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

Patriarchy

Patriarchy is the treatment of women throughout the ages. It dictates their future and success in life. It not only defines how society functions but also how it controls women. Patriarchy is best defined as control by men. Women fight for rights and to survive without the power and domination of men. It has roots in Christianity and the family.

Noble Savage

Noble Savage is a literary device that affirms the basic tenet of the goodness of mankind.

Pathetic Fallacy

Pathetic Fallacy is a term used to describe the attribution of animate or human characteristics and feelings to inanimate objects of nature. It is said that these are 'false' descriptions of nature. This term is now commonly used to describe any developed or impassioned personification.... Continue reading "Key Literary & Social Concepts: Patriarchy to Englishness" »

Jackson Pollock's Number 1 (1948)

Classification of the Work

• Title: Number 1
• Author: Jackson Pollock
• Timeline: 1948
• School or Country: USA
• Style: Abstract Expressionism

Theme

A path of fine lines overlaps and extends across the canvas, creating a composition that seems to have no limits.

Description

• Support: Canvas
• Technique: Oil and enamel painting (with aluminum paint)

Formal and Compositional Elements

• Form: Open pictorial
• Composition: Open or centrifugal
• Geometric Perspective
• Asymmetry
• Technique/Geometry: Dripping

Antecedents and Subsequent Influences

Pollock learned techniques from Native American (Navajo) sand painting. He also studied the works of Picasso and Miró. He created and utilized the dripping technique in several paintings.

Relations with Similar

Camera Shots, Angles, and Movements

Types of Camera Shots

• Major General Plan (Extreme Long Shot): The person appears reduced in size or is not visible. Establishes the scene.
• Outline (Long Shot): The person occupies approximately one-third of the frame. Focuses on the character.
• Plan Set (Medium Long Shot): Shows relationships between people, often used for Augmented Reality (AR) figures.
• Entire Plan (Full Shot): The person appears complete. Portrays the character fully.
• American Plan (Medium Shot): The person is shown from the knees up. Brings us closer to the character.
• Midplane (Medium Close-Up): Cuts the character at waist height. Highlights gestures.
• Foreground (Close-Up): Shows the character's face. Highlights emotions and feelings.
• Plan Detail

Semantic Meaning Relations

These relations define how the meanings of words interact:

• Antonymy: Words with opposite meanings.
• Synonymy: Words with equal or very similar meanings.
• Polysemy: A single word having multiple related meanings.
• Hyperonymy/Hyponymy: A hierarchical relationship (e.g., vehicle is the hyperonym of car).
• Homonymy: Words that share the same form (spelling or pronunciation) but have distinct, unrelated meanings (e.g., hard (adjective) and hard (adverb)).
• Homophony: Words that sound the same but are spelled differently (e.g., to, too, two).
• Homography: Words that are spelled the same but are pronounced differently (e.g., read (present) vs. read (past)).
• Paronymy: Words that are similar in sound and spelling but have different meanings

Gothic Art: Influences and Evolution

Gothic art underwent significant transformations influenced by several key factors:

• The evolution of theological and philosophical thinking.
• The awakening of humanism.
• The Cistercian Reform.
• New social structures.

Gothic Sculpture: Characteristics and Development

Gothic sculpture is characterized by:

• Naturalism.
• Humanism and expressiveness.
• Volume and movement.

Evolution of Gothic Sculpture Style

During its early stages, reliefs did not prioritize perspective. Over time, they gained more volume and naturalism, though full development wasn't achieved until the fifteenth century. Initially, figures were simple, presenting a clear style. In the fourteenth and early fifteenth centuries, figures became elongated, outlined... Continue reading "Gothic Art and Sculpture: Evolution, Forms, and Masterpieces" »

Picasso's Guernica: A Cry Against War

Guernica by Picasso is a huge cry against war and brutality. It is also one of the most crucial paintings in the history of twentieth-century painting.

Style and Influences

It gathers geometric forms from Cubism, haunting images from Surrealism, and the dramatic force of Expressionism.

Style: Cubism, Surrealism, Expressionism.

Theme and Context

Theme: It denounces the brutal bombing of Guernica suffered by the civilian population due to the fascist German aviation. This was the first indiscriminate attack of modern warfare on civilians.

The absence of color is related to the fact that Picasso learned of the killing from newspapers.

Composition and Structure

The painter used expressive resources so that illuminated... Continue reading "Picasso's Guernica: Analysis of a Masterpiece" »

Renaissance and the classical antiquity in Italy, fifteenth century. In Italy, medieval art did not carry over. Classicism was always present. The rebirth is an Italian art movement that stretches across Europe. It is difficult to locate the styles, as in Flanders in the fifteenth century arose a school different from the medieval. Van Eyck, linked to cultural Renaissance humanism, brought a new idea: anthropocentrism versus theocentrism. This movement recovers classical culture, which was replaced by the church's essence. From the economy, establishing the urges, which sponsors make us part of the political creation of new nation-states, divided into small regions. Florence, Italy, and Rome in the XV and XVI centuries saw the anonymity disappear... Continue reading "Renaissance Art in Italy: Key Concepts and Styles" »

The Renaissance: The Age of Humanism

The social and cultural transformation of the 15th and 16th centuries is called the Renaissance.

Essential Features

• Humanism
• Current cultural trends

Basic Characteristics

• Care for human beings
• Inspired by literature, philosophy, and art of the past
• Search for truth through reason and experience

Media of Humanism

Printing

Gutenberg's invention around 1440 allowed for the publishing of many books, eliminating the need to hand-copy each specimen.

Academies

Academies served as meeting places for scholars to develop and disseminate humanistic studies.

The Scientific Development

The desire to investigate and learn the fundamentals incentivized the development of humanistic sciences.

16th Century Figures

• Nicolaus Copernicus: Heliocentric

The power of communication carries inherent risks: caution is necessary. Words can defame history's merits, and insults, once spread, amplify like bellows. Rumors can be false, quiet as a deep well, yet become more corrosive than iron.

The Fundamentals of Advertising Communication

Advertising is a technical communication medium that serves two primary functions:

• Denotative (Informative): To provide information and explain product features to consumers.
• Exhortative (Persuasive): To persuade the recipient to act or purchase.

Goals of Advertising Traffic

Advertising aims to achieve specific outcomes:

• Product Purchase: To achieve the goal of the receiver buying a product.
• Propagandistic Influence: To influence people to act in a certain way.

Key Features

Narrative Perspectives

• Third Person: An omniscient observer, or through another narrator's perspective.
• First Person: A character, supporting character, or observer within the story.
• Second Person: The narrator addresses the reader directly, often making the reader the character.

Literary Elements: Time & Space

Time in Narrative

• Narrative Time: The duration of the story, which can span a lifetime, a year, or a shorter period.
• Time Period: The historical or fictional era in which the story is set.

Space in Narrative

• Objective Space: A real or imagined setting introduced by the narrator using descriptive techniques at the story's outset.
• Subjective Space: The setting as perceived and presented by the characters themselves.
• Narrated Events: The sequence