Art and Visual Culture essays

Art and Visual Culture essays Art and Visual Culture expresses its key focus in its title; it is a course about art, but not only standard art, it also includes aspects of visual culture. Culture has many definitions listed in Encarta Dictionary, one of which is the set of shared beliefs, customs, and attitudes of a group of people. Art and Visual Culture aims to use cultural information to study the roles art plays in reflecting and shaping the societies in which it is created. This endeavor requires the study of basic art history from ancient times to the present. Throughout art history there are dominant themes that this course examines, the most prominent are gender roles, stereotyping, and censorship. A key goal of the class is to form personal opinions on issues that art history scholars debate today. Readings done from a variety of sources provide the material to formulate opinions with both sides of the issue represented. Before these complex issues can be discussed, a primary knowledge of a workin g vocabulary is needed, which learning how to look at art provides. The first skill developed in the class is viewing art. This includes the formal analysis of paintings, architecture, and sculpture. The formal elements of art include composition, color, lighting, texture, line, and illusionistic space. The study of sculpture also includes other topics that involve the techniques used, the form, the relationship with space, and scale. Another aspect of looking at art is the representational elements. They concern the subject matter and the expressive content of the work, including poses, actions, and emotions. Iconography is part of representational study that searches for conventional meanings. One work studied intensely on this topic is Jan van Eycks Arnolfini Marriage. Readings from two art critics reveal that there are different iconographic interpretations of this work. Erwin Panofsky in Early Netherlandish Pa...

Free Essays on The Role Of African Americans In The Civil War

In the history of the United States, African Americans have always been discriminated against. When Africans first came to America, they were taken against their will and forced to work as laborers. They became slaves to the rich, greedy, lazy Americans. They were given no pay and often badly whipped and beaten. African Americans fought for their freedom, and up until the Civil War it was never given to them. When the Civil War began, they wanted to take part in fighting to free all slaves. Their opportunity to be soldiers and fight along side white men equally did not come easily, but eventually African Americans proved themselves able to withstand the heat of battle and fight as true American heroes. The road to freedom from slavery was a long and hard for the African Americans. In the northern states the Civil War began as a fight against the succession of the Confederate states from the Union. Abraham Lincoln, who was President at this time, wanted to save the nation by bringing the southern states back to the Union, but this â€Å"Great Emancipator† ironically did not have much intention of freeing the slaves. His greatest interest lie in preventing a war from occurring. However, even he could not stop the outbreak of the Civil War (Fincher). With the war just beginning, ex-slaves and other African Americans wanted to get in on the action. They wanted to fight against those who had enslaved them and their families for generations. They began volunteering and trying to enlist, but everywhere they went they were rejected. â€Å"In general, white soldiers and officers believed that black men lacked the courage to fight and fight well† (History of African-Americans in the Civil War). Even some abolitionists believed putting them in the battlefield would be putting African Americans higher than they should be. They said that though blacks should not be enslaved, they should not be equal to the white male. The Afric... Free Essays on The Role Of African Americans In The Civil War Free Essays on The Role Of African Americans In The Civil War In the history of the United States, African Americans have always been discriminated against. When Africans first came to America, they were taken against their will and forced to work as laborers. They became slaves to the rich, greedy, lazy Americans. They were given no pay and often badly whipped and beaten. African Americans fought for their freedom, and up until the Civil War it was never given to them. When the Civil War began, they wanted to take part in fighting to free all slaves. Their opportunity to be soldiers and fight along side white men equally did not come easily, but eventually African Americans proved themselves able to withstand the heat of battle and fight as true American heroes. The road to freedom from slavery was a long and hard for the African Americans. In the northern states the Civil War began as a fight against the succession of the Confederate states from the Union. Abraham Lincoln, who was President at this time, wanted to save the nation by bringing the southern states back to the Union, but this â€Å"Great Emancipator† ironically did not have much intention of freeing the slaves. His greatest interest lie in preventing a war from occurring. However, even he could not stop the outbreak of the Civil War (Fincher). With the war just beginning, ex-slaves and other African Americans wanted to get in on the action. They wanted to fight against those who had enslaved them and their families for generations. They began volunteering and trying to enlist, but everywhere they went they were rejected. â€Å"In general, white soldiers and officers believed that black men lacked the courage to fight and fight well† (History of African-Americans in the Civil War). Even some abolitionists believed putting them in the battlefield would be putting African Americans higher than they should be. They said that though blacks should not be enslaved, they should not be equal to the white male. The Afric...