterized the young Ansel Adams. "When Adams was twelve he taught himself to play the piano and read music. Soon he was taking lessons, and the ardent pursuit of music became his substitute for formal schooling." He imagined himself becoming a concert pianist. Such training was not wasted, even though he did eventually give up the piano in favor of the camera. "From music, he brought to camera work long hours of practice. This accustomed him to technique and hard work; intense study of great composers led him to a deep sense of esthetics, also the direction of creativity required of a performing artist, which interestingly enough, fit photography very well."
Tags: earthquake, concert, pianist, photography, camera
Abstract This paper is about AnselAdams, the famous photographer whose majestic black- and-white landscapes of the American West and whose devotion to clarity and precision made him probably the best known photographer in the United States.
Abstract This paper discusses the life of AnselAdams. It explains that he was a modern artist who brought about the idea of the importance of photography as the art that we now know, and additionally, he helped set the standard for the building of identity through majestic images of the American landscape.
From the Paper "Up to the point which Adams works began to show prominence within the art world much of photography was centered on recording images first as the science of photography, then as records of physical identity, and then for posterity as records of people. (Newhall 9) Adams was one of the first photographers to broaden the scope of images to larger scale representations of things people would not have been able to see in small scale, large natural landscapes at specific times and from specific angels of scope. In summation, he turned photography into art and eventually his works and the works of other even became thought of as high art. In a sense this evolution of photography as a scientific tool to an expression of art and emotion is the history of photography. In Newhall can be seen Ansel Adams at work and just how precise a tool photography became as an expression of mood, when he is setting up for a very emotionally charged and well timed shot. (192)"
Abstract This paper briefly details the life and career of photographer and conservationist AnselAdams. The paper describes some of his photograph-masterpieces and discusses his contributions to wilderness conservation efforts.
From the Paper "A wilderness area named for a photographer? He must really have done something special. Yes, there is an Ansel Adams Wilderness, located in the Inyo and Sierra National Forests in California, and Yes, Ansel Adams was far more than a photographer. He used his camera and his conservationist ideas to alert people to the inroads society was making on the wilderness, and made every effort not merely to show the beauty of nature, but used those pictures to make a valid point for Conservation. His was a long and full life, with the innovations of camera techniques that brought a new concept of visualization to still pictures of nature."
This paper reviews Henry Adams's "The Education of Henry Adams; Henry Adams was the grandson of John Quincy Adams and the great-grandson of John Adams.
1,770 words (approx. 7.1 pages), 0 sources, $ 57.95
Abstract This paper explains that Henry Adams's "The Education of Henry Adams" is subtitled as a biography, but doesn't actually tell the story of Henry Adams life; instead, it looks at how he developed his mental ideas and opinions based on historical, political, and philosophical contemplation of the things that were going on during his time. The author points out that, in the "The Education of Henry Adams," Adams places a great deal of criticism on himself and the entire world, which can be very satiric and biting, but there is warmth and humor contained within the book. The paper relates that one small downside to the book is that Adams appears to generalize everything to the point that it often appears he is lumping too many individuals together and does not allow various individual opinions to actually come through.
From the Paper "Much of what the book has to offer, however, deals with the power that was had at the time by Christianity and the church and how this power was changed and forced into submission by Darwin's theory of evolution, and much of the power that technology had over individuals during that time. To discuss technology, Adams mentions the Paris exposition that he attended in 1900 and the dynamos that were present there. After he saw this type of technology coming to the front the also realized that Darwinism was causing so much chaos in the world and he felt that there was so much power in technology that the church was not able to withstand the onslaught."
Abstract This paper analyses Adams critique of modern education as found in his autobiographical "The Education of Henry Adams". The paper brings out the subtlety and profundity of Adams argument and points out the shortfalls. Adams' principle contention is that education based on science is chaotic and without direction. Science breeds division, yet science-based knowledge neither acknowledges this fact, nor prepares students to cope with it. The paper goes on to highlight Adams' prognostications of how modern education will effect the political, social and gender spheres, and marvels at his prescience.
From the Paper "Because he distrusted the autobiographical "I", Adams finds an alternative use of the subject of his autobiography, which is as a manikin doll to test suitably of conventional education, and whether it has prepared him for the world. He states that this act of self effacement is a trend started by Jean Jacques Rousseau, whose semi-autobiographical Emile is really an educational tract. Adams is suggesting that autobiography is automatically a narrative of one's education, and the narrator is simply the means by which this is accomplished. If this is the case, he prefers to do the deed expressly, calling the described character of Henry Adams a manikin doll, and education being the real subject matter. This does not mean that he becomes detached from the character, but he does avoid the "I" throughout, and narrates the story of Henry Adams strictly in the third person. "
Tags: students, diversity, system, tools, direction
This paper analyzes the life of Abigail Adams, wife of John Adams, the second president of the United States as presented by Charles W. Akers in his book "Abigail Adams: An American Woman".
Abstract This paper explains that Abigail Adams stood as a witness to the crucial political events that resulted in the formulation of the nation's early political and legal history; however, her status as a woman during time and her intellectual and personal capacity is interesting in its own right, outside of her marital connections. The author points out that, unlike the relatively singular lives of Washington or Jefferson, the Adams emerged as a political dynasty as well as a political influence in the young nation's development. The paper states that Abigail Adams? letters to her husband lay testimony to the fact that rather than being complaint, during the immediate antebellum period, the ideological struggles over slavery and women's rights were woven into the historical fabric of the founding nation.
From the Paper "Adams? failure to exhort her husband and to use her political influence to achieve her objectives highlights the contradictions of this early period of American history. It has been commented that the more simply articulated ideals of the Declaration of Independence eventually were diluted by the political necessities of constructing a Constitution amenable to all of the states, and to the maintenance of the aristocratic, land-owning class that the Founding Father came from. The new nation was to be governed by the Thomas Jefferson's of the world, not the Thomas Paines, and to maintain a delicate equilibrium between South and North; the existence of slavery was tolerated via the ?three-fourths compromise.? Similarly, women's rights were also compromised and bracketed for later reference, to be resolved by future generations. Certain contradictions of American free governance were put aside for later generations to wrangle with, rather than to become a part of the difficult struggles of making America into a new nation."
Abstract John Adams' theory was based on the notion that there are three elements of government: monarchy, aristocracy and democracy, in Adams' definition, the governments of one, of few and of all. Adams' system of government posits a tripartite legislative structure composed of executive, senate and representative branches, with no one branch stronger than any other. Adams proposes this system so that no one branch, or the interest in society they represent, can consolidate too much power to themselves and begin to tyrannize the populace. Adams believed that this golden means of monarchic, aristocratic and democratic tendencies was the only way to ensure that the liberty of all citizens would be maintained.
Abstract This paper discusses the well-researched and well-documented biography, "Abigail Adams: An American Woman" written by Charles W. Akers, presenting a multifaceted portrait of Abigail Adams. The paper contends that the book is scholarly, yet written with the lay audience in mind; the text is presented chronologically and with compelling narrative that exposes Adams's persona and opinions. Attesting to its relevance to academia and historiography, the paper claims that Akers's biography is almost entirely based on primary source material, namely, the two thousand letters Adams had written during the course of her life and the Adams family manuscripts.
From the Paper "Abigail Adams is therefore an excellent historical reference work that can provide a foundation for studying life in revolutionary America in general. Abigail Adams represents a specific stratum of American life: the upper-class, white, Protestant, New England, and female perspective. In the early chapters of the biography, Akers offers a thorough family background of Abigail so that the reader can place her in context of not only her society and times but also of her unique upbringing. Her father William Smith was a church minister in rural Massachusetts and in spite of his piety refused the evangelical trends sweeping across the colonies known as the Great Awakening. William Smith's moderate views on religion undoubtedly influenced his daughter Abigail, who throughout her life would exhibit moderation in her opinions on most social and political issues. Although she was a staunch revolutionary, highly critical of the old European powers and strongly in favor of American independence, Abigail Adams was no radical. For instance, her brand of feminism included deference to traditional roles of women as wives and mothers."
Abstract This paper discusses the concepts found in Henry Adams' autobiography "The Education of Henry Adams," regarding the technological and social changes of the 19th century. The paper discusses Adams' rejection of technology and his praise for spiritual values and gives examples from the book to illustrate his points.
Table of Contents:
Introduction
Adams' Rejection of Technology, Praise of Spiritual Values
From the Paper "Again on page 383 Adams juxtaposes the new science with religion; Adams' concept of education was being stood on its head by these new machines, and there had not been such a dramatic break with the past since Copernicus and Galileo broke the news to the world that the earth was round, not flat. Columbus proved something shocking too, but there had not been a "revolution" like the one at the Chicago "Gallery of Machines" ("Great Exposition of 1900) since Constantine (the Roman emperor who became a Christian) "set up the Cross." This kind of astonishing and radical departure from previous society, previous learning - this "mysterious energy" - had not been witnessed since the discovery of the Cross (Adams 383)."
