Abstract This paper discusses the portrayal of utopia in art, whether it be literature, architecture or the fine arts. The paper presents examples of many types of depictions of utopia throughout history. The paper suggests that there is a new utopian revolutionary art where artists collaborate with the people of a community to restate their own history as the surroundings inspire them.
From the Paper "Cuban artists currently have opened "Contemporary Art from Cuba: Irony and Survival on the Utopian Island" with a range of artists exhibiting from 24 to 39, at the ASA Museum at the University of Arizona, an art museum known for exhibiting work experimental in content, form or presentation. These artists show they are disillusioned with the socialist Revolution, yet they remain loyal Cubans."
"Land artists, who create monumental sculptures, perhaps are those most successful in living out their utopian ideals in large scale, such as Michael Heizer, who has spent three decades creating a huge collection of truncated pyramids in the Nevada desert, Charles Ross, who has a subterranean Stonehenge for the space age in New Mexico and Christo, who has tried to wrap up the world like a present."
Abstract This paper compares aspects of Plato" Republic" and More's "Utopia", including political systems, economic systems, societal responsibilities and communications. The author also discusses the pros and cons of each Utopia.
Each utopia has fundamental ways to keep society from
degenerating. Their economic system, communications,
societal responsibilities, and political systems show how
they try to do this.
Communications: Each utopia has a different stance on
communicating with the outside world.
Societal Responsibility: Each utopia provides a different
way to produce the desired effect of having each
member of society provided for.
Political System: Leaders of each utopia are chosen
through different means.
Most attractive aspects of each utopia.
Least attractive aspects of each utopia.
From the Paper "People complain most about economics, their ability to communicate, their responsibilities to society, and who is leading them. Both Plato and More attempt to solve the problems within these categories. They create societies in which these problems, according to them, are solved, so that the societies will run smoothly, and the citizens will remain happy. The two authors create differing societies; societies that are easy to compare and contrast as to their usefulness. Each society, because they do differ, contain both attractions to it, as well as things that would disenfranchise citizens."
Abstract This paper deals with Huxley's most famous work, "A Brave New World", looking at this novel's role as the twentieth century's most shocking satire of fiction's treasured utopia.
From the Paper "Huxley's writings have constantly sought to resolve the chaos of the world. This search is conveyed in Huxley's "dystopian" novel through the death of the individual, art, and science which are replaced by a plastic society. In his early years, Huxley studied the arts and Medicine which he believed to be his future profession. A severe eye infection left Huxley all but blind which encouraged him to earn a living through writing. His skeptical view of the socially free 1920s in England made him very popular among young readers who viewed him as a rebel. Huxley finally won international fame for his ironic satire of a utopian society; A Brave New World was written by Aldous Leonard Huxley in 1932."
Tags: consumption, dictatorship, engineers, ford, freud, utopia, war
Abstract This essay discusses the shape and nature of a potential utopian society by examining briefly three concepts hotly debated by philosophers and political scientists. These topics are personal property, social classes, and the distribution of wealth. The paper concludes by saying that the best society closest to utopia will be the one in which the government plays the least significant role.
From the Paper "The Shape of Utopia Philosophers have examined and proposed ideal societies for thousands of years, with written examples as old as Plato's Republic. Despite this preponderance of theory, the practical realization of the utopian ideal has remained fleetingly out of reach. To presume to have the ability to imagine a utopia, where so many others have failed, might betray one's own arrogance. Nonetheless, the promise of a finer world is too enticing to ignore. In "Civil Disobedience" Henry David Thoreau wrote, "There will never be a really free and enlightened state, until the State comes to recognize the individual as a higher and independent power, from which all its own power and authority are derived, and treats him accordingly" (Thoreau 31). It is with this statement in mind that we shall visit the possibility of a utopian society. "
Abstract This paper examines the pitfalls in Thomas More's "Utopia." The paper is written from the perspective of the modern reader, who can critique More's society based on what is considered acceptable in our times. The paper's author argues against several issues in More's work, one being slavery and the other being the lack of free choice. The paper gives various examples of what the author considers to show the impracticality and lack of fairness can easily be gleaned from More's work.
From the Paper "In Thomas More's Utopia it is clear that the main sense of the work revolves around fairness, especially in the organization of the people of the country of Utopia. In More's country all the people are equal, according to the laws, language, location of cities and their responsibilities for the maintenance of the whole. Each individual was expected to be a part of the industry associated with maintaining the city where they lived, to the degree that each individual was responsible for moving to the agricultural area and working the land for a period of time, to be replaced by others from the city in a rotation similar to elected representatives and senators."
Abstract The fact that so many of these artists were of a military background begs the question: Are the themes and styles of English Canadian art during the decades immediately after 1759 influenced by these artist's military backgrounds? To answer this question, this paper will first discuss British artists in Canada during this time, and their backgrounds, and then proceed to an examination of two particular artists and their works.
Abstract This paper describes some famous artists including Rembrandt, Renoir and Sargent. The author gives particular emphasis to artists who painted on canvas and concentrated on portraits of women.
From the paper:
"Rembrandt Harmensz. van Rijn was considered to be the greatest artist of the Dutch Baroque Era. Rembrandt lived from 1606 until 1669. He specialized in portraiture and was a master of light and shadows. Woman with a Pink, an oil on canvas, was painted by Rembrandt in the early 1660s. The unidentified woman in this warm but somber portrait offers a pink (or carnation), symbolic of marriage, to her husband in Man with a Magnifying Glass. This painting is dark and slightly haunting, with the woman seeming to be lost in deep meditative thought."
Abstract This paper shows how Hughes and Cullen follow Du Bois? prescription in their creations of black art. The author focuses on Hughes? poem "Ballad of the Landlord" and Cullen's poem ?From the Dark Tower,? and derives his definition of Du Bois? artistic prescription from his essay ?Criteria of Negro Art.?
From the paper:
"Amidst the prevailing racial injustice during the Harlem Renaissance, W.E.B. Du Bois charges black artists to use their art to send a message to society: a message of unity to the blacks, and a message rejecting their so-called inferiority to the whites. Black art, Du Bois insisted, should be used as a weapon against racism, demonstrating blacks? worthiness of American status and their ability to conceive Beauty in their art. Countee Cullen and Langston Hughes, whether intentionally or not, followed the artistic specifications set forth by W.E.B. Du Bois in their respective creations "From the Dark Tower" and ?Ballad of the Landlord.?
Abstract This paper is a study on the changing role of the artist in European society, as seen in its case study of Antonio Canova. It asks whether increased demand for art, and increased commercialization, gave the artist greater freedom as it released him from the grip of his patron; or, whether this only subjugated him to new restrictions, those of a competitive market.
From the Paper "Before the nineteenth century artists in Europe relied almost entirely upon their patrons to finance their work. It was extremely difficult, and pretty much unheard of, for an artist to finance his own profession, and there was not a large enough market to create a piece without having a specific buyer in mind. Therefore, patrons could, and often did, exert a large influence on the outcome of the work."
Abstract This paper studies James Joyce's autobiographical tale of Stephen Dedalus. It discusses Stephen's growing self-awareness as a person and as an artist which causes him to dismiss the nationalism and Catholicism and to go to Paris to become a writer. It is a tale of the author's description's of Dedalus's history and what became of him. It includes several excerpts from the book which are analyzed.
From the Paper "If we were to concern ourselves strictly with plot, we might well say of James Joyce's A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man that there is none there. Not a great deal actually happens in this essentially autobiographical tale of Stephen Dedalus, and the narrative follows no clear single trajectory of cause and effect. Rather, in one of the first important uses of stream of consciousness, Joyce tells us in this short novel about Stephen's growing self-awareness as a person and as an artist, a growing self-awareness that will cause him by the end of the book to cast off the nationalism, the Catholicism and the sense of clannishness that defines other members of his father and to set off to Paris to become a writer."
Abstract Sir Charles Eastlake and Mrs. Merrifield added much, perhaps indirectly, to our knowledge of 19th century English artists' techniques. This paper examines their milieu, and how they gained interest in the painting that they wrote upon, along with their published contributions to fine art scholarship. Both authors are looked at in the light of a particular cultural and intellectual environment.
Abstract This paper compares Sir Thomas More's 2 works of "Utopia" and "United States". Both works together were commonly known as "Utopia" . It discusses the historical significance of "Utopia" and its attitude towards religion and compares how these ideas are parallel to the situation today.
From the paper:
"In Sir Thomas More's book commonly known as Utopia, More presents an ideal society, which includes his idealized view of how religion might be practiced in such a perfect country.
"It is not possible to examine his view of the perfect religion without considering the times he lived in. Bork (1999) cited some interesting parallels between More's era and the current one. More saw the common view of what was right and proper crumbling, particularly in the realm of religion. The Catholic Church to which More was devoted was being assailed on several sides. First Martin Luther challenged many of its core beliefs, and then Henry VIII, whom More was sworn to serve, formed a separate Church of England. Tynedale had produced a new translation of the Bible; church services could be held in English as well as in Latin; and the authority of the Catholic Church was being weakened (Philadelphia Society). Although the great majority of United States citizens today would reject the notion that there should be one, nationally recognized religion, many would see some similarities in our modern society and describe it as lacking a moral compass."
Abstract This paper examines the concept of utopias and discusses the idea of utopia in literature. The paper first describes the primary rationale for the utopia and provides examples of its application through the writings of many different authors. The paper then describes the key desires of those seeking utopia and how they can go about achieving it according to the authors examined in the paper.
From the Paper "Dana may have a different view of her "normal" life in the twentieth century, but she is still infused with the need for change, perhaps even more now that she has seen the beginnings of the way she and her people are treated and also because she knows how she is related to that past and its crimes through Rufus. Part of the utopic vision is not to settle for better but always to seek to improve society, and this remains a key desire now that she has a better understanding of the past, showing her more about the way to a better future."
Abstract This paper examines how Thomas More in "Utopia" presents a view of human nature which is far more positive than negative. It looks at how More shows that human nature can be altered by altering the environment and if the environment is improved, meaning socially, politically and economically, then the behavior of human beings will be improved, bringing out the best in human nature. It analyzes how many other fictional "utopias", such as "1984" and "Brave New World", are more intent on critiquing the attempts to perfect humanity and human society and demonstrating the dangers and ultimate destructiveness of those efforts. It shows how More, on the other hand, believes in his utopia and the betterment of humanity and human behavior through the manipulation of the social environment and how unlike most other utopian writers, is not cynical about human nature and is not skeptical about efforts to bring out the best in that nature.
From the Paper "To be fair to More, he himself recognized that his utopia was not likely to be manifested in the real world. He notes in the final lines of the work that his utopia is regrettably more a wish than a possibility in his own time: "I freely confess that in the Utopian commonwealth there are many features that in our own societies I would like rather than expect to see" (More 111). The question of More's view of human nature, and his general optimism about the positive social nurturing which could bring out the best in that nature, is a question of virtue. How good is man as he is, and hoe good could he be made if society encouraged goodness rather than acquisitiveness, fear, greed, envy, jealousy, selfishness, etc.? The heart of More's utopia with respect to virtue is the argument that virtue--that is, virtue as the goodness, rationality, generosity, and compassion of humanity--is encouraged and nurtured under a just political system."
