A Beginner's Guide to the HumanitiesA "must-have" guide for anyone interested in deepening their cultural experiences, this easy-to-carry handbook gives users practical advice on observing, enjoying, thinking about and feeling in response to the arts so that they can get the most out of their next visit to the theater, gallery, or museum. Self-contained chapters provide an essential companion guide to understanding a specific art -- painting, sculpture, architecture, music, theater, opera and musical theater, dance, prints, photos and digital art, and movies -- with concisely defined key terms one should know relating to that particular art, as well as a clear and insightful explanation of its process of creation. Presents a commentary in each chapter defining the art in some social, historical, or psychological context, and shares authors' recollections and reflections of his own encounters with works of art in the particular medium under discussion. Offers easy-to-follow instructions for understanding and encountering a specific art form for the first time, and provides a handy page of reference for each art form that users can photocopy and take with them on their next cultural outing. |
What people are saying - Write a review
We haven't found any reviews in the usual places.
Other editions - View all
Common terms and phrases
action actors arch architecture aria art deco artist Ballets Russes Boheme building building's camera canvas Castrato choreography church classical ballet classical temple colors column companies composed concrete construction context Rely cornice costume create dance dancers decoration defined dialogue Diego Velazquez director dome Don Giovanni elements Ensemble entablature experience facade Fallingwater feel FIGURE film Frank Lloyd Wright genre glass historical social religious horizontal human Individual style jects landscape librettist look Marius Petipa Marriage of Figaro Martha Graham medium Miscellany Miss Saigon modern modernist movement movie Mozart's music drama musical theater neoclassical numbers opera comique operatic voice orchestral Orlando Opera painting patron performance Petipa philosophical historical social physical pictorial space picture picture's plot Puccini REAL ENCOUNTER realism Renaissance roles sacred scene sculpture shot singing soprano stage steel stone story STYLE GUIDE super-titles symbol tion tower tradition unity usually vault Velazquez visual Wagner wall labels Wright