Notes, summaries, assignments, exams, and problems for Arts and Humanities

Enhance your English language skills with this comprehensive collection of essential vocabulary and grammar rules, including conditional sentences and common phrasal verbs. Each term is provided with its Catalan translation for easy learning.

Key Vocabulary by Theme

Theme 7: Travel & Environment Vocabulary

• Billboards - valla publicitària
• Cruise - creuer
• Sink - enfonsar
• Research - investigació
• Damage - dany
• Treacherous - traïdor
• Purpose - propòsit
• Keep in mind - tenir en compte
• Aware - conscient
• Balance - equilibri
• Concerned - preocupació
• Landscape - paisatge
• Belong to - pertànyer a
• Sign up - apuntar-se
• Rescuing - rescatar
• Leak - fuga
• Decide - decisió
• Dark - fosc
• Differ - diferència
• Relation - relació
• Inform - informar
• Possible - possible
• Environmental

Aesthetics, also called the theory of the arts, proposes an explanation of the artistic phenomenon and everything related to it.

The term aesthetics was proposed in 1753 by the German philosopher Alexander Gottlieb Baumgarten.

Aesthetics considers whether beauty or ugliness are present in things in an objective manner.

Axiology, a branch of philosophy, studies values.

In 1967, Luis Farré proposed the term aesthetic categories, including the beautiful, the ugly, the sublime, the grotesque, the gracious, the ridiculous, the tragic, and the comic.

The French Impressionists, like Claude Oscar Monet, exemplified these concepts.

Methods in Art Analysis

The methods used in art analysis emerged after and as a consequence of what Immanuel Kant proposes in... Continue reading "Understanding Aesthetics: Art, Philosophy, and Cultural Heritage" »

Objectives of Heritage Interpretation

Objectives describe what the visitor is expected to learn, feel, or do as a result of the program or activity offered. Evaluation is crucial. The strength and content of the message can produce a series of changes in the behavior and attitudes of the visitor. Miranda Morales suggests that there are three types of interpretive objectives:

• For knowledge: A simple message designed to transmit knowledge through meaningful and functional learning that visitors can understand and transmit.
• For emotions: It is important that visitors feel comfortable.
• For behavior: Normal behavior is that the visitor feels respect for heritage, signs, etc.

Interpretive Planning

Miró highlights these key relationships:

• The relationship

Act I

The play opens on a cold night at Elsinore Castle in Denmark. A guard, Francisco, is relieved by Bernardo. Horatio and Marcellus join Bernardo, and they discuss the recent appearance of the ghost of the late King Hamlet. Prince Hamlet, son of the deceased king and nephew of the current King Claudius, is introduced. Claudius has married Gertrude, Hamlet's mother. Denmark is also facing a potential invasion from Norway, led by Prince Fortinbras.

The guards convince Horatio, Hamlet's close friend, to witness the ghost. After hearing their account, Prince Hamlet decides to join them one night to see the ghost himself.

Polonius, the king's chamberlain, advises his son, Laertes, who is leaving for France, and his daughter, Ophelia, who is being... Continue reading "Hamlet: A Summary of Act I and Act II" »

Velázquez: Master of Spanish Baroque Painting

Early Life and Artistic Development

Diego Velázquez, a Spanish painter and the highest representative of Spanish Baroque painting, was born in Seville on June 6, 1599. Coming from a bourgeois family in Seville, he was the eldest of six children. Between 1611 and 1617, the young Velázquez worked as an apprentice of his future father-in-law, Francisco Pacheco, a Mannerist painter and author of the important treatise The Art of Painting (1649).

During his apprenticeship, Velázquez learned the prevailing tenebrist naturalism of his day, derived from Italian and Flemish realism. Velázquez's earliest works, executed between 1617 and 1623, can be divided into three categories:

• Still life (everyday objects

Characteristics of Romanticism

• Freedom

  Romanticism championed individual freedom: moral, social, political, and artistic.

• Subjectivism

  It emphasized the individual's importance and worldview, asserting a subjective view of reality. Literature became an expression of the artist's inner world. The search for ideal happiness and fulfillment often clashed with reality, leading writers to express their sense of failure. There was also an interest in human types rejected by society.

• Historicism

  It asserted the historical character of artistic productions. The defense of distinct cultural features led to the revitalization of vernacular literature. Literary works were linked to the national spirit, fostering interest in medieval literature, folklore, popular

The Essay

The essay is a literary genre characterized by digressions where the author expresses thoughts on a topic, or even without a specific issue. It has greatly influenced liberal thought and journalism.

Features:

• Free structure, form, and relatively brief extent
• Thematic variety
• Careful and elegant style
• Varied tone, reflecting the author's worldview

Types of Essays:

Literary Essay

Defined by the ideas it explores, covering disciplines like morality, science, history, and politics. It's a dynamic miscellany where the author expresses personal and subjective impressions and reflections about life. It is a critical product par excellence.

Scientific Essay

Blurs the boundaries between science and poetry. It's called a scientific-literary genre because... Continue reading "Understanding Essays: Characteristics, Types, and Journalistic Applications" »

Mendoza's Narrative Craft in The Savolta Case

Eduardo Mendoza's novel, The Truth About the Savolta Case, demonstrates a keen focus on technical literary treatment, equally valuing it alongside the compelling narrative. Mendoza champions the pleasure of storytelling, an element he feels is often forgotten in recent narrative trends.

Barcelona 1917-1919: A Tumultuous Backdrop

The novel collects the final memories of Javier Miranda, both a spectator and protagonist of events in Barcelona from 1917 to 1919. It delves into social tensions within a company headed by Lepprince, intertwined with a love plot. This narrative combines individual incidents with events characteristic of a collective historical novel.

Themes: Social, Political, and Existential

Understanding Dialogue

Dialogue is a text constructed in collaboration between several partners, sometimes acting as the issuer and other times as the receiver.

Characteristics of Everyday Dialogue

• Occurs in daily life.
• Relaxed pronunciation.
• Not prepared in advance.
• Uses common language.
• Often includes exclamatory sentences.

Setup of a Formal Dialogue

A formal dialogue (such as a discussion or interview) includes a moderator who directs and governs the conversation, and one or more participants who are experts in the field.

Literary Dialogues

Literary dialogues appear in literary works, including narratives, where they may be presented directly or indirectly.

Direct Speech

In direct speech, the narrator interrupts their narrative and uses a verb (e.g.,... Continue reading "Understanding Dialogue, Exposition, Argumentation & Linguistics" »

Minimalism: From Revolutionary Russia to Today

The origins of minimalism can be traced back to the Russian artists of the revolutionary period, particularly through movements like Constructivism and Suprematism. A prime example is White on Black (1917) by Malevich. At first glance, minimalist works may appear simple, but ambiguities complicate their perceptual reception, making them reflexively complex. This contradicts Morris's assertion that "what you see is what you see."

Key Figures and Their Perspectives

• Greenberg viewed minimalism as innovative, mistaking it for bizarre, strange effects rather than recognizing the essential qualities of art, particularly its exploration of three-dimensionality.

• Wollheim saw minimalism as having a minimum