Chapter 8: Baroque

Description

Baroque is an era which happened around 1600-1750 B.C. Actually the word Baroque is not quite familiar to me but I know that it is used to describe the European music around 1600-1750 B.C. Baroque according to research was derived from the Portuguese word meaning '' a pearl of irregular shape''. It mainly used to explain strangeness and abnormality and was imply mainly in the arts of music. This word is often referred to theatre and dramas. It is the movement or change in period just before the great social change and revolutions.

IMO

Although this is a new word to me and it is beyond my expectation and knowledge, I have jot down some of the notes given by Dr. Ray about this Baroque era and it is quite interesting as this era describe how the reformation of the catholic church happens and the protestants, counters and the pyramid-shaped like about the statuses during that era. We have Royalty, clerical, merchant class which was known as the "bourgeoisie'' which is another new word to me. And lastly, we have the working class.

According to Dr. Ray, Royalty means the aristocracies and these are the people who rules the land and clerical are the people in church serving as helpers of the aristocracies. Then, Bourgeoisie are middle man and working class are mainly the men who work and plant rice, wheat and rye. They were the one responsible to produce food.

This Baroque era is quite a interesting thing for me as it not only describe the era and also the music for the particular era.

 

Chapter 7: Alexander the Great from Macedonia

Alexander the Great from Macedonia

Description (Alexander the Great FAQ)

This man is Alexander the Great a.k.a Alexander the Invincible. He is the king of Macedonia and he battle in numerous wars and the proudest thing he had ever done in my opinion should be conquering Persian and named it as Macedonia. He was the first king of Macedonia which to be known as "the Great". He liked wine so much that he have to drink them everytime he had his meal and even during war he would bring his liquor with him. He is a brave man which has the guts and courage to fight, he does not fear of death. His is wise and has good strategies in winning his every battle. However, one day, he fall sick in a middle of a war on one windy night. Rumors said that he was bitten by a bug which will spread diseases easily like the mosquitoes nowadays. But, some other said that he fell sick because of the weather changes that time and the climate weather changes made him uncomfortable and soon he fell sick. No matter what is the real answer, he fell sicker and sicker and eventually no one can cure him and soon he died. His death was a terrifying news for his country.Although he was brutal but still many were fond of him and when he died, sorrow dooms the country.


IMO
Alexander the Great, this man has been my true idol since I was thirteen years old. Firstly is because of I have the same name as him--Alexander~XD. Secondly is because I am fond of his way of battling, and I have been paying attention to his history during secondary schooling section. I collected several knowledge about him. And my mum told me some of his stories too because my mum liked him so much also. Although he died at a very young age, his strategies in battle, his braveness, his wisdom and his brutalness will all be remembered by the new generations. The young generations will learn about him in schools.

Chapter 6: Saturn Devouring His Son

Description

Saturn Devouring His Son is a painting which symbolised the cruelness, the cannibalism,  and the despair and disappointment of the artist, Francisco Goya. Goya, when 73, he survived from two life-threatening illnesses, then he began to feel concern about his immortality. Actually he started painting inspiring paintings when he started becoming an artists, but after the illnesses he suffered, he starts to paint Black Paintings which are haunted liked on the walls of his house. His Black Paintings are uncommissioned and not open to public, the paintings reflect his moods, feelings, and his tension of becoming sick again.
                                       
In this painting, Saturn is clearly holding a devoured body which was suspected to be his son according to Greek and Roman mythology. Saturn was one of the Gods of Olympians, but he was cruel. It was prophesied  that one day he will be overthrowned by one of his son. So, he devoured every single one of his child once they were delivered by his wife, Ops. Besides, he castrated his father and chopped his father into many many pieces using his sickle. But then, this incident happened to Saturn himself too. His 6th son, Jupiter a.k.a Zues grew up and castrated Saturn and chopped him into pieces using Saturn's sickle.

   Francisco Goya by Vicente López y Portaña 

IMO
IMO, This painting symbolised how the society works, the more power we holds, the more cruel we will be if we do not  use our power wisely. Its a Big eat Small world, we have to be strong enough to withstand the other competitors.

Chapter 3:Lascaux(Halls of Bulls)

Description(Wikipedia, July 2011)


Halls of Bulls, was one of the famous cave wall painting found near Lascaux, France. This painting was founded in 1940. Even though during that time, the painting technology was not good enough, but with this painting shown, we can see that the men during that era do have artistic intention. They do know how to use the natural rock colour and texture of the wall to create a painting such fantastic. In this painting, we can see cows, deers, bisons, men and other small creatures. Many has interpret the painting as the activities going on during that time, the men that era try to record down their daily activities of hunting. This cave with painting in it was opened to the public in 1948 which was after world war II. However, it was then closed in 1963 to preserve this marvellous art from getting more damages from the publicity.

IMO
In My Opinion, the men during that time drew these paintings to symbolise what they had done in their daily life and these paintings act as the dairy we nowadays use to record what we do for our daily life. This may be a good way to pass down the history event to the coming generations and a good way for us to learn from it. 

Chapter 4:History of Arts and Design- Lao Tze

Description (Wikipedia, July 2011)

Lao Tze(老子), according to Chinese, Lao Tze was a mystic philosopher of ancient China. He was also the author of Tao Te Ching also known as the DaoDeJing. After he wrote the Tao Te Ching(道德经), he was known as the founder of Taoism(道教). He was also revered as a deity in most religious forms of Taoist religion, know as the TaiShang LaoJun(太上老君). He was married and had a son named Zong. Actually, Lao means ''old'' and Tze means '' Master"; he was given the name or ''er'' and the surname of "Li''(李耳). He has a courtesy name as Boyang and given another name " Dan". So, he was sometime referred as ''Li Dan''. He origins from the dynasty of Zhou. Many said that he was contemporary with Confucius. The Tao Te Ching he wrote is a classical chinese text which almost every chinese men would know. The name of this text came from 2 part, one is Tao which means ''way'' and the another one is Te which means ''power/ virtue'' and for Jing...it means ''classic''. According to tradition, this book was written around 6th century BC. In this text, it records many things about the way to become a man, the way to rule, religion and many others.....The text is also about part of Taoism.

IMO

In my opinion, although many said that LaoTze is contemporary against Confucius, but I still do support both of their teachings. They both teach different things that is essential for us to learn if you look at them from different perspectives. One is teaches us to be more cruel to get something we wanted because the society out there is not simple as we can thought of; whereas another one teaches us to be more polite and kind in wish to get what we wanted, do not use power to get what we want. If I combined learning these 2 teachings, my life would be easier, since the outside world is so complicated and full of obstacles.

Chapter 2:History of Arts and Design-Book of the Dead

Description(wikipedia, July 2011)

The picture is showing the Book of the Dead from Egypt. The Book of the Dead is actually the modern name for an ancient Egyptian funerary text. The original Egyptian name for the text was translated as ''Book of coming forth by day". According to the archaeologists, this text contains some magic spells which intended to assist a dead person's journey through the underworld or Duat which they called last time and then the spells can help the dead's journey to the afterlife. This book is one of the funerary text which included the earlier Pyramid texts and coffin texts. The texts in the book was written in hieroglyphs form. These text was then written on a papylus scroll. After the book was done, it was then placed in a coffin of a dead person laying inside. Then the spells in the book were then believed that they were functioning to assist the dead on his/ her journey to the afterlife. A few spells which were written in the book was also inscribed on tomb walls and the sarcophagus a.k.a the funearal receptacle for the corpse which was carved out from stone. The sarcophagus was the coffin for the Pharaoh.

The Book of the Dead is composed of many illustrations and also texts. Currently, 192 spells are known at present and each of the respective spells serve different purposes. The Book of the Dead depict the Egyptian beliefs about the nature and the afterlife. In the text, the Egyptian believed that after a person die, if let the dead undergo the process of mummification, the spirits, souls and body of the dead will be well preserved. And they believed that the physical body of the dead will be ready to transform into a Sah, an idealised form with divine aspects. Besides, there is also spells which protect the Heart of the dead. Something else like the heart scarab is often buried as a replacement of the heart. The Ba, which was a free-ranging spirit aspect of the deceased, depicted as a human-headed bird which was believed that can go forth by day from the tomb into the world of afterlife. Spells were acted to preserve this particular Ba.

IMO

In my opinion, after I read the story of this legend, I thought that although we can use all sorts of spells to preserve the dead body or have a better life in afterlife, but why must we do that? These are all unnecessary in my opinion. Why should we do something which is against the God's creation? Why not just undergo normal burification but why mummification? Although the Egyptians think that they do like this is normal, but I still think that we should just buried the normally and let the dead rest in peace. We Should Respect the Dead! R.I.P ~ XD

Chapter 5 : History of Arts and Designs-Assignment 1

As shown here is a picture of a mosque located at KL town which resembles the design of an ancient Greek sacred place for praying so called as temple in this new era. The pillars within the wall are the influence of Greek architecture designs which is using Doric columns. The design of Doric column is then combined with the Malays' design to form the new shape with its own taste and feeling. The idea of the design comes mainly from Arabic countries. The design of Doric column actually symbolised the meaning of harmony. The culture is added mainly to show harmony and peace between religions. The spacing between the pillars shows Kitsch as it shows repetition.

In this picture, it is clearly shown that people are burning things for their relatives for afterlife usage. These so called ''things'' are now called as incense or offerings. People especially Chinese always have the thinking that if they burn something for their late relatives, their dead will receive it and then they can use it during afterlife. This trend or habit has been going for centuries even since the Qin Dynasty. This culture is clearly the influence of Egyptian's culture. However, there are differences between these two cultures. Chinese gives offering to their late relatives just to hope that their relatives can have a better life during afterlife; while during old times for the Egyptians, they give offerings to the God which is Pharaoh who is believed to be the descendant of the Gods. They can then get favours from the Pharaoh. 

This is the picture of the Bukit Jalil Stadium. The shape and form of the stadium is like a theatre-shape like. This could be the influence of Greek and also Roman. The shape of the stadium is an oval. During Greek old times, the theatre is used for performances including festivals, religious rituals, wedding, funeral, politics, laws sports, musics and others. Nowadays, the stadium which is the shape of the theatre is also used as sports purpose. Many kinds of sports were performed here. Besides, this can also be the influence of Rome because the stadium applied the shape of a Roman Colosseum. Men fought in the Roman Colosseum to see who is the strongest; this happen also in the stadium. Athletes compete each other and see who is the most outstanding.

This is a modern coffin made of wood outside and cloth inside of it. A coffin is actually a funerary box used in the containment of dead people. The ancient Egyptians think that it is necessary to bury the dead according to the burial custom to ensure their immortality after death. They thought    of rituals and protocols including mummification. Besides that, they also undergoes the casting of magic spell and also buried the dead with specific goods which are thought to be needed afterlife. These customs are carry down for generations and are still practice by us. We believed that the coffin act as a house for the dead for their afterlife. Even Dracula lives in a coffin. We often believed that without the coffin, maybe the dead will suffer of coldness in their afterlife.

 This is a dragon caryatids. The dragon is a legendary creature in the Chinese culture of mythology. Dragons are believed to have possess great, magical powers which can control the nature. It also symbolised the meaning of strong, power and good luck. In Greek version, caryatids are often carved in the form of either woman or man, however, in Chinese version, the Chinese thinks that the dragon is a mystical and powerful creature and believed that it is the dragon which is holding the sky up without letting it falling down over the billions of innocent lives.

Definition of Kitsch (wikipedia-Kitsch)

Kitsch is a form of art that is considered an inferior, tasteless copy of an extant style of art or a worthless imitation of art of recognized value. The concept is associated with the deliberate use of elements that may be thought of as cultural icons while making cheap mass-produced objects that are unoriginal. Kitsch also refers to the types of art that are aesthetically deficient (whether or not being sentimental, glamorous, theatrical, or creative) and that make creative gestures which merely imitate the superficial appearances of art through repeated conventions and formulae. Excessive sentimentality often is associated with the term.

The contemporary definition of kitsch is considered 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. 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.

The concept of kitsch is applied to artwork that was a response to the 19th century art with aesthetics that convey exaggerated sentimentality and melodrama, hence, kitsch art is closely associated with sentimental art.