Explication Of The Cogito Essays - Ren Descartes, Thought

Explication Of The Cogito In his Meditations, Rene Descartes attempts to prove the existence and reality of himself and things external to himself. In order to fulfill such a feat, Descartes decides to doubt all that he knows, for he knows not whether that can be relied upon. He doubts his knowledge for three main reasons. For one, he accounts that in dreams, many times he had thought that things external to himself were real. Also, he had heard people declare pain in limbs that they had lost long ago. After pondering these two experiences he declared, the chief and most common mistake which is to be found here consists in my judging that the ideas which are in me resemble, or conform to, things outside me (Descartes 16). These two accounts proved to him that he should doubt the existence of his own body. Next, he realizes that even when he is awake, he cannot trust his senses. Descartes says that the senses do sometimes deceive us when it is a question of very small and distant things (14) A perfect example of such would be how a stick that is straight might appear bent when immersed in water, or might mistake the height and shape of distant towers. This makes him further realize that he cannot trust experience. Finally, he is then forced to question his mind, when he realizes that there might be an Evil Genius that controls his every thought. If there were an Evil Genius doing such, his thoughts would mean nothing and his questioning would mean nothing, because he is constantly being deceived. With this in mind, he is able to stumble upon an epiphany, that the very fact that he is questioning, means that he exists. His reasoning is one that is quite logical. By questioning something, he knows that there has to be someone that does the actual action of the questioning, and if there is someone that questions, that someone must exist. It is a subject-object relationship. In order to question something, there must be something to question, therefore a questionable object exists. And in order for there to be questioning, some thinking thing, i.e. Descartes, must be doing the questioning, therefore, he exists. Even if the Evil Genius is constantly deceiving him, that fact that he is being deceive d means that he exists. For this reason, Descartes could not doubt that he was doubting, and thus was able to conclude that this proposition, I am, I exist, is necessarily true whenever it is put forward by me or conceived in my mind. (17). To completely prove his point to the skeptics he had to go further, for how could one realize that he/she is doubting? Descartes answers that this is possible through natural light- intuition. By establishing that he is a thing that, doubts, questions, thinks, affirms, denies, imagines, and perceives, through examples, he is able to prove how one could realize his/her doubting. Descartes gives us the example of the wax that is melted, and the people on the street with coats. If the wax melts, one still perceives such as wax because the wax is merely something extended, flexible, and changeable (21). On the street, one could see coats and hats, but one determines that one is seeing people. This, like the wax, is done through judgement alone, by the intellect alone. With this, Descartes posits that an object can be grasped even when stripped of its outer form and perceived by the mind alone (21). He follows that by arguing that the awareness of ones self is more certain than that of wa x and coats, for one understands ones self more clearly and distinctly than anything else. If one is able to do such, than, through nature of light, one is able to realize that one is doubting. The main qualm that I have with Descartes argument, is with his nature of light argument, that he is only sure that he is doubting from judgements solely based on perception. In order to grasp a concept, one must do such only through perception because the body has to be doubted, so the mind must act alone. Like the wax, one can tell that it

5 Lessons Writers Should Learn From Cormac McCarthy

5 Lessons Writers Should Learn From Cormac McCarthy Arguably one of the most important American writers of our time, Cormac McCarthy has written ten award-winning novels spanning the Southern Gothic, Western, and Post-Apocalyptic genres. His 1985 epic Western masterpiece, Blood Meridian: Or The Evening Redness in the West, made it to Time Magazines list of the 100 best English-language books published since 1923. Literary critic Harold Bloom called it the greatest single book since Faulkners As I Lay Dying.McCarthys 1992 romantic Contemporary Western, All the Pretty Horses, was adapted into a screenplay starring Matt Damon, and won the National Book Award and National Book Critics Circle Award. As a New York Times bestseller, it sold 190,000 hardcover copies within the first six months it was available on shelves. His 2005 crime thriller, No Country for Old Men, another novel, except one that was originally written as a screenplay, took home four Academy Awards including Best Picture and Best Adapted Screenplay.Perhaps his most well-k nown book, the 2006 Post-Apocalyptic novel, The Road, won the 2007 Pulitzer Prize and the James Tait Black Memorial Prize for Fiction, and was ranked by the Times as one of the 100 best fiction and non-fiction books of the past 10 years. It was later adapted into a film starring Viggo Mortensen.As a Tennessee-native writer maintaining the stereotypical description of a recluse, McCarthy has granted few interviews. This interview with Oprah Winfrey shows McCarthys shy, humble nature, and reveals much of how he feels about writing and the writing process. Other interviews with Rolling Stone, Wall Street Journal, The New York Times offer glimpses of McCarthys suggestions (however humble) for achieving the same level of fame he has achieved with his writing.Lesson #1: Brilliant characterization can be more powerful than plotMcCarthys works are best known for their exceptional and unforgettable characters. Even the bad guys are fascinating, with actions and words that make their characte rization run deep (for example, Anton Chigurh meticulously cleaning his boots after brutally slaying someone in No Country for Old Men). Much of this is due to his refusal to plot out his stories, but rather, to write them as they develop in his subconscious.Screenshot from the film adaptation of No Country for Old MenIn that elusive interview with Oprah Winfrey, he states: You cant plot things out. You just have to trust in, you know, wherever it comes from. Oprah seems surprised when he states this, as she mentions other writers she has interviewed who held vastly different views on the importance of plotting a novel before writing it. It is obvious from both the interview and McCarthys works that he is not the kind of writer who enjoys interviews or marketing ploys to advertise his books. He is as shy and awkward as he is talented, and its a breath of fresh air in a world where writers go on press binges for lesser works.In his interview with David Kushner of Rolling Stone McCart hy states, I just sit down and write whatever is interesting. If youre writing mystery stories or something, you might want to have an outline, because it all has to have a logic and fall into place and have a beginning, a middle and an end. But if youre writing a novel, the best things just sort of come out of the blue. Its a subconscious process. You dont really know what youre doing most of the time.Here, its important to understand that McCarthy recognizes a need for intricate plots in certain genres- and therefore, intricate outlines before beginning the writing process- but points out it isnt needed for all fiction writing. This is especially true if you want characterization to be the focus of your novel. In many cases, particularly when your subconscious is as finely tuned as McCarthys, allowing your instincts as a writer to take over is all that is needed to create unforgettable characters readers love (or love to hate).Lesson #2: Optimism and luck go a long way in the life of a writerIts easy to see, especially during Oprah Winfreys interview with McCarthy, that the novelist is both humble and an optimist- despite the grim settings and scenarios he so beautifully depicts with his words. Throughout his interviews, he consistently mentions those who are more brilliant than him gracing him with their presence and thoughts.In the Wall Street Journal interview, he states, There was never a person born since Adam whos been luckier than me. Nothing has happened to me that hasnt been perfect. And Im not being facetious. Theres never been a time when I was penniless and down, when something wouldnt arrive. Over and over and over again. Enough to make you superstitious.Lesson #3: Creative work is often driven by pain and is catharticIn his interview with Wall Street Journal, McCarthy states, Creative work is often driven by pain. It may be that if you dont have something in the back of your head driving you nuts, you may not do anything. Its not a good arrange ment. If I were God, I wouldnt have done it that way.McCarthy also mentions how after he has written something and psychologically processed his pain through those words, the context and content are no longer of interest to him. He explains it as the interests being flattened and used up, and mentions this as one of the reasons he doesnt read his own books after he has written them. Essentially, his cathartic process is over when the last word is written, and thus of no more use to him.This could be especially useful for writers who agonize over their baby after the work is completed: The pain has been written, its time to move on.This way of processing his internal struggle into and through his writing is part of what makes McCarthys writing so intense- and so viscerally human. His characters experience great interior conflict and suffer through horrifying situations, and McCarthy doesnt shy away from dealing with these struggles. He even focuses in on them with intense description - minimalistic and brutal- such as when he wrote the following passage in The Road:He walked out in the gray light and stood and he saw for a brief moment the absolute truth of the world. The cold relentless circling of the intestate earth. Darkness implacable. The blind dogs of the sun in their running. The crushing black vacuum of the universe. And somewhere two hunted animals trembling like ground-foxes in their cover. Borrowed time and borrowed world and borrowed eyes with which to sorrow it.From Cormac McCarthys The RoadScreenshot from the film adaptation of The Road, a novel that offers a bleak description of the human condition.Lesson #4: Stay interested in life and deathIn his few interviews, McCarthy details his interest in the physical world and science- even from the time he was young. In fact, in his undergraduate studies, he focused on physics and engineering. In his interview for Rolling Stone, McCarthy says, Its interesting to know how the world works. People ask me, Why are you interested in physics? But why would you not be? To me, the most curious thing of all is incuriosity. I just dont get it.Part of his fascination with science is its focus on the life cycle. If it doesnt concern life and death, its not interesting, says McCarthy. In fact, much of this fascination affected the crowds he chose to be around throughout his life, least of which were fellow writers. The artsy crowd was all dressed and drugged and ready to party, he recalls. I just started hanging out with scientists because they were more interesting.It is this fascination with death that both hindered McCarthys early success and later propelled it, making him the unforgettable writer he is. When you read a death scene in a McCarthy novel, or even a near-death scene, you understand his unique gift for describing the horrors of humanitys fear of it.For example, in his book Outer Dark, published in 1968 while McCarthy lived on the island of Ibiza, he writes about a girls search f or her baby, who was born because of incest. The brother of the girl later witnesses the death of his child at a campfire in the rural South and McCarthys brutal narrative style packs a dark punch:Holme saw the blade wink in the light like a long cats eye slant and malevolent and a dark smile erupted on the childs throat and went all broken down the front of it. The child made no sound. It hung there with its one eye glazing over like a wet stone and the black blood pumping down its naked belly.From Cormac McCarthys Outer DarkThere is no over-description or Faulknerian detail. The childs death is as short as its life, and equally as appalling. Its this refusal to look away from death that brings so much life (and depth) to McCarthys writing.Lesson #5: Understand that good writing requires rewritingIn the Rolling Stone interview, McCarthy stresses that much of the rigor of the writing process is in rewriting after a first draft. Writing is rewriting, he says. Someone said easy writin g makes for hard reading. McCarthy is notorious for leaving out unnecessary words and even skipping over punctuation that doesnt suit the flow of dialogue. And names! We never know the name of the man and the boy in The Road. Mainly thats because- we dont need to!Names are not necessary in The Road, since characterization runs so deep.In fact, McCarthy enjoys the process of editing work that has already been written, particularly editing scientific manuscripts written by other writers. McCarthy frequently proofreads scientific papers and books by Santa Fe Institutes focused studies on an emerging science called complexity. According to Kushners article, its the study of the complex systems behind our lives- from climate patterns to human societies- and how they evolve and adapt. Specifically, McCarthy copyedited a manuscript written by Harvard physicist Lisa Randall exploring the hidden dimensions of the universe. She mentions that he removed many semicolons, which he apparently doe snt like at all.Final takeawayCormac McCarthy has much to offer writers who seek to learn how to write bestselling novels. However, due to his humble and reclusive nature as an author, writers need to dig a little deeper into his words to learn those lessons. Ive offered you the shovel- the depth to which you dig is entirely up to you.

Family and Consumer Behaviour Literature review

Family and Consumer Behaviour - Literature review Example All of these factors contribute significantly in the decision-making process of a person. In this paper, we will discuss the impact of family on overall consumer behavior. â€Å"An individual’s immediate family members play an essential role in influencing his/her buying behaviour† (Management Study Guide n.d.). Family is the most important factor that affects consumer decisions (Yuvarani 2009). We will discuss different factors concerning family that may influence a person’s decision regarding purchase of a produce or a service. Different members of a family play a significant role in the purchase decision of a person. Therefore, we will discuss the role of each family representative in detail to know how he/she can make a person purchase or leave a product. The structure of the report will be such that we will start from the head of a family and will move downwards to the youngest member of the family to know the influence that each of they may have on the buyi ng decision of a person. 2. Roles To Be Discussed There is rarely any individual who does not discuss anything with any of his/her family members before purchasing something new. â€Å"The family is the most important consumer buying organization in society, and family members constitute the most influential primary reference group† (CiteMAN 2006). Family members sometimes support the decision to buy a particular product, sometimes stop him/her due to different reasons, and sometimes suggest better alternatives (Management Study Guide n.d.). The roles that will be discussed in this paper include parents, siblings, spouse, and grandparents. 2.1 Influence of Grandparents The influence of grandparents varies on an individual’s buying decision from product to product and age to age. In today’s world, people are getting more and more self-dependent and they hardly consult their grandparents when they have to buy some new product of any kind. The role of grandparents in buying decisions has been minimized to a large extent. For example, if someone has to buy a new cell phone, he/she may hardly consult his/her grandparents. Similarly, if someone has to buy a new t-shirt or a pair of shoes, there is hardly any evidence that one would consult it with grandparents because these are personal decisions which have nothing top do with the advice of grandparents. On the other hand, when a person makes some big decisions, such as, buying a property or selling a property owned by the grandparents, he/she has to consult it with the grandparents because big decisions always need consultation with experienced family members. In western part of the world, the role of grandparents is very little in the buying decision of a person. On the other hand, in eastern countries, their role is comparatively more influential. When a person is young and does not have any source of income, he/she has to rely on parents and grandparents to buy any desired product. For examp le, in third-world countries, parents usually make their children live with grandparents when they have to go out for work. In such cases, an emotional attachment between children and grandparents develops and children do everything with the approval of their grandparents. For example, if they have to buy a new pair of shoes, they may request their grandparents to make parents agree on this because they know that their

U06d1 Intelligence & u06d2 Interview Summary 2 part Essay

U06d1 Intelligence & u06d2 Interview Summary 2 part - Essay Example Both of these are completely different and they possess different neural as well as mental systems (Horn & Cattell, 1967). The two as has been understood are quite different from each other and have different impact on people throughout their lives. It is essential to understand that both these form of intelligence tend to grow during childhood and adolescence. However post this period it is noted that the crystallized intelligence continues to grow into adulthood, while the Fluid intelligences grows until the age of 30 – 40 years post which there is a clear and progressive decline that is seen among the individuals (Kirkwood, 1999). With old age, it is common for people to face number of changes in their bodies as well mentally. These changes of mental and physical that the individuals got through lead them to be react differently to different situations and also lead to mood swings and inability to adjust to their surroundings. In the case of Richard, as discussed earlier, he might be facing the issue of lesser fluid intelligence, which in turn leads to a situation where he is unable to create a link to the changing environment and the changing style of living and the newer generation (Kirkwood, 1999). Hence there are clashes between the grandchildren and him. Richard is unable to understand certain perspectives of life and the changes that need to be adopted to live in the current world and this leads him to be unable to respect the decisions of his grandchildren and to doubt their judgements, hence creating an issue among them. Denise and Tom, it is essential for you to understand that your father has been going through tremendous changes in life with the loss of your mum and the retirement as well. At this age elders tend to loos a lot of their rational behaviour and the ability to change and adapt to the new times. The confusion and chaos that they faced internally

History of Abstract Art Movement

History of Abstract Art Movement In order to explore the best way to present abstraction in works, I will review almost a hundred year history and theories, which developed during those periods, then I will analyze the detail of a couple of abstract artists who have had significant influence on me. Through this review and analysis of abstract art, I believe I can find a factor for successful abstract art works, and a fundamental element on which abstract will be kept alive and achieve further development in the future. These fundamental elements and criteria of abstraction are also the issues I am trying to explore and present in my own works. I want to start with the definition of abstract art, Herbert Read gave the following definition in practice we call abstract all works of art which, though they may start from the artists awareness of an object in the external world, proceed to make a self-consistent and independent aesthetic unity in no sense relying on an objective equivalent (Read, 1936: 150). From the point of view of the definition above, abstract art first emerged between 1910 and 1920, evolving throughout the 20th, there is no particular moment when abstract art was born, and the form of the abstraction can be found in the earliest peoples with symbolic or present objective by signs in pottery, picture in textiles and rock, it is made of line and circle, It is showing the certain communication of abstract. The abstraction in aesthetic could also be traced back to Plato, who in his dialogue philebus said I do not mean by beauty of form such beauty as that of animals and pictures but understand me to mean straight lines and circles, and the plane or solid figures which are formed out of them by turning-lathes and rulers and measures of angles; for these I affirm to be not only relatively and absolutely beautiful.'(Jowett,1907: 191). However, the element of abstraction applied in painting was found in the painting Grainstack by Claude Monet, founder of French Impressionism. Between the mid-nineteenth century and early twentieth, France was the undoubted art centre of the west, French impressionism was the origin of initial abstraction, the subject became less important than before, As Paul Gauguin said, Do not paint too much after nature. Art is an abstraction; derive this abstraction from nature while dreaming before it, and think more of the creation which will result than nature.'(Gauguin,1888: 60). Vincent van Gogh was inspired about by abstraction from music, he regarded music as a self-contained language without reference. This point may help me understand the application of colour in painting, a more general development of abstract art, an art that should deal with colours as music does with sound. (Santayana, 1955: 47). Those practices by the impressionist artists had a comprehensive impact on 20th centur y art, which broke the rules of academic painting, and focused on visual effects instead of details, this led to the advent of abstraction in art. Impressionism was reinforced by symbolism and other art movements, and this developed abstraction. Maurice Denis, a French symbolism painter, he is also a writer he said in his proposal: Remember that a picture, before being a battle horse, a nude, an anecdote or whatnot, is essentially a flat surface covered with colors assembled in a certain order (Chipp,1968: 94).His theories have fundamental contribute to the cubism and fauvism. Those art movements also took the process of abstract art further. There are other new models among the other arts not just the form of art traditional painting and sculpture, which affect the development of abstraction in this period. I have mentioned music above, which was respected by visual artists and critics. Architecture can also be seen as a model of application and abstraction in Bauhaus. Poetry, in particular is worth mentioning in relation to abstraction, Arthur Rimbaud and Stà ©phane Mallarmà ©, the symbolist poets are well known for finding relationship between the linguistic sign, reality and coded meaning. Those two symbolism poets have common ground in abstraction with the pioneers of abstract art Wassily Kandinsky and Piet Mondrian who will be discussed later, all four poets and painters in respective art forms provoked awareness of the problematic nature of the relation between sign and object (Reynolds, 1995: 1) The pioneers of abstraction were Wasily Kandinsky, Kazimir Malevich and Piet Mondrian two Russians and a Dutchman. They relied less on the form of the uncertain, and more on universal values, based on philosophical or mystical doctrines. It is worth mentioning before talking about those pioneers that the German historian Wilhelm Worringers doctoral dissertation Abstraction and Empathy was published in 1907 by the publisher, Reinhard Piper. Abstraction and empathy were two opposing poles, this counter-pole to the need for empathy appears to us to be the urge to abstraction. My primary concern in this essay is to analyse this urge and to substantiate the importance it assumes within the evolution of art (Worringer, 1907:14) For Worringer, empathy relates to three-dimensional space while abstraction is a flat, crystalline. Empathy is individual; abstraction is collective. Where empathy is curves, abstraction is the direct and straight line. Such abstraction does not make use of any natural object as a model, and the geometric line is distinguished from the natural object precisely by the fact that it does not stand in any natural context. (Worringer, 1907:20). Additionally, empathy is like ancient Greece and Renaissance Italy, while abstraction is like ancient Egypt and medieval Europe. For Worringer, Greek temples are about empathy, and the pyramids are the sum of abstraction. Worringer was influential to abstract art because he thought abstract art is not secondary or lower than realist art, and worthy of respect. His theories lift up the application of abstraction in pre-war European art. Although the abstract art pioneer Kandinsky did not refer to Worringer in his books, he was familiar with Worringers work, and their books were published by the same editor, Reinhard Piper, because Kandinsky had a very strong personality, he did not owe anything to Worringer. From 1910 to 1914, Kandinsky broke through traditional art ever more than before both in practice and theory, he started art forms based on the nature; and then he transformed those to the completed abstract form. He was the first artist to publish theories about abstraction, in Concerning the Spiritual in art and for him, it seems, abstraction is synonymous with symbol. Kazimir Malevich is another pioneer Russian abstract artist, and he is also the founder of the Avant-garde Suprematist movement, which focused on fundamental geometric forms. In 1916, he supposed his art was pure and without any trace of the objects found in nature. Piet Mondrian had significant influence to the De Stijl art movement, and he seems to be different in development from Kandinsky and Malevich, not only in forms but also in style of composition. He had started to use the words abstract and abstraction since 1915. He wanted art to be a high reality which was beyond nature and would help viewers to reach the greatest understanding and knowledge. Nevertheless, Mondrian shared the same inspiration with other two pioneers Kandinsky and Malevich, and they all have their ideas in the teaching of Theosophy, which was founded by Madame Blavatsky in modern society in New York 1875. Theosophists insist that those activities such as the philosophy, science, arts, commerce, religion and philanthropy, make people much closer to the Absolute. Kandinsky and Mondrian intended to use the painting to help people to get a spiritual revival. They have other similar points as well, firstly, Kandinsky and Mondrian found a certain connection between painting and music, which is the nearest art form to abstraction; it can convert the emotion purely without any external references. Secondly, they all use colour as language, representing certain meanings, for instance Kandinsky defines red as blood, blue as heaven, Mondrian named red as outward, and blue as inward. Finally, they all wanted to utilize abstraction to achieve freedom of expression. After World War I, Constructivism was a major postwar abstract movement in Europe, which had utopian and political implications for abstraction, and new technology and new media also had an effected like as radio and cinema. As a result, a much wider range of public could be reached and affected by abstract art. There were three groups of constructivism in different countries, De Stijl in the Netherland, Bauhaus in Germany, and the Constructivists in Soviet Union respectively. De Stijl was a Dutch movement founded by Van Doesburg in 1917, and artists shared certain ideas about geometric abstraction. As Van Doesburg said: we speak of concrete and not abstract painting because nothing is more concrete, more real than a line , a colour, a surface (Balj, 1974: 181) They used pure abstraction to make the objective to basic pattern and colour; and simply visualised them to the vertical and horizontal directions, coclour h black and white were basically applied. De Stijl was of great importance in spreading abstraction throughout Europe during that period. Walter Gropius, A German architect set up the Bauhaus in 1919 in the city of Weimar. The teaching program was seen to unite all relevant arts, which are including architecture, painting, weaving and stained glass. Abstraction was clearly the language of all aspects of the Bauhaus. Kandinsky was one of the teachers, and during this period, he developed his theories in arts, he emphasized that the resounding triad: Romantic, Germanic, Slavic would be the basis for all future developments in abstraction.( Lindsay, 1982: 514). The most important influence on Bauhaus is modernism, which can be traced back to the later 19 century and early 20 century. Modernism are whose who think in different and board way compared to traditional way in many fields such as religious faith, literature, social organization, architecture, and daily life. Modernism has appeared in Germany before world war †¦Ã‚ ¡, though conservatism was still dominant. The design innovations commonly in Bauhaus is the mu ch more simplified patterns, functional architecture, and the idea about reconciliation of massive production. The Bauhaus style was one of the most significant trends in modern design and Modern architecture in the United Sates, Western Europe and Canada in decades. Constructivism in Soviet Union was fund in Russia from 1919 onward, the artists hoped that abstract art would became a function of a socially approved goal and was utilitarian. Vladimir Tatlin was the most important artist of Russia constructivism, he attempted to build The Monument for the Third International, which functioned symbolically as a sign of the new government, but was never built. During the 1920 and 1930, lots of artist refugees moved to Paris due to abstract art being banned in German and Russia by Hitler and Stalin. Paris became the center of abstract art, dedicated here by some abstract groups flourished, such as Cercle et Carrà © and Abstraction-Crà ©ation. Abstraction-Crà ©ation published its journal at this same time, and in the first of issueà ¯Ã‚ ¼Ã…’Abstraction-Crà ©ation pointed out the meaning of the title; Abstraction represented the artists who arrived at the concept of non-figuration by the abstracted form of nature. Crà ©ation showed that artists came with a pure geometric order. Abstraction became an acceptable and even popular art choice in that period. However, there are also problem with abstraction in Paris, because Paris was part of too many difference abstract tendencies, there were certain disagreement between them. During the Second World War, many Europe abstract artists moved to the United States, the world centre of art shifted from Paris to New York. At the end of the Second World War, Picasso became the artistic hero of France, so abstract painters were ignored, such as Klee and Mondrian whose exhibitions were closed by authorities. Nevertheless, a range of abstractions flourished in Paris supported by a small group of critics and gallery owners. The major branch at that time was geometric art, shown by Tachisme which is often thought be similar movement as abstract expressionism. In Paris, the expressive tendencies were partly inspired by Roger Bissiere, as a teacher at the Academie Ransom during the 1930s. He encouraged so many younger artists such as Jean Le Moal, Maria Elena Vieira da Silva. The ideas were to create the abstract works which original from the expressive qualities of nature. During the 1930s and 1940s, abstract art was often attacked in the United States. Through the 1930s, abstract art was connected with Communism. Especially at this time, some artists thought that abstraction was suitable for decorative use, it did not meet the requirement of other art forms, the abstracts was thought to be too subjective. During this period, there were many Jewish à ©migrà © living in NY after Nazi occupation. Among them, Clement Greenberg and Harold Rosenberg were in the leading position of critics in the new American painting; they were Jews, Marxists, anti-Stalinists. As Marxists, they looked forward to the revolution that would usher in socialism, as modernists, they supported the most advanced art in that period, There are connections between Marxism and Modernism, Marxism aim to make better life, Modernists strive to make things better in art. During the 1930s, the Communist party was dominated by leftist circles. Art was supported and promoted by Stalinists in America, dictated by Soviets who showed the art as ivory-tower escapism and tied to make the artist follow Social Realism styles. Greenberg and Rosenberg were in the opposition, they debated Social Realism as academic and banal. After that, Greenberg and Rosenberg lost the interest in Socialism and focused on Art-Modernism, abstract Expressionism was firstly used in Rosenbergs essay American Action Painters published in ART news of1952 December issue, Call this painting abstract or Expressionist or Abstract-Expressionist, what counts is its special motive for extinguishing the object, which is not the same as in other abstract or Expressionist phases of modern art.'(Rosenberg,1952:22). Greenberg also supported the abstract expressionist movement and was one of the first critics to appreciate Jackson Pollock art works. Greenberg compared abstract and representational art in his essay, he first pointed out that What counts first and last in art is quality; all other things are sec ondary. (Greenberg, 1961:133). He then said the image did not add value in the quality of art, recognizable image will add conceptual meaning to a picture, but the fusion of conceptual with aesthetic meaning does not affect quality. (Greenberg, 1961:132), and more and less in art do not depend on the intensity and depth of such significances, be they few or many , as are present. (Greenberg, 1961:132). So he claim the representational painting did no achieved major quality in recently , and abstract art was getting important, And if the abstract is indeed improve, such improvement has now become necessary to important art. (Greenberg, 1961:135). Abstraction was rescued by expressionism, with all of its visual and thematic diversity, would certainly remain one of the most widely discussed of any artistic movement in the United States. Simultaneously heralded and disputed both nationally and abroad, its deep radicality and reinvention of modernist forms would indelibly mark the history of post-World War à ¢Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã‚ ¡art.'(Balken, 2005: 76) There were different European movements to influence the new generation of American abstract artists in 1940, Surrealism had the greatest impact. Arshile Gorky can be seen as the last of the great Surrealists and the first of the Abstract Expressionists. Abstract Expressionism can be divided into two branches in American, Gesture Painting represented by Jackson Pollock, De Kooning and colour-field painting and colour-field painting including Josef Albers, Barnett Newman. Jackson Pollock was described as breaking the ice' in terms of creating the new American painting, he showed the new art technique; drip paintings after 1947. And his large-scale paintings were to achieve a fuller, environmental impact. Unlike earlier abstract work, such painting had no geometric or grid construction (as in Cubism); no biomorphic references (as in Surrealism or Gorky); no premeditated form (Kandinsky); no illusion of spatial recession ( Matta) .(Moszynska,1990: 151) De Kooning was alone among the American abstract expressionists in his persistent confrontation with human figure, from images of men in the thirties and forties to women whose embrace unfurls into a cross in the sixties. Between the late 1950s and the early 1960s, De Kooning started a new phase, and he moved the focus from pure abstractions in landscape to the human figure. Both Pollock and De Kooning are not only for the abstraction, they did representational paintings as well, which was unlike the early abstract artists. De Kooning utilized figuration with his Woman series, and Pollock had the return of imagery in his late works such as Lavender Mist and Autumn Rhythm. Color was abandoned by some gesture painters such as De Kooning, contrasted to this, the colour-field painters focused on chromatic values and discovered the effects of colours as opposed to the expressive impact of line. Barnett Newman tried to seek an original model of abstract terms, reducing his compositional elements to a large field of uninflected colour with narrow vertical column. In his first works featuring zips, the color fields are not pure, but later the colours are pure and flat. By the 1960s, abstraction was moving away from the subjective and the expressive to a cooler sensibility. Most abstraction works were restricted to straight lines and minimum colour. In the mid-1960s and after, Minimalism are those who described movements in different forms in art and design, particularly visual art and music. Major artists are considered as the leader in this movement include Donald Judd, Agnes Martin; Robert Morris. Minimalist sculptures avoid the challenges about illusionism due to its inherent material literalism, which the abstract painter who attempted to show the spiritual or emotional possibilities had to confront. The Minimalists wanted their work to become a part of the environment, like every day work, and artists want the viewer to move the attention from the works themselves, and concentrate on the relationship between them and environment. Conceptual art was an extension of Minimalism, idea was fundamental point of the whole object, even an idea can be the work of art without an object, Sol Lewitt describes conceptual art as In conceptual art the idea or concept is the most important aspect of the work. When an artist uses a conceptual form of art, it means that all of the planning and decisions are made beforehand and the execution is a perfunctory affair. The idea becomes a machine that makes the art. (Lewitt, 1967: 80). In that period, abstraction started to attract the attention of artists who wanted to explore the basic premises, including a pure form of world appearances, compositional unity and balance and freedom. The latter was attacked as an impossibility that no art can ever completely evade worldly references and no artist can remain free of the influence of their cultural environment. At the beginning of 1970s, lots of artists were affected by certain development links to structuralist philosophy, part of a trend now commonly referred to as Postmodernism. One of the most fascinating postmodern artists was Gerhard Richter, Richter made his paintings in a multistep process, and most of them begin with a photograph, and the art works present both natural but illusionistic space and the physical activity and material painting which are mutual interferences. For him, the most important features of abstraction were its deliberate lack of meaning, and subject is essential. Richer said that abstra ct art provides a better possibility of approaching what is non-visual and incomprehensible, because it portrays nothing directly visually, with all the means available to art.'(1991) Abstract art now seems to have entered into a new era -pluralism, and there is no certain representative style, made of diversity modes, digital art, pop art, op art and so on. The attitude of an anything and everything going on are popular, which means artist tried as possible much as art forms to present their work, but this lead to a nothing going on. Contemporary artists now no longer make a clear distinction between abstraction and figuration. In the works of Chris Ofilli for example he used decorative motifs and abstract patterns sometimes with a reference to OP art alongside grotesque figurative image. Peter Doig uses technique developed by colour-field painters such as flatness and large area of colours stained into the canvas to produce his landscape. In the following paragraph, I will analyze three abstractionist works and theories in detail, Wasily Kandinsky, Jackson Pollock and De Kooning respectively. Kandinsky Kandinsky can undoubtedly be described as the most significant founder of abstract art, he studied economics and law before becoming a painter in age of thirty. In the book On Spiritual in Art which I have mentioned in the history of abstract art, Kandinsky for the first time systematically expounded the theory of abstract painting. He explored the possibility of abstraction in another very important essay called On the Question of Form. (1912) Kandinsky set up art work which was made of an inner and outer form, outer form was less important in the art works, the content of the work was determined by the inner feeling of artist, soul (inner sound). Kandinsky may well have absorbed and concurred with the Theosophists belief in the mysticism of colour and form. Kandinsky believed that painting was like music, abstract painting is in the use of colour analogy music notes, in his view, and the colour also has the effect of sound and melody, and even has a symphony of shock strength. Using colour in arts seems to the music effects of shocks to soul, and directly reaches the depths of the spirit. Colour is a power which directly influences the soul. Colour is the Keyboard, the eyes are the hammers, and the soul is the piano with many strings. The artist is the hand which plays, touching one key or another, to cause vibrations in the soul (Kandinsky, 2004: 32) Kandinskys work can be divided into three period, his residence in Munich (1896-1921), at the Bauhaus (1922-1932) and in Paris (1933-1944). The styles of painting during those three periods are not same. The works in Munich were influenced by Symbolism and Fauvism. The Bauhaus work is more geometrical and paintings in Paris were much more organic and have a mark of return to the decorative detail of his early years. Jackson Pollock In 1936, Pollock inspired by David Alfaro Siqueiros, a Mexican muralist and started to use liquid paint at an experimental workshop. After this, he used the dripping painting technique which was one of his techniques; the represented works are Male and Female and Composition with Pouring I. At the late stage of his painting, Pollock removed the canvas from the frame and put it on the floor; he then dripped black and blue-white paint on the surface of canvas with a arcs controller. This drawing technique challenged the traditional drawing function. By 1950, this action of pouring and dripping became mature, as shown by Lavender Mist, the whole painting was operated on the floor and all surface covered by interlacing trails. This new technique of drawing was known as all-over painting, because his unique painting style, Jack the Dripper appear in Time magazine- Pollocks finest paintingsà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦ reveal that his all-over line does not give rise to positive or negative areas: we are not made to feel that one part of the canvas demands to be read as figure, whether abstract or representational, against another part of the canvas read as ground. There is not inside or outside to Pollocks line or the space through which it movesà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦. Pollock has managed to free line not only from its function of representing objects in the world, but also from its task of describing or bounding shapes or figures, whether abstract or representational, on the surface of the canvas.'(Karmel, 2002: 132) De Kooning In 1938, when he in his thirties, De Kooning focused on images of men, including Two Men Standing, Man, and Seated Figure (Classic Male), he often use his own image in the front of mirror, I took my trousers, my work clothes . I made a mixture out of glue and water, dipped the pants in and dried in front of the heater I made a little plaster head. I made drawings from it m and had it for years in my studio. (Kooning, D. 1976. ) In 1946, he turned his style to only black and white painting a series of large abstraction such like Light in August (c. 1946) and Black Friday (1948). These are essentially black with white elements and these abstracts of feature were by a forceful and energetic approach. The feature of de Koonings style focuses on complex figures with a background which overlaps other figures causing them to appear in the foreground, which in turn might be overlapped by dripping lines of paint. He considered painting an experience, expression, the process of the realization of freedom. In 1953, he gained attention from the public with his theme of woman, those works were representational paintings. So De Kooning kept to both abstraction and representational paintings through out his career. Between the late 1950s and the early 1960s, De Koonings works entered a new period, his style is back to the nearly pure abstractions, he made more landscapes than the human figure. These paintings showed brushstrokes and calligraphic tendencies, such as Bolton Landing (1957) and Door to the River (1960) I have been looking over the past hundred years about abstraction in art both historically and theoretically, and I also analyzed some abstractionists which have large influence to me, and so I come to a conclusion. When a abstract work is successful, the language of abstraction is achieved by form and content which is consistent or one, and the form can carry a specific meaning, From Kandinsky to Pollock, artists created their own style and through which they present their personal belief, abstract art has been around almost a hundred years, it still continues to produce a new form and style, and has a leading position in art. It also affected and developed in other areas such as science, and technology. It proves that abstract art can have a large capacity to absorb meanings, so it can be assumed that it will emerge in a new form in the future. Abstract art needs to have freedom from the outside material world, the abstraction is about mind and it is about spirit, I dont mean that the abstract artist should completely eliminate representational paintings, which early abstract artist such as Kandinsky and Mondrian did, but Pollock and De kooning did not, what I am try to say is that artists need to focus on heightening emotions, and freedom must be a primary element for abstraction. However, those freedoms seem to have conditions, it depends on whether the artists are popular, if the artists are not popular, they may not able to live in that situation. Abstract art can not be only sensuous without relevant meaning, if the abstract art just wants get the attention from the public; it will lose the audience who demand culture. Abstraction can not get an instinctive response like music from viewer, and it must set up a connection between the works and audience and have the ability to deal with a viewer who does not wish to make the effort. The new generation artists have to take risks to create a new style of abstraction, there is no kind of universal language of art which can be utilized for long. In this age , we are living in a varied society, and abstraction belongs to high level art, any high level art is easily to be overwhelmed by advanced and popular culture if it remains the same. Successful abstraction can be achieved by artists who confront and create their own time, and this will keep abstract art alive and continue going.

Early egyptian art :: Essays Papers

Early egyptian art Egyptian art has a very distinctive style and overall layout. The most important figures are always the largest and often the most apparent, which are often represented by gods or kings. The artists of that era carefully followed artistic trends and commonly practiced strategies in representing humans, gods, and animals that made the figures disproportional. There is often a noticeable difference in the way humans and gods dress and the jewelry that is worn. In this particular piece, the humans appear to be humbled in the presence of the gods and they come bearing gifts of an isstrum and two blossoms of blue lotus. The poses of everyone in the piece is such that it is seen in almost every other Egyptian piece. The feet are facing forward while their bodies are turned so the viewer can see their chest. The faces of all the figures are in a profile view, yet the eyes are on the side of the figures head as in a frontal portrait. If a photograph was to be taken of this scene, the people would be in a more relaxed, natural pose. In terms of how the figures are portrayed in the painting, nothing flows with anything else too well. It seems like it was more important to tell the story and get the point across through painting rather than writing what happened. The king is the most obvious character in this piece because everyone in the painting is focusing and looking at him. He is also the tallest in the piece. Even while sitting in a chair he is signifagently taller than everyone else. The queen, Nakht, and Tjuiu are all relatively the same height as opposed the taller king. In reality it would be a difficult thing to do to coincidentally find a king as tall as this one and find his subjects and his queen to be shorter. The mountain in the background is not in proportion with what a mountain should be as it is not too much taller than the people in the piece. This mountain would tower over everyone in reality, but to tell the story and get the point across, certain sacrifices had to be made.

Life Plan

In this essay I am suppose to explain what the plans for my life are, how I plan on achieving them and the problems I might face. If you have a goal it gives you a clear focus on things. It also helps you to organize your plans by letting you set time limits and boundaries. I think if you plan on achieving things in life then you have to set goals. After high school there are many things I want to do and accomplish in my life. My goals probably aren’t different from most kids, but it will take a lot of hard work to get where I want to be. I have many goals, but to accomplish these goals I will probably have many things that could get in the way. The reason I need to set goals is to make sure that I don’t fall behind in life and not achieve my dreams. Last summer I was into some bad things that really messed up my life. Luckily, I was assigned to Youth Court to help me through this. Youth Court is helping teach me the importance of goals because of the way it is set up. I have a 6 month sentence. During this time I have to complete certain goals. Writing this life plan is one goal, an apology letter due the 1st month, a shoplifting class the 2nd month, and a jail tour another month. I have jury duty the first Thursday of every month, I have to phone in weekly, I have to attend school regularly, stay out of trouble, obey my parents, obey 10:00 pm curfew, and complete 40 hours of community service by the end of the 6 month period. If all of this is not complete then I will not reach my goal of having my offense taken off my records. The way Youth Court is set up is to do a little each month until you can complete your goal. If I do the required stuff every month then by the time the 6 months is over I will have completed everything I needed to do in order in graduate from Youth Court and have my offense taken off my record. Even though I haven’t finished setting my goals, I already have some. Two of the most important are to be happy and successful, even if I haven’t started out so well. One goal I have is to get my drivers license, I have already finished my classroom training. I have just taken my written test and I now I my permit. I will have my permit for 6 months before I can get my license. I still need to complete my drivers training class which I am already signed up for. This is an important goal for me because I will need a license to drive. This leads to a goal I am trying to achieve and that is finding a job. I am starting to look for an after school/weekend job to save money to buy a car and for gas money. Another goal I have is to graduate from high school in 2 ? years. I have problems in school because I have learning disabilities, including ADHD. I am also in Special Education classes. I need to work hard every day so I can keep my grades up. I think the most important value that will make me successful is determination. In order to be successful in my life I have to stick with it. While you can be happy achieving something it can take a lot of effort. There can be many mistakes and setbacks, I already know about some of those. Another goal I have is to become an x-ray technician.