Fine Arts Magnet

"Guernica," iPhone, "Blue Nude," iTunes, "Les Demoiselles d'Avignon," iMac

2012-01-28T10:29:00.001-08:00

Fine Arts survey Magnet / Picasso
Originally uploaded by trudeau

Details (calligraphy lessons, bullfights). Examples (Zen Buddhism, bombs and terror).

Essays in the recent comparison of Steve Jobs (1955 - 2011) and Pablo Picasso (1881 - 1973) were succinct and shiny.

But too many writers went for the glistening generalities ("magical and unbelievable") and were seriously short on details such as "Guernica," iPhone, "Blue Nude," iTunes, "Les Demoiselles d'Avignon" and iMac.

Comparison project: Steve Jobs and Pablo Picasso; due Jan 26

2012-01-21T10:44:00.001-08:00

Steve Jobs
Originally uploaded by The San Diego Union-Tribune

There were so many ways in which these pioneering thinkers, Jobs and Picasso, were alike.

The illustrated project, for 15 pts:

1. influential elements of their early lives
3 photos each with brief captions.

2. 3 series of Picasso's art and 3 products managed by Jobs - with illustrations.

3. Brief essay offering your thoughts on 3 ways in which they were alike. Add a quote from an authority on comparing the 2 men to add strength to your essay.

Cake frosting title. Salty opening. Include titles of the art.

Artistic source material: getting out of town with Steve Jobs

2012-01-20T11:10:00.001-08:00

Steve Jobs
Originally uploaded by macevangelist

Steven Paul Jobs (/ˈdʒɒbz/; February 24, 1955 – October 5, 2011)[4][5] was an American businessman and inventor widely recognized as a charismatic pioneer of the personal computer revolution, says Wikipedia.[6][7]

He was co-founder, chairman, and chief executive officer of Apple Inc. Jobs was co-founder and previously served as chief executive of Pixar Animation Studios; he became a member of the board of directors of The Walt Disney Company in 2006, following the acquisition of Pixar by Disney.

Following high school graduation in 1972, Jobs enrolled at Reed College in Portland, Oregon. Although he dropped out after only one semester,[22] he continued auditing classes at Reed, while sleeping on the floor in friends' rooms, returning Coke bottles for food money, and getting weekly free meals at the local Hare Krishna temple.[23] Jobs later said, "If I had never dropped in on that single calligraphy course in college, the Mac would have never had multiple typefaces or proportionally spaced fonts."

He traveled to India in mid-1974[25] to visit Neem Karoli Baba[26] at his Kainchi Ashram with a Reed College friend (and, later, an early Apple employee), Daniel Kottke, in search of spiritual enlightenment.

Jobs left India after staying for seven months[27] and returned to the US ahead of Daniel Kottke,[24] with his head shaved and wearing traditional Indian clothing.[28][29] During this time, Jobs experimented with psychedelics, calling his LSD experiences "one of the two or three most important things [he had] done in [his] life".[30] He also became a serious practitioner of Zen Buddhism, engaged in lengthy meditation retreats at the Tassajara Zen Mountain Center, the oldest Sōtō Zen monastery in the US,[31] considered taking up monastic residence, and maintained a lifelong appreciation for Zen.[32] He later said that people around him who did not share his countercultural roots could not fully relate to his thinking.[30]

Please continue reading this vivid bio at Wikipedia.

Guernica, the Basques and the Basque city of Bilbao, known for its Guggenheim Museum

2012-01-18T16:10:00.001-08:00

Bilbao Guggenheim Museum
Originally uploaded by Wojtek Gurak

This limestone- and titanium tile–clad Getty museum looks like a huge, silvery fish, and connects the city of Bilbao with its river. Architect Frank Gehry meshed many visions. To him, the building's multiple forms jostle like a loose crate of bottles. They also evoke sails heading out to sea.

Gehry keeps returning to his fish motif, reminding visitors that, as a boy, he was inspired by carp...even taking them into the bathtub with him. The building's skin — shiny, metallic, fish-like scales — is made of thin titanium, carefully created to give just the desired color and reflective quality.

A great way to really enjoy the exterior is to take a circular stroll up and down each side of the river along the handsome promenade and over the two modern pedestrian bridges.

Guarding the main entrance is artist Jeff Koons' 42-foot-tall West Highland Terrier. Its 60,000 plants and flowers, which blossom in concert, grow through steel mesh. A joyful structure, it brings viewers back to their childhood...perhaps evoking humankind's relationship to God...or maybe it's just another notorious Koons hoax. One thing is clear: It answers to "Puppy."

The atrium is clearly the heart of the building, pumping visitors from various rooms on three levels out and back, always returning to this central area before moving on to the next. Only the floor is straight. The architect invites you to caress the sensual curves of the walls. Notice the sheets of glass that make up the elevator shaft: They overlap like scales on a fish. The various glass and limestone panels are each unique, designed and shaped by a computer — as will likely be standard in constructing the great buildings of the future.

From the atrium, step out onto the riverside terrace. The shallow pool lets the river lick at the foundations of the building. Notice the museum's commitment to public spaces: On the right, a grand and public staircase leads under a big green bridge to a tower designed to wrap the bridge into the museum's grand scheme.

This museum is part of the Guggenheim "family" of museums; the collection rotates among the sister Guggenheim galleries in New York, Venice, and Berlin.

Picasso, Pamplona and the Running of the Bulls in Espana

2012-01-18T16:01:00.001-08:00

Running of the Bulls 08
Originally uploaded by BullRunning

Picasso used the image of the bull and the Minotaur, the bull-man, in a huge amount of his art. And he loved attending bull fights.

Which brings us to Bull Running in Spain:

Bull running in Pamplona

Every year from July 7th-14th thousands pack into Pamplona to start Spain's most famous bull-running fiesta to honour Navarre capital's patron saint, San Fermin.

Spain stages more than 3,000 fiestas (festivals) each year but the 7 days of bull-running are the favourite in terms of spectacle and excitement.

After the daybreak of July 7th, runners (mainly young men) gather at the bottom of Santo Domingo, which is the starting line. They crowd together and sing to the image of San Fermin which is placed in a niche on a wall.

Then, as a rocket goes off, a number of fighting bulls are let out onto the streets.

The bulls run along the narrow street half a mile to a bull ring. The runners dash along in front of the bulls, aiming to feel the breath of the bull on their backs, getting as close as possible - all whilst trying to avoid getting gored by their sharp horns.

When the bulls finally reach the end of the street, they go into pens and are kept until later that day they are killed in a bullfight.

The tradition dates to the 1500's. The first to accompany the bulls - not running before them - were the men of the Butcher's Guild of Pamplona.

See machismo: "A strong or exaggerated sense of masculinity stressing attributes such as physical courage, virility, domination of women, and aggressiveness."
aka "macho."

See also bull fights, bull riding and the Cretan sport of bull leaping, about 1500 BC.

Second semester, first assignment: the Masks Project

2012-01-06T07:32:00.001-08:00

Masks / Magnet fine arts
Originally uploaded by trudeau

Making masks is very global as well as very Louisiana. We have Carnival, therefore we have masking. It's part of Bayou State history.

Artists have long seen the mask as a touchstone. An example might be the influence of the African mask upon Picasso's creation of the epochal painting "Demoiselles d' Avignon."

In this project our task is produce an artful mask suitable for display and for use in Carnival season.

Fat Tuesday is Feb 21.

Jan 6 begins Louisiana's Carnival season, a time for King Cakes, balls, fetes and costume planning.

The project -

Print out an illustration of the mask or masks on which you are modeling your work - 5 pts.
Examples -
- the New Orleans mask
- the Cajun mask
- the Venetian mask
- the African mask
- the Other Ethnic mask
- the Medieval plague mask
- the Burning Man mask
- the Sci-fi mask
etc, etc

Create a sketch or digital assemblage that is the proposed design (5 pts). Have it approved by your instructor.

Create the mask out of paper or a similar material (5 pts). Decorate it in artistic fashion and make a label ( title and your name) so it can be identified when displayed (5 pts).

One design consideration is the ability to attach it to a bulletin board / display panel. Making it light and in a flat plane is OK.

20 pts overall.
Deadline Wed, Jan 18.

Masks above by Nathan __ and Brian Dryer, fine arts survey 2010.

The fine arts at work in spurious advertsing: the Stanford School of Medicine site on tobacco advertising

2012-01-04T10:49:00.001-08:00

Lucky Strike Vintage Ad
Originally uploaded by ozfan22

Our intention is to tell — principally through advertising images—the story of how, between the late 1920s and the early 1950s, tobacco companies used deceptive and often patently false claims in an effort to reassure the public of the safety of their products.

On first impression, most viewers will find these images outrageous, humorous, and so blatantly false as to trigger incredulity. But tobacco industry ad men also excelled in creative genius and had high levels of artistic skill. The best talent money could buy was recruited for this effort. Tobacco advertisers faced a daunting challenge: How do you sell a product which shortens the life of the user by an average of about 8 years?

Leonardo / Michelangelo quiz All answers will be a) Leonardo or b) Michelangelo or c) neither.

2012-01-02T13:38:00.001-08:00

Cere: Mike e Leo
Originally uploaded by agennari

Leonardo / Michelangelo quiz
All answers will be a) Leonardo or b) Michelangelo or c) neither.
1. Life of this artist slightly preceded the life of his contemporary Renaissance fellow.
2. Geologist, cartographer, architect, engineer, mathematician.
3. From the region of Tuscany / Florence, the town of Vinci.
4. "The empirical methods he employed were unusual for his time," said Wikipedia.
a) intuitive, deeply understood b) by means of observation, experimentation or by the evidence c) as revealed by a conscious awareness of an ultimate reality.
5. Much of his work in Milano under the patronage of Ludovico el Moro.
6. Spent his last years in France in a chateau given him by Francis I.
7. Vitruvian Man, or the Canon of Proportions.
8. Ponte Vecchio, a Medieval bridge notable for being lined with shops, is in the city of __ . a) Milano b) Florence / Firenze c) Roma d) Venetia.
9. Primarily known as a painter.
10. The Last Supper.
11. The Mona Lisa.
12. Collection of sketch-filled, annotated notebooks; some 13,000 pages.
13. Experimentation and procrastination.
14. Concepts of the helicopter, armored tank, solar power.
15. An artistic apprenticeship would have included lessons in metallurgy, chemistry and carpentry. T / F
16. Contains egg yolk as a binder: a) oil paint b) tempera paint c) fresco.
17. The Gran Cavallo, or giant horse.
18. Worked as military architect and engineer for Cesare Borgia, for whom he created the map of the town of Imola.
19. La Gioconda, the "laughing one."
20. Notable painting in monks' refectory in the Convent of Santa Maria della Grazie in Milan.
21. Study of anatomy and production of anatomic sketches.
22. Mother and son sculpture known as the Pieta.
23. Statue of 17 feet height of the biblical hero David.
24. Paintings of scenes from Genesis on the ceiling and The Last Judgment on the altar wall of the Sistine Chapel in Rome.
25. Architect of St Peter's Basilica, Rome.
26. Attended the Humanist academy in which the Medici had been inspired by Plato.
27."One of you will betray me."
28. Widely regarded as handsome; posed as a artist's model.
29. Donatello's bronze statue of David.
30. Statue in front of the Palazzo Vecchio that was symbolic of the independence of the city-state of Florence.
31. Statue of Moses - which crowns the sarcophagus of the tomb of Pope Julius II.
32. Four years of painting upon a scaffolding.
33. The Vatican / Sistine mural called The Last Judgement.
34. "However rich I may have been, I have always lived like a poor man."

Visual project: compare the greatest works of Leonardo and Michelangelo

2011-12-15T14:30:00.001-08:00

Michelangelo's David, Firenze
Originally uploaded by Esmerelda Rose

In this comparison please include images such as

Leonardo
1. Himself
2. Mona Lisa
3. Last Supper
4. Vitruvian Man
5. Map of Imola, Italy
6. Anatomy from the Notebooks
7. Gran Cavallo

Michelangelo
1. Himself
2. Pieta
3. David
4. Creation of Adam from the Sistine Chapel
5. Dome of St Peter's
6. Moses
7. Sketches

Plus brief identifications.
15 pts.

Painters' basic undercoat: Gesso Italiano

2011-12-14T09:42:00.001-08:00

Gesso Italiano
Originally uploaded by abcgail

"Gesso", also known "glue gesso" or "Italian gesso"[2] is a traditional mix of an animal glue binder, usually rabbit-skin glue, chalk, and white pigment, used to coat rigid surfaces such as wooden painting panels as an absorbent primer coat substrate for painting.

The colour of gesso was usually white or off-white, says Wikipedia.

Its absorbency makes it work with all painting media, including water-based media, different types of tempera, and oil paint. It is also used as a base on three-dimensional surfaces for the application of paint or gold leaf.[3]

Mixing and applying it is an art form in itself since it is usually applied in 10 or more extremely thin layers.

Semester exam guide, Dec, 2011

2011-12-13T21:29:00.001-08:00

DSC00713
Originally uploaded by trudeau

Guitars and Camels
1. The oldest known iconographic representation of an instrument displaying the essential features of a guitar is a 3,300 year old stone carving of a ____ bard. a) Hittite b) Chinese c) Aryan d) Persian.
2. The Middle Eastern antecedent of the guitar is the __, an instrument brought to Spain by the conquering Moors, the Islamic peoples of North Africa. a) guitarra b) kithara c) lute d) goombah.
3. The prominent nation whose flag features a long-bladed sword with elaborate hilt and pommel. a) Syria b) India c) Saudi Arabia d) Israel.
4. The Stratocaster, one of pop music's most oft-played instruments, was developed in California by a) Les Paul b) Leo Fender c) Orville Gibson d) CF Martin.
5. In the cultural transference across the Silk Road - from Asia to Europe - we see jewels, fabrics and pottery traveling from China to a middle trading center, __ . a) Persia b) Japan c) Espana d) Italy.
6. Name the keyboard instrument in which the strings are plucked by metal fingers. a) Piano forte b) Cithara c) Harpsichord d) Zither.
7. Vienna (Wien) is a city of coffeehouses and astounding music in the nation of a) Germany b) Switzerland c) Deutschland d) Austria.
8. Early Christian music as chanted in monasteries and churches was named for a pope: a) St Benedict b) St Gregory c) St Ignatius of Loyola d) St John.
9. If the word liturgical indicates religious matters, the word for non-religious matters is a) secular b) terra cotta c) mnemonic d) pontifical.
10. "Every writer should have a built-in, shockproof crap detector." a) Shakespeareb) TS Eliot c) Chaucer d) Ernest Hemingway.
11. The musical instrument commonly associated with ancient Greece is the a) goblet drum b) harp, or lyre c) flute d) fiddle.
12. The Italian port cities of __ and __ were centers for European trade with China, Persia and India. a) Venice, Genoa b) Rome, Naples c) Milan, Bologna d) Florence, Cremona.

Caravaggio and brethren
1. Caravaggio painted in numerous locales, among them Roma and a small
island southeast of Italy: a) Sicily b) Malta c) Corsica d)
Sardinia.
2. Caravaggio was commissioned to paint primarily by (the) __ . a)
Catholic church b) Italian noblemen c) growing Italian middle class
d) Roman senators.
3. Caravaggio's style was notable for its dramatic use of light and
shadow, a technique known as __ (spelling counts).
4. The Normandy invasion undertaken by the Allies in WWII took place
alongside the English Channel in __ France. a) Southwest b)
Northwest c) Mediterranean d) Brittany.
5. Region of France favored by the majority of painters and sculptors:
a) Cote d'Azur b) Bordeaux c) Champagne d) Burgundy.
6. Shutter noise - if minor - due to the internal mirror which must
move for an exposure to take place: a) Rangefinder camera b) Single
lens reflex camera
c) Imax camera.
7. The expensive, prestigious and reliable German camera company
favored by Henri Cartier-Bresson: a) Nikon b) Canon c) Hasselblad
d) Leica.
8. This female from Jewish biblical literature decapitated the
Assyrian commander named Holofernes: a) Judith b) Leah c) Esther
d) Rachel.
9. While working for Leland Stanford in California Eadweard Muybridge
was a pioneer in photography that recorded movement . After their
falling out, Muybridge shot most of his movement studies for the
University of __ . a) California b) Texas c) Pennsylvania d)
Michigan.
10. Boggis, Bunce and Bean: a) Leland Stanford b) Eadweard Muybridge
c) Roald Dahl d) Caravaggio.
11. Escargots à la Bourguignonne: a) Bordeaux b) Burgundy c)
Normandy d) Cote d'Azur.
12. The Decisive Moment: a) Eadweard Muybridge b) Roald Dahl c) Caravaggio
d) Henri Cartier-Bresson.

Jazz quiz
1. First city of jazz: __ __.
2. Second city of Jazz (and of the US in general): __ .
3. Third city to which the fathers of jazz - such as Joe Oliver, Louis
Armstrong and Jellyroll Morton - relocated: __ __ .
4. Movement of impoverished black Americans from the farms of the Deep
South to urban centers of Upper Midwest and Northeast: a) diplomacy b)
dispora c) displacement d) dislocation .
5. Approximate date for the birth of jazz: a) 1800 b) 1850's c)
1900 d) 1920's.
6. Name given to the place in New Orleans where slaves gathered on
Sundays: a) river levees b) Ashanti circle c) Place Congo d) Vieux
Carre.
7. Louisiana term for people of mixed ethnic background, esp. a
mixture of French, Spanish, native American and Afro-Caribbean: __ .
8. Gens de couleur libre was a special ethnic category in NO. It
indicated a person who was African-American, yet not a slave. T / F
9. Another name for the historic French Quarter is Vieux Carre; it
means: a) Spanish Quarter b) Old Quarter c) French District d)
Slave Quarters .
10. A radical change in his instrument's shape was the signature of
bebop jazz artist Dizzy Gilespie. His instrumentwas the ____ .
11. Gillespie, Ella Fitzgerald and other jazzers offered vocal
improvisation with random vocables and syllables or without words at
all. This is called __ singing.
12. World War I and the Immigration Act of 1924 halted the flow of
European immigrants to the emerging industrial centers of the
Northeast and Midwest, causing shortages of workers in the factories
and openings for immigrating African-Americans. T / F
13. Chronological order of the development of jazz: a) Dixieland,
big band-style swing, bebop, Latin jazz, free jazz b) big band-style
swing, Dixieland, bebop, Latin jazz, free jazz c) bebop, Dixieland,
big band-style swing, Latin jazz, free jazz
14. In jazz the skilled performer will interpret a tune in very
individual ways, never playing the same composition exactly the same
way twice. Thus while jazz may be difficult to define, ______ is
clearly one of its key elements.
a) swing b) improvisation c) syncopation d) concentration.

1. New Orleans
2. Chicago
3. NYC (Harlem is not a city; it is a neighborhood in NYC)
4. diaspora
5. 1900
6. Place Congo, or Congo Square
7. Creole
8. T
9. Old Quarter
10. trumpet
11.scat
12. T
13. Dixieland, swing, bebop, etc
14. improvisation

Jazz musicians with the highest status in this American art form -

1. Jellyroll Morton
2. Joe King Oliver
3. Louis Armstrong
4. Fletcher Henderson
5. Charlie Parker
6. Edward Duke Ellington
7. William Count Basie
8. Benny Goodman
9. Glenn Miller
10. Lionel Hampton
11. Charlie Christian
12. Charlie Bird Parker
13. Dizzy Gillespie
14. Thelonius Monk
15. Miles Davis
16. John Coltrane
17. Charles Mingus
18. Billie Holiday
19. Ella Fitzgerald
20. Nat King Cole
21. Herbie Hancock
22. Wynton Marsalis
23. George Gershwin, classical / jazz
24. Leonard Bernstein, classical / jazz

Another Jazz quiz:
1. He was a Manhattan music man who straddled jazz, pop and Classicalmusic. Most famous for 'West Side Story." a) Leonard Bernstein b)George Gershwin c) Duke Ellington d) Dizzy Gillespie.
2. Bebop sounds from the man with the bent horn: a) Wynton Marsalisb) Louis Armstrong c) Duke Ellington d) Dizzy Gillespie.
3. Approximate date for the birth of jazz: a) 1800 b) 1850's c)1900 d) 1920's.
4. Name given to the place in New Orleans where slaves danced and sang onSundays: a) the levee b) Basin St c) Vieux Carre d) Place Congo.
5. Louisiana term for people of mixed ethnic background, esp. amixture of French, Spanish, native American and Afro-Caribbean: __ .
6. Gens de couleur libre was a special ethnic category in NO. Itindicated a person who was African-American, yet not a slave. T / F
7. The primary destination of the Great Migration of Black Americans in the early part of the 20th century: a) upper Midwest b) West coast c) Harlem d) East Coast.
8. At the turn of the century both New Orleans and Shreveport established legal red light districts. Shreveport's was called St Paul's Bottoms. New Orleans was called a) French Quarter b) Vieux Carre' c) Canal St d) Storyville.
9. Referring to the a dynasty of Kings in France: a) Royal St b) Bourbon Stc) Rampart St d) Decatur St.
10. Had a well-documented predilection for cannabis sativa: a) John Coltraneb) Miles Davis c) Dizzy Gillespie d) Louis Armstrong.
11. Was a vivid and profuse writer of letters and of an autobiography: a) John Coltrane b) Miles Davis c) Dizzy Gillespie d) Louis Armstrong.
12. Yiddish-based term for art-like work that is non-original, commercial and intended for a mass audience: a) schlock b) kitsch c) kvetch d) chutzpah.
13. Azucar was the Arabic word for a substance that drove the Atlantic slave trade:a) rum b) African peoples c) sugar d) tobacco.

Howl
by Allen Ginsberg

For Carl Solomon

I saw the best minds of my generation destroyed by madness, starving
hysterical naked,
dragging themselves through the negro streets at dawn looking for an angry
fix,
angelheaded hipsters burning for the ancient heavenly connection to the
starry dynamo in the machinery of night,
who poverty and tatters and hollow-eyed and high sat up smoking in the
supernatural darkness of cold-water flats floating across the tops of
cities contemplating jazz,
who bared their brains to Heaven under the El and saw Mohammedan angels
staggering on tenement roofs illuminated,
who passed through universities with radiant cool eyes hallucinating Arkan-
sas and Blake-light tragedy among the scholars of war,
who were expelled from the academies for crazy & publishing obscene odes
on the windows of the skull,

the importance of Kerouac and On The Road

Magnet fine arts: Kerouac
Originally uploaded by trudeau
On the Road is a highly-recommended book for the college-bound student
or the adventure-minded person.
- Lower middle class life in the post-war, post-depression era prior
to widespread prosperity.
- A writer and his charismatic buddy criss-cross the US by bus,
hitch-hiking, train and careening, high-speed driving.
- Find an atlas and keep it by your side as you read so that you can
learn the towns and cities of the US.
- Men obsessed with drinking, sex, drugs and boyish freedom
nonetheless bond with each other over philosophical inquiry.
- How men slowly and painfully mature.
- Strong parallels with Huckleberry Finn and The Great Gatsby.
- A celebration of jazz and of brotherhood.
- Published in 1957 the tale catalyzed the alienated and restless
youths already disillusioned by the material prosperity delivered by
success in the American Dream.

1.Kerouac 2.Ginsberg 3.Lear 4.Burroughs 5.Albee 6.Albee 7.Kerouac
8.Carroll 9.Carroll
10.Dylan 11.Albee 12.Kerouac 13.Beatles 14.Kerouac 15.Kerouac
16.Kerouac 17.San Francisco.

Mozart quiz from the award-winning movie Amadeus -

1. Mozart has six children and one wife. Her name: a) Nanerl b) Marie
Antoinette c) Constanza d) Maria Magdalena.
2. Court composer Antonio Salieri makes a dramatic vow to God. Which
virtue does he withhold in the vow? a) charity b) chastity c)
humility. '
3. The Mozarts have a never-ending domestic issue. It is a) infidelity
b) inheritance c) money d) parties.
4. A notable work by Mozart is the __ known as Don Giovanni. a) opera
b) symphony c) chamber work d) piano concerto.
5. As a child Mozart performs for the Pope in Rome. Mozart is a __ .
a) prophecy b) profligate c) philanthropist d) prodigy.
6. Much of Mozart's early career is spent in __, Austria. A very
musical city, it is not the capital. a) Vienna b) Salzburg
c) Brandenburg d) Munich.
7. In a gentile European party in the late 1700's it is distinctly
improper for a lady to allow a view of her a) breasts b) legs c)
tongue.
10. Mozart composed his first symphony at the age of __ . a) 3 b) 7
c) 16 d) 21.
12. The Emperor of Austria has numerous musical advisors from the
nation that is home to the opera and to the violin: a) Germany b)
France c) England d) Italy.
13. Mozart's wife is so stressed by domestic issues that she leaves
home to have a stay in a __ . a) castle b) palace
c) spa d) hospital.
14. Mozart had a puerile and __ sense of humor. a) scatalogical b)
sarcastic c) satirical d) scrotile.
15. Who is Mozart's employer when the movie begins? a) the Pope b)
Archbishop of Salzburg c) Louis XVI d) Henry VIII.
16. In the last part of his career, Mozart makes money independently
of his commissioned work for the Emperor. T / F
17. Emperor Joseph of Austria had a famous sister who was put to death
in 1792. She was a) Marie Antoinette b) Queen Anne
c) Victoria I d) Elizabeth I.
18. One of Mozart's operas is about a bird man named Papagaeno and the
Queen of the Night. It has been called a vaudeville work. a) Requiem
b) The Marriage of Figaro c) The Magic Flute d) Cosi fan Tutte
("Women are like that").
19. In 1787 a young German composer, __, spent several weeks in
Vienna, hoping to study with Mozart. a) Beethoven b) Salieri
c) Tchaikovsky d) Verdi.
20. Mozart died of ill health at age a) 25 b) 35 c) 45 d) 65.

1. chai: Asian term for __ . a) tea b) coffee c) ginger d) wine.
- ciao: Italian for hello or goodbye
2. An American journalist who became a major novelist advised writers
to cultivate a "A built-in, shock-proof crap detector."
a) Scott Fitzgerald b) Allen Ginsberg c) Alvin Ailey d) Ernest Hemingway.
3. Meaning "in the middle of earth" or "between lands:" a) Atlantic
b) Pacific c) Mediterranean d) Caribbean.
4. Austrian city notable for coffee shops for discussion of ideas and
art: a) Berlin b) Vienna c) Munich d) Milan.
5. Capital city of Germany. Bach's home was near this city: a) Berlin
b) Vienna c) Munich d) Milan.

1. Earliest roots of the guitar: a) Persia b) Arabia c) India.
2. The etymology of "guitar" reaches back to a) Persia b) Arabia c) India.
3. The oud, a 4-string lute, was a direct antecedent to the guitar; it was brought to Spain and to Western Europe by people of __ . a) Persia b) Arabia c) India.
4. The Fender Stratocaster was created in the early a) 1940's b) 1950's c) 1960's.
5. Leo Fender, one of the fathers of the electric guitar, lived in a) Los Angeles
b) NYC c) London d) Chicago.
6. Orville Gibson, founder of the company famous for the Les Paul electric guitar, lived in the 1890's and designed a) drums b) mandolins c) acoustic guitars
d) pianos.
7. In the 1930's and 1940's the classic jazz guitar was one made by a) Gibson
b) Fender.

The Leonardo Quiz, Da Vinci1. Born in Vinci, near the major city of __ .
2. Another word for a person with superior intelligence whose expertise spans a significant number of different subject areas. A Renaissance Man or a _polymath__ .
3. Da Vinci: a geologist? y / n
4. Da Vinci: a dentist? y / n
5. Da Vinci: a student of law? y / n
6. A botanist? y / n
7. Leonardo was said to use empirical methods. Empirical studies are based on a) theory b) observation.
8. He was educated under the notable artist of Firenze, Andrea del __.
9. Da Vinci was a bastard, or illigitimate by birth. y / n
10. He died in: a) Italy b) France c) Germany.
11. Leonardo worked in Milan; he also worked in Naples, Sienna and in Sicily. y / n
12. This subject of this painting was described as enigmatic and monumental, if small in size. It is a) Vitruvian Man b) Mona Lisa c) Last Supper .
13. Painting purchased by the king of France, Francois 1; later owned by Louis XIV and displayed in the Palais de Versailles: _____ . a) Vitruvian Man b) Mona Lisa c) Last Supper .
14. In 1919, Marcel Duchamp, one of the most influential Dadaists, created a parody of the Leonardo painting ____ . a) Vitruvian Man b) Mona Lisa c) Last Supper .
15. In Rome he worked for Lorenzo de Medici. y / n
16. In Milan he worked for Ludovico Sforza, il Moro. y / n
17. Both Leonardo and Michelangelo designed domes for the largest churches in Italy. y / n
18. The statue was called the Gran Cavallo. In it he lionized the Sforza family in his presentation of an animal that stood 24 feet high. It was a __ .
19. The Virgin and Child with St Anne and St John the Baptist is a cartoon, or work preparatory to a painting. It was drawn on paper with black and white __ .
20. Leonardo worked as chief military engineer and architect for Cesare Borgia. His most significant work was to create a __ for Borgia.

Wheat fields and a starry night: Vincent Van Gogh
1. Van Gogh's home nation? __ . a) Netherlands b) France c) Deutschland d) Belgium .
2. Father's occupation and Vincent's first vocation? ___ a) Art dealer b) painter c) minister d) farmer.
3. City in which VG realizes that his task in life is to reach the people - esp the common and impoverished people of Europe? a) London b) Amsterdam c) Antwerp d) Paris
4. He returns to the continent to a city in Belgium where he is inspired by Japanese woodcuts and paintings by Rubens. ____, Belgium. a) London b) Amsterdam c) Antwerp d) Paris
5. The most important person in his life. Steady subsidizer and moral support were unconditionally granted. __ . a) wife b) mother c) sister d) brother.
6. His next stop is the city that is the capital of the art world in the nineteenth century. __ . a) London b) Amsterdam c) Antwerp d) Paris.
7. During his time in the big city he lives near his brother. There we see that an important part of his historic record, or documentation of his life, is missing. His __ are the record is his life. a) paintings b) letters c) tattoos d) invoices and bills.8. There he paints his most famous still lives, some dozen versions of this subject. The object of these paintings? __ a) wheat fieldsb) starry nights c) flowers d) portraits.
9. In this city he meets one of the leading painters of the day, the enormously creative and virile Paul __ . a) Gaugin b) Cezanne c) Monet d) Degas.
10. VG believes that he should have an artists' commune. It will be a house filled with artistic energy and discussions. To get this, he moves to small city in southern France: __. a) Provence b) Arles c) Versailles d) Marseille.
11. He is bedeviled by several forms of illness, says Wikipedia. Which one is Not listed? a) Depression b) Suicidal tendencies c) Epilepsy d) Schizophrenia.
12. While waiting for his artist companion from Paris in the isolated city mentioned above, he does what? __. a) Visits brothels b) paints the rooms c) purchases books d) Paints landscapes.
13. He subsequently spends some time in a former monastery in the town of St Remy, France. Why? a) Recuperation from mental illnessb) recuperation from visiting brothels c) becoming a monk d) recuperation from an ill-fated affair with a resident of a brothel.
14. Characteristics of his painting that have made him so notable: ___ brush strokes. ____ __ __ use of color.
15. He moves near Paris to the care of a doctor specializing in melancholia. What do we call that illness today? ___ a) Epilepsy b) depression c) schizophrenia d) halitosis.
16. Following his period of convalescence he shoots himself. Dead. At what age does this occur? __ a) 37 b) 47 c) 57 d) 77.
17. Simon Schama says VG makes his best paintings during what period of his condition? __. a) deep illness b) between illnesses.
18. In the end he has moved far past the artistic style of the day, which was __ . a) impressionism b) realism c) expressionism d) fauvism.
19. He is thus called the father of expressionism but, even more importantly, he is called the progenitor of what general era of art? __ __ a) contemporary b) radical c) modern d) colorful.

Rembrandt quiz
1. Rembrandt Van Rijn was born and raised in a period in which the Dutch were in financial and cultural ascension. T / F
2. R. became a portraitist and teacher in the city of a) Rotterdam b) Leiden c) the Hague d) Amsterdam.
3. Based on his name we know that R's family resided in an area near the a) Danube R. b) Amstel R. c) Thames R. d) Rhine R.
4. R's success coincided with the Golden Age of the Dutch: a) 1500's b) 1600's c) 1700's d) 1800's.
5. In a life that was marked by personal tragedy in the later years, he lived about __ years. a) 30 b) 40 c) 50 d) 60.
6. Much of his work illustrated stories from the __ . a) Business leaders of Holland b) Shakespeare c) King James Bible d) Lives of leading professionals.
6. The Dutch empire extended to the Caribbean. T / F
7. The Dutch empire comprised a part of __ where diamonds and gold were found in abundance. a) South America b) South Africa c) Middle East d) South Asia.
8. Rembrandt's life would have overlapped in small part with that of a) JS Bach b) Mozart c) Beethoven.
9. Chiaroscuro: a) strong contrasts between light and dark b) portraiture with side lighting c) Portraiture done in classic Italian style.
10. Rembrandt lighting includes a triangle of light on the subject's cheek on the side that is a) lighted b) in shadow c) either side.
11. Also a famous resident of Amsterdam: a) Anne Frank b) Adolph Hitlerc) Winston Churchill d) JS Bach.
12. Also a famous resident of Amsterdam: a) Edgar Degas b) Vincent Van Goghc) Henri Matisse d) Claude Monet.
13. Western Europe's principal waterway, the Rhine, rises in Switzerland and empties into the Nord Zee (North Sea) at a) Rotterdam, the Netherlands b) Brussels, Belgium c) Hamburg, Germany d) Calais, France.
14.Painting of an association of clothing merchants in the garb of militiamen:a) The Anatomy Lesson b) The Jewish Bride c) The Syndics d) The Night Watch.

Mona Lisa: enigma!

2011-12-13T11:14:00.001-08:00

Mona Lisa
Originally uploaded by JKleeman

Mona Lisa (also known as La Gioconda or La Joconde, or Portrait of Lisa Gherardini, wife of Francesco del Giocondo[1]) is a portrait by the Italian artist Leonardo da Vinci, says Wikipedia. It is a painting in oil on a poplar panel, completed circa 1503–1519. Property of the French State, it is on permanent display at the Musée du Louvre in Paris.

The painting is a half-length portrait and depicts a seated woman, Lisa del Giocondo, whose facial expression has been frequently described as enigmatic.[2] The ambiguity of the subject's expression, the monumentality of the composition, and the subtle modeling of forms and atmospheric illusionism were novel qualities that have contributed to the continuing fascination and study of the work.[1] The image is widely recognised, caricatured, and sought out by visitors to the Louvre, and it is considered the most famous painting in the world.

Leonardo took the painting from Italy to France in 1516 when King François I invited the painter to work at the Clos Lucé near the king's castle in Amboise. Most likely through the heirs of Leonardo's assistant Salai,[9] the king bought the painting for 4,000 écus and kept it at Château Fontainebleau, where it remained until given to Louis XIV. Louis XIV moved the painting to the Palace of Versailles. After the French Revolution, it was moved to the Louvre. Napoleon I had it moved to his bedroom in the Tuileries Palace; later it was returned to the Louvre.

Mona Lisa was not well known until the mid-19th century when artists of the emerging Symbolist movement began to appreciate it, and associated it with their ideas about feminine mystique.

In Italian, ma donna means my lady. This became madonna, and its contraction mona. Mona is thus a polite form of address, similar to Ma’am, Madam, or my lady in English.

Da Vinci used a pyramid design to place the woman simply and calmly in the space of the painting. Her folded hands form the front corner of the pyramid. Her breast, neck and face glow in the same light that models her hands. The light gives the variety of living surfaces an underlying geometry of spheres and circles.

The painting was among the first portraits to depict the sitter before an imaginary landscape and Da Vinci was one of the first painters to use aerial perspective.[29] The enigmatic woman is portrayed seated in what appears to be an open loggia with dark pillar bases on either side. Behind her a vast landscape recedes to icy mountains. Winding paths and a distant bridge give only the slightest indications of human presence. The sensuous curves of the woman's hair and clothing are echoed in the undulating imaginary valleys and rivers behind her.

Dance your PhD

2011-12-08T19:04:00.001-08:00

Fine arts dance with Tamara Mayer
Originally uploaded by trudeau

Please check this TED video for a surprising insight into the usefulness of dance as communication.

Vitruvian Man by Leonardo: "one of the most referenced and reproduced artistic images in the world today"

2011-12-07T23:47:00.001-08:00

Vitruvian Man
Originally uploaded by AstroAlbert

The Vitruvian Man is a world-renowned drawing created by Leonardo da Vinci circa 1487, says Wikipedia.[1]

It is accompanied by notes based on the work of the Roman architect Vitruvius.

The drawing, which is in pen and ink on paper, depicts a male figure in two superimposed positions with his arms and legs apart and simultaneously inscribed in a circle and square.

The drawing and text are sometimes called the Canon of Proportions or, less often, Proportions of Man. It is stored in the Gallerie dell'Accademia in Venice, Italy, and, like most works on paper, is displayed only occasionally.

The drawing is based on the correlations of ideal human proportions with geometry described[4] by the ancient Roman architect Vitruvius in Book III of his treatise De Architectura. Vitruvius described the human figure as being the principal source of proportion among the Classical orders of architecture.

"The length of the outspread arms is equal to the height of a man," is one of the numerous proportions - written in mirror writing.

The multiple viewpoint that set in with Romanticism has convinced us that there is no such thing as a universal set of proportions for the human body. Vitruvius' statements may be interpreted as statements about average proportions.

Leonardo's drawing combines a careful reading of the ancient text with his own observation of actual human bodies.

The drawing itself is often used as an implied symbol of the essential symmetry of the human body, and by extension, of the universe as a whole.

Mona Lisa, the Last Supper and Vitruvian Man are among the iconic works by Leonardo da Vinci

2011-12-07T23:38:00.001-08:00

Mona Lisa
Originally uploaded by BartPalka(BUSY and AWAY)

Leonardo was and is renowned[2] primarily as a painter, says Wikipedia.

Two of his works, the Mona Lisa and The Last Supper, are the most famous, most reproduced and most parodied portrait and religious paintings of all time, respectively, their fame approached only by Michelangelo's Creation of Adam.[1]

Leonardo's drawing of the Vitruvian Man is also regarded as a cultural icon,[4] being reproduced on everything from the Euro to text books to t-shirts.

Perhaps fifteen of his paintings survive, the small number due to his constant, and frequently disastrous, experimentation with new techniques, and his chronic procrastination.[nb 2] Nevertheless, these few works, together with his notebooks, which contain drawings, scientific diagrams, and his thoughts on the nature of painting, comprise a contribution to later generations of artists only rivaled by that of his contemporary, Michelangelo.

Leonardo di ser Piero da Vinci (1452 – 1519), was an Italian polymath: painter, sculptor, architect, musician, scientist, mathematician, engineer, inventor, anatomist, geologist, botanist and writer.

Leonardo has often been described as the archetype of the Renaissance man, a man whose unquenchable curiosity was equaled only by his powers of invention.[1] He is widely considered to be one of the greatest painters of all time and perhaps the most diversely talented person ever to have lived.

Leonardo was educated in the studio of the renowned Florentine painter, Verrocchio. Much of his earlier working life was spent in the service of Ludovico il Moro in Milan. He later worked in Rome, Bologna and Venice and spent his last years in France, at the home awarded him by Francis I.

He conceptualised a helicopter, a tank, concentrated solar power, a calculator,[5] the double hull and outlined a rudimentary theory of plate tectonics.

Relatively few of his designs were constructed or were even feasible during his lifetime,[nb 3] but some of his smaller inventions, such as an automated bobbin winder and a machine for testing the tensile strength of wire, entered the world of manufacturing unheralded.

As a scientist, he greatly advanced the state of knowledge in the fields of anatomy, civil engineering, optics, and hydrodynamics.[6]

Martha Graham: "Some of you are doomed to be artists"

2011-12-07T07:00:00.001-08:00

martha graham
Originally uploaded by sico_activa

Martha Graham (May 11, 1894 – April 1, 1991) was an American dancer and choreographer regarded as one of the foremost pioneers of modern dance, whose influence on dance can be compared to the influence Stravinsky had on music, Picasso had on the visual arts, or Frank Lloyd Wright had on architecture.[1]

Graham invented a new language of movement, says Wikipedia, and used it to reveal the passion, the rage and the ecstasy common to human experience.

She danced and choreographed for over seventy years, and during that time was the first dancer ever to perform at The White House, the first dancer ever to travel abroad as a cultural ambassador, and the first dancer ever to receive the highest civilian award, the Medal of Freedom.

In her lifetime she received honors ranging from the key to the City of Paris to Japan's Imperial Order of the Precious Crown. She said "I have spent all my life with dance and being a dancer. It's permitting life to use you in a very intense way. Sometimes it is not pleasant. Sometimes it is fearful. But nevertheless it is inevitable."

Radical revision in the world od artful dance: American choreographer Merce Cunningham

2011-12-07T06:55:00.001-08:00

(pda) Merce Cunningham
Originally uploaded by newnewpon

Mercier "Merce" Philip Cunningham (April 16, 1919 – July 26, 2009) was an American dancer and choreographer who was at the forefront of the American avant garde for more than fifty years, says Wikipedia.

Throughout much of his life, Cunningham was considered one of the greatest creative forces in American dance. Cunningham is also notable for his frequent collaborations with artists of other disciplines, including musicians John Cage and David Tudor, artists Robert Rauschenberg and Bruce Nauman, designer Romeo Gigli, and architect Benedetta Tagliabue.

Works that he produced with these artists had a profound impact on avant-garde art beyond the world of dance.

As a choreographer, teacher, and leader of the Merce Cunningham Dance Company,[2] Cunningham had a profound influence on modern dance. Many dancers who trained with Cunningham formed their own companies, and they include Paul Taylor, Remy Charlip, Viola Farber, Charles Moulton, Karole Armitage, Robert Kovich, Foofwa d’Immobilité, Kimberly Bartosik, Floanne Ankah and Jonah Bokaer.

In the fall of 1939, Cunningham moved to New York and began a six-year stint as a soloist in the company of Martha Graham. He presented his first solo concert in New York in April 1944 with composer John Cage, who became his life partner and frequent collaborator until Cage's death in 1992.

Bill T. Jones, celebrated American modern dance choreographer

2011-12-07T06:51:00.001-08:00

Bill T. Jones
Originally uploaded by deSingel International Arts Campus

In 1994, Bill T Jones, American artistic director, choreographer and dancer, received a MacArthur “Genius” Award.[6]

Jones was born in Bunnell, Florida, in 1952. His family moved North as part of the Great Migration in the first half of the twentieth century. They settled in Wayland, New York. He began his dance training at Binghamton University, where he studied classical ballet and modern dance.

He choreographed and performed worldwide as a soloist and duet company with Arnie Zane before forming the Bill T. Jones/Arnie Zane Dance Company in 1982.

He has choreographed works for almost every possible dance opportunity,including PBS, the BBC, Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater, Boston Ballet, Lyon Opera Ballet, Berlin Opera, New York City Opera, Houston Grand Opera, among others.

Jones is the co-creator, director and choreographer of the musical Fela!, which ran Off-Broadway in 2008 and opened on Broadway in October 2009. Jones won the Lucille Lortel Award as Outstanding Choreographer for his work as well as the Tony Award for Best Choreography.[4][5]

In 2000, The Dance Heritage Coalition named Jones “An Irreplaceable Dance Treasure.” Jones has received honorary doctorates from the Art Institute of Chicago, Bard College, Columbia College, the Juilliard School, Swarthmore College, and Yale University.

In 2003 Jones was awarded The Dorothy and Lillian Gish Prize, one of the richest prizes in the arts, given annually to “a man or woman who has made an outstanding contribution to the beauty of the world and to mankind’s enjoyment and understanding of life.”[7] In 2005 he received the Wexner Prize at the Wexner Center for the Arts at The Ohio State University.

In 2007, he won the Tony award for Best Choreography for Spring Awakening.[8]

Bill T Jones was the recipient of the 2011 Young Arts Arison Award which is given annually to an individual who has had a significant influence on the development of young American artists.

Alvin Ailey, Choreographer and extraordinary American

2011-12-05T06:45:00.001-08:00

Alvin Ailey, Choreographer
Originally uploaded by Ben Heine

Alvin Ailey, American modern dancer and choreographer, was born in Rogers, Texas in 1931 and moved to Los Angeles, California at the age of twelve. There, on a junior high school class trip to the Ballet Russe de Monte Carlo, he fell in love with concert dance, says Wikipedia.

Inspired by performances of the Katherine Dunham Dance Company and classes with Lester Horton, Mr Ailey began his formal dance training. It was with Mr. Horton, the founder of the first racially integrated dance company in this country, that Mr. Ailey embarked on his professional dance career.

After Horton's death in 1953, Mr. Ailey became the director of the Lester Horton Dance Theater and began to choreograph his own works. In 1954, he and his friend Carmen de Lavallade were invited to New York to dance in the Broadway show, House of Flowers, by Truman Capote.

In New York, Mr. Ailey studied with many outstanding dance artists, including Martha Graham, Doris Humphrey and Charles Weidman and took acting classes with Stella Adler. The versatile Ailey won a number of acting roles, continued to choreograph and performed as a dancer.

In 1958, Mr. Ailey founded his own company, the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater. Mr. Ailey had a vision of creating a company dedicated to the preservation and enrichment of the American modern dance heritage and the uniqueness of black cultural expression. In 1960 he choreographed Revelations, the classic masterpiece of American modern dance based on the religious heritage of his youth.

Throughout his lifetime, Mr. Ailey created some 79 ballets, many of which have appeared in the repertoire of major dance companies, including American Ballet Theatre, The Joffrey Ballet, Dance Theatre of Harlem, Paris Opera Ballet and La Scala Ballet.

Mr. Ailey died of complications due to AIDS on December 1, 1989. Anna Kisselgoff of The New York Times wrote, "You didn't need to have known Ailey personally to have been touched by his humanity, enthusiasm and exuberance and his courageous stand for multiracial brotherhood."

Tamara Mayer choreographs Fine Arts class @ Magnet on Mon

2011-12-04T13:53:00.001-08:00

Tamara Mayer choreographs Fine Arts class @ Magnet
Originally uploaded by trudeau

But the dance sessions will be in the PAC lobby. The stage is set for the band and choir concert.

The PAC lobby is an excellent venue for dance steps.

One-sheet fine arts project: compare two great dancers

2011-12-01T11:11:00.001-08:00

Josephine Baker
Originally uploaded by Jane Diamond

Please choose between
- Isadora Duncan
- Martha Graham
- Josephine Baker

Include
- 2 illustrations
- 5 bulleted factoids on each figure.
- 6 multiple-choice questions; 3 on each person.
Print out.
10 pts.
Due Mon.

Twentieth century dance: the Isadora Duncan revolution

2011-12-01T07:15:00.001-08:00

Euphrosyne, Thalie et Aglaé ©
Originally uploaded by றouvemenʨ d'un ciℓ (➳ in project

Isadora Duncan - 1877 - 1927 - was an American artist of movement and costume who freed women from the constraints of traditional dance forms, especially ballet.

Angela Isadora Duncan was born in San Francisco, California, says Wikipedia, the youngest of the four children of Joseph Charles Duncan, a banker, mining engineer and connoisseur of the arts, and Mary Isadora Gray, youngest daughter of Thomas Gray, a California state senator.

In her early years, Duncan did attend school but, finding it to be constricting to her individuality, she dropped out. Owing to an untimely divorce and reverse in her family's fortune, there was no extra money. Both she and her sister gave dance classes to local children to earn extra money.

In 1895 Duncan became part of Augustin Daly's theater company in New York. She soon became disillusioned with the form. In 1899 she decided to move to Europe, first to London and then a year later, to Paris. Within two years she achieved both notoriety and success.

The developing Bohemian environment in the Montparnasse section of Paris did not suit her. In 1909 Duncan moved to two large apartments at 5 rue Danton, where she lived on the ground floor and used the first floor for her dance school. Barefoot, dressed in clinging scarves and faux-Grecian tunics, she created a primitivist style of improvisational dance to counter the rigid styles of the time.

She was inspired by the classics, especially Greek myth. She rejected traditional ballet steps to stress improvisation, emotion and the human form. Duncan believed that classical ballet, with its strict rules of posture and formation, was "ugly and against nature"; she gained a wide following that allowed her to set up a school to teach.

Duncan became so famous that she inspired artists and authors to create sculpture, jewelry, poetry, novels, photographs, watercolors, prints and paintings of her.

When the Théâtre des Champs-Élysées was built in 1913, her likeness was carved in its bas-relief over the entrance by sculptor Antoine Bourdelle and included in painted murals of the nine muses by Maurice Denis in the auditorium.

Throughout her career Duncan did not like the commercial aspects of public performance, regarding touring, contracts and other practicalities as distractions from her real mission: the creation of beauty and the education of the young. A gifted, if unconventional pedagogue, she was the founder of three schools dedicated to teaching her dance philosophy to groups of young girls (a brief effort to include boys was unsuccessful).

Both in her professional and private lives, Duncan flouted traditional mores and morality.

She was though to be bisexual. She alluded to her Communism during her last United States tour, in 1922-23; Duncan waved a red scarf and bared her breast on stage in Boston, proclaiming, "This is red! So am I!".

Duncan bore two children, both out of wedlock.

Duncan's fondness for flowing scarves was the cause of her death in a freak automobile accident in Nice, France, on the night of September 14, 1927, at the age of 50. Her long scarf, hand-painted silk from the Russian-born artist Roman Chatov, became enmeshed in the wheel of the auto. She was thrown from the open car to her death.

Caravaggio quiz plus France and Ansel Adams

2011-12-01T06:52:00.001-08:00

The Calling Of St. Matthew
Originally uploaded by earthmagnified

1. Caravaggio painted in numerous locales, among them Roma and a small
island southeast of Italy: a) Sicily b) Malta c) Corsica d) Sardinia.
2. Caravaggio was commissioned to paint primarily by (the) __ . a) Catholic church b) Italian noblemen c) growing Italian middle class d) Roman senators.
3. Caravaggio's style was notable for its dramatic use of light and
shadow, a technique known as __ (spelling counts).
4. The Normandy invasion undertaken by the Allies in WWII took place alongside the English Channel in __ France. a) Southwest b) Northwest c) Mediterranean d) Brittany.
5. Region of France favored by the majority of painters and sculptors:
a) Cote d'Azur b) Provence c) Champagne d) Burgundy.
6. Shutter noise - if minor - due to the internal mirror which must move for an exposure to take place: a) Rangefinder camera b) Single lens reflex camera c) Imax camera.
7. The expensive, prestigious and reliable German camera company
favored by Henri Cartier-Bresson: a) Nikon b) Canon c) Hasselblad d) Leica.
8. This female from Jewish biblical literature decapitated the Assyrian commander named Holofernes: a) Judith b) Leah c) Esther d) Rachel.
9. While working for Leland Stanford in California Eadweard Muybridge was a pioneer in photography that recorded movement . After their falling out, Muybridge shot most of his movement studies for the Univ of __ . a) California b) Texas c) Pennsylvania d) Michigan.
10. Boggis, Bunce and Bean: a) Leland Stanford b) Eadweard Muybridge c) Roald Dahl d) Caravaggio.
11. Escargots à la Bourguignonne: a) Bordeaux b) Burgundy c) Normandy d) Cote d'Azur.
12. The Decisive Moment: a) Eadweard Muybridge b) Roald Dahl c) Caravaggio d) Henri Cartier-Bresson.

Wheat fields and a starry night: Vincent Van Gogh

2011-12-01T06:50:00.001-08:00

View from the Wheat Fields @Musée Rodin
Originally uploaded by dominotic

Vincent Van Gogh -
1. Home nation? __
2. Father's occupation and Vincent's first vocation? ___
3. City in which VG realizes that his task in life is to reach the people - esp the common and impoverished people of Europe? a) London b) Amsterdam c) Antwerp d) Paris
4. He returns to the continent to a city in Belgium where he is inspired by Japanese woodcuts and paintings by Rubens. ____, Belgium.
5. The most important person in his life. Steady subsidizer and moral support were unconditionally granted. __ .
6. His next stop is the city that is the capital of the art world in the nineteenth century. __ .
7. During his time in the big city he lives near his brother. There we see that an important part of his historic record, or documentation of his life, is missing. His __ are the record is his life.
8. There he paints his most famous still lives, some dozen versions of this subject. The object of these paintings? __
9. In this city he meets one of the leading painters of the day, the enormously creative and virile Paul __ .
10. VG believes that he should have an artists' commune. It will be a house filled with artistic energy and discussions. To get this, he moves to small city in southern France: __.
11. He is bedeviled by 2 major forms of illness, says Wikipedia: __ , __ .
12. While waiting for his artist companion from Paris in the isolated French city mentioned above, he does what? __.
13. He subsequently spends some time in a former monastery in the town of St Remy, France. Why?
14. Characteristics of his painting that have made him so notable: ___ brush strokes. ____ __ __ use of color.
15. He moves near Paris to the care of a doctor specializing in melancholia. What do we call that illness today? ___
16. Following his period of convalescence he shoots himself. Dead. At what age does this occur? __
17. Simon Schama says VG makes his best paintings during what period of his condition? __.
18. In the end he has moved far past the artistic style of the day, which was __ .
19. He is thus called the father of expressionism but, even more importantly, he is called the progenitor of what general era of art? __ __

Recommended indie movie: Vincent & Theo (1990)

2011-11-18T10:44:00.001-08:00

Vincent & Theo - 400
Originally uploaded by jovisala47

Vincent & Theo: Rottentomatoes.com gives it an 87% rating. I liked it a lot. Famous indie director Robert Altman made the movie.

Recommended. Write about it, too.

Fine arts Magnet / Van Gogh

2011-11-16T16:37:00.001-08:00

Fine arts Magnet Van Gogh
Originally uploaded by trudeau

Vincent's odyssey -

- Holland
- London
- Antwerp, Belgium
- Paris
- Arles, France
- St Remy, treated in the psychiatric center at Monastery Saint-Paul de Mausole, 1889–1890.
- Auvers-sur-Oise, a suburb of Paris. Final treatments and his suicide.

Vincent Van Gogh: 3 years of breakthrough painting in the south of France

2011-11-16T07:31:00.001-08:00

van gogh_2_2
Originally uploaded by trudeau

Vincent van Gogh, for whom color was the chief symbol of expression, was born in Groot-Zundert, Holland, says vangoghgallery.com.

The son of a pastor, brought up in a religious and cultured atmosphere, Vincent was highly emotional and lacked self-confidence. Between 1860 and 1880, when he finally decided to become an artist, van Gogh had had two unsuitable and
unhappy romances and had worked unsuccessfully as a clerk in a bookstore, an art salesman, and a preacher in the Borinage (a dreary mining district in Belgium), where he was dismissed for overzealousness.

He remained in Belgium to study art, determined to give happiness by creating beauty. In the Belgian city of Antwerp he discovered the works of Rubens and purchased many Japanese prints.

In 1886 he went to Paris to join his brother Théo, the manager of Goupil's gallery. In Paris, van Gogh studied with Cormon, inevitably met Pissarro, Monet, and Gauguin, and began to lighten his very dark palette and to paint in the short brushstrokes of the Impressionists.

His nervous temperament made him a difficult companion and night-long drinking and discussions combined with painting all day undermined his health.

He decided to go south to Arles, France, where he hoped his friends would join him and help found a school of art.

He had moved to the town with thoughts of founding a utopian art colony, and the Danish artist Christian Mourier-Petersen (1858–1945), became his companion for two months.

Arles appeared exotic and filthy to van Gogh, says Wikipedia. In a letter he described it as a foreign country: "The Zouaves, the brothels, the adorable little Arlesiennes going to their First Communion, the priest in his surplice, who looks like a dangerous rhinocerous, the people drinking absinthe, all seem to me creatures from another world".[85]

Gauguin did join him but with disastrous results. Near the end of 1888, an incident led Gauguin to ultimately leave Arles. Van Gogh pursued him with an open razor, was stopped by Gauguin, but ended up cutting a portion of his own ear lobe off. Van Gogh then began to alternate between fits of madness and lucidity and was sent to the asylum in Saint-Remy for treatment.

In May of 1890, he seemed much better and went to live in Auvers-sur-Oise under the watchful eye of Dr. Gachet. Two months later he was dead, having shot himself "for the good of all." During his brief career he had sold one painting.

Van Gogh's finest works were produced in less than three years in a technique that grew more and more impassioned in brushstroke, in symbolic and intense color, in surface tension, and in the movement and vibration of form and line. Van Gogh's inimitable fusion of form and content is powerful; dramatic, lyrically rhythmic, imaginative, and emotional, for the artist was completely absorbed in the effort to explain either his struggle against madness or his comprehension of the spiritual essence of man and nature.

He was a prolific self-portraitist, who painted himself 37 times between 1886 and 1889. In just over a decade, he produced more than 2,100 artworks, consisting of 860 oil paintings and more than 1,300 watercolors, drawings, sketches and prints. His work included self portraits, landscapes, still lifes of flowers, portraits and paintings of cypresses, wheat fields and sunflowers.

In one of his 200 letters to his brother, Theo, he said, "Real painters do not paint things as they are...They paint them as they themselves feel them to be".

Drink of 19th century writers, painters and poets: absinthe

2011-11-16T07:30:00.001-08:00

absinthe in the snow
Originally uploaded by retrogarde

Absinthe is historically described as a distilled, highly alcoholic (90-148 proof) beverage, says Wikipedia.

It is an anise-flavoured spirit (licorice-flavored) derived from herbs, including the flowers and leaves of the herb Artemisia absinthium, commonly referred to as "grande wormwood", together with green anise and sweet fennel.

Absinthe traditionally has a natural green colour but can also be colourless. It is commonly referred to in historical literature as "la fée verte" (the "green fairy" in French).

Absinthe originated in the canton of Neuchâtel in Switzerland. It achieved great popularity as an alcoholic drink in late 19th- and early 20th-century France, particularly among Parisian artists and writers. Charles Baudelaire, Paul Verlaine, Arthur Rimbaud, Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec, Amedeo Modigliani, Vincent van Gogh, Oscar Wilde, Aleister Crowley and Alfred Jarry were all known drinkers of absinthe.[6]

By 1915, absinthe had been banned in the United States and in most European countries.

Traditionally, absinthe is prepared by placing a sugar cube on top of a specially designed slotted spoon and then placing the spoon on the glass which has been filled with a shot of absinthe. Ice-cold water is then poured or dripped over the sugar cube so that the water is slowly and evenly displaced into the absinthe, typically 1 part absinthe and 3 to 5 parts water. During this process, components not soluble in water (mainly those from anise, fennel, and star anise) come out of solution and cloud the drink.

NYC - MoMA: Vincent van Gogh's The Starry Night

2011-11-15T15:22:00.001-08:00

NYC - MoMA: Vincent van Gogh's The Starry Night
Originally uploaded by wallyg

"This morning I saw the country from my window a long time before sunrise," the artist wrote to his brother Theo, "with nothing but the morning star, which looked very big."

Rooted in imagination and memory, The Starry Night embodies an inner, subjective expression of van Gogh's response to nature, says the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA).

In thick sweeping brushstrokes, a flamelike cypress unites the churning sky and the quiet village below. The village was partly invented, and the church spire evokes van Gogh's native land, the Netherlands.

During his stay in the hospital at St Remy he made several studies of the hospital interiors, such as Vestibule of the Asylum and Saint-Remy (September 1889). Some of the work from this time is characterized by swirls—including one of his best-known paintings The Starry Night.

Vincent van Gogh - Sunflowers (1888)

2011-11-14T10:32:00.001-08:00

Vincent van Gogh - Sunflowers (1888)
Originally uploaded by petrus.agricola

Sunflowers (original title, in French: Tournesols) are the subject of two series of still life paintings by the Dutch painter Vincent van Gogh, says Wikipedia.

The earlier series executed in Paris in 1887 gives the flowers lying on the ground, while the second set executed a year later in Arles shows bouquets of sunflowers in a vase. In the artist's mind, says Wikipedia, both sets were linked by the name of his friend Paul Gauguin, who acquired two of the Paris versions.

In 1888 Van Gogh moved to Arles, in the Provence region of France, with thoughts of founding a utopian art colony. Gauguin agreed to join him in Arles, giving Van Gogh much hope for friendship and his collective of artists. Waiting, in August, he painted sunflowers.

In December 1888, frustrated and ill, Van Gogh confronted Gauguin with a razor blade. In panic, Van Gogh left their hotel and fled to a local brothel. While there, he cut off the lower part of his left ear lobe. He wrapped the severed tissue in newspaper and handed it to a prostitute named Rachel, asking her to "keep this object carefully."[98]

Gauguin left Arles and never saw Van Gogh again.[a 4] Days later, Van Gogh was hospitalized and left in a critical state for several days. In less than a year he would enter an asylum to be treated for insanity.

Although he had been troubled by mental illness throughout his life, the episodes became more pronounced during his last few years. In some of these periods he was either unwilling or unable to paint, a factor which added to the mounting frustrations of an artist at the peak of his ability.

His depression gradually deepened. On 27 July 1890, aged 37, he walked into a field and shot himself in the chest with a revolver. He survived the impact, but not realizing that his injuries were to be fatal, he walked back to the Ravoux Inn. He died there two days later. Theo rushed to be at his side. Theo reported his brother's last words as "La tristesse durera toujours" (the sadness will last forever).[118]

Permission signature for field trip to Artspace / Fantastic Mr. Fox

2011-11-07T06:20:00.001-08:00

Fantastic Mr. Fox
Originally uploaded by Coren Mac

Please get a parent signature on a sheet of paper that says Field Trip to Artspace on Tues, Nov 8. Upon a school bus.

Trip will take place during the Fine Arts class period.

Fine arts / puppetry / 10 pt character plus environment

2011-11-04T08:15:00.001-07:00

Fine arts / puppetry
Originally uploaded by trudeau

Puppetry is used in almost all human societies both as an entertainment – in performance – and ceremonially in rituals and celebrations such as carnivals, says Wikipedia.[2]

Most puppetry involves storytelling. The impact of puppetry depends on the process of transformation of puppets, which has much in common with magic and with play.

Puppetry is a very ancient art form, thought to have originated about 30,000 years ago.[1]

Puppets have been used since the earliest times to animate and communicate the ideas and needs of human societies.[3] Some historians claim that they pre-date actors in theatre.

There is evidence that they were used in Egypt as early as 2000 BC when string-operated figures of wood were manipulated to perform the action of kneading bread. Wire controlled, articulated puppets made of clay and ivory have also been found in Egyptian tombs. Hieroglyphs also describe "walking statues" being used in Ancient Egyptian religious dramas.[1]

Although there are few remaining examples of puppets from ancient Greece, historical literature shows the existence of puppetry. The Greek word usually translated as "puppets" is "neurospasta", from "nervus", meaning either sinew, tendon, muscle, string, or wire, which literally means "string-pulling" and "span", to pull. Aristotle referred to pulling strings to control heads, hands and eyes, shoulders and legs.[15] Plato's work also contains references to puppetry. The Iliad and the Odyssey were presented using puppetry.

India has a great tradition of puppetry. In the great Indian epic Mahabharata there are references to puppets. The Rajasthani Puppet from India is notable and there are many Indian ventriloquists and puppeteers. The first Indian ventriloquist, Professor Y.K. Padhye, introduced this form of puppetry to India in the 1920s and his son, Ramdas Padhye, subsequently popularised ventriloquism and puppetry.

Indonesia has a strong tradition of puppetry. In Java, wayang kulit, an elaborate form of shadow puppetry is very popular. Javanese rod puppets have a long history and are used to tell fables from Javanese history.

Italy is considered by many to be the early home of the marionette due to the influence of Roman puppetry. Xenophon and Plutarch refer to them.[17] The Christian church used marionettes to perform morality plays.[17] It is believed that the word marionette originates from the little figures of the Virgin Mary, hence the word "marionette" or "Mary doll.[18] Comedy was introduced to the plays as time went by, and ultimately led to a church edict banning puppetry. Puppeteers responded by setting up stages outside cathedrals and became even more ribald and slapstick. Out of this grew the Italian comedy called Commedia dell'arte. Puppets were used at times in this form of theatre and sometimes Shakespeare's plays were performed using marionettes instead of actors.[19]

British Puppet theatre (Punch and Judy style), c. 1770

The traditional British Punch and Judy puppetry traces its roots to the 16th century to the Italian commedia dell'arte.[21] The character of "Punch" derives from the character Pulcinella, which was Anglicized to Punchinello. He is a manifestation of the Lord of Misrule and Trickster, figures of deep-rooted mythologies. Punch's wife was originally "Joan", but later became "Judy". In the late 18th and early 19th centuries, the familiar Punch and Judy puppet show which existed in Britain was performed in an easily-transportable booth.

Activity

Make a paper puppet and its environment.
Design, cut out, color and paste . . .
- head
- torso
- arms and hands
- thighs
- lower legs and feet
- environment may be sketched on the page as a base for the project.

- additional articulacy of your puppet may earn up to 10 additional points.

Ansel Adams, creator of iconic landscapes of the American West

2011-11-04T06:05:00.001-07:00

Magnet @ Norton, Shreveport
Originally uploaded by trudeau

Ansel Easton Adams (1902 – 1984) was an American photographer and environmentalist, best known for his black-and-white photographs of the American West, especially in Yosemite National Park, says Wikipedia.

With Fred Archer, Adams developed the Adams primarily used large-format cameras despite their size, weight, setup time, and film cost, because their high resolution helped ensure sharpness in his images.

His photographs are reproduced on calendars, posters, and in books, making his photographs widely distributed.

After young Ansel was dismissed from several private schools for his restlessness and inattentiveness, his father decided to pull him out of school in 1915, at the age of 12. Adams was then educated by private tutors, his Aunt Mary, and by his father. His Aunt Mary was a follower of Robert G. Ingersoll, a 19th century agnostic, abolitionist and women's suffrage advocate. As a result of his Aunt's influence, Ingersoll's teachings were important to Ansel's upbringing.[11]

During the Panama-Pacific International Exposition in 1915, his father insisted that, as part of his education, Adams spend part of each day studying the exhibits.

He taught himself piano at age twelve. Music became the main focus of his later youth.

His father gave him his first camera, a Kodak Brownie box camera at age 14.

"I believe in beauty. I believe in stones and water, air and soil, people and their future and their fate."[22] He decided that the purpose of his art, whether photography or music, was to reveal that beauty to others and to inspire them to the same calling.

In 1927, Adams produced his first portfolio, Parmelian Prints of the High Sierras, in his new style, which included his famous image Monolith, the Face of Half Dome, taken with his Korona view camera using glass plates and a dark red filter (to heighten the tonal contrasts). On that excursion, he had only one plate left and he "visualized" the effect of the blackened sky before risking the last shot. As he stated, "I had been able to realize a desired image: not the way the subject appeared in reality but how it felt to me and how it must appear in the finished print".

During the 1930s, many photographers including Dorothea Lange and Walker Evans believed they had a social obligation to reveal the harsh times of the Depression through their art. Mostly resistant to the "art for life's sake" movement, Adams did begin in the 1930s to deploy his photographs in the cause of wilderness preservation. In part, he was inspired by the increasing desecration of Yosemite Valley by commercial development, including a pool hall, bowling alley, golf course, shops, and automobile traffic. He created a limited-edition book in 1938, Sierra Nevada: The John Muir Trail, as part of the Sierra Club's efforts to secure the designation of Sequoia and Kings Canyon as national parks. This book and his testimony before Congress played a vital role in the success of the effort, and Congress designated the area as a National Park in 1940.

Adams was distressed by the Japanese American Internment that occurred after the Pearl Harbor attack. He requested permission to visit the Manzanar War Relocation Center in the Owens Valley, at the foot of Mount Williamson. The resulting photo-essay first appeared in a Museum of Modern Art exhibit, and later was published as Born Free and Equal: The Story of Loyal Japanese-Americans.

Adams's black-and-white photographs of the West which became the foremost record of what many of the National Parks were like before tourism, and his persistent advocacy helped expand the National Park system. He skillfully used his works to promote many of the goals of the Sierra Club and of the nascent environmental movement, but always insisted that, as far as his photographs were concerned, "beauty comes first".

He reminded his students, "It is easy to take a photograph, but it is harder to make a masterpiece in photography than in any other art medium."[73]

Sunday picnic on the Marne River: Henri Cartier-Bresson

2011-11-01T17:51:00.001-07:00

01_Henri Cartier-Bresson
Originally uploaded by eyemagazine

"Although he would later be feted as the father of photojournalism, Henry Cartier-Bresson was at his best when he was taking photos which didn’t ‘report’ anything — men in Parisian streets, sunbathers whether they be at Peter and Paul fortress or Coney Island. At the first glance, the above picture — one of Cartier-Bresson’s most famous — seems exactly like it: languorous workers in Juvisny spending a lazy afternoon on the bank of River Marne."
- Iconic Photos

An alternative view:

Craig Silver for Forbes Magazine: "At the working-class picnic on a river bank in France everyone is porcine and unlovely, the light is dreary, the grass is scraggly. It’s as if the photographer is saying, “How amusing that they think this is festive!”

Essential to Fine Arts: the map of the Mediterranean

2011-10-31T17:41:00.001-07:00

Mediterranean_Relief map
Originally uploaded by trudeau

At the moment, we're learning Italy and neighbors through the travels of painter Caravaggio.

- Milano
- Florence
- Roma
- Napoli / Isla Capri
- Vesuvio
- Sicily
- Malta
- Tunisia / Carthage (continent of Africa, continent of Africa)
There's also the map of France (see below) that helps us place the work of Henri Cartier-Bresson as well as Picasso and Matisse.

Behind Saint-Lazare Station - Paris 1932 by photojournalist Henri Cartier-Bresson

2011-10-30T20:00:00.001-07:00

Behind Saint-Lazare Station - Paris 1932 by Henri Cartier-Bresson
Originally uploaded by monkeyc.net

Henri Cartier-Bresson (1908 – 2004) was a French photographer considered to be the father of modern photojournalism.

He was an early adopter of 35 mm format, and the master of candid photography, says Wikipedia.

He helped develop the "street photography" or "real life reportage" style that has influenced generations of photographers who followed.

He explained, "I suddenly understood that a photograph could fix eternity in an instant."[citation needed] He acquired the Leica camera with 50 mm lens in Marseilles that would accompany him for many years. He described the Leica as an extension of his eye.[citation needed] The anonymity that the small camera gave him in a crowd or during an intimate moment was essential in overcoming the formal and unnatural behavior of those who were aware of being photographed. He enhanced his anonymity by painting all shiny parts of the Leica with black paint.

The Leica opened up new possibilities in photography — the ability to capture the world in its actual state of movement and transformation. He said, "I prowled the streets all day, feeling very strung-up and ready to pounce, ready to 'trap' life."[citation needed] Restless, he photographed in Berlin, Brussels, Warsaw, Prague, Budapest and Madrid.

Cartier-Bresson's, The Decisive Moment, the 1952 US edition of Images à la sauvette. The book contains the term "the decisive moment" now synonymous with Cartier-Bresson: "There is nothing in this world that does not have a decisive moment."

Cartier-Bresson achieved international recognition for his coverage of Gandhi's funeral in India in 1948 and the last (1949) stage of the Chinese Civil War. He covered the last six months of the Kuomintang administration and the first six months of the Maoist People's Republic. He also photographed the last surviving Imperial eunuchs in Beijing, as the city was falling to the communists. From China, he went on to Dutch East Indies (now Indonesia), where he documented the gaining of independence from the Dutch.

In 1952, Cartier-Bresson published his book Images à la sauvette, whose English edition was titled The Decisive Moment. It included a portfolio of 126 of his photos from the East and the West.

He was inspired by the thought that, "There is nothing in this world that does not have a decisive moment."
"Photography is not like painting," Cartier-Bresson told the Washington Post in 1957. "There is a creative fraction of a second when you are taking a picture. Your eye must see a composition or an expression that life itself offers you, and you must know with intuition when to click the camera. That is the moment the photographer is creative," he said. "Oop! The Moment! Once you miss it, it is gone forever."[7]

Mozart's Sister has arrived at Robinson Film Center

2011-10-30T19:16:00.001-07:00

MOZART’S SISTER Poster
Originally uploaded by Scottsdale Area Chamber

Reviews are mixed for the indie movie Mozart's Sister, recently playing at RFC.

Rottentomatoes.com has an array of reviews, the trailer and this summary:
A speculative account of Maria Anna "Nannerl" Mozart (Marie Feret), five years older than Wolfgang (David Moreau) and a musical prodigy in her own right. Originally the featured performer, she has given way to Wolfgang as the main attraction, as their strict but loving father Leopold (Marc Barbe) tours his talented offspring in front of the royal courts of pre-French revolution Europe.

Bonus points for brief critical essays on the movie.

British author Roald Dahl created Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, James and the Giant Peach and the Fantastic Mr. Fox

2011-10-30T12:58:00.001-07:00

Fantastic Mr. Fox
Originally uploaded by WonderLandNeverLand

Roald Dahl (1916 – 1990) was a British novelist, short story writer, fighter pilot and screenwriter, says Wikipedia.

Born in Wales to Norwegian parents, he served in the Royal Air Force during the Second World War, in which he became a flying ace and intelligence agent, rising to the rank of Wing Commander.

Dahl rose to prominence in the 1940s with works for both children and adults, and became one of the world's best-selling authors.[3][4] He has been referred to as "one of the greatest storytellers for children of the 20th century".[5]

His short stories are known for their unexpected endings, and his children's books for their unsentimental, often very dark humour.

Some of his notable works include James and the Giant Peach, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, George's Marvellous Medicine, Fantastic Mr Fox, Matilda, The Witches and The BFG.

In Mr Fox the eponymous hero feeds his family by stealing chickens, ducks, and turkeys each night from three mean and wealthy farmers: Boggis, Bunce, and Bean.

The farmers are fed up with Mr Fox's theft and try to kill him.

In the Artspace version Mr Fox is voiced by New Orleans musician Johhny Vidacovich and is cast as a vulnerable father who is down on his luck and losing ground in his battle with the farmers.

Class fees of $10 being used for $8 charge for visit to field trip to experience Fantastic Mr Fox / Artspace Shreveport on Tues, Nov 8; parents invited

2011-10-30T12:44:00.001-07:00

Fantastic Mr Fox / Artspace Shreveport
Originally uploaded by trudeau

The Fantastic Mr Fox production at Artspace Shreveport is an innovative and artistic experience that brings to life Roald Dahl's classic book of the same name.

Created and first performed in New Orleans, the show combines puppetry, dioramas, lighting, soundtrack and audience participation.

Each fine arts class will visit Artspace during their class block on Tues, Nov 8, to experience the show.

Parents are invited to join in the visit.

Class fees of $10 have been paid by most students. Please see jpams. The Mr Fox fee of $8 per student will be paid from the class fund.

Blog and notes quiz Wed, Nov 2

2011-10-30T12:22:00.001-07:00

Art of the Motorcycle / Artspace Shreveport
Originally uploaded by trudeau

Reading comprehension and information management - ie, knowing the material that is on the blog and in your class notes - will be tested again on Wed, Nov 2.

Some 12 - 15 questions will be mostly but not entirely multiple choice.

Fine arts independent projects due Th, Nov 10

2011-10-30T12:14:00.001-07:00

Fine arts Magnet
Originally uploaded by trudeau

Projects in sculpture, painting, photography, video and other fine arts media are due Th, Nov 10, for 15 pts each person.

Students may work solo or in a duo.

Approximately 25 minutes in each class will be devoted to indie projects. Students are expected to match the class time with equivalent homework time. Bringing appropriate materials to class in timely fashion is also your responsibility.

Early completion of a highly-realized project will earn a 5 pt bonus.

Pioneer in moving pictures: Eadweard Muybridge

2011-10-27T19:05:00.001-07:00

Eadweard Muybridge
Originally uploaded by pashasha

Eadweard J. Muybridge (1830 – 1904) was an English photographer who spent much of his life in the United States, says Wikipedia.

He is known for his pioneering work on animal locomotion which used multiple cameras to capture motion, and his zoopraxiscope, a device for projecting motion pictures. It pre-dated the flexible perforated film strip.

In 1872, former Governor of California Leland Stanford, a businessman and race-horse owner, had taken a position on a popularly-debated question of the day: whether all four of a horse's hooves are off the ground at the same time during the trot. Up until this time, most paintings of horses at full gallop showed the front legs extended forward and the hind legs extended to the rear. [9] Stanford sided with this assertion, called "unsupported transit", and took it upon himself to prove it scientifically. Stanford sought out Muybridge and hired him to settle the question.[10]

In later studies Muybridge used a series of large cameras that used glass plates placed in a line, each one being triggered by a thread as the horse passed. Later a clockwork device was used. The images were copied in the form of silhouettes onto a disc and viewed in a machine called a Zoopraxiscope. This in fact became an intermediate stage towards motion pictures or cinematography.

At the University of Pennsylvania in the 1880's Muybridge used banks of cameras to photograph people and animals to study their movement.

The models, either entirely nude or with very little clothing, were photographed in a variety of undertakings, ranging from boxing, to walking down stairs, to throwing water over one another and carrying buckets of water.

Between 1883 and 1886 he made a total of 100,000 images, working under the auspices of the University of Pennsylvania. They were published as 781 plates comprising 20,000 of the photographs in a collection titled Animal Locomotion.[16]

Muybridge's work stands near the beginning of the science of biomechanics and the mechanics of athletics.

At the Chicago 1893 World's Columbian Exposition, Muybridge gave a series of lectures on the Science of Animal Locomotion in the Zoopraxographical Hall, built specially for that purpose.

He used his zoopraxiscope to show his moving pictures to a paying public, making the Hall the very first commercial movie theater.[17]

Judith mit dem Haupt des Holofernes, 1530, Holland

2011-10-27T18:44:00.001-07:00

Lucas CRANACH the Elder, Judith mit dem Haupt des Holofernes, 1530
Originally uploaded by Ondra Havala

The account of the beheading of Holofernes by Judith is given in the deuterocanonical book of Judith, and is the subject of numerous depictions in painting and sculpture, says Wikipedia.

In the story, Judith, a beautiful widow, is able to enter the tent of Holofernes because of his desire for her. Holofernes was an Assyrian general who was about to destroy Judith's home, the city of Bethulia, though the story is emphatic that no "defilement" takes place.

Overcome with drink, he passes out and is decapitated by Judith; his head is taken away in a basket (often depicted as carried by an elderly female servant).

Artists have mainly chosen one of two possible scenes (with or without the servant): the decapitation, with Holofernes prone on the bed, or the heroine holding or carrying the head.

Thanks to Natalie Rambis!

Fine arts survey: basic film cameras, terms that remain mostly applicable today

2011-10-27T18:00:00.001-07:00

fine arts survey: henri Cartier Bresson
Originally uploaded by trudeau

SLR
Pros

Direct focusing control
Precise framing
Depth-of-field control (if available)
Unlimited lens/filter options
Ability to use tilt/shift, macro and long lenses
efficient flare check in contra-light

Rangefinder
Compact
Quiet and practically vibration-free
Very bright, aperture independent viewfinder
Superb wide-angle and normal lenses
Maximum optical quality at f/4-5.6, while excellent at maximum apertures
Short shutter lag

Cons
SLR
Large and heavy
Vibrations restrict hand-hold photography
Retrofocus design plagues wide-angle lenses
Maximum optical quality at f/8-11 while often mediocre at maximum apertures for 28-80 lenses.
Often considerable shutter lag
Dark viewfinder with f/5.6 and slower lenses

Rangefinder
Telephoto lenses are limited to 135 mm or shorter (coincident rangefinder cameras)
Awkward macro-photography (if possible at all)
Possible parallax errors at close-up focusing
Rudimentary depth-of-field control
Focus control is indirect
polarizers cannot be used (without major obstacles)
potential mismatch between lens flare vs rangefinder

What to know in the fine arts center, France

2011-10-27T17:39:00.001-07:00

fine arts survey: France
Originally uploaded by trudeau

The best-known regions -

- Normandy - 1) the invasion of England in 1066 by William of Normandy, aka William the Bastard 2) Normandy invasion of German-occupied France by British, American, Australian and French forces June 6, 1944.
- Bordeaux - It is the world's major wine industry capital. Also notable here: pate de foie gras and lamb dishes.
- Cote d'Azur: yachts and beautiful, wealthy people sun themselves in St Tropez, Nice and Cannes. Picasso lived in the region for years.
- Provence - Painters love the light here: residents include Cezanne, Van Gogh, Renoir, Monet, Matisse and Picasso, among many.
- Burgundy is the region of some of the most expensive French wines, as well as dishes such as Boeuf Burguignon, Coq au vin and Escargots à la Bourguignonne.

- Paris
- Marseille
- Bordeaux
- Strasbourg

- Rhine R.
- Loire R.

Italian artist Caravaggio's "David with the head of Goliath"

2011-10-24T19:07:00.001-07:00

Caravaggio's David with the head of Goliath
Originally uploaded by Paul Cook

Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio (1571 – 1610) was an Italian artist active in Rome, Naples, Malta, and Sicily between 1593 and 1610, says Wikipedia.

His paintings, which combine a realistic observation of the human state, both physical and emotional, with a dramatic use of lighting, had a formative influence on the Baroque school of painting. Among others, he influenced Rembrandt.

Caravaggio's style was a radical naturalism which combined close physical observation with a dramatic, even theatrical, use of chiaroscuro. He painted the shift from light to dark with little intermediate value.

He burst upon the Rome art scene in 1600 with the success of his first public commissions, the Martyrdom of Saint Matthew and Calling of Saint Matthew. Thereafter he never lacked for commissions or patrons, yet he handled his success badly, being caught in several felonious assaults.

The Cardsharps is perhaps Caravaggio's first true masterpiece.

Already evident was the intense realism or naturalism for which Caravaggio is now famous. He preferred to paint his subjects as the eye sees them, with all their natural flaws and defects instead of as idealised creations. This allowed a full display of Caravaggio's virtuosic talents. This shift from accepted standard practice and the classical idealism of Michelangelo was very controversial at the time. Not only was his realism a noteworthy feature of his paintings during this period, he turned away from the lengthy preparations traditional in central Italy at the time. Instead, he preferred the Venetian practice of working in oils directly from the subject - half-length figures and still life.

In 1599, presumably through the influence of Cardinal Del Monte, Caravaggio was contracted to decorate the Contarelli Chapel. The two works making up the commission, the Martyrdom of Saint Matthew and Calling of Saint Matthew, delivered in 1600, were an immediate sensation.

Major works from his Malta (Mediterranean island south of Sicily) period include a huge Beheading of Saint John the Baptist (the only painting to which he put his signature) and a Portrait of Alof de Wignacourt and his Page, as well as portraits of other leading knights.

He painted also a David with the Head of Goliath, showing the young David with a strangely sorrowful expression gazing on the severed head of the giant, which is Caravaggio's.

Rembrandt color photo project due Tues, Oct 25, 15 pts

2011-10-12T19:57:00.001-07:00

night watch
Originally uploaded by gomonik

In imitation of Rembrandt the next batch of 3 photos must be -

- subjects must be dressy in attire; ie, with collared shirt, hat, scarf, etc.
- a half-figure - from a bit above the waist.
- feature dramatic side lighting.
- 2 in ordinary color.
- one photo in black & white that has been hand-colored.
- be mounted on card stock or matted.
- be well focused.
- have a very plain backdrop.
- avoid harsh shadows and feature a sober mien.

Rembrandt and Amsterdam quiz Friday

2011-10-10T19:37:00.001-07:00

Fine Arts Magnet / Rembrandt
Originally uploaded by trudeau

Amsterdam is the largest city and the capital of the Netherlands, says Wikipedia.

Amsterdam has metropolitan population of 2,158,592.[7] It comprises the northern part of the Randstad, one of the larger conurbations in Europe, with a population of approximately 7 million.[8]

Its name is derived from Amstelredamme,[9] indicative of the city's origin: a dam in the river Amstel. It was settled as a small fishing village in the late 12th century,

Amsterdam became one of the most important ports in the world during the 17th century, which was the Dutch Golden Age. Proeprity arrived as a result of its innovative developments in trade. During that time, the city was the leading center for finance and diamonds.[10]

Seeven of the world's top 500 companies, including Philips and ING, are based in the city.[12] In 2010, Amsterdam was ranked 13th globally on quality of living[13] by Mercer, and previously ranked 3rd in innovation by 2thinknow in the Innovation Cities Index 2009.[14]

The Amsterdam Stock Exchange, the oldest stock exchange in the world, is located in the city centre.

Amsterdam's main attractions, including its historic canals, the Rijksmuseum, the Van Gogh Museum, Stedelijk Museum, Hermitage Amsterdam, Anne Frank House, Amsterdam Museum, its red-light district, and its cannabis coffee shops draw more than 3.66 million international visitors annually.

Rembrandt lighting, a style so universally appreciated that it is a stock item in photography and painting

2011-10-09T17:53:00.001-07:00

Rembrandt Portrait
Originally uploaded by jlindsay

Rembrandt lighting is characterized by an illuminated triangle under the eye of the subject, on the less illuminated side of the face, says Wikipedia.

One side of the face is lit well from the main light source while the other side of the face uses the interaction of shadows and light, also known as chiaroscuro, to create this geometric form on the face.

chiaroscuro: (Italian, "light-dark") in art is characterized by strong contrasts between light and dark, usually bold contrasts affecting a whole composition.

It is also a term for using contrasts of light to achieve a sense of volume in modelling three-dimensional objects such as the human body.

Rembrandt Harmenszoon van Rijn
1606 -1669
- Dutch painter and etcher. He is generally considered one of the greatest painters and printmakers in European art history and the most important in Dutch history.[2]

Having achieved youthful success as a portrait painter, his later years were marked by personal tragedy and financial hardships.

Yet his etchings and paintings were popular throughout his lifetime, his reputation as an artist remained high,[3] and for twenty years he taught many important Dutch painters.[4]

Rembrandt's greatest creative triumphs are exemplified especially in his portraits of his contemporaries, self-portraits and illustrations of scenes from the Bible. His self-portraits form a unique and intimate biography, in which the artist surveyed himself without vanity and with the utmost sincerity.[2]

Fine Arts portraiture: side lighted and matted black & white head shots are classic

2011-10-09T16:36:00.001-07:00

Fine Arts portraiture / Jaedon
Originally uploaded by trudeau

Standards
- dramatic side lighting - see Rembrandt lighting.
- conversion to black & white
- matted
- titled and signed
- 5X7 or 8X10
- 3 pieces
- 15 pts

- campus exhibit / online exhibit

Due in class on Oct 10.

Excellent Fine Arts Quiz on Oct 6

2011-10-05T14:30:00.001-07:00

Fine arts / Allen Ginsberg & Miles Davis
Originally uploaded by trudeau

- Brief
- Open notes
- Mult-choice
- Easy
- Mostly

Jazz from the written page: poet Allen Ginsberg, 1926 - 1997

2011-10-04T06:10:00.001-07:00

Allen Ginsberg
Originally uploaded by M.LaFlaur

Irwin Allen Ginsberg (1926 – 1997) was an American poet and one of the leading figures of the Beat Generation in the 1950s, notes Wikipedia.

He vigorously opposed militarism, materialism and sexual repression. Ginsberg is best known for his epic poem "Howl", in which he celebrated his fellow "angel-headed hipsters" and harshly denounced what he saw as the destructive forces of capitalism and conformity in the United States.

I saw the best minds of my generation destroyed by
madness, starving hysterical naked,
dragging themselves through the negro streets at dawn
looking for an angry fix...[2]

In October 1955, Ginsberg and five other unknown poets gave a free reading at an experimental art gallery in San Francisco. Ginsberg's "Howl" electrified the audience.

In 1957, "Howl" attracted widespread publicity when it became the subject of an obscenity trial in which a San Francisco prosecutor argued it contained "filthy, vulgar, obscene, and disgusting language." The poem seemed especially outrageous in 1950s America because it depicted both heterosexual and homosexual sex[4] at a time when sodomy laws made homosexual acts a crime in every U.S. state.

"Howl" reflected Ginsberg's own homosexuality and his relationships with a number of men, including Peter Orlovsky, his lifelong partner.[5]

Judge Clayton W. Horn ruled that "Howl" was not obscene, adding, "Would there be any freedom of press or speech if one must reduce his vocabulary to vapid innocuous euphemisms?"[6]

In "Howl" and in his other poetry, Ginsberg drew inspiration from the epic, free verse style of the 19th century American poet Walt Whitman. Both wrote passionately about the promise (and betrayal) of American democracy, the central importance of erotic experience, and the spiritual quest for the truth of everyday existence.

Ginsberg was a practicing Buddhist who studied Eastern religious disciplines extensively.

Ginsberg's political activism was consistent with his religious beliefs. He took part in decades of non-violent political protest against everything from the Vietnam War to the War on Drugs.[12] The literary critic, Helen Vendler, described Ginsberg as "tirelessly persistent in protesting censorship, imperial politics, and persecution of the powerless."

"A pure, round sound but also an unusual freedom of articulation and pitch:" Miles Davis

2011-10-04T04:07:00.001-07:00

Miles Davis
Originally uploaded by LegacyRecordings

Miles Dewey Davis III (May 26, 1926 – September 28, 1991) was an American jazz trumpeter, bandleader, and composer, notes Wikipedia.

Widely considered one of the most influential musicians of the 20th century, Davis was at the forefront of almost every major development in jazz from World War II to the 1990s: he played on various early bebop records and recorded one of the first cool jazz records; he was partially responsible for the development of hard bop and modal jazz, and both jazz-funk and jazz fusion arose from his work with other musicians in the late 1960s and early 1970s; and his final album blended jazz and rap.

Many leading jazz musicians made their names in Davis's groups, including pianist Herbie Hancock, saxophonist John Coltrane, saxophonist Kenny Garrett, and guitarist John McLaughlin.

As a trumpeter, Davis had a pure, round sound but also an unusual freedom of articulation and pitch. He was known for favoring a low register and relatively sparse playing that served the song rather than display flashy playing, but Davis was also capable of highly complex and technically demanding trumpet work.

Kind of Blue is his magnum opus. In March and April 1959, Davis re-entered the studio with his working sextet to record Kind of Blue. He called back Bill Evans for the album sessions as the music had been planned around Evans' piano style.[3] Equally crucially, both Davis and Evans had direct familiarity with the ideas of pianist George Russell regarding modal jazz, Davis from discussions with Russell and others prior to what came to be known as the Birth of the Cool sessions.

By the time of E.S.P. (1965) Davis' lineup consisted of Wayne Shorter, Herbie Hancock, Ron Carter (bass) and Tony Williams (drums). This lineup, the last of his acoustic bands, is often known as "the second great quintet."

The double LP Bitches Brew became a huge seller, hitting gold record status (half a million copies) by 1976. This album and In a Silent Way were among the first fusions of jazz and rock that were commercially successful, building on the groundwork laid by Charles Lloyd, Larry Coryell, and many others who pioneered a genre that would become known simply as "Jazz-rock fusion".

Davis was troubled by osteoarthritis (which led to a hip replacement operation in 1976, the first of several), sickle-cell anemia, depression, bursitis, ulcers and a renewed dependence on alcohol and drugs (primarily cocaine), and his performances were routinely panned throughout late 1974 and early 1975. By the time the group reached Japan in February 1975, Davis was teetering on a physical breakdown and required copious amounts of vodka and narcotics to complete his engagements.

After a Newport Jazz Festival performance at Avery Fisher Hall in New York on July 1, 1975, Davis withdrew almost completely from the public eye for six years. As Gil Evans said, "His organism is tired. And after all the music he's contributed for 35 years, he needs a rest."[citation needed]

Davis characterized this period in his memoirs as a colorful time when wealthy women lavished him with sex and drugs. In reality, he had become completely dependent upon various drugs, spending nearly all of his time propped up on a couch in his apartment watching television, leaving only to score more drugs.

By 1979, Davis had rekindled his relationship with actress Cicely Tyson. With Tyson, Davis would overcome his heroin addiction and regain his enthusiasm for music. As he had not played trumpet for the better part of three years, regaining his famed embouchure proved to be particularly arduous.

Miles Davis died on September 28, 1991 from a stroke, pneumonia and respiratory failure in Santa Monica, California at the age of 65. He is buried in Woodlawn Cemetery in The Bronx, New York.

Black diaspora in America, 1910 - 1930, 1940 - 1970

2011-10-02T20:51:00.001-07:00

Jeffrey Baker, Southern University Museum of Art, 610 Texas, Shreveport
Originally uploaded by trudeau

The Great Migration was the movement of 2 million blacks out of the Southern United States to the Northeast, Midwest and West from 1910 to 1930, says Wikipedia.[1]

African Americans migrated to escape racism and prejudice in the South, as well as to seek jobs in industrial cities.

Some historians differentiate between a First Great Migration (1910–30), numbering about 1.6 million migrants, and a Second Great Migration (1940 to 1970), in which 5 million or more people moved and to a wider variety of destinations.

From 1965–70, 14 states of the South, especially Alabama, Louisiana and Mississippi, contributed to a large net migration of blacks to the other three cultural (and census-designated) regions of the United States.[2]

By the end of the Second Great Migration, African Americans had become an urbanized population. More than 80 percent lived in cities. Fifty-three percent remained in the South, while 40 percent lived in the North and 7 percent in the West.[3]

A reverse migration has gathered strength since 1965, dubbed the New Great Migration, the term for demographic changes from 1965 to the present which are a reversal of the previous 35-year trend of black migration within the United States.

Best Jazz Trio in S'pt? Probably so.

2011-10-02T19:20:00.001-07:00

Best Jazz Trio in S'pt? Probably so.
Originally uploaded by trudeau

Smart history of jazz presentation at scholastic.com/activities/bhistory/history_of_jazz.

And the musicians above are Henry Ward, Chan Teague and Christopher Allen. All are members of the Shreveport Symphony Orchestra but they also swing hard in the Miles Davis mode of jazz.

Nov 1 & 2: Dia de Los Muertos

2011-10-02T16:38:00.001-07:00

Magnet el Dia de Los Muertos
Originally uploaded by trudeau

Day of the Dead (Spanish: Día de los Muertos) is a Mexican holiday, says Wikipdeai.

The holiday focuses on gatherings of family and friends to pray for and remember friends and family members who have died. It is particularly celebrated in Mexico, where it attains the quality of a National Holiday.

The celebration takes place on November 1st and 2nd, in connection with the Catholic holidays of All Saints' Day (November 1) and All Souls' Day (November 2).

Traditions connected with the holiday include building private altars honoring the deceased using sugar skulls, marigolds, and the favorite foods and beverages of the departed and visiting graves with these as gifts.

Fine arts Magnet - Portrait project

2011-09-29T19:50:00.001-07:00

Fine arts Magnet - Portrait project
Originally uploaded by trudeau

Group projects: Dia de los Muertos, papier mache, video, story time, etc

2011-09-28T16:00:00.001-07:00

Calaveras of Dia de los Muertos / Artspace Shreveport
Originally uploaded by trudeau

Group projects are an experiment on my part designed to bring more action and appreciation for arts production to Fine Arts survey. The idea is to take some class time and combine it with homework to produce an artful exhibit.

Students will be allowed to work during classroom time as long as they have the materials and exhibit enough organization to satisfy the educational standards of your teacher.

Be aware that as it is an experiment I may have to make adjustments to the schedule.

The due date for all projects will be Tues, Oct 18.

15 pts ea student.
5 pts bonus for early completion.

The Artful Portrait Project

2011-09-28T07:47:00.001-07:00

Tyler Snelling / Fine Arts Magnet self-portrait
Originally uploaded by trudeau

Criteria -

- dramatic side lighting - see Rembrandt lighting.
- black & white
- matted
- titled and signed
- 5X7 or 8X10
- 3 pieces
- 15 pts

- campus exhibit / online exhibit
Due in class on Oct 10.

Trumpet player Don Crenshaw / Dirty Red, Shreveport

2011-09-28T07:01:00.001-07:00

Don Crenshaw / Dirty Red, Shreveport
Originally uploaded by trudeau

Trumpets are among the oldest musical instruments,[1] dating back to at least 1500 BCE.

They are played by blowing air through closed lips, producing a "buzzing" sound which starts a standing wave vibration in the air column inside the trumpet.

The typical trumpet is a B flat, piston valve horn.

The bronze and silver trumpets from Tutankhamun's grave in Egypt, bronze lurs from Scandinavia, and metal trumpets from China date back to 1500 BCE.[2] Trumpets from the Oxus civilization (3rd millennium BCE) of Central Asia have decorated swellings in the middle, yet are made out of one sheet of metal, which is considered a technical wonder.[3] The Moche people of ancient Peru depicted trumpets in their art going back to 300 CE.[4]

The earliest trumpets were signaling instruments used for military or religious purposes, rather than music in the modern sense;[5] and the modern bugle continues this signaling tradition.

In medieval times, trumpet playing was a guarded craft, its instruction occurring only within highly selective guilds. The trumpet players were often among the most heavily guarded members of a troop, as they were relied upon to relay instructions to other sections of the army.

piccolo trumpet
pocket trumpet
cornet
flugelhorn
slide trumpet
bugle
bass trumpet

Decorative items that seem to be art but are unoriginal and cheesy: it's kitsch

2011-09-28T06:42:00.001-07:00

Magnet @ Meadows
Originally uploaded by trudeau

Kitsch refers to non-original art-like material that has some of the qualities of art. An example: reproductions of the Blue Dog by esteemed Louisiana artist George Rodrigue.

While your teacher is proud that his house is full of original art, he must admit that he has kitsch, too - and it is dear to him. Examples include numerous statuettes of Buddha and Ganesh.

Kitsch /kɪtʃ/ is a term of German or Yiddish origin, says Wikiepdiia, that has been used to categorize art that is considered an inferior, tasteless copy of an existing style.

The contemporary definition of kitsch is derogatory, denoting works executed to pander to popular demand alone and purely for commercial purposes rather than works created as self-expression by an artist.[2] The term is generally reserved for unsubstantial and gaudy works that are calculated to have popular appeal and are considered pretentious and shallow rather than genuine artistic efforts.

Your teacher's parents had a reproduction of an 18th century painting of Venice ("The Palace of the Doge") over the sofa in the living room.

"Nice try, Mom."

It was nicely-framed kitsch.

"Equal day and equal night:" the equinox

2011-09-22T05:43:00.001-07:00

Thin-walled glass globe
Originally uploaded by trudeau

An equinox occurs twice a year, when the tilt of the Earth's axis is inclined neither away from nor towards the Sun, the center of the Sun being in the same plane as the Earth's equator. The term equinox can also be used in a broader sense, meaning the date when such a passage happens. The name "equinox" is derived from the Latin aequus (equal) and nox (night), because around the equinox, the night and day have approximately equal length.

There are harvest festivals across the globe that coincide with the autumnal equinox.

Ska-boom: a quiz upon the basic tenets of jazz

2011-09-22T05:32:00.001-07:00

Jazzing the orchestra with the Marcus Roberts Trio and the Shreveport Symphony Orchestra Sat, Sept 16
Originally uploaded by trudeau

Jazz quiz
1. First city of jazz: __ __.
2. Second city of Jazz (and of the US in general): __ .
3. Third city to which the fathers of jazz - such as Joe Oliver, Louis
Armstrong and Jellyroll Morton - relocated: __ __ .
4. Movement of impoverished black Americans from the farms of the Deep
South to urban centers of Upper Midwest and Northeast: a) diplomacy b)
dispora c) displacement d) dislocation .
5. Approximate date for the birth of jazz: a) 1800 b) 1850's c)
1900 d) 1920's.
6. Name given to the place in New Orleans where slaves gathered on
Sundays: a) river levees b) Ashanti circle c) Place Congo d) Vieux
Carre.
7. Louisiana term for people of mixed ethnic background, esp. a
mixture of French, Spanish, native American and Afro-Caribbean: __ .
8. Gens de couleur libre was a special ethnic category in NO. It
indicated a person who was African-American, yet not a slave. T / F
9. Another name for the historic French Quarter is Vieux Carre; it
means: a) Spanish Quarter b) Old Quarter c) French District d)
Slave Quarters .
10. A radical change in his instrument's shape was the signature of
bebop jazz artist Dizzy Gilespie. His instrumentwas the ____ .
11. Gillespie, Ella Fitzgerald and other jazzers offered vocal
improvisation with random vocables and syllables or without words at
all. This is called __ singing.
12. World War I and the Immigration Act of 1924 halted the flow of
European immigrants to the emerging industrial centers of the
Northeast and Midwest, causing shortages of workers in the factories
and openings for immigrating African-Americans. T / F
13. Chronological order of the development of jazz: a) Dixieland,
big band-style swing, bebop, Latin jazz, free jazz b) big band-style
swing, Dixieland, bebop, Latin jazz, free jazz c) bebop, Dixieland,
big band-style swing, Latin jazz, free jazz
14. In jazz the skilled performer will interpret a tune in very
individual ways, never playing the same composition exactly the same
way twice. Thus while jazz may be difficult to define, ______ is
clearly one of its key elements.
a) swing b) improvisation c) syncopation d) concentration.

1. New Orleans
2. Chicago
3. NYC (Harlem is not a city; it is a neighborhood in NYC)
4. diaspora
5. 1900
6. Place Congo, or Congo Square
7. Creole
8. T
9. Old Quarter
10. trumpet
11.scat
12. T
13. Dixieland, swing, bebop, etc
14. improvisation

Magnet fine arts: descriptive essays on performance by Angela Russell & Cameron Meshell and description of the esteemed movie Amadeus

2011-09-21T18:17:00.001-07:00

Magnet fine arts New Orleans
Originally uploaded by trudeau

1. Ju Ju title!
2. Jambo opening.
3. Action and names.
4. That's it!

10 pts.
Amadeus, the award-winning movie: 1) Cannon-shot title 2) Colorful opening 3) 2-sentence plot synopsis 4) quotes (2) 5) Strengths and weaknesses6) documentation.

Shreveport Symphony Orchestra: student tickets $10 cash on Sat night

2011-09-21T09:24:00.001-07:00

Shreveport Symphony Orchestra: standing ovation
Originally uploaded by trudeau

Special price for students on Sat night, says Cathy Sholar, at the ticket window in the lobby of Riverview Theater: $10 c a s h (rather than the usual $12).

Dollar per bonus point: 10 pts.

Wave at me in the lobby at intermission!

New Orleans map project: 10 pts on Tues

2011-09-16T07:52:00.001-07:00

map_of_new-orleans
Originally uploaded by trudeau

Sketch (trace) and color a map of the Crescent City. Please include -

- French Quarter / Vieux Carre
- Bourbon St
- Canal St
- St Charles Ave
- Louis Armstrong Park / Place Congo
- site of Storyville red light district
- Lake Pontchartrain
- Mississippi R

From Mozart to Jellyroll Morton / Jazz reports due next week

2011-09-16T06:00:00.001-07:00

Don Crenshaw / Dirty Red, Shreveport
Originally uploaded by trudeau

Jazz your baby! Jazz me, sister!

The music called jazz is varied and the definition is problematic.

Nonetheless, you will develop an appreciation for early jazz as played in New Orleans and Chicago, for swing jazz as born in New York, and for bebop and cool jazz, also birthed in NYC.

Graphic report on jazz personalities (15 pts) -
- 5 images/slides, 3 bits of historic material upon each.
- Musical sample.
- documentation.
- 3 review questions at end: multiple choice, ranging in difficulty from easy to challenging, but not "picky."

Jazz musicians with the highest status in this American art form -

1. Jellyroll Morton
2. Joe King Oliver
3. Louis Armstrong
4. Fletcher Henderson
5. Charlie Parker
6. Edward Duke Ellington
7. William Count Basie
8. Benny Goodman
9. Glenn Miller
10. Lionel Hampton
11. Charlie Christian
12. Charlie Bird Parker
13. Dizzy Gillespie
14. Thelonius Monk
15. Miles Davis
16. John Coltrane
17. Charles Mingus
18. Billie Holiday
19. Ella Fitzgerald
20. Nat King Cole
21. Herbie Hancock
22. Wynton Marsalis
23. George Gershwin, classical / jazz
24. Leonard Bernstein, classical / jazz

Your report topic will be assigned by class roll number.

Fantastic Mr Fox field trip on Tues, Nov 8

2011-09-15T09:44:00.001-07:00

Fantastic Mr Fox, Shreveport / Artbreak '11
Originally uploaded by trudeau

Artspace is the destination on Tues, Nov 8, during fine arts classes (2 separate filed trips).

Parents are encouraged to meet us at Artspace to enjoy the experience.

Recommended movie and book: The Help

2011-09-14T19:22:00.001-07:00

The Help
Originally uploaded by ashley wolfe

The Help is a movie about bi*chy middle-class women in Jackson, Ms, and the ways in which they mentally abuse their domestic employees.

It's a well-made movie, if a melodrama. But it is recommendable for its observations on racism and life in the civil rights era in the Deep South.

The crescent crown atop the head of the late Commandatore in the opera Don Giovanni

2011-09-14T19:13:00.001-07:00

Fine arts Magnet / Mozart
Originally uploaded by trudeau

The crescent-shaped hat shown atop the ghost of the Commander in Mozart's opera Don Giovanni is called a chapeau bras.

A chapeau bras is a three-cornered hat worn by gentlemen in full dress in the 18th century, that could be folded flat and carried under the arm (chapeau, French for 'hat' and bras, French for 'arm').

Its shape implies
- a battleaxe
- the crescent moon, as in the crescent and star symbol of Islam.
- a crescent wrench.
- crescent roll, or croissant.
- the wings of an eagle.

additional vocab -
- scatalogical: humor dealing with bodily functions such as farting or peepeeing. Or, in the field of anthropology, study of fecal matter (skat, Gk) and the deductions thereupon.
- opera buffa: a comic opera characterized by everyday settings, local dialects, and simple vocal writing. The type of comedy could vary, and the range was great: from Rossini's The Barber of Seville in 1816 which was purely comedic, to Mozart's The Marriage of Figaro in 1786 which added drama and pathos, says Wikipedia.

Mozart's last great work, the opera called The Magic Flute (Die Zauberflote)

2011-09-14T17:13:00.001-07:00

papageno the bird catcher
Originally uploaded by siptakg

The Magic Flute (German: Die Zauberflöte, K. 620) is an opera in two acts composed in 1791 by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart to a German libretto by Emanuel Schikaneder.

The work is in the form of a Singspiel, says Wikipedia, a popular form that included both singing and spoken dialogue.[1]

Although there were no reviews of the first performances, it was immediately evident that Mozart and Schikaneder had achieved a great success, the opera drawing immense crowds and reaching hundreds of performances during the 1790s.[4]

The success of The Magic Flute lifted the spirits of its composer, who had fallen ill while in Prague a few weeks before. Solomon continues:

Mozart's delight is reflected in his last three letters, written to Constanze, who with her sister Sophie was spending the second week of October in Baden. "I have this moment returned from the opera, which was as full as ever," he wrote on 7 October, listing the numbers that had to be encored. "But what always gives me the most pleasure is the silent approval! You can see how this opera is becoming more and more esteemed." … He went to hear his opera almost every night, taking along [friends and] relatives.[4]

The opera celebrated its 100th performance in November 1792. Mozart did not have the pleasure of witnessing this milestone, having died of his illness on 5 December 1791.

Mozart quiz Fri, Amadeus essay Thurs next week

2011-09-14T16:42:00.001-07:00

Fine arts Magnet / Mozart
Originally uploaded by trudeau

A Requiem or Requiem Mass, also known as Mass for the dead (Latin: Missa pro defunctis), is Mass celebrated for the repose of the soul or souls of a deceased person, using a particular formula of the Roman Missal. It is frequently celebrated in the context of a funeral.Musical settings of the propers of the Requiem Mass are also called Requiems.

The liturgy begins with the words "Requiem aeternam dona eis, Domine" – "Grant them eternal rest, O Lord."
This is as the Kyrie in the Ordinary of the Mass, not from the Latin but from Greek: Kyrie eleison; Christe eleison; Kyrie eleison Lord have mercy; Christ have mercy; Lord have mercy.

The Requiem Mass in D minor (K. 626) by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart was composed in Vienna in 1791 and left unfinished at the composer's death.

Finding detail and background on Amadeus at Imdb.com

2011-09-14T07:59:00.001-07:00

amadeus
Originally uploaded by Aytena

- Amadeus" is most often translated to mean "loves God", "lover of God", or "for the love of God".

- Was Mozart the goofball as depicted in this film?
Not in Marcia Davenport's biography of Mozart, 1932.
At least in private, Mozart could be crude. In his letters he could be quite insulting and had a love of scatological humor. He wrote canons with titles like "Leck mich im Arsch" (Lick My Ass). He also loved to drink, party and gamble, often spending copious amounts of money.
Another point is that almost all of Mozart's dialog spoken in the movie was Mozart's own words, translated from the German, of course, taken from his letters and other sources.
- Antonio Salieri (1750-1825) was a real person, an Italian composer and conductor. As the Austrian imperial Kapellmeister from 1788 to 1824, he was one of the most important and famous musicians of his time. However, as near as it's possible to tell, he was not out to kill Mozart. Although they competed for some commissions, all indications are that they had a friendly relationship. Salieri lent Mozart court manuscripts and even tutored one of his sons.
- Antonio Salieri (1750-1825) was a real person, an Italian composer and conductor. As the Austrian imperial Kapellmeister from 1788 to 1824, he was one of the most important and famous musicians of his time.
However, as near as it's possible to tell, he was not out to kill Mozart. Although they competed for some commissions, all indications are that they had a friendly relationship. Salieri lent Mozart court manuscripts and even tutored one of his sons.
- Your essay on Amadeus should be built around pertinent quotes. Imdb offers numerous quotes -
- Emperor Joseph II: "My dear young man, don't take it too hard. Your work is ingenious. It's quality work. And there are simply too many notes, that's all. Just cut a few and it will be perfect."
- Mozart: "Which few did you have in mind, Majesty?"
- This touches upon the nature of art and artistic criticism. Mozart's sharp response brings up the nature of the artist and independence.
- Katerina Cavalieri: "Looks don't concern me, Maestro. Only talent interests a woman of taste." This reminds us of the appeal of art and artists and the conflict that lies in success.

Words of Mozart from an admirer on Flickr.com:
"As death, when we come to consider it closely, is the true goal of our existence, I have formed during the last few years such close relations with this best and truest friend of mankind, that his image is not only not terrifying to me, but is indeed very soothing and consoling! And i thank my God for graciously granting me the opportunity.... of learning that death is the key which unlocks the door to our true happiness"

"Neither a lofty degree of intelligence nor imagination nor both together go to the making of genius. Love, love, love ,that is the soul of genius."

"people make a mistake who think that my art has come easily to me. Nobody has devoted so much time and thought to composition as I. There is not a famous master whose work i have not studied over and over."

3rd annual North Louisiana Gay & Lesbian Film Festival to be held September 16-22, 2011, at the Robinson Film Center

2011-09-13T19:20:00.001-07:00

DSC07300.JPG
Originally uploaded by trudeau

The 3rd annual North Louisiana Gay & Lesbian Film Festival will be held Sept 16-22, 2011, at the Robinson Film Center in downtown Shreveport with celebrity guest Bruce Vilanch.

For more info: www.nlglff.org

Tickets and Festival passes are on sale now at the Robinson Film Center box office.

Individual tickets can be purchased online at http://www.robinsonfilmcenter.org/movies.

One of the most-performed of all operas: Mozart's Don Giovanni

2011-09-13T09:19:00.001-07:00

Fine arts Magnet: Mozart's Don Giovanni
Originally uploaded by trudeau

Don Giovanni ( The Rake Punished, or Don Giovanni) is an opera in two acts with music by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart and with an Italian libretto by Lorenzo Da Ponte, says Wikipedia.

It was premiered by the Prague Italian opera in 1787.

Da Ponte's libretto was billed like many of its time as dramma giocoso, a term that denotes a mixing of serious and comic action. Mozart entered the work into his catalogue as an "opera buffa". Although sometimes classified as comic, it blends comedy, melodrama and supernatural elements.

The synopsis: Don Giovanni, a young, arrogant, sexually promiscuous nobleman, abuses and outrages everyone else in the cast, until he encounters something he cannot kill, beat up, dodge, or outwit.

Wigs of the royals in Europe

2011-09-12T06:58:00.001-07:00

Wigs of the royals in Europe
Originally uploaded by trudeau

Royal patronage was crucial to the revival of the wig, says Wikipedia.[citation needed]

Queen Elizabeth I of England famously wore a red wig, tightly and elaborately curled in a "Roman" style.

King Louis XIII of France (1601–1643) and King Louis XIV of France (1638–1715) pioneered wig-wearing among men from the 1620s onwards.

Perukes or periwigs for men were introduced into the English-speaking world with other French styles when Charles II was restored to the throne in 1660, following a lengthy exile in France. These wigs were shoulder-length or longer, imitating the long hair that had become fashionable among men since the 1620s.

In the 18th century, men's wigs were powdered in order to give them their distinctive white or off-white color. Contrary to popular belief, women in the 18th century did not wear wigs, but wore a coiffure supplemented by artificial hair or hair from other sources.

During the late 18th century, men's wigs became smaller and more formal with several professions adopting them as part of their official costumes.

The wearing of wigs as a symbol of social status was largely abandoned in the newly created United States and France by the start of the 19th century. In the United States, only the first five Presidents, from George Washington to James Monroe, wore powdered wigs according to the old fashioned style of the eighteenth century.[3][4]

In Mozart's world: French Queen Marie-Antoinette, 1775, and decolletage

2011-09-12T06:46:00.001-07:00

Marie-Antoinette, 1775, Musée Antoine Lécuyer
Originally uploaded by trudeau

Décolletage (or décolleté, its adjectival form, in current French) is the upper part of a woman's torso, comprising her neck, shoulders, back and chest, that is exposed by the style of her clothing. Décolletage is a French word which is derived from decolleter, meaning to reveal the neck or, more literally, "without a collar," says Wikipedia.

Gowns which exposed a woman's neck and top of her chest were very common and non-controversial in Europe from at least the 11th century. The wearing of low-cut dresses which exposed breasts were considered more acceptable than they are today; with a woman's bared legs, ankles, or shoulders being considered to be more risqué than exposed breasts.[6]

From the Victorian period onward, however, social attitudes shifted to demand a woman's breasts to be covered in public. For ordinary wear, high collars were the norm for many years.

Victorian morality reflects Queen Victoria's reign (1837–1901) and the moral climate of the United Kingdom throughout the 19th century in general, which contrasted greatly with the morality of the previous Georgian period.

Victorian morality espouses sexual restraint, low tolerance of crime and a strict social code of conduct. Due to the prominence of the British Empire, many of these values were spread across the world.

Classical in the late 1700's, early 1800's - a more specific meaning

2011-09-12T05:49:00.001-07:00

Philip Johnson's Bank of America Center
Originally uploaded by trudeau

In the middle of the 18th century, Europe began to move toward a new style in architecture, literature, and the arts, generally known as Classicism, which sought to emulate the ideals of Classical antiquity and especially those of Classical Greece.[2]

While still tightly linked to the court culture, says Wikipedia, and absolutism, with its formality and emphasis on order and hierarchy, the new style was also a cleaner style—one that favored clearer divisions between parts, brighter contrasts and colors, and simplicity rather than complexity.

The remarkable development of ideas in "natural philosophy" had established itself in the public consciousness with Newton's physics taken as a paradigm: structures should be well-founded in axioms and be both well-articulated and orderly.

This taste for structural clarity worked its way into the world of music, moving away from the layered polyphony of the Baroque period, towards a style where a melody over a subordinate harmony—a combination called homophony—was preferred.[3]

This meant that the playing of chords, even if they interrupted the melodic smoothness of a single part, became a much more prevalent feature of music. This, in turn, made the tonal structure of works more audible.

Classical music has a lighter, clearer texture than Baroque music and is less complex.

Variety and contrast within a piece became more pronounced than before. Variety of keys, melodies, rhythms and dynamics (using crescendo, diminuendo and sforzando), along with frequent changes of mood and timbre were more commonplace in the Classical period than they had been in the Baroque. Melodies tended to be shorter than those of Baroque music, with clear-cut phrases and clearly marked cadences. The Orchestra increased in size and range; the harpsichord continuo fell out of use, and the woodwind became a self-contained section. As a solo instrument, the harpsichord was replaced by the piano (or fortepiano).

Mozart and Joseph II: vocab and personalities

2011-09-08T13:37:00.001-07:00

Mozart Requiem: Josue Ramirez
Originally uploaded by trudeau

- Vienna in the 1700's was like today's NYC; a capital of music and the arts.

- Emperor Joseph II, Vienna, was ruler of the Holy Roman Empire. He was an enlightened (knew the Rights of Man) despot (dictator) acting on a definite system for the good of all.
- emancipation of the peasantry
- spread of education
- the secularization of church lands
- the reduction of the religious orders and the clergy
- limited guarantee of freedom of worship,
- unity by the compulsory use of the German language
- abolished serfdom
- peasants must be paid in cash payments rather than labor obligations.
- a lover and patron of the arts.

These policies were violently rejected by both the nobility and the peasants, since their barter economy lacked money.

Antonio Salieri - a cosmopolitan composer who wrote operas in three languages.
- helped to develop many of the features of operatic compositional vocabulary; his music was a powerful influence on contemporary composers.
- also spent time writing works for opera houses in Venice, Rome, and Paris.
- one of the most important and sought after teachers of his generation and his influence was felt in every aspect of Vienna's musical life.
- among his famous pupils: Franz Liszt, Schubert, Ludwig van Beethoven.

Mozart's first great opera: The Abduction from the Seraglio, or the Harem, is a lighthearted piece in German.

Harem (Turkish, from Arabic حرم ḥaram 'forbidden place; sacrosanct, sanctum', related to حريم ḥarīm 'a sacred inviolable place; female members of the family' and حرام ḥarām, 'forbidden; sacred') refers to the sphere of women in what is usually a polygynous (as opposed to polyandrous) household and their enclosed quarters which are forbidden to men. It originated in the Near East and is typically associated in the Western world with the Ottoman Empire.

Libretto (pl. libretti), from Italian, is the diminutive of the word "libro" (book). A libretto is distinct from a synopsis or scenario of the plot, in that the libretto contains all the words and stage directions, while a synopsis summarizes the plot.

Scan or photograph all hand-produced papers; save all writing to your hard drive or email

2011-09-06T16:36:00.001-07:00

Comparison essays / Magnet geo
Originally uploaded by trudeau

Record keeping is a lifetime sport.

It's not a sport, is it? It's work. Yet if you make it a habit, it will become easier.

Working in the digital realm makes record keeping a lot easier than it once was.

Save all work til the end of the semester. You never know when it will be advantageous.

Where are the women in history? Why are so few women recognized in the arts?

2011-09-06T14:58:00.001-07:00

Meadows Museum of Art, Dallas / SMU
Originally uploaded by trudeau

One theme for fine arts classes is an inquiry into the place of women in the arts. Why are they so under-represented? Of course, the search can be extended to technology and professional services, too.

Where are the women in history? Why do we see such an imbalance until recent times?

There's no easy answer. Your teacher's thesis is that women have created equal amounts of art but were denied recognition by the male-dominated European way.

Where are the women that might equal Bach, Mozart and Beethoven in composing? One answer lies in the tragic story of Mozart's sister, Maria Anna.

While she was feted as a prodigy when she and Wolfgang were young, Mozart's father later suppressed her talent.

He wanted the son to have clear access to the glory.

If Maria Anna had developed the strength to defy her father, would she have produced worthy compositions? I would feel confident in answering, "Yes."

I invite my students to follow this line of inquiry and develop your own theses.

Vocab for comparing all things - including composers

2011-09-06T07:46:00.001-07:00

Composers
Originally uploaded by metallicwonder

Use several of these terms in essays of comparison -

- similarly
- yet
- but
- however
- still
- nevertheless
- in contrast
- conversely
- instead
- likewise
- on one hand
- on the other hand
- on the contrary
- rather

Fine arts essay comparing Bach, Mozart and Beethoven

2011-09-04T21:11:00.001-07:00

Fine arts survey / Magnet: Zatayah
Originally uploaded by trudeau

In your brief comparison essay on 3 great composers, please include -

- names of each composers' most notable works (3 each)

- location(s)

- dates / eras

- impact upon contemporary life

- informal documentation ("according to Wikipedia,")

- Colorful, expressive title

Twenty-nine questions that guide a student in viewing the movie Amadeus

2011-09-04T16:29:00.001-07:00

'Amadeus' Scene 44
Originally uploaded by Karl-Heinz Teuber

A review of details from the award-winning movie Amadeus -

1. How does Mozart propose to Constanza?
- He says it backwards. 'Em yrram.' Mozart finds speaking backwards very amusing, especially when obscenities are involved.
2. What does Salieri NOT include in his promise to God?
- The virtue of charity. He said, 'In return I give you my chastity, my industry, my deepest humility- every hour of my life.'

3. How do the Mozarts secure extra money when it is quickly and desperately needed?
- They pawn household objects. Gold snuffboxes to be exact.
4. How many times is the opera Don Giovanni played in Vienna?
- Five. Salieri said, 'Through my influence, I saw to it Don Giovanni was played only five times in Vienna - but in secret I went to every one of those five, worshipping the sound that I alone seemed to hear.'
5. The first time we see Mozart as a child, for whom is he performing?
- For the Pope. He plays the harpsicord blindfolded, then repeats the same tune on the violin.
6. The first time we see Mozart as an adult, for whom is he performing?
- The Archbishop of Salzburg. He makes an embarrassingly late appearance because he's fooling around with Constanza.
7. What is the first of Mozart's operas we hear parodied in the common theater?
- Don Giovanni. The ghost of Don Giovanni's father is played by a midget.
8. How many years pass between Mozart's death and Salieri's attempted suicide?
- 32. '...and he kept me alive to torture! Thirty-two years of torture, thirty-two years!'
9. What is Constanza's 'penalty' for losing a round of musical chairs?
- To show her legs. A very risque' act for the day!
10. What is the name of the Mozarts' maid? Laurel. She's hired by Salieri, who uses her as a spy.
11. How old was Mozart when he composed his first symphony?
- Age seven. 'This man had written his first Concerto at the age of four, his first symphony at seven, a full-scale opera at twelve!'
12. How many Italians serve as the Emperor's musical advisors?
- There are three. All musical idiots, according to Mozart.
13. Where does Constanza go to get her health back?
- The spa. She was sent away by her mother, after Wolfgang's drinking and erratic behavior took their toll on her.
14. Who from the cast was nominated for a Best Actor Oscar?
- Both principal actors were. Abraham won, but graciously remembered Hulce in his speech.
15. What did Salieri's father call the child Mozart?
- Old man Salieri called him "A trained monkey." Salieri the child wanted to make music. His father asked him if he wanted to be a trained monkey like the young Mozart. Throughout his youth, Mozart and his sister Nannerl toured the palaces of Europe as child prodigies. Other detractors also referred to the child Mozart as a trained monkey. More of a reflection upon the father than the child?
16. What did Salieri call Mozart?
- "The creature." In fact, Mozart had a puerile, scataogical sense of humor. He enjoyed speaking backwards and had a high, strange laugh.
17. Who is Mozart's employer when the movie begins?
- The Prince-Archbishop of Salzburg. Mozart was unhappy working under the patronage system of his day. His employment with the prince archbishop was frustrating and stifling. The last 10 years of his life (age 25-35) Mozart strove to be a successful independent musician. If he had lived longer, he might have been the first composer to triumph over the patronage system. As it happened, Beethoven is credited with being the first.
18. Although Constanze and Mozart had six children, only two lived to adulthood. How many were shown in the movie?
- One. Only Karl Thomas is shown in the movie, and the child never says a word! In truth, Constanze gave birth to a son, Franz Xaver Wolfgang, in July 1791, 5 months before Mozart died. This pregnancy/child was never shown or mentioned in the movie. (There has been some speculation about the paternity of Franz Xaver.) Of the six children, Karl Thomas and Franz Xaver Wolfgang were the only two who survived into adulthood. Salieri actually taught Karl Thomas as a composition student after Mozart's death. He taught him for free.
19. In 1984 "Amadeus" won eight Academy Awards, including Best Picture and Best Actor. Who won the Best Actor award?
- Salieri: the actor F. Murray Abraham. Ironically, Salieri (Abraham) finally beat Wolfgang (Hulce) at something.
20. Who was Emperor Joseph's famous sister? (The child Mozart asked her to marry him.)
- Marie Antoinette. Emperor Joseph mentions her several times in the movie. He references the time that the child Mozart asked her to marry him and he later mentions that his dear sister Antoinette "is beginning to fear her own people"... smart girl. Her own people finally guillotined her. Maria Theresa was Joseph's and Antoinette's mother and Elizabeth was Joseph's niece.
21. What mask does Leopold choose for the costume party scene?
- Tragedy/comedy. This is the mask that is resurrected for Salieri's harassment of Mozart in the movie. In truth, the strange circumstances surrounding the "Requiem" commissioning are thought to be the work of Count Walsegg, a nobleman who was notorious for commissioning compositions and trying to pass them off as his own.
22. What did Count Orsini-Rosenberg remove from "The Marriage of Figaro" score?
- The dance scene. Count Orsini-Rosenberg was the Italian born master of opera in the court of Emperor Joseph II. Viennese composers were required to get his permission before beginning work on a new opera.
23. "The Magic Flute" is classified as "singspiel". What does Schickaneder call it in the movie? He calls it a vaudeville. "Singspiel" is very much like musical comedy. Vaudeville describes it well. In the hands of a genius such as Mozart, however, the resulting "Magic Flute" transcends the genre and becomes a masterpiece. Recommended: http://detnews.com/showtime/9710/16/opera/opera.htm ...a fascinating comparison of "The Magic Flute" and "Star Wars".
24. According to the movie, from whom does Mozart get his inspiration for the Queen of the Night's famous aria?
- Frau Weber (his mother-in-law). I don't know if this scene has any historical basis, but it is a rich moment in the film! Originally, Frau Weber was Mozart's landlady. He fell in love with her older daughter who did not return his affections. Then he turned his attention to Constanze, the younger. Maria Magdalena Hoffdeml is the focus of great rumor and speculation concerning Mozart. Although she is never seen or mentioned in the movie, Maria was Mozart's piano student and alleged mistress. One of the Mozart death theories has Maria's angry husband attempting to murder her, poisoning Mozart, and committing suicide. Maria was pregnant during all this, supposedly with Mozart's child.
25. Whom does the movie portray as the commissioner of Mozart's "Requiem"?
- Antonio Salieri. The rumor mill of the day was filled with stories of Salieri's poisoning of the great Mozart. These rumors are actually mentioned in Beethoven's conversation books. The entire movie is based on the assumption that Salieri's old age confession and alleged letter is truth. In fact, no proof exists to support the idea that Salieri murdered Mozart. Proof does exist that he resented him, was jealous of him, and sabotaged his work, but no proof of murder. Fact: Salieri was frequently at Mozart's deathbed and attended his funeral. The "Requiem", however, was eventually completed by Mozart's composition student, Franz Xaver Sussmayer (recognize the youngest child's name?) who often accompanied Constanze to the spa at Baden Baden.
26. What "miracle" made it possible for Salieri to pursue music in Vienna?
- His father choked to death. Salieri's father was a businessman who forbade his son from following in Mozart's footsteps. His death made it possible for Salieri to fulfil his dream... or at least to try.
27. When preparing to meet the Emperor in Vienna, how many wigs does Mozart try on?
- Mozart tries on three wigs, one of which is a decidedly unorthodox shade of pink. Indecisive, he asks his hairdresser, "Why don't I have three heads?" and then erupts in his annoying, high-pitched giggle.
28. After Mozart hears Salieri's march of welcome, how does he humiliate Salieri in front of the Emperor?
- He corrects and embellishes the march. After pointing out that a phrase "doesn't really work," he improves the phrase, and then plays variations on the march's theme. Salieri's face is wonderful as he seethes with rage while trying to look composed for the others in the room.
29. When Emperor Joseph suggests that Mozart would make a good music teacher for his niece Elizabeth, what protest does Salieri offer?
- Choosing Mozart might look like the Emperor is playing favorites. Salieri tells the Emperor he wants to protect him from any appearance of showing favoritism. Princess Elizabeth rolls her eyes at this, seeing the truth much more clearly than her uncle. Salieri also suggests that Mozart has taken advantage of female music students in the past.

From the two-stringed Mongolian fiddle to the four-stringed instrument crafted carefully in Italy: the Violin

2011-09-01T07:35:00.001-07:00

Violin
Originally uploaded by Infaerina

The earliest stringed instruments were mostly plucked (e.g. the Greek lyre), says Wikipedia.

Bowed instruments may have originated in the equestrian cultures of Central Asia, an example being the Kobyz, an ancient Turkic, Kazakh or Mongolian instrument.

Turkic and Mongolian horsemen from Inner Asia were probably the world’s earliest fiddlers. Their two-stringed upright fiddles were strung with horsehair strings, played with horsehair bows, and often feature a carved horse’s head at the end of the neck.

The violins, violas, and cellos we play today, and whose bows are still strung with horsehair, are a legacy of the nomads.[3]

It is believed that these instruments eventually spread to China, India, the Byzantine Empire and the Middle East. The violin in its present form emerged in early 16th-Century Northern Italy, where the port towns of Venice and Genoa maintained extensive ties to central Asia through the trade routes of the silk road.

The word violin comes from the Middle Latin word vitula, meaning stringed instrument;[1] this word is also believed to be the source of the Germanic "fiddle".[2]

Antonio Stradivari (1644 – 1737) was an Italian luthier, a crafter of stringed instruments such as violins, cellos, guitars, violas, and harps, says Wkikpedia.

Stradivari is generally considered the most significant artisan in this field. The Latinized form of his surname, Stradivarius, as well as the colloquial, "Strad", is often used to refer to his instruments. It is estimated that he made 1,000 to 1,100[1][2] instruments and that around 650 of these instruments have survived[3] including 450[1] to 512[2] violins.

- Cremona, Italy, in the Po River valley,
- spruce, willow, maple woods with treatment in borax, sodium & potassium silicate.
- varnish of gum arabic, honey & egg white.
- family business.

A Taste of Germany: bratwurst, pretzels and gummi bears

2011-08-30T19:06:00.001-07:00

gummi bears
Originally uploaded by bettybl

Lizzie Martin emailed me that Gummi Bears were developed in Germany. Thus in addition to bratwurst, pretzels and German chocolate cake, we will have Gummi Bears at the Taste of Germany.

Here's what Wikipedia reveals:
"The gummi bear originated in Germany, where it is popular under the name Gummibär (rubber bear) or Gummibärchen (little rubber bear).

Hans Riegel Sr., a candy maker from Bonn, started the Haribo company in 1920. In 1922, he invented the Dancing Bear,[1] a fruit-flavored gum made in the shape of a bear.[2] The success of the Dancing Bear's successor would later become Haribo's world-famous Gold-Bears candy product in 1967.[3]

Trolli is another gummi candy manufacturer and the first to introduce gummi worms in 1981.[4] Gummi bears are also one of the few types of candy to have been turned into a television show.[5]

The success of gummi bears has spawned many gummi animals and objects: rings, worms, frogs, snakes, hamburgers, cherries, sharks, penguins, hippos, lobsters, octopuses, apples, peaches, oranges, and even Ampelmännchen, Smurfs and spiders.

Fine arts Taste of Deutschland, Europa map and Comparison essay

2011-08-30T17:05:00.001-07:00

Fine arts Taste of Deutschland, Europa map and Comparison essay
Originally uploaded by trudeau

Thurs map:
a) memorized
or
b) Artful Map
- entirely colored and shaded
- super neat lettering
- colorful, patterned border (look at antique maps, please)
- 20 identifications
- Jazzy title
- compass rose
- hand-made, digital Not OK.

Chai, ciao: fine arts vocab / Fantastic Mr Fox

2011-08-30T16:54:00.001-07:00

Fine arts vocab
Originally uploaded by trudeau

- chai: Asian term for tea
- ciao: Italian for hello or goodbye
- Hemingway: Asked what was essential for a great writer, Ernest Hemingway responded memorably, "A built-in, shock-proof crap detector."
- Mediterranean: from the Latin word mediterraneus, meaning "in the middle of earth" or "between lands" (medius, "middle, between" + terra, "land, earth").
Vienna: coffee shops for discussion of ideas and art. "Viennese cafés have an extremely long and distinguished history that dates back centuries," says Wikipedia.
Bonn: The home of Beethoven is also the annual site of an enormous crowd celebrating Karneval.
Berlin: modern Berlin seems eclectic in music but has built its recent fame on production of electronica. Ask your uncle about Kraftwerk. Well, ask me about Kraftwerk.

Shreveport Symphony Orchestra opening concert: Sat, Sept 24.

The Fantastic Mr Fox interactive exhibit at Artspace will be visited on a FAS (Fine Arts Survey) field trip. In an unusual turn, the show costs $8 per student.

- mnemonic: memory aid
- acquired taste: Wikipedia says, "An acquired taste often refers to an appreciation for a food or beverage that is unlikely to be enjoyed by a person who has not had substantial exposure to it, usually because of some unfamiliar aspect of the food or beverage, including a strong or strange odor (e.g. stinky tofu, kimchi, haggis, hákarl, black salt, asafoetida, or certain types of cheese), taste (such as bitter teas or natto), or appearance.

Acquired taste may also refer to aesthetic tastes, such as taste in music or other forms of art.
- opus: a musical composition or a literary work or composition, as a book: Have you read her latest opus?
- secular : of or relating to the worldly or temporal b : not overtly or specifically religious c : not ecclesiastical or clerical .
- terra cotta: Italian: "baked earth", from the Latin terra cotta.

The beginnings of European music: Monks & monsteries

2011-08-27T15:28:00.001-07:00

Fine arts survey: monks & monsteries
Originally uploaded by trudeau

Gregorian chant - a music codified by Pope Gregory I, about 600 CE - was one of the early musics of the Europeans.

This body of music was the first to be notated in a system ancestral to modern musical notation, says Wikipedia.

In general, the chants were learned by the viva voce method, that is, by following the given example orally, which took many years of experience in the choir called the Schola Cantorum.

Gregorian chant originated in monastic life, in which celebrating the 'Divine Office' eight times a day at the proper hours was upheld according to the Rule of St. Benedict.

Singing psalms made up a large part of the life in a monastic community, while a smaller group and soloists sang the chants.

JS Bach, Mozart, Beethoven and Europe

2011-08-27T15:24:00.001-07:00

Fine arts survey / Bach, Mozart, Beethoven
Originally uploaded by trudeau

Quiz on this vorticular map next week, monsieur et mesdames.

Mozart: Austria
Beethoven: Bonn, Deutschland
JS Bach: region of Berlin, Deutschland

Targeting.gif [animated]: PBS on the wooly world of meme-making

2011-08-27T14:04:00.001-07:00

Targeting.gif [animated]
Originally uploaded by SantaRosa OLD SKOOL

PBS on the wooly world of meme-making. Please see http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JL7R9CjkxjY&feature=channel_video_title
/>

Fireworks and Chinese cultural heritage: contemporary artist Cai Guo-Qiang

2011-08-23T08:39:00.001-07:00

Cai Guo-Qiang
Originally uploaded by Bromirski

Cai Guo-Qiang was born in 1957 in Quanzhou, Fujian Province, China, says Wikipedia.

He was trained in stage design at the Shanghai Drama Institute from 1981 to 1985. Cai's work is scholarly and often politically charged.

See numerous videos of his gunpowder events on Youtube.

Cai initially began working with gunpowder to foster spontaneity and confront the suppressive, controlled artistic tradition and social climate in China. While living in Japan from 1986 to 1995, Cai explored the properties of gunpowder in his drawings, an inquiry that eventually led to his experimentation with explosives on a massive scale and the development of his signature "explosion events". In 1995, he moved to New York.

Cai Guo-Qiang's practice draws on a wide variety of symbols, narratives, traditions and materials such as fengshui, Chinese medicine, shanshui paintings, science, flora and fauna, portraiture, and fireworks.

Much of his work draws on Maoist/Socialist concepts for content, especially his gunpowder drawings which strongly reflect Mao Zedong's tenet "destroy nothing, create nothing." Cai has said: “In some sense, Mao Zedong influenced all artists from our generation with his utopian romance and sentiment."[2]

Cai is one of the most well-known and influential Chinese contemporary artists, having represented his country at the Venice Biennale in 1999.

Cai's participation in the Beijing Olympics has built a great reputation among common Chinese people.

A pattern in cultural transference: China westward to India & Persia to Italy and Western Europe

2011-08-22T06:44:00.001-07:00

Fine arts survey: the history of the guitar
Originally uploaded by trudeau

China is the origin of an incredible number of things technological as well as artistic -

- printing (developed hundreds of years before Johann Gutenberg)
- jade jewelry
- rockets (used for their beauty before being discovered as weapons)
- ceramic vessels ("China") and art objects
- bronze casting of art vessels such as bowls and bells
- lacquer ware - finely crafted and lacquered bowls
- silk garments and art textiles
- paintings on silk
- landscape paintings

In music:
- metal bells ranging in size from small to megabellific
- zithers - stringed instruments - plucked
- bowed string instruments (primitive violins, if you will)
- drums of many sizes
- pipes (flutes)
- Chinese opera - high voices
- Dragon dance

Sources -
Freer Gallery of Asian Art, Smithsonian, Wash, DC
Sackler Asian Art, Smithsonian, wash, DC
Museum of Fine Arts Houston (MFAH)

Fine arts survey assignments for 3rd hour

2011-08-19T20:57:00.001-07:00

Fine arts survey: the history of the guitar
Originally uploaded by trudeau

Composer project

- 5 well-chosen images (5 pts)
- bullet info (3 to 6 words): 2 - 3 items per image (5 pts)
- informal, brief documentation of 2 sources (2 pts)
- music sample / (3 pts)

Third hour roll. Allow me to apologize for the all-caps style of the otherwise very tasteful Edgear Co.

01.BANES , JACOB B. Palestrina, G
02.BAUCUM , PATRICK A. Early life of JS Bach
03.BODENHEIMER , CHRISTine Later life of JS Bach
04.CAMERON , JESSICA N. Global and historic impact of JS Bach
05.COOK , KELSEY N. Hadyn, GF
06.COOK , REILY W. Vivaldi, A
07.DAY , KALEA M. Early life of Beethoven
08.EASTER JR, ERIC E. Mature years of Beethoven
09.FREE , NATHAN A. Global and historic impact of Beethoven ("Roll over, Beethoven," etc)
10.GASTON , VICTORIA A. Mendelssohn, F
11.GREER , MADISON B. The early life of Mozart
12.HENNIGAN , AVERY C. The later life of Mozart
13.HOWARD , BRADY S. The overall impact of the music of Mozart
14.HUNT , SAMANTHA M. Chopin, F
15.JOHNSON , ERIC A. Berlioz, H
16.MCCRERY , CLAIBORNE Liszt, F
17.MONK , MARISA L. Tchaikovsky
18.MOSS , BAILEY E. Verdi, G
19.MUNDELL , NICCOLO C. Bartok, B
20.NAHORNIAK , CAMDEN J Debussy, C
21.NELSON , MELYSSA N. Berstein, Leonard
22.O`DOM , RICHARD G. Copland, A
23.PERKINS , JARED A. Gershwin, G
24.PIERCE , BENJAMIN R. Puccini, G
25.RAMBIS , NATALIE P. Stravinsky, I
26.RAO , KARISHMA S. Cage, J
27.RINAUDO , NINA O. Reich, Steve
28.ROPPOLO , MICHAEL A. Glass, Philip
29.SINCLAIR , JAEDON L. Ellington, Duke
30.SINGLETON , SALLIE A Armstrong, Louis

Fenders & Gibsons: artful guitars lead to revolutions in music

2011-08-19T18:56:00.001-07:00

Stratocaster
Originally uploaded by merz masetti

The Fender Stratocaster, often referred to as "Strat", is a model of electric guitar designed by Leo Fender, George Fullerton, and Freddie Tavares in 1954, and manufactured continuously by the Fender Musical Instruments Corporation to the present, says Wikipedia. Fender guitars were designed and made in Fullerton, CA, part of Los Angeles.

Along with the Gibson Les Paul, the Gibson SG and the Fender Telecaster, it is one of the most common and enduring models of electric guitar in the world.

The design of the Stratocaster has transcended the field of music to rank among the classic industrial designs of all time; examples have been exhibited at major museums around the world.[2][3]

The Gibson company, maker of the Les Paul model, was founded in the 1890's as a mandolin company by Orville Gibson - in Kalamazoo, Michigan. He invented archtop guitars by using the same type of carved, arched tops found on violins. By the 1930s, the company was also making flattop acoustic guitars, as well as one of the first commercially available hollow-body electric guitars, used and popularized by jazz player Charlie Christian. Gibson was at the forefront of innovation in acoustic guitars, especially in the big band era of the 1930s; the Gibson Super 400 was widely imitated. In the early 1950s, Gibson introduced its first solid-body electric guitar and in 1952 began producing its most popular guitar to date — the Les Paul, designed by Ted McCarty and Les Paul.

Which nation's flag ? Saudi Arabia

2011-08-19T18:52:00.001-07:00

Saudi_Arabia_flag
Originally uploaded by 3.m.a.r

Saudi Arabia has the world's largest oil reserves and is the world's largest oil exporter, says Wikipedia.

Oil accounts for more than 90% of exports and nearly 75% of government revenues, facilitating the creation of a welfare state.[6]

Guitarre! All you need to know about the guitar in history and contemporary life

2011-08-17T13:56:00.001-07:00

Jonathan Bellaire, Magnet Leadbelly Society, Shreveport
Originally uploaded by trudeau

Guitars are descended from ones that existed in ancient central Asia and India, says Wikipedia.

For this reason guitars are distantly related to modern instruments from these regions, including the tanbur, the setar, and the sitar.

The oldest known iconographic representation of an instrument displaying the essential features of a guitar is a 3,300 year old stone carving of a Hittite bard.[3]

The modern word guitar, and its antecedents, have been applied to a wide variety of cordophones since ancient times and as such is the cause of confusion. The English word guitar, the German gitarre, and the French guitare were adopted from the Spanish guitarra, which comes from the Andalusian Arabic قيثارةر qitara,[4] itself derived from the Latin cithara, which in turn came from the Ancient Greek κιθάρα kithara,[5] and is thought to ultimately trace back to the Old Persian language. Tar means string in Persian.

Although the word guitar is descended from the Latin word cithara, the modern guitar itself is not generally believed to have descended from the Roman instrument. Many influences are cited as antecedents to the modern guitar. One commonly cited influence is of the arrival of the four-string oud, which was introduced by the invading Moors in the 8th century.[6]

Another suggested influence is the six-string Scandinavian lut (lute), which gained in popularity in areas of Viking incursions across medieval Europe[citation needed]. Often depicted in carvings c. 800 AD[citation needed], the Norse hero Gunther (also known as Gunnar), played a lute with his toes as he lay dying in a snake-pit, in the legend of Siegfried. It is likely that a combination of influences led to the creation of the guitar; plucked instruments from across the Mediterranean and Europe were well known in Iberia since antiquity[citation needed].

Student and parent intro / guidelines, Fine Arts Survey, Caddo magnet HS, 2011-12

2011-08-11T07:06:00.001-07:00

Chappell.Hardy.Trudeau improv, Shreveport / photos Cassie Tobin Chappell
Originally uploaded by trudeau

Fine Arts Survey under Robert Trudeau has a mission that includes -

1. Preparing students to excel in college via written composition, vocab and arts background.
2. Enhancing the skill of evaluative, descriptive writing. There will be an emphasis on critical reviews (examples at rottentomatoes.com) and comparison essays.
3. Transmitting the canon of basic Western art history and vocab.
4. Participation in arts experiences.
5. Presentations to the class via mixed media.

Homework in advance of every class:
Read This web site.
Brief quiz questions will be designed to keep your reading current (3 - 5 pts).

This site will function as the textbook. My entries are typically based on citations from Wikipedia, the NY Times, World Book, Newsweek & Time, museum sites and numerous books, both from my personal and public libraries.

You should find attribution with each entry. And I will expect you to document All of your work for this class, too.

Notebook
Since I illustrate all the notes delivered in class lectures, a sketchbook would be appropriate for the notebook in this class. You see, despite your level of fluency in drawing, I will expect you to do much in copying the illustrations.

Additional points may be earned by students who capture the notes and other work in an artful and colorful sketch book.

Use of color, collage, photography and non-traditional media (watercolor, 3-D paper, etc) are encouraged in notes and projects.

Questions will be quickly attended to at trudeau11@gmail.com.

Fees
Field trip costs must be born by parents and students. Our basic trips will be to Norton, Meadows and La State museums and to Artspace. I will collect a $10 fee prior to our first sortie - in September.

Testing and project schedule
- One multiple choice, open notes quiz per unit or every 3 weeks (about 15 pts).
- One 300-word essay - using class guidelines - in each period (about 15 pts).
- One mixed media presentation in each period (15 pts).

Semester exam: Research and compare playwright Edward Albee and Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf to David Mamet and Glengarry Glen Ross

2011-05-10T21:30:00.001-07:00

Glengarry Glen Ross 01
Originally uploaded by nickonflickr

1. Research the characters and quotes. Mention the play's date and settings.

2. Integrate the material on the plays and playwrights. Do Not write separate blocks of material on the plays or playwrights.

3. Include documentation via "according to . . . "

4. No personal opinion, please.

5. Cite analysis of the plays and playwrights by authorities.

6. One page. 1.5 spacing. You may write a draft in advance and spend the exam time reviewing, proofreading and finalizing your essay. Computers recommended.

Submit to trudeau11@gmail.com.

Mamet, Chicago and modern drama

2011-05-10T12:59:00.001-07:00

Lake swimming - Chicago
Originally uploaded by rolandin

Mamet quiz -

1. Chicago is America's __ city in population. a) second b) third c) fourth.
2. The Central Business District in Chicago is referred to as the a) Lakefront b) CBgb c) El d) Loop.
3. The newest public sculpture in Chicago: a) Chicago Matisse b) Cloud Gate c) Millennium Park d) Silver Arch.
4. Author of Glengarry Glen Ross: a) Albee b) Mamet c) Beckett d) Miller.
5. In Glengarry Glen Ross - GGR - the sales team has been given a challenge. First prize is a Cadillac, second is a set of steak knives and third is
a) better leads b) dismissal c) a transfer d) a certificate of appreciation.
6. Choose a city that lies upon Lake Michigan: a) Milwaukee b) Detroit c) Cleveland d) Buffalo.
7. "Chicago" is a name derived from the parlance of a) African-Americans b) Indigenous peoples c) a Dutch explorer d) the first Trade center on Lake Ontario.
8. The Mamet play and movie which addresses the relationship between male professor and female college student: a) Oleanna b) American Buffalo c) Zoo Story d) Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?
9. The salesmen in GGR are supllied with names and phone numbers of potential clients. These are called a) leads b) sits c) pigeons d) closers.
10. The salesmen in GGR do their best not to use underhanded or dishonest techniques in their sales efforts. T / F
11. Spanish artist who ceded a public sculpture to the city of Chicago: a) Matisse b) Degas c) Picasso d) El Greco.

Due at end of class on Tues.