History

For all intents and purposes, the history of the arts begins with the history of art, as dealt with elsewhere. Some examples of creative art through the ages can be summarized here, as excerpted from the history of art.

Ancient Greek art saw the veneration of the animal form and the development of equivalent skills to show musculature, poise, beauty and anatomically correct proportions. Ancient Roman art depicted gods as idealized humans, shown with characteristic distinguishing features (i.e. Zeus' thunderbolt).

In Byzantine and Gothic art of the Middle Ages, the dominance of the church insisted on the expression of biblical and not material truths.

Eastern art has generally worked in a style akin to Western medieval art, namely a concentration on surface patterning and local colour (meaning the plain colour of an object, such as basic red for a red robe, rather than the modulations of that colour brought about by light, shade and reflection). A characteristic of this style is that the local colour is often defined by an outline (a contemporary equivalent is the cartoon). This is evident in, for example, the art of India, Tibet and Japan.

Religious Islamic art forbids iconography, and expresses religious ideas through geometry instead.

The physical and rational certainties depicted by the 19th-century Enlightenment were shattered not only by new discoveries of relativity by Einstein and of unseen psychology by Freud, but also by unprecedented technological development. Paradoxically the expressions of new technologies were greatly influenced by the ancient tribal arts of Africa and Oceania, through the works of Paul Gauguin and the Post-Impressionists, Pablo Picasso and the Cubists, as well as the Futurists and others.

Read the text & do the following exercises.

1. Explain the difference between two terms “art” and “THE ARTS”.

2. Give the definition of “THE ARTS” basing on the text and be ready to present your own one.

3. In what way does the understanding of ART differ with years?

4. What things generally come under the heading of “THE ARTS”?

5. Characterise each of the branches of “THE ARTS”. Be sure to mention:

   1. people who are involved in it;

   2. the essence of each art form;

   3. what it bases on (You are supposed to find extra information to cover each point).

SECTION II

Vocabulary Exercises

1. THE ARTS. The following are parts of newspaper reviews of visual and performing arts and literature. Identify the subject of each (film, novel etc.) and give at least six words which helped you to decide.

1. The first movement is dominated by the strings with only occasional percussion participation. So many bows dancing in unison made this a visual as well as an aural delight and I abandoned my score to watch. In the second movement the wind section takes command, and with such vigour that the baton seems to struggle to keep up rather than the reverse. For once I did not envy the man on the rostrum, and was content with my seat in the stalls.

2. His favourite medium is now oil, and the canvas which dominates this show, a still-life of bottles, is a masterpiece of representational skill (his early abstracts and collages were never good). His technique is superb. The brush-strokes are invisible, the bottles real. Every section of his palette is used. I shall never again think of bottles as colourless. Every hue of the spectrum is there.

3. Her weaknesses are characterisation and dialogue. Her strengths are plot and feeling for place. Her characters are two-dimensional, their words wooden, but the events are plausible and the places vividly depicted. The setting is now Mexico City, now Tokyo, now Johannesburg. The twist at the end defies prediction. For once the blurb on the back is true. It says, 'Unputdownable'.

4. This new young choreographer has given us an exciting and unconventional piece. Called simply Mixture, it is indeed influenced by classical, folk. progressive and even tap and ballroom besides. The men are agile and athletic, the girls loose-limbed and supple. The leaps are high; the pirouettes prolonged. What more can you want? The night I went they received a standing ovation.

5. First-night nerves are notorious, but I have never heard so many lines fluffed, so many cues missed. The prompter was busy last night and the director (and doubtless the backers) in tears. I do not expect this piece to have a long run, but critical reception and box-offices success are often two-very different things and, if it does survive, it will have been saved by a number of well-played supporting roles and a stunning set. But the final curtain cannot-I think, be far off.