Abstract To answer this question the paper uses two films; "Babette's Feast", and "The Draughtsman's Contract." It suggests that all manners are culturally constructed, although some systems of social mores allow for more change than others. It also uses Oliver Sac's work with brain damaged patients as a reference point, to explicate how the rituals of the table and of even a draughtsman's pictorial world of representation are highly specific to a particular place and times.
From the Paper "Eating is a natural urge, of course. Watching a film, however much film buffs may protest, is not. Yet food and film seem to go hand-in-hand today, as the popularity of Like Water for Chocolate, Eat, Drink, Man, Woman, Big Night, and Chocolat all attest. Why is this so? Perhaps, because more than any other artistic medium, film is able to render the sensual experience of consuming food more accurately than virtually any other form of representation. It is interesting to observe that although they began as texts, the film Babette's Feast and Like Water for Chocolate both began as novels, in the former case, a short story by the writer Isak Dinesen. But the film of Babette's Feast has become far more famous, and it renders, very powerfully, the unique ways that food and the manners and morals that surround them are both quite particular to a specific period, place and time."
Abstract Lorenzo Ghiberti (1378-1455) was a many-sided Renaissance figure; he was a bronze-caster, sculptor, goldsmith, draughtsman, architect, writer, and historian. Among his most celebrated surviving works are the bronze doors he created for the Baptistery of the Cathedral in Florence. This discusses the circumstances in which Ghiberti secured and completed the commission to design the north doors of the Baptistery (1400-24) and analyzes their composition and character. Ghiberti's work in Florence is then compared to that of Gianlorenzo Bernini at the Baroque church of Sant? Andrea al Quirinale, Rome (1658-70).
From the Paper "In late 1400 the officials of the Cloth-Dealers and Refiners? Guild of Florence (the Arte di Calimara) announced a competition to design a set of doors for the Baptistery of the Cathedral. The Baptistery is a very old structure, the primary elements of which probably date to the seventh and eight centuries AD. The exterior covering of marble was constructed in the twelfth century and stood as an exemplar of architectural elegance and harmony. The Baptistery, which is a free-standing octagonal building located in the Piazza San Giovanni at the western end of the Cathedral, has three doors opening to the north, south and east. In the 1330s Andrea Pisano had completed a set of bronze doors for the southern entrance, and the Guild sought to complete the project by fitting similar doors, in bronze and decorated with reliefs, to the other two entrances."
Abstract This paper describes some of the artistic works of Henri Matisse and explains why his technique, use of color, movement and texture gave him a reputation as the main exponent of Fauvism of his time.
From the Paper "It is relatively simple to understand how Matisse escaped from the confines of the Impressionists, for all one has to do is view his paintings and explore with the eyes all the subtle and beautiful manifestations within his Fauvist renderings. But in regard as to why he decided to adopt the Fauvist philosophy is less understood unless one listens to the words of Matisse himself-"What I am after, above all, is expression. . . I am unable to distinguish between the feeling I have for life and my way of expressing it. . . The whole arrangement of my picture is expressive. . . everything plays a part. Composition is the art of arranging in a decorative manner the various elements at the painter's disposal for the expression of his feelings. . . All that is not useful. . . is detrimental" (Chipp 131-32)."
