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Introduction to the Arts
This cross-disciplinary course is intended to
enhance individual critical sensibility and responsiveness to
the arts. This course consists of two complimentary components:
the first, an introductory survey of influential theories on criticism
and on the nature of art; and, the second, a survey of the distinguishing
formal characteristics of major artistic media.
Prerequisites: E, R
Humanities Through
the Arts
Maya Angelou, noted poet-author, is host of Humanities through
the Arts, a richly diverse examination of seven major art forms:
film, drama, music, literature, painting, sculpture, and architecture.
This multimedia humanities survey is an exciting blend of sights,
sounds, impressions, and ideas that teach students both the history
and elements of each art form.
Produced by Coast Telecourses in association with the City Colleges
of Chicago.
Textbook: The Humanities Through The Arts by Martin & Jacobus
(McGraw-Hill)
Authors: F. David Martin; Lee Jacobus;
Division : McGraw-Hill Higher Education
ISBN : 0072407093
© 2004 | 6th Edition |
Telecourse Student Guide
Thirty Lessons
Introduction
Lesson 1. The Quest For Self
Program Description: This introductory program explains the organization
and approach of the course: a study of how values are revealed
in seven different art forms as seen from the Perspectives of
history, the elements of each specific art form, different forms
of the arts and the meanings of these forms, and finally-from
the perspective of critical evaluation. Definitions are offered
for the terms "work of art," and "artistic form,"
and a beginning is made in learning how to "participate with"
a work of art. Brief introductions are made to four special guests
who appear in later programs on criticisms. These guests are curator
Donna Stein, poet Ann Stanford, painter Glen White, and film archivist
Robert Rosen.
Unit One
Lesson 2. Film: Twentieth Century Legacy
Program Description: "Film: Twentieth Century Legacy"
is the first of four lessons that explore film, the contemporary
art form that some critics believe to be the only true art form
to emerge in the present century. In the debate over whether film
is chiefly a harmless form of mass entertainment or a powerful
vehicle of social influence, it is concluded that film fills both
roles. The focus of this lesson is on the rapid development of
film from a mere copy of other art forms to a mature, complex,
and distinct form of its own. Some techniques, technologies, and
men who made this metamorphosis possible are introduced and clips
are shown from such early classic films as Birth of a Nation.
LESSON 3. FILM: THE DYNAMIC ILLUSION
Program Description: This program opens with the identification
of camera, light, and editing as the basic elements of film-making.
It is emphasized that these elements alone and in themselves are
not sufficient to be called ~ however; art in film-making depends
upon how the elements are used and how they converge. From this
discussion of elements, the program moves through a review of
film-making techniques such as camera placement, camera movement,
angles, music, and sound effects. These techniques and their use
are demonstrated in excerpts from Rain, Psycho, The Pawnbroker,
Citizen Kane, Wuthering Height, My Man Godfrey, Battleship Potemkin,
and The Great Train Robbery.
LESSON 4. FILM: NOT JUST THE GREAT ESCAPE
Program Description: A much-honored British director, David Lean,
draws upon his own extensive life's work in this program to give
a colorful and absorbing insight into the ways in which an artist
expresses form and meaning in film. Lean tells of his work with
Lawrence of Arabia, Dr. Zhivago, Ryan's Daughter; and Bridge Over
the River Kwai. Several film clips of Lean and his crews filming
these movies on location are shown, and Lean speaks of the importance
of the script, of actors, costumes, scenery, set construction,
shooting on location, music, working with crowds, editing, and
criticism. Fittingly, Lean is brought to the program through a
film of which he himself is the subject.
LESSON 5. FILM: SEEING ALL THERE IS
Program Description: Once again the question of whether film is
an art form is raised-this time between Miss Angelou and University
of California film archivist Robert Rosen. It is affirmed that
film is indeed an art form, though a complex one that has a collective
nature because it involves the work of so many persons. Miss Angelou
begins this interesting evaluation of film with the question,
"But if film is art, who is the artist?" She and Mr.
Rosen discuss the relationship of the director to the film, mentioning
his attitudes and work patterns as important factors. The program
closes with a judgment by Mr. Rosen that a film can be at once
both a "high art" form and a popular piece of entertainment.
UNIT Two
LESSON 6. DRAMA: AN IMITATION OF LIFE
Program Description: A main theme of this program is that conflict
is the essence of drama and this truth is as changeless as man's
unending conflicts with himself and his world. The program opens
by tracing the history of drama from its beginning in tribal dances,
masks, and rituals to the Greek theatres of the centuries before
Christ where drama developed first as a means of honoring gods,
then evolved into the play as we know it today. The program continues
with an account of drama as it changed and matured through the
Middle Ages and the Renaissance period, which produced William
Shakespeare. We view scenes from Oedipus Rex, Shakespeare's Julius
Caesar, Macbeth, Romeo and Juliet, and Hamlet. The program closes
with an examination of Ibsen's Doll House, which is presented
as a play that is typical of modern drama's tendency to explore
human relations.
LESSON 7. DRAMA: NUCLEUS OF A STORY
Program Description: George Bernard Shaw's Pygmalion is dissected
thoroughly by Maya Angelou in this program in order to examine
in detail the elements of drama. Use of language, the technique
of imitating life successfully, plot, and characterization are
discussed. How strong characters can upstage a plot is demonstrated.
Shaw's Pygmalion, a tragi-comedy, emphasizes characters and their
relationships rather than plot, and the play ends with questions-not
resolutions -leaving the audience to speculate about the playwright's
message in the play.
LESSON 8. DRAMA: MEANING FOR EVERY AGE
Program Description: Through a study of Shakespeare's artistry,
which many critics believe brought greatness to the theatre, this
program reveals how the playwright invests a work of drama with
form and a meaning that can be timeless. A film featuring a re-creation
of an old English theatre with performers preparing for the production
of a Shakespearean play is shown so that the viewer can more fully
appreciate the true artistry of Shakespeare and his contemporaries.
Theatre construction is discussed as it affected play production,
and a somewhat detailed look is taken at Shakespeare's ingenuity
in making use of limited stage and scenery facilities. The program
closes with a commentary upon how, in turn, the physical characteristics
of the stage influenced the writing of Shakespeare's plays.
LESSON 9. DRAMA: GREAT AGE AHEAD?
Program Description: This program on criticism concludes the study
unit on drama. Hal Marienthal and Frederick Shroyer join Maya
Angelou in a discussion of many aspects of theatre. Dr. Marienthal
is a professor of theatre arts, California State University, Long
Beach; he is widely published and has produced more than twenty
plays for the professional stage. Dr. Shroyer is a professor emeritus
of English and American Literature, California State University,
Los Angeles. He also is an established author and former literary
editor of the Los Angeles Herald- Examiner. The so-called 'great
ages of drama" are discussed and the importance of drama
to the human spirit is stressed. Some attention also is given
to the relevance of television as compared with staged drama.
Dr. Marienthal concludes with the reaffirmation: "Drama is
life, and it's life accentuated and polished and selectified."
UNIT THREE
LESSON 10. Music: AGE-OLD SEARCH FOR MEANING
Program Description: "From all the evidence we have, it seems
that every culture, every society known to exist, has made music."
These words open the first of four programs devoted to the study
of music. The program continues with a survey of the history of
music, from sketchings of crude instruments made in the clay of
southern Iran 6,000 years ago to the development of music in modern
society. The evidence seems to indicate that, in the beginning,
music was purely functional, serving as an adjunct to other arts.
Not until the Renaissance did music become a distinctly separate
art. The development of today's many varied forms of music is
traced, and the program offers excerpts from Beethoven's Third
Symphony (Eroica), for the pleasure of viewers and listeners.
LESSON 11. Music: EMOTION AND FEELING IN SOUND
Program Description: A Brahms symphony (No.1 in C) at the beginning
of this second program in the study of music is used with telling
effect to illustrate that what we hear as music is a blend of
many carefully chosen elements. As Maya Angelou points out, not
all sound is music; music is constructed of elements that include
pitch, scale (or tuning system), melody, harmony, rhythm, and
meter. The "look" of sound is demonstrated by showing
waves recorded on an electronic apparatus, and the student "sees"
the range of human hearing. In addition to the Brahms symphony,
the student hears Beethoven's Appasionata, Mahler's Symphony No.4
in G, and an electronic composition by Alden Ashworth. In conclusion,
Maya Angelou describes the Ashworth composition as "an example
of a move from the past that we know to a future that may be."
LESSON 12. Music: MEANING THROUGH STRUCTURE
Program Description: Through an extensive probing of the life
and work of Johann Sebastian Bach, this program brings to the
student some understanding of the importance of form to music
and of the meaning that the artist imparts in his work. Maya Angelou
offers insight into the personal life of Bach, whose entire life
was bound up with music. A prolific composer, he wrote more than
fifty volumes of music, most of them relating in some way to religion.
Prolific as he was, Bach was not recognized in his own time; the
true worth of his contribution to music was discovered more than
fifty years after Bach's death by Felix Mendelssohn. In this program
the student hears Bach's music played upon many different instruments,
including the lute, harpsichord, flute, and electronic synthesizer.
Among performers are a jazz group, a chamber orchestra, and a
dance troupe.
LESSON 13. Music: LISTENING FOR THE UNEXPECTED
Program Description: Maya Angelou opens this program on criticism
(which concludes the study of music) with the opinion that music
seems to be the one form of human expression that has withstood
the changes of time. She is joined in this program by Los Angeles
Times music critic Martin Bernheimer and by Alberto Bolet, music
director and conductor of the Long Beach Symphony Orchestra. The
qualifications, responsibilities, and importance of the music
critic are debated. Mr. Bernheimer offers the opinion that a critic's
first responsibility is to the reader and his second responsibility
is to the artist. Mr. Bolet agrees that the critic is something
of a mirror of the artist's work. The program concludes with an
agreement by all three participants that there can be no other
art without music.
UNIT FOUR
LESSON 14. LITERATURE: FROM WORDS, TRUTH
Program Description: In this first of four lessons on literature,
Miss Angelou introduces the topic by noting that the study of
literature in this course will be confined to poetry and fiction.
Then, the program traces the evolution of that tool essential
to written literature-the alphabet-following its development from
sketching, to petroglyphs, to symbols. The remainder of the program
surveysthe characteristics of literature in each of the major
periods of Western culture: ancient Greece, Anglo-Saxon England,
the Elizabethan Age, the Romantic Age, neoclassicism, the eighteenth
century, the Victorian Age, and the twentieth century and its
schools of realism and naturalism. The program also notes how
the various types of literature have portrayed humankind differently.
This survey is highlighted by readings of excerpts from the works
of numerous authors and poets and by film that reinforces the
images conveyed by the words.
LESSON 15. LITERATURE: THE SYNTHESIS OF POETRY
Program Description: This program centers on the elements of a
major literary form-poetry-and on how those elements are fused
to create a form that conveys the poet's meaning. The principal
elements the program analyzes are rhythm, imagery, repetition,
meaning, and rhyme. This discussion of poetry is supplemented
with readings of a number of poems by Robert Frost, including
"The Road Not Taken," "Hushed October," "A
Leaf-Treader," "Two Tramps in Mud Time," "Desert
Places," "Storm Fear," "A Patch of Old Snow,"
"Design," and "Birches." Students also have
the opportunity to hear Miss Angelou recite some of her own poems,
including "Harlem Hopscotch," "Song for the Old
Ones," "The Senses Of Insecurity," "Artful
Pose," and "Alone." Miss Angelou also reads Carl
Sandburg's "Chicago"; William Henley's "Invictus";
a Shakespeare sonnet; and Matthew Arnold's "Dover Beach."
LESSON 16. LITERATURE: THE STORY BEYOND
Program Description: Miss Angelou opens this program with a definition
of good fiction: "a product of the creative arrangement of
elements achieved through the selection of materials which the
writer has accumulated." After an overview of the history
of fiction, from the papyri of ancient Egypt to the present, the
program then examines the basic elements of fiction through detailed
analysis of one short story: "The Lottery," by Shirley
Jackson. The story told in "The Lottery" is related
through film and narrative supplied by Miss Angelou. At appropriate
points in the story, Miss Angelou discusses how the author developed
the plot and used atmosphere and characterization to convey her
meaning through the written word.
LESSON 17. LITERATURE: BEHIND THE WORDS
Program Description: Two practitioners of literary forms-poet
Ann Stanford and novelist Frederick Shroyer-discuss with Miss
Angelou some of the questions and topics basic to the critical,
analytical approach to literature. Among the areas explored in
this program are the nature of the creative process; how writers
approach their work and receive inspiration; the relationship
between truth and fiction; the role of rhythm in poetry; and the
reasons for the popularity of certain modern forms of fiction
over other works, such as the classics, with perhaps greater literary
value. The discussion concludes with a consideration of the features
of the short story, "The Lottery," that was the subject
of much of the preceding program.
UNIT FIVE
LESSON 18. PAINTING: VISIONS THROUGH THE AGES
Program Description: The program provides students with a fascinating
overview of how humans-from diverse cultures and different times-have
expressed, in two-dimensional forms, their unique perceptions
of the world around them. While Miss Angelou describes how painting
reflects the culture and values of the artist, films show cave
paintings; Egyptian, Greek, and Roman frescoes; Renaissance paintings
emphasizing the individuality of the person; the paintings of
the Baroque; the experiments in perception of the Impressionists;
and the personal visions of the modernists. Among artists whose
works are shown are Raphael, Da Vinci, Michelangelo, El Greco,
Velasquez, Rembrandt, Pisarro, Degas, Cassatt, Van Gogh, Toulouse-Lautrec,
Kandinsky, and Pollock.
LESSON 19. PAINTING: CREATING A POINT OF VIEW
Program Description: This program explores the major elements
of painting: color, light and shadow, line, shape, and perhaps
the most critical one, the painter's point of view. The program
shows how color can have sensory impact and how light and shadow
dramatize color and shapes and heighten their emotional values.
Among the artists whose works are shown to illustrate specific
points about the elements of painting are Monet, Delacroix, Hopper,
Claez, and El Greco.
LESSON 20. PAINTING: ROUSSEAU-THE LOVELY DREAM
Program Description: Examination of what are known as the innocent
and poetic works of Henri Rousseau-the "Father of the Naives"
-provides the focus for this program on the form and meaning of
painting. The program offers a biography of Rousseau as a framework
within which students may understand the artist and his works.
Particular attention is given to how Rousseau's works initially
were scoffed at by critics but later acclaimed, although even
after his peers acknowledged his genius, he never received wide
public recognition for his talents. Numerous paintings by Rousseau
are shown, including The Lion of Balfour, The River and Notre
Dame, The Barges and Bridges, The Hungry Lion, The Dream, War,
and Sleeping Gypsy. The program also includes film of paintings
by many of Rousseau's late-nineteenth and early-twentieth century
contemporaries: Manet, Renoir, Gauguin, Van Gogh, Seurat, and
Picasso.
LESSON 21. PAINTING: "...THINGS WE HAVE PASSED..."
Program Description: In this program on criticism in painting,
Maya Angelou and painter Glen White discuss such topics as the
difference between painting and other art forms, how the viewer
of a painting should prepare for and approach the experience,
and the reasons for many persons' reactions and responses to abstract
paintings. Particular attention is paid to abstract paintings,
and Miss Angelou and Mr. White explain why a painter chooses to
portray reality by distorting reality, what a viewer is supposed
to perceive in abstract paintings, and why some painters attach
such complex, sometimes esoteric, titles to their works. Some
differences between subject matter and content in a painting also
are listed.
UNIT Six
LESSON 22. SCULPTURE: MIRROR OF MAN'S BEING
Program Description: From the Venus of Wlllendorf shaped by an
anonymous carver around 30,000 B.C., to contemporary light sculpture
employing lasers, this program outlines the history of sculpture.
From this program students will gain an understanding of the many
and diverse ways humans have expressed their perception through
three-dimensional forms. Representative works shown include ancient
African figures and portrait heads; Amerind masks; Egyptian sculptures
and low reliefs; Greek and Roman sculpture, monuments, and portrait
busts; the religious sculpture of the Middle Ages; the emerging
humanistic sculpture of the Renaissance; the dynamic works of
the baroque; and the evolution of modern sculpture.
LESSON 23. SCULPTURE: ELEMENTS OF DIMENSION
Program Description: The elements of sculpture as an art form
are studied through an examination of how sculpture has evolved
through time. The program first explores the two basic forms of
sculpture-relief and monolith-that preceded modem sculpture. The
development of relief sculpture is traced and particular attention
is given to Ghiberti's doors for the Baptistry of Florence, which
generally are considered to mark the beginning of the modern era
of sculpture. The evolution of monolithic sculpture also is explained
and illustrated with film of such works as ancient Egyptian statues,
the lifelike works of Greek sculptors, and Donatello's Gattamelata.
Modern sculpture, in which some works are partially or totally
executed by a person other than the sculptor, is. discussed with
Tony Smith's Die serving as an example.
LESSON 24. SCULPTURE: MEANING THROUGH THE BODY'S FORM
Program description: The third program of the unit on sculpture
explores the unique ways in which sculpture conveys meaning through
three-dimensional form. This exploration focuses on a detailed
study of the life and works of Auguste Rodin, the sculptor who
so altered the art by conveying so much expression and emotion
in his works. Among the many of Rodin's works students will see
and hear discussed on this program are Man with the Broken Nose,
The Age of Bronze, St. John the Baptist Preaching Mignon, busts
of Camille Claudel, The Burghers of Calais, The Thinker, Eve After
the Fall, The Crouching Woman, The Falling Man, Jam Beautifu4
She who Was the Helmet Maker's Beautiful Wife, The Kiss, Eternal
Spring The Dandier, Pas de Deux, The Coy, and Hand of God Within
this survey of Rodin's works, specific attention is given to the
figures he created for The Gates of Hell
LESSON 25. SCULPTURE: MOST DIFFICULT OF ARTS
Program Description: Miss Angelou and her two guests, curator
Donna Stein and sculptor Oliver Andrews, explore a diversity of
critical areas in this program, the last in the unit on sculpture.
They discuss personal reactions to minimal sculpture; the roles
of the critic in the art of sculpture and the responsibility,
if any, of the critic for informing and encouraging the sculptor;
whether all sculpture should be accepted as art and whether we
must accept everyone who proclaims to be an artist as an artist;
and, finally, where the inner vision of an artist comes from and
whether an artist is motivated by an external audience or solely
by himself
UNIT SEVEN
LESSON 26. ARCHITECTURE: THE EVOLVING SKYLINE
Program Description: Architecture in America provides the foundation
for this examination of the evolution and history of architecture.
American architecture can serve this purpose because America is
a nation of immigrants and her architecture has developed as a
"harmonious blending of nationalities." Thus, in this
program, students will see examples of Chinese architecture, Spanish
buildings, Renaissance and neo-baroque styles, and structures
influenced by the architecture of ancient Rome. The latter part
of the program focuses on how technological advances in construction
have contributed to the development of modern architecture. Numerous
examples, such as the Lever House and Seagram Building, of how
steel frame permits window walls and emphasizes the linearity
of structures are shown. The program also shows how the use of
concrete encourages the design of curvilinear buildings.
LESSON 27. ARCHITECTURE: FROM EARTH TO SKY
Program Description: Function, soundness of construction, and
aesthetic pleasure-the three main elements of architecture-form
the basis for this program. As an example of how soundness of
design can create aesthetic pleasure, the program shows how sculpture
frequently was used as a supporting element in buildings in ancient
Greece. The program also shows how purely structural elements,
such as flying buttresses, ribbed vaults, and domes, were designed
to make them aesthetically pleasing as well as functional. After
describing the architecture typical of the Renaissance, the program
then moves to the modern era and examines the materials-steel,
reinforced concrete, and concrete blocks-that have allowed modern
architecture to have its characteristic forms. The principle guiding
much of modern architecture-"form follows function"-is
explained, and numerous examples of structures based on this principle
are shown.
LESSON 28. ARCHITECTURE: MEANING IN A POET'S VISION
Program Description: Antoni Gaudi, one of the pioneers in the
movement against the rigid lines of traditional architectural
forms, is the subject of this program that considers the expression
of meaning through form in architecture. Much of the program focuses
on the buildings Gaudi designed and the multitude of details incorporated
into each structure. Students will see his extensive use of light,
color, curves, and extensive undulating surfaces, and learn how
these architectural forms expressed his belief in the absolute
rightness and fitness of natural shapes and organic structures.
Among the buildings shown in detail on the program are Casa Battlo,
Park Guell, Palacio Guell, Casa Vicens, and Casa Mila.
LESSON 29. ARCHITECTURE: THE SHEPHERD OF SPACE
Program Description: Bernard Zimmerman, an architect and a designer
and master planner, and Paul DuFue, a master builder, are Miss
Angelou's guests for a discussion of various aspects of architecture
as art. They begin by commenting on whether architecture should
be considered as art form and on the related question of why architects
often are not thought of as artists. They also discuss the relationship
between architecture and people: Does a building influence the
people who live or work in it? Should the architect consider the
feelings of the people who will occupy a building he or she designs?
How much control should the users of architecture have over those
who create the architecture? How much responsibility does the
architect have for controlling the environment? How much should
he or she have?
EPILOGUE
LESSON 30. CONTINUING THE QUEST FOR SELF
Program Description: This concluding program offers a review of
the art forms studied in the seven units of the telecourse and
reprises the theme of the course: that the arts express life and
are the artist's attempt to interpret reality. The importance
of the arts to our lives is expressed succinctly by Miss Angelou:
"The artist's vision gives us new perspectives on the past
as well as the present and sharpens our perception of the world
and our relation to it." Finally, Miss Angelou notes that
"life would be meaningless and empty without the contributions
of artists and their art."
This page was last modified :
August 17, 2007
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