The parthenon (fig. 15.9) in athens is an example of the ________ style of architecture.

THE HUMANITIES THROUGH THE ARTS

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THE HUMANITIES THROUGH THE ARTS

N i n t h E d i t i o n

F. David Martin Professor of Philosophy Emeritus

Bucknell University

Lee A. Jacobus Professor of English Emeritus

University of Connecticut

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THE HUMANITIES THROUGH THE ARTS, NINTH EDITION

Published by McGraw-Hill Education, 2 Penn Plaza, New York, NY 10121. Copyright © 2015 by McGraw-Hill Education. All rights reserved. Printed in the United States of America. Previous editions © 2011, 2008, and 2004. No part of this publication may be reproduced or distributed in any form or by any means, or stored in a database or retrieval system, without the prior written consent of McGraw-Hill Education, including, but not limited to, in any network or other electronic storage or transmission, or broadcast for distance learning.

Some ancillaries, including electronic and print components, may not be available to customers outside the United States.

This book is printed on acid-free paper.

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ISBN 978-0-07-352398-9 MHID 0-07-352398-4

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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Martin, F. David, 1920– author. The humanities through the arts / F. David Martin, Bucknell University; Lee A. Jacobus, University of Connecticut–Storrs.—Ninth Edition. pages cm Includes index. ISBN 978–0–07–352398–9 — ISBN 0–07–352398–4 (hard : alk. paper) 1. Arts–Psychological aspects. 2. Art appreciation. I. Jacobus, Lee A., author. II. Title. NX165.M37 2014 700.1’04–dc23 2013041627

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v

ABOUT THE AUTHORS

F. David Martin (PhD, University of Chicago) taught at the University of Chicago and then at Bucknell University until his retirement in 1983. He was a Fulbright Research Scholar in Florence and Rome from 1957 through 1959, and he has received seven other major research grants during his career as well as the Christian Lindback Award for Distinguished Teaching. In addition to more than 100 articles in professional journals, Dr. Martin is the author of Art and the Religious Experience (Associated University Presses, 1972); Sculpture and the Enlivened Space (The University Press of Kentucky, 1981); and Facing Death: Theme and Variations (Associated University Presses, 2006).

Lee A. Jacobus (PhD, Claremont Graduate University) taught at Western Connecticut University and then at the University of Connecticut (Storrs) until he retired in 2001. He held a Danforth Teachers Grant while earning his doctorate. His publications include Hawaiian Tales (Tell Me Press, 2014); Substance, Style and Strategy (Oxford University Press, 1999); Shakespeare and the Dialectic of Certainty (St. Martin’s Press, 1992); Sudden Apprehension: Aspects of Knowledge in Paradise Lost (Mouton, 1976); John Cleveland: A Critical Study (G. K. Hall, 1975); and Aesthetics and the Arts (McGraw-Hill, 1968). Dr. Jacobus writes poetry, drama, and fi ction. He is the editor of The Bedford Introduction to Drama (Bedford/St. Martin’s, 2013). His A World of Ideas (Bedford/St. Martin’s, 2013) is in its ninth edition.

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We dedicate this study to teachers and students of the humanities.

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BRIEF CONTENTS

PREFACE xiii

Part 1 FUNDAMENTALS

1 The Humanities: An Introduction 1 2 What Is a Work of Art? 18

3 Being a Critic of the Arts 47

Part 2 THE ARTS

4 Painting 63 5 Sculpture 95

6 Architecture 126 7 Literature 171 8 Theater 199 9 Music 225

10 Dance 256 11 Photography 278

12 Cinema 304 13 Television and Video Art 333

Part 3 INTERRELATIONSHIPS

14 Is It Art or Something Like It? 352 15 The Interrelationships of the Arts 379

16 The Interrelationships of the Humanities 400 GLOSSARY G-1

CREDITS C-1

INDEX I-1

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CONTENTS

PREFACE xiii

Part 1 FUNDAMENTALS

1 Th e Humanities: An Introduction 1

The Humanities: A Study of Values 1 Taste 4 Responses to Art 4 Structure and Artistic Form 9

EXPERIENCING: The Mona Lisa 10

Perception 12

Abstract Ideas and Concrete Images 13 Summary 16

2 What Is a Work of Art? 18 Identifying Art Conceptually 19 Identifying Art Perceptually 19 Artistic Form 20 Participation 24 Participation and Artistic Form 26 Content 27 Subject Matter 29 Subject Matter and Artistic Form 30 Participation, Artistic Form, and Content 30 Artistic Form: Examples 32 Subject Matter and Content 38

EXPERIENCING: Interpretations of the Female Nude 44

Further Thoughts on Artistic Form 44 Summary 45

3 Being a Critic of the Arts 47 You Are Already an Art Critic 47 Participation and Criticism 48 Three Kinds of Criticism 48 Descriptive Criticism 49 Interpretive Criticism 53 Evaluative Criticism 56

EXPERIENCING: The Polish Rider 60 Summary 61

Part 2 THE ARTS

4 Painting 63 Our Visual Powers 63 The Media of Painting 64 Tempera 64 Fresco 66 Oil 67 Watercolor 69 Acrylic 69 Other Media and Mixed Media 70

Elements of Painting 72 Line 73 Color 76

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CONTENTS ix

6 Architecture 126 Centered Space 126 Space and Architecture 127 Chartres 128 Living Space 131 Four Necessities of Architecture 132 Technical Requirements of Architecture 132 Functional Requirements of Architecture 133 Spatial Requirements of Architecture 137 Revelatory Requirements of Architecture 137

Earth-Rooted Architecture 139 Site 140 Gravity 140 Raw Materials 142 Centrality 143

Sky-Oriented Architecture 145 Axis Mundi 148 Defi ance of Gravity 149 Integration of Light 150

Earth-Resting Architecture 151 Earth-Dominating Architecture 153 Combinations of Types 154 Guggenheim Museum Bilbao and Sydney Opera House 155 High-Rises and Skyscrapers 157

EXPERIENCING: Sydney Opera House 158

FOCUS ON: Fantasy Architecture 163

Urban Planning 166 Summary 170

7 Literature 171 Spoken Language and Literature 171 Literary Structures 174 The Narrative and the Narrator 174 The Episodic Narrative 176 The Organic Narrative 179 The Quest Narrative 182 The Lyric 184

EXPERIENCING: “Musée des Beaux Arts” 187

Literary Details 188 Image 189

Texture 77 Composition 77

The Clarity of Painting 80 The “All-at-Onceness” of Painting 81 Abstract Painting 81 Intensity and Restfulness in

Abstract Painting 83 Representational Painting 84 Comparison of Five Impressionist Paintings 84

FOCUS ON: The Self-Portrait: Rembrandt van Rijn, Gustave Courbet, Vincent van Gogh, and Frida Kahlo 90

Frames 92 Some Painting Styles of the Past 150 Years 92

EXPERIENCING: Frames 93 Summary 94

5 Sculpture 95 Sensory Interconnections 96 Sculpture and Painting Compared 96 Sculpture and Space 98 Sunken-Relief Sculpture 98 Low-Relief Sculpture 99 High-Relief Sculpture 100 Sculpture in the Round 101 Sculpture and Architecture Compared 103 Sensory Space 104 Sculpture and the Human Body 105 Sculpture in the Round and the

Human Body 106 EXPERIENCING: Sculpture and Physical Size 108

Contemporary Sculpture 109 Truth to Materials 109 Protest against Technology 112 Accommodation with Technology 115 Machine Sculpture 116 Earth Sculpture 117

FOCUS ON: African Sculpture 119

Sculpture in Public Places 122 Summary 125

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x CONTENTS

Tonal Center 235 Musical Structures 237 Theme and Variations 237 Rondo 238 Fugue 238 Sonata Form 238 Fantasia 239 Symphony 240

FOCUS ON: Beethoven’s Symphony in E ♭ Major, No. 3, Eroica 245

Blues and Jazz: Popular American Music 250 Blues and Rock and Roll 252 Summary 254

10 Dance 256 Subject Matter of Dance 256

EXPERIENCING: Feeling and Dance 258

Form 259 Dance and Ritual 259 Ritual Dance 261 Social Dance 261 The Court Dance 262

Ballet 262 Swan Lake 264

Modern Dance 267 Alvin Ailey’s Revelations 269 Martha Graham 271 Pilobolus and Momix Dance Companies 272 Mark Morris Dance Group 273

FOCUS ON: Theater Dance 275

Popular Dance 276 Summary 277

11 Photography 278 Photography and Painting 278

EXPERIENCING: Photography and Art 282

Photography and Painting: The Pictorialists 283

Straight Photography 286 Stieglitz: Pioneer of Straight Photography 287

Metaphor 191 Symbol 194 Irony 195 Diction 196 Summary 198

8 Th eater 199 Aristotle and the Elements of Drama 200 Dialogue and Soliloquy 201

Archetypal Patterns 203 Genres of Drama: Tragedy 205 The Tragic Stage 205 Stage Scenery and Costumes 207 Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet 209

Comedy: Old and New 212 Tragicomedy: The Mixed Genre 215 A Play for Study: The Swan Song 215

EXPERIENCING: Anton Chekhov’s The Swan Song 219

FOCUS ON: Musical Theater 220

Experimental Drama 223 Summary 224

9 Music 225 Hearing and Listening 225 The Elements of Music 226 Tone 226 Consonance 227 Dissonance 227 Rhythm 228 Tempo 228 Melodic Material: Melody, Theme, and Motive 228 Counterpoint 229 Harmony 229

EXPERIENCING: “Battle Hymn of the Republic” 230

Dynamics 231 Contrast 231

The Subject Matter of Music 231 Feelings 232

Two Theories: Formalism and Expressionism 234 Sound 234

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CONTENTS xi

Part 3 INTERRELATIONSHIPS

14 Is It Art or Something Like It? 352

Art and Artlike 352 Illustration 355 Realism 355 Folk Art 356 Popular Art 358 Propaganda 363

EXPERIENCING: Propaganda Art 364

FOCUS ON: Kitsch 364

Decoration 366 Idea Art 369 Dada 369 Duchamp and His Legacy 371 Conceptual Art 372

Performance Art 374 Shock Art 375 Virtual Art 376 Summary 378

15 Th e Interrelationships of the Arts 379

Appropriation 379 Synthesis 381 Interpretation 382 Film Interprets Literature: Howards End 382 Music Interprets Drama: The Marriage of Figaro 385 Poetry Interprets Painting: The Starry Night 388 Sculpture Interprets Poetry: Apollo and Daphne 390

EXPERIENCING: Bernini’s Apollo and Daphne and Ovid’s The Metamorphoses 392

FOCUS ON: Photography Interprets Fiction 393

Architecture Interprets Dance: National Nederlanden Building 395

Painting Interprets Dance and Music: The Dance and Music 396

EXPERIENCING: Death in Venice: Three Versions 398 Summary 399

The f/64 Group 288

The Documentarists 290 The Modern Eye 296

FOCUS ON: Digital Photography 300 Summary 303

12 Cinema 304 The Subject Matter of Film 304 Directing and Editing 305 The Participative Experience and Film 308 The Film Image 309

EXPERIENCING: Still Frames and Photography 310

Camera Point of View 312 Violence and Film 315 Sound 316 Image and Action 318 Film Structure 319 Cinematic Signifi cance 321 The Context of Film History 322 Francis Ford Coppola’s The Godfather 323 The Narrative Structure of The Godfather Films 324 Coppola’s Images 325 Coppola’s Use of Sound 326 The Power of The Godfather 326

FOCUS ON: Alfred Hitchcock’s Vertigo 327

Experimentation 330 Summary 332

13 Television and Video Art 333 The Evolution of Television 333 The Subject Matter of Television and Video

Art 334 Commercial Television 335 The Television Series 336 The Structure of the Self-Contained Episode 337 The Television Serial 337

Video Art 342 FOCUS ON: Downton Abbey 343

Summary 350

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xii CONTENTS

FOCUS ON: The Arts and History, The Arts and Philosophy, The Arts and Theology 406

Summary 411

GLOSSARY G-1

CREDITS C-1

INDEX I-1

16 Th e Interrelationships of the Humanities 400

The Humanities and the Sciences 400 The Arts and the Other Humanities 401

EXPERIENCING: The Humanities and Students of Medicine 402

Values 403

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PREFACE

The Humanities through the Arts , ninth edition, explores the humanities with an emphasis on the arts. Examining the relationship of the humanities to values, ob- jects, and events important to people is central to this book. We make a distinction between artists and other humanists: Artists reveal values, while other humanists examine or refl ect on values. We study how values are revealed in the arts, while keeping in mind a basic question: “What is Art?” Judging by the existence of an- cient artifacts, we see that artistic expression is one of the most fundamental human activities. It binds us together as a people by revealing the most important values of our culture. Our genre-based approach offers students the opportunity to understand the relation of the arts to human values by examining in-depth each of the major artis- tic media. Subject matter, form, and content in each of the arts supply the frame- work for careful analysis. Painting and photography focus our eyes on the visual appearance of things. Sculpture reveals the textures, densities, and shapes of things. Architecture sharpens our perception of spatial relationships, both inside and out. Literature, theater, cinema, and video make us more aware of the human condition, among other ideas. Our understanding of feelings is deepened by music. Our sensi- tivity to movement, especially of the human body, is enhanced by dance. The wide range of opportunities for criticism and analysis helps the reader synthesize the complexities of the arts and their interaction with values of many kinds. All of this is achieved with an exceptionally vivid and complete illustration program alongside detailed discussion and interactive responses to the problems inherent in a close study of the arts and values of our time. Four major pedagogical boxed features enhance student understanding of the genres and of individual works within the genres: Perception Key boxes, Concep- tion Key boxes, Experiencing boxes, and new Focus On boxes (the latter described in detail in the “Key Changes in the Ninth Edition” section of this Preface):

• The Perception Key boxes are designed to sharpen readers in their responses to the arts. These boxes raise important questions about specifi c works of art in a way that respects the complexities of the works and of our responses to them. The questions raised are usually open-ended and thereby avoid any doctrinaire views or dogmatic opinions. The emphasis is on perception and awareness, and how a heightened awareness will produce a fuller and more meaningful under- standing of the work at hand. In a few cases our own interpretations and analyses

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PREFACE

follow the keys, and are offered not as the way to perceive a given work of art but, rather, as one possible way. Our primary interest is in exciting our readers to perceive the splendid singularity of the work of art in question.

• We use Conception Key boxes, rather than Perception Key boxes, in certain instances throughout the book where we focus on thought and conception rather than observation and perception. Again, these are open-ended questions that involve refl ection and understanding. There is no single way of responding to these keys, just as there is no simple way to answer the questions.

PERCEPTION KEY Public Sculpture 1. Public sculpture such as that by Maya Lin, Richard Serra, and Judy Chicago usually

produces tremendous controversy when it is not representative, such as a conven- tional statue of a man on a horse, a hero holding a rifl e and fl ag, or person of local fame. What do you think causes these more abstract works to attract controversy? Do you react negatively or positively to any of these three works?

2. Should artists who plan public sculpture meant to be viewed by a wide-ranging audience aim at pleasing that audience? Should that be their primary mission, or should they simply make the best work they are capable of ?

3. Which of the three, Vietnam Veterans Memorial, Sequence, or The Dinner Party, seems least like a work of art to you? Try to convince someone who disagrees with you that it is not a work of art.

4. Choose a public sculpture that is in your community, photograph it, and establish its credentials, as best you can, for making a claim to being an important work of art.

5. If we label Chicago’s The Dinner Party a feminist work, is it then to be treated as political sculpture? Do you think Lin’s Vietnam Veterans Memorial is a less political or more political sculpture than Chicago’s work? Could Serra’s Sequence be consid-

mar23984_ch05_095-125.indd 124 22/01/14 5:54 PMCONCEPTION KEY Archetypes 1. You may wish to supplement the comments above by reading the third chapter of

Northrop Frye’s Anatomy of Criticism or the Hamlet chapter in Francis Fergusson’s The Idea of a Theater.

2. Whether or not you do additional reading, consider the recurrent patterns you have observed in dramas—include television dramas or television adaptations of drama. Can you fi nd any of the patterns we have described? Do you see other patterns showing up? Do the patterns you have observed seem basic to human experience? For example, do you associate gaiety with spring, love with summer, death with fall, and bitterness with winter? What season seems most appropriate

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• Each chapter provides an Experiencing box that gives the reader the opportu- nity to approach a specifi c work of art in more detail than the Perception Key boxes. Analysis of the work begins by answering a few preliminary questions to make it accessible to students. Follow-up questions ask students to think criti- cally about the work and guide them to their own interpretations. In every case

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we raise major issues concerning the genre of work, the background of the work, and the artistic issues that make the work demanding and important.

EXPERIENCING Sydney Opera House 1. Would you recognize the function of

the building if you did not know its name?

2. Which type does this building ful- fi ll, earth-resting, earth-rooted, or sky-oriented?

In the late 1950s the design was a sensation in part because no one could know by looking at it that it was a concert and opera hall. Its swooping “sails” were so novel that people were more amazed at its construction than by its function. Additionally, the fact that the build- ing was fl oating in a harbor rather than being built on solid earth was all the more mystifying. Today, however, with the innovations of computer-generated plans for buildings like Gehry’s Guggenheim in Bilbao (Figures 6-24 to 6-26), we are accustomed to the extraordinary shapes that make these buildings possible. In fact, now we are likely to associate the shape of the Sydney Opera House (Figure 6-27) with a function related to the arts. This tells us that our percep- tion of function in a building is established by tradition and our association with a class of buildings. Therefore, the dogma that was so fi rmly established years ago—“form follows function”—is capable of distinct revision.

FIGURE 6-27 Jørn Utzon, Opera House, Sydney, Australia. 1973.

This is considered an expressionist modern design. The precast concrete shells house various concert and performance halls.

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Organization

This edition, as with previous editions, is organized into three parts, offering considerable fl exibility in the classroom: Part 1, “Fundamentals,” includes the fi rst three introductory chapters. In Chapter 1, The Humanities: An Introduction , we distinguish the humanities from the sciences, and the arts from other humanities. In Chapter 2, What Is a Work of Art? , we raise the question of defi nition in art and the ways in which we distinguish art from other objects and experiences. Chapter 3, Being a Critic of the Arts , introduces the vital role of criticism in art appreciation and evaluation. Part 2, “The Arts,” includes individual chapters on each of the basic arts. The structure of this section permits complete fl exibility: The chapters may be used in their present order or in any order one wishes. We begin with individual chapters on Painting , Sculpture , and Architecture , follow with Literature , Theater , Music , and Dance , and continue with Photography , Cinema , and Television and Video Art . Instruc- tors may reorder or omit chapters as needed. The Photography chapter now more logically precedes the Cinema and Television and Video Art chapters for the conve- nience of instructors who prefer to teach the chapters in the order presented.

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Part 3, “Interrelationships,” begins with Chapter 14, Is It Art or Something Like It? We study illustration, folk art, propaganda, and kitsch while raising the ques- tion “What is Art?” We also examine the avant-garde as it pushes us to the edge of defi nition. Chapter 15, The Interrelationships of the Arts , explores the ways in which the arts work together, as in how literature and music result in a Mozart opera; how poetry inspires a Bernini sculpture; and how a van Gogh painting inspires poetry and song. Chapter 16, The Interrelationships of the Humanities , addresses the ways in which the arts impact the other humanities, particularly history, philosophy, and theology.

Key Changes in the Ninth Edition

• New “Focus On” boxes. In each chapter of “The Arts” and “Interrelationships” sections of the book, we include a Focus On box, which provides an opportunity to deal in-depth with a group of artworks as a way of exploring art in context with similar works. For example, we focus on African sculpture, fantasy architecture, self-portraits, kitsch, and other topics via a variety of examples. In the Cinema and Television and Video Art chapters, we focus in-depth on specifi c works (Alfred Hitchcock’s Vertigo and the popular PBS drama Downton Abbey, respectively) from a variety of perspectives. Each of these opportunities encourages in-depth and comparative study.

FOCUS ON Downton Abbey By 2013, in its third season, the British serial drama Down- ton Abbey (PBS) became one of the most watched television programs in the world. Almost the diametrical opposite of The Sopranos and The Wire, it presents a historical period in England in which the language is formal by comparison and the manners impeccable. What we see is the upheaval of the lives of the British aristocracy in the wake of historical forces that cannot be ignored or stemmed. The fi rst season began with a major historical event, the sinking of the Titanic in 1912. With the ship went Patrick Crawley, the young heir to Downton Abbey. The result is that, much to the dismay of the Dowager Countess Vio- let Crawley (Figure 13-8), the great house will now go to the Earl of Grantham’s distant cousin, Matthew Crawley, a person unknown to the family. Young Matthew enters as a middle-class solicitor (lawyer) with little interest in the ways of the aristocracy. But soon he fi nds himself in love with his distant cousin, Lady Mary Crawley, beginning a long and complicated love interest that becomes one of the major centers of the drama for three seasons. Lord Grantham and his wife Cora, Countess of Grantham, have three daughters (Figure 13-9), and therefore the question of marriage is as im- portant in this drama as in any Jane Austen novel. The fate of Downton Abbey itself is a major center of interest in the drama—not only because of the question of who is to inherit and live in the great house, but also because in season 3 Lord Grantham announces that, as a result of bad investments, he has lost

FIGURE 13-8 Maggie Smith as Violet Crawley in Downton Abbey. She is the Dowager Countess of Grantham and the series’ most stalwart character in her resistance to change. She has been a scene-stealer since season 1.

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• Updated illustration program and contextual discussions. More than 30 per- cent of the images in this edition are new or have been updated to include fresh classic and contemporary works. New discussions of these works appear near the illustrations. The 200-plus images throughout the book have been carefully chosen and reproduced in full color when possible, resulting in a beautifully illustrated text. Newly-added visual artists represented include painters Lee Krasner, Frida Kahlo, and Gustave Courbet; sculptors Ron Mueck, Frank Stella, and Jeff Koons; photographers Edward Steichen, Cindy Sherman, and Lewis Hine; and video artist Janine Antoni. Newly-added fi lm and television stills rep- resent Alfred Hitchcock’s Vertigo , James Cameron’s Avatar, Quentin Taranti- no’s Django Unchained , the PBS series Downton Abbey , and more.

• New literature, dance, theater, and music coverage. Along with the many new illustrations and contextual discussions of the visual arts, fi lm, and televi- sion, new works and images in the literary, dance, theatrical, and musical arts have been added and contextualized. These include works by Edgar Lee Masters, Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra, Anton Chekhov, John Milton, Gerard Manley Hopkins, Sarah Norcliffe Cleghorn, Samuel Beckett, Steven Sondheim, Mark Morris, Joseph Haydn, and Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. The theater chapter also includes a new section on stage scenery and costumes.

• Increased focus on non-Western art. This edition contains numerous new examples of non-Western art, from painting (Wang Yuanqi’s Landscape after Wu Zhen ) to sculpture (Focus On: African Sculpture) to architecture (the Guangzhou Opera House) to dance (the Nrityagram Dance Ensemble) to fi lm (Yasujiro− Ozu’s Tokyo Story ).

• Additional references to online videos. Since many opportunities exist for ex- periencing the performing arts online, we point to numerous online videos that can help expand our understanding of specifi c works of art. Virtually all the arts have some useful illustrations online that become more intelligible as a result of our discussion of the medium or the specifi c work of art.

Supplements

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Simplicity in assigning and engaging your students with course materials. Craft your teaching resources to match the way you

teach! With McGraw-Hill Create, http://www.mcgrawhillcreate.com/, you can easily rearrange chapters, combine material from other content sources, and quickly upload content you have written, such as your course syllabus or teaching notes. Find the content you need in Create by searching through thousands of leading McGraw-Hill textbooks. Arrange your book to fi t your teaching style. Create even allows you to personalize your book’s appearance by selecting the cover and adding your name, school, and course information. Order a Create book and you’ll receive a complimentary print review copy in three to fi ve business days or a complimentary electronic review copy (eComp) via e-mail in about an hour. Go to http://www. mcgrawhillcreate.com/ today and register. Experience how McGraw-Hill Create empowers you to teach your students your way.

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Online Learning Center

Instructor Resources An Instructor’s Online Learning Center (OLC) at www. mhhe.com/hta9 includes a number of resources to assist instructors with planning and teaching their courses: an instructor’s manual, which offers learning objec- tives, chapter outlines, possible discussion and lecture topics, and more; a test bank with multiple-choice and essay questions; and a chapter-by-chapter PowerPoint presentation.

Student Resources The student content for the Online Learning Center of this new edition of The Humanities through the Arts enriches the learning experience. Students can watch videos on various art techniques and access interactive de- signs to strengthen their understanding of visual art, dance, music, sculpture, literature, theater, architecture, and fi lm. They will also be able to use the guided Research in Action tool to enhance their understanding of time periods, genres, and artists. We hope that this online availability will spark their own creativity. All of this information is available at www.mhhe.com/hta9 when you click on the MyHumanitiesStudiolink. Additional resources, including quizzes, links to relevant websites, and a chapter-by-chapter glossary, are available on the OLC to help students review and test their knowledge of the material covered in the book.

Acknowledgments

This book is indebted to more people than we can truly credit. We are deeply grateful to the following reviewers for their help on this and previous editions:

Addell Austin Anderson, Wayne County Community College District David Avalos, California State University San Marcos Bruce Bellingham, University of Connecticut Eugene Bender, Richard J. Daley College Michael Berberich, Galveston College Barbara Brickman, Howard Community College Peggy Brown, Collin County Community College Lance Brunner, University of Kentucky Alexandra Burns, Bay Path College Bill Burrows, Lane Community College Glen Bush, Heartland Community College Sara Cardona, Richland College Brandon Cesmat, California State University San Marcos Selma Jean Cohen, editor of Dance Perspectives Karen Conn, Valencia Community College Harrison Davis, Brigham Young University Jim Doan, Nova University Jill Domoney, Johnson County Community College Gerald Eager, Bucknell University Kristin Edford, Amarillo College D. Layne Ehlers, Bacone College Jane Ferencz, University of Wisconsin–Whitewater

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Roberta Ferrell, SUNY Empire State Michael Flanagan, University of Wisconsin–Whitewater Kathy Ford, Lake Land College Andy Friedlander, Skagit Valley College Harry Garvin, Bucknell University Susan K. de Ghizee, University of Denver Amber Gillis, El Camino College–Compton Center Michael Gos, Lee College M. Scott Grabau, Irvine Valley College Lee Hartman, Howard Community College Jeffrey T. Hopper, Harding University James Housefi eld, Texas State University–San Marcos Stephen Husarik, University of Arkansas–Fort Smith Ramona Ilea, Pacifi c University Oregon Joanna Jacobus, choreographer Lee Jones, Georgia Perimeter College–Lawrenceville Deborah Jowitt, Village Voice Nadene A. Keene, Indiana University–Kokomo Marsha Keller, Oklahoma City University Paul Kessel, Mohave Community College Edward Kies, College of DuPage John Kinkade, Centre College Gordon Lee, Lee College Tracy L. McAfee, North Central State College L. Timothy Myers, Butler Community College Marceau Myers, North Texas State University Martha Myers, Connecticut College William E. Parker, University of Connecticut Seamus Pender, Franklin Pierce College Ellen Rosewall, University of Wisconsin–Green Bay Susan Shmeling, Vincennes University Ed Simone, St. Bonaventure University C. Edward Spann, Dallas Baptist University Mark Stewart, San Joaquin Delta College Robert Streeter, University of Chicago Peter C. Surace, Cuyahoga Community College Robert Tynes, University of North Carolina at Asheville Walter Wehner, University of North Carolina at Greensboro Keith West, Butler Community College

We want to thank the editorial team at McGraw-Hill for their smart and gener- ous support for this edition. Director of Development Dawn Groundwater, along with Brand Managers Sarah Remington and Laura Wilk, oversaw the revision from inception through production, with the invaluable support of Editorial Coordi- nator Iris Kim. Development Editor Bruce Cantley guided us carefully through the process of establishing a revision plan and incorporating new material into the text. In all things he was a major sounding board as we thought about how to im- prove the book. We also owe thanks to Content Project Manager Laura Bies, who oversaw the book smoothly through the production process; Trevor Goodman, who revised the interior design for a sharper look and also designed the extraordi- nary cover; Margaret Moore, who was an exceptionally good copyeditor; Content

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Licensing Specialist Brenda Rolwes; Judy Mason, our image and photo researcher, who dealt with many diffi cult issues and resolved them with great skill; and Permis- sions Editor Jenna Caputo, who did a wonderful job clearing the rights for textual excerpts and line art.

A Note from the Authors

Our own commitment to the arts and the humanities has been lifelong. One pur- pose of this book is to help instill a lifelong love of all the arts in its readers. We have faced many of the issues and problems that are considered in this book, and to an extent we are still undecided about certain important questions concerning the arts and their relationship to the humanities. Clearly, we grow and change our thinking as we grow. Our engagement with the arts at any age will refl ect our own abilities and commitments. But as we grow, we deepen our understanding of the arts we love as well as deepen our understanding of our own nature, our inner self. We believe that the arts and the humanities function together to make life more intense, more signifi cant, and more wonderful. A lifetime of work unrelieved by a deep commitment to the arts would be stultifying and perhaps destructive to one’s soul. The arts and humanities make us one with our fellow man. They help us understand each other just as they help us admire the beauty that is the product of the human imagination. As the philosopher Susanne K. Langer once said, the arts are the primary avenues to the education of our emotional lives. By our efforts in understanding the arts we are indelibly enriched.

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THE HUMANITIES: AN INTRODUCTION

The Humanities: A Study of Values

Today we think of the humanities as those broad areas of human creativity and study, such as philosophy, history, social sciences, the arts and literature, that are distinct from mathematics and the “hard” sciences, mainly because in the human- ities, strictly objective or scientifi c standards are not usually dominant. The current separation between the humanities and the sciences reveals itself in a number of contemporary controversies. For example, the cloning of animals has been greeted by many people as a possible benefi t for domestic livestock farmers. Genetically altered wheat, soybeans, and other cereals have been heralded by many scientists as a breakthrough that will produce disease-resistant crops and therefore permit us to continue to increase the world food supply. On the other hand, some people resist such modifi cations and purchase food identifi ed as not being genet- ically altered. Scientifi c research into the human genome has identifi ed certain genes for inherited diseases, such as breast cancer or Alzheimer’s disease, that could be modifi ed to protect individuals or their offspring. Genetic research also suggests that in a few years individuals may be able to “design” their children’s intelligence, body shape, height, general appearance, and physical ability. Scientists provide the tools for these choices. Their values are centered in science in that they value the nature of their research and their capacity to make it work in a positive way. However, the impact on humanity of such a series of dramatic

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changes to life brings to the fore values that clash with one another. For example, is it a positive social value for couples to decide the sex of their offspring rather than following nature’s own direction? In this case, who should decide if “designing” one’s offspring is a positive value, the scientist or the humanist? Even more profound is the question of cloning a human being. Once a sheep was cloned successfully, it was clear that this science would lead directly to the possibility of a cloned human being. Some proponents of cloning support the process because we could clone a child who dies in infancy or clone a genius who has given great gifts to the world. For these people, cloning is a positive value. For others, the very thought of cloning a person is repugnant on the basis of religious belief. For still others, the idea of human cloning is objectionable because it echoes the creation of an unnatural monster, and for them it is a negative value. Because this is a worldwide problem, local laws will have limited effect on establishing a clear position on the value of cloning of all sorts. The question of how we decide on such a controversial issue is at the heart of the humanities, and some observers have pointed to Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley’s famous novel, Frankenstein, Or the Modern Prometheus, which in some ways enacts the confl ict among these values. These examples demonstrate that the discoveries of scientists often have tremen- dous impact on the values of society. Yet some scientists have declared that they merely make the discoveries and that others—presumably politicians—must decide how the discoveries are to be used. It is this last statement that brings us closest to the importance of the humanities. If many scientists believe they cannot judge how their discoveries are to be used, then we must try to understand why they give that responsibility to others. This is not to say that scientists uniformly turn such deci- sions over to others, for many of them are humanists as well as scientists. But the fact remains that many governments have made use of great scientifi c achievements without pausing to ask the “achievers” if they approved of the way their discoveries were being used. The questions are, Who decides how to use such discoveries? On what grounds should their judgments be based? Studying the behavior of neutrinos or string theory will not help us get closer to the answer. Such study is not related to the nature of humankind but to the nature of nature. What we need is a study that will get us closer to ourselves. It should be a study that explores the reaches of human feeling in relation to values—not only our own individual feelings and values but also the feelings and values of others. We need a study that will increase our sensitivity to ourselves, others, and the values in our world. To be sensitive is to perceive with insight. To be sensitive is also to feel and believe that things make a difference. Furthermore, it involves an awareness of those aspects of values that cannot be measured by objective standards. To be sen- sitive is to respect the humanities, because, among other reasons, they help develop our sensitivity to values, to what is important to us as individuals. There are numerous ways to approach the humanities. The way we have chosen here is the way of the arts. One of the contentions of this book is that values are clarifi ed in enduring ways in the arts. Human beings have had the impulse to express their values since the earliest times. Ancient tools recovered from the most recent Ice Age, for example, have features designed to express an affection for beauty as well as to provide utility. The concept of progress in the arts is problematic. Who is to say whether the cave paintings (Figure 1-1) of 30,000 years ago that were discovered in present-day

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France are less excellent than the work of Picasso (see Fig ure 1-4)? Cave paintings were probably not made as works of art to be contemplated. To get to them in the caves is almost always diffi cult, and they are very diffi cult to see. They seem to have been made for some practical purpose, such as improving the prospects for the hunt. Yet the work reveals something about the power, grace, and beauty of all the animals they portrayed. These cave paintings function now as works of art. From the begin- ning, our species instinctively had an interest in making revealing forms. Among the numerous ways to approach the humanities, we have chosen the way of the arts because, as we shall try to elucidate, the arts clarify or reveal values. As we deepen our understanding of the arts, we necessarily deepen our understanding of values. We will study our experience with works of art as well as the values others associate with them, and in this process we will also educate ourselves about our own values. Because a value is something that matters, engagement with art—the illumina- tion of values—enriches the quality of our lives signifi cantly. Moreover, the subject matter of art—what it is about—is not limited to the beautiful and the pleasant, the bright sides of life. Art may also include and help us understand the dark sides—the ugly, the painful, and the tragic. And when it does and when we get it, we are better able to come to grips with those dark sides of life. Art brings us into direct communication with others. As Carlos Fuentes wrote in The Buried Mirror, “People and their cultures perish in isolation, but they are born or reborn in contact with other men and women of another culture, another creed, another race. If we do not recognize our humanity in others, we shall not recognize it in ourselves.” Art reveals the essence of our existence.

FIGURE 1-1 Cave painting from Chauvet Caves, France.

Discovered in 1994, the Chauvet Caves have yielded some of the most astonishing examples of prehistoric art the world has seen. This rhinoceros may have lived as many as 35,000 years ago, while the painting itself seems as modern as a contemporary work.

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Taste

The taste of the mass public shifts constantly. Movies, for example, survive or fail on the basis of the number of people they appeal to. A fi lm is good if it makes money. Consequently, fi lm producers make every effort to cash in on current pop- ular tastes, often by making sequels until the public’s taste changes—for example, the Batman series (1989, 1992, 1995, 1997, 2005, 2008, 2012). Our study of the humanities emphasizes that commercial success is not the most important guide to excellence in the arts. The long-term success of works of art depends on their ability to interpret human experience at a level of complexity that warrants examination and reexamination. Many commercially successful works give us what we think we want rather than what we really need with reference to insight and understanding. By satisfying us in an immediate and superfi cial way, commercial art can dull us to the possibilities of complex, more deeply satisfying art. Everyone has limitations as a perceiver of art. Sometimes we defend our- selves against stretching our limitations by assuming that we have developed our taste and that any effort to change it is bad form. An old saying—“Matters of taste are not disputable”—can be credited with making many of us feel righteous about our own taste. What the saying means is that there is no accounting for what people like in the arts, for beauty is in the eye of the beholder. Thus, there is no use in trying to educate anyone about the arts. Obviously we disagree. We believe that all of us can and should be educated about the arts and should learn to respond to as wide a variety of the arts as possible: from jazz to string quartets, from Charlie Chaplin to Steven Spielberg, from Lewis Carroll to T. S. Eliot, from folk art to Picasso. Most of us defend our taste because anyone who challenges it challenges our deep feelings. Anyone who tries to change our responses to art is really trying to get inside our minds. If we fail to understand its purpose, this kind of persuasion naturally arouses resistance. For us, the study of the arts penetrates beyond facts to the values that evoke our feelings—the way a succession of Eric Clapton’s guitar chords when he plays the blues can be electrifying or the way song lyrics can give us a chill. In other words, we want to go beyond the facts about a work of art and get to the values revealed in the work. How many times have we all found ourselves liking something that, months or years before, we could not stand? And how often do we fi nd ourselves now disliking what we previously judged a masterpiece? Generally, we can say the work of art remains the same. It is we who change. We learn to recognize the values illuminated in such works as well as to understand the ways in which this is accom- plished. Such development is the meaning of “education” in the sense in which we have been using the term.

Responses to Art

Our responses to art usually involve processes so complex that they can never be fully tracked down or analyzed. At fi rst, they can only be hinted at when we talk about them. However, further education in the arts permits us to observe more closely and thereby respond more intensely to the content of the work. This is true, we believe, even with “easy” art, such as exceptionally beautiful works—for example, Giorgione

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(see Figure 2-16), Cézanne (see Figure 2-4), and O’Keeffe (see Figure 4-11). Such gorgeous works generally are responded to with immediate satisfaction. What more needs to be done? If art were only of the beautiful, textbooks such as this would never fi nd many users. But we think more needs to be done, even with the beautiful. We will begin, however, with three works that obviously are not beautiful. The Mexican painter David Alfaro Siqueiros’s Echo of a Scream (Figure 1-2) is a highly emotional painting—in the sense that the work seems to demand a strong emotional

FIGURE 1-2 David Alfaro Siqueiros, Mexican, 1896–1974, Echo of a Scream. 1937. Enamel on wood, 48 3 36 inches (121.9 3 91.4 cm). Gift of Edward M. M. Warburg. Museum of Modern Art, New York.

Siqueiros, a famous Mexican muralist, fought during the Mexican Revolution and possessed a powerful political sensibility, much of which found its way into his art. He painted some of his works in prison, held there for his political convictions. In the 1930s he centered his attention on the Spanish Civil War, represented here.

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response. What we see is the huge head of a baby crying and, then, as if issuing from its own mouth, the baby himself. What kinds of emotions do you fi nd stirring in yourself as you look at this painting? What kinds of emotions do you feel are expressed in the painting? Your own emotional responses—such as shock, pity for the child, irritation at a destructive, mechanical society, or any other nameable emotion—do not sum up the painting. However, they are an important starting point, since Siqueiros paints in such a way as to evoke emotion, and our understanding of the painting increases as we examine the means by which this evocation is achieved.

FIGURE 1-3 Peter Blume, 1906–1992, The Eternal City. 1934–1937. Dated on painting 1937. Oil on composition board, 34 3 477⁄8 inches. Museum of Modern Art, New York. Mrs. Simon Guggenheim Fund.

Born in Russia, Blume came to America when he was six. His paintings are marked by a strong interest in what is now known as magic realism, interleaving time and place and the dead and the living in an emotional space that confronts the viewer as a challenge. He condemned the tyrant dictators of the fi rst half of the twentieth century.

Art © Estate of Peter Blume/Licensed by VAGA, New York, NY.

PERCEPTION KEY Echo of a Scream 1. Identify the mechanical objects in the painting. 2. What is the condition of these objects? What is their relationship to the baby? 3. What are those strange round forms in the upper right corner? 4. How might your response diff er if the angular lines were smoothed out? 5. What is the signifi cance of the red cloth around the baby? 6. Why are the natural shapes in the painting, such as the forehead of the baby,

distorted? Is awareness of such distortions crucial to a response to the painting? 7. What eff ect does the repetition of the baby’s head have on you?

Study another work, very close in temperament to Siqueiros’s painting: The Eternal City by the American painter Peter Blume (Figure 1-3). After attending carefully to the kinds of responses awakened by The Eternal City, take note of some background information about the painting that you may not know. The

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year of this painting is the same as that of Echo of a Scream: 1937. The Eternal City is a name reserved for only one city in the world—Rome. In 1937 the world was on the verge of world war: Fascists were in power in Italy and the Nazis in Germany. In the center of the painting is the Roman Forum, close to where Julius Caesar, the alleged tyrant, was murdered by Brutus. But here we see fascist Blackshirts, the modern tyrants, beating people. In a niche at the left is a fi gure of Christ, and beneath him (hard to see) is a crippled beggar woman. Near her are ruins of Roman statuary. The enlarged and distorted head, wriggling out like a jack-in-the-box, is that of Mussolini, the man who invented fascism and the Blackshirts. Study the painting closely again. Has your response to the painting changed?

PERCEPTION KEY Siqueiros and Blume 1. What common ingredients do you fi nd in the Blume and Siqueiros paintings? 2. Is your reaction to the Blume similar to or distinct from your reaction to the

Siqueiros? 3. Is the eff ect of the distortions similar or diff erent? 4. How are colors used in each painting? Are the colors those of the natural world, or

do they suggest an artifi cial environment? Are they distorted for eff ect? 5. With reference to the objects and events represented in each painting, do you

think the paintings are comparable? If so, in what ways? 6. With the Blume, are there any natural objects in the painting that suggest the

vitality of the Eternal City? 7. What political values are revealed in these two paintings?

Before going on to the next painting, which is quite different in character, we will make some observations about what we have done, however briefl y, with the Blume. With added knowledge about its cultural and political implications—what we shall call the background of the painting—your responses to The Eternal City may have changed. Ideally, they should have become more focused, intense, and certain. Why? The painting is surely the same physical object you looked at orig- inally. Nothing has changed in that object. Therefore, something has changed because something has been added to you, information that the general viewer of the painting in 1937 would have known and would have responded to more emo- tionally than viewers do now. Consider how a Fascist, on the one hand, or an Italian humanist and lover of Roman culture, on the other hand, would have reacted to this painting in 1937. A full experience of this painting is not unidimensional but multidimensional. Moreover, “knowledge about” a work of art can lead to “knowledge of ” the work of art, which implies a richer experience. This is important as a basic principle, since it means that we can be educated about what is in a work of art, such as its shapes, objects, and structure, as well as what is external to a work, such as its political references. It means we can learn to respond more completely. It also means that artists such as Blume sometimes produce works that demand background informa- tion if we are to appreciate them fully. This is particularly true of art that refers to

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historical circumstances and personages. Sometimes we may fi nd ourselves unable to respond successfully to a work of art because we lack the background knowledge the artist presupposes. Picasso’s Guernica (Figure 1-4), one of the most famous paintings of the twentieth century, is also dated 1937. Its title comes from the name of an old Spanish town that was bombed during the Spanish Civil War—the fi rst aerial bombing of noncombatant civilians in modern warfare. Examine this painting carefully.

8

FIGURE 1-4 Pablo Picasso, Guernica. 1937. Oil on canvas, 11 feet 6 inches 3 25 feet 8 inches. Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofi a, Madrid, Spain.

Ordinarily, Picasso was not a political painter. During World War II he was a citizen of Spain, a neutral country. But the Spanish Civil War excited him to create one of the world’s greatest modern paintings, a record of the German bombing of a small Spanish town, Guernica. When a Nazi offi cer saw the painting he said to Picasso, “Did you do this?” Picasso answered scornfully, “No, you did.”

PERCEPTION KEY Guernica 1. Distortion is powerfully evident in this painting. How does its function diff er from

that of the distortion in Blume’s The Eternal City or Siqueiros’s Echo of a Scream? 2. Describe the objects in the painting. What is their relationship to one another? 3. Why the prominence of the lightbulb? 4. There are large vertical rectangles on the left and right sides and a very large trian-

gle in the center. Do these shapes provide a visual order to what would otherwise be sheer chaos? If so, how? As you think about this, compare one of many studies Picasso made for Guernica (Figure 1-5). Does the painting possess a stronger form than the study? If so, in what ways?

5. Because of reading habits in the West, we tend initially to focus on the left side of most paintings and then move to the right, especially when the work is very large. Is this the case with your perception of Guernica? In the organization or form of Guernica, is there a countermovement that, once our vision has reached the right side, pulls us back to the left? If so, what shapes in the painting cause this counter- movement? How do these left–right and right–left movements aff ect the balance of the painting? Note that the actual painting is over twenty-fi ve feet wide.

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The next painting (Figure 1-6), featured in “Experiencing: The Mona Lisa,” is by Leonardo da Vinci, arguably one of the greatest painters of the Italian Renaissance. Da Vinci is a household name in part because of this painting. Despite the lack of a political or historically relevant subject matter, the Mona Lisa, with its tense pose and enigmatic expression, has become possibly the most famous work of art in the West.

Structure and Artistic Form

The responses to the Mona Lisa are probably different from those you have when viewing the other paintings in this chapter, but why? You might reply that the Mona Lisa is hypnotizing, a carefully structured painting depending on a subtle but basic geometric form, the triangle. Such structures, while operating subconsciously, are obvious on analysis. Like all structural elements of the artistic form of a painting, they affect us deeply even when we are not aware of them. We have the capacity to respond to pure form even in paintings in which objects and events are portrayed.

6. The bull seems to be totally indiff erent to the carnage. Do you think the bull may be a symbol? For example, could the bull represent the spirit of the Spanish people? Could the bull represent General Franco, the man who ordered the bombing? Or could the bull represent both? To answer these questions adequately, do you need further background information, or can you defend your answers by referring to what is in the painting, or do you need to use both?