"Baroque Style" Please respond to one (1) of the following, using sources under the Explore heading as the basis of your response:
Listen to one (1) composition that demonstrates the qualities of the Baroque musical style. It may be from the Websites below or from this week's Music Folder. Identify your choice, and describe it by relating key terms from the textbook to your selection. Explain what you like or admire about the work. Compare it to a modern soundtrack or song that evokes a similar mood.
Select two (2) Baroque style paintings from the Websites below that no other student has selected. Identify each as to artist, date, and title or description. From the summaries of the Baroque style's features in our class text, identify specific key aspects of each painting that fit the Baroque style. Explain why you selected each and what you like or dislike about it. Compare this style to a modern film, type of film, or to a modern situation.
"The Arts and Royalty; Philosophers Debate Politics" Please respond to one (1) of the following, using sources under the Explore heading as the basis of your response:
In this week's readings, a dispute in the French royal court is described about whether Poussin or Rubens was the better painter. Take a painting by each, either from our book or a Website below, and compare them and explain which you prefer. There is another conflict between the playwright Moliere and a well-born Parisian; Louis XIV stepped in. Explain how Louis XIV used the various arts and his motives for doing so. Identify one (1) example of a modern political leader approaching the arts this way.
The philosophers Thomas Hobbes and John Locke disagreed on the understanding of political authority, with Locke taking what is commonly called the "liberal" view. Choose a side (be brave perhaps; take a side you actually disagree with). Using the writings of each given in our class text or at the Websites below, make your case for the side you chose and against the other side. Identify one (1) modern situation in the world where these issues are significant.
"Classical Music; Early Abolitionist Art and Literature" Please respond to one (1) of the following, using sources under the Explore heading as the basis of your response:
Listen to one (1) composition (for a symphony) by Haydn or Mozart, either at the Websites below or in this week's Music Folder. Identify the work that you have chosen, and describe the way in which the composition expresses the specific qualities of the Classical music style. Use the key terms from the textbook that are related to that particular music style, and explain what you like or admire about the work. Compare it to a specific modern musical work for which you might use the term "classic" or "classical".
Explain whether you think an autobiographical or fictional account by a slave (such as Phillis Wheatley and Olaudah Equiano) is more persuasive than a biographical or fictional account by a white author (such as John Gabriel Stedman or Aphra Behn).
Explain whether you believe the representations of slavery in the visual arts (such as William Blake's illustrations, William Hackwood's cameo, or John Singleton Copley's painting) were more compelling and convincing of the injustices of slavery than the literary representations already mentioned. In your explanations, use specific examples and consider both audience and the content and nature of the work. Identify the literary or art form in modern times that you think is most effective at depicting injustice.
"Intrusions in Asia; Opera and Society and a Dilemma" Please respond to one (1) of the following, using sources under the Explore heading as the basis of your response:
Describe two (2) examples of how either black slaves or white abolitionists used literature or the visual arts as a form of protest against slavery. Compare this to a modern example of art used for social protest.
Describe the key motives involved in the increased presence of Westerners in India, China, and Japan in the 1700s and 1800s. Identify the key factors that led to Britain's successful imposition of its presence and trade policies on China, despite communications like those from Emperor Ch'ien-lung (i.e., Qianlong) and Commissioner Lin Zexu (i.e., Lin Tse-hsu). Argue for or against the British policies regarding China in the 1800s, using analogies from our own modern times.
"Tchaikovsky and Women in Art" Please respond to one (1) of the following, using sources under the Explore heading as the basis of your response:
Select one (1) composition by Tchaikovsky that you enjoy. Describe the music and subject matter of that work, and explain why you enjoy it. Explain the key reasons why you believe that compositions by Tchaikovsky continue to be popular with contemporary orchestras and audiences. Passionate nationalism, like Tchaikovsky's for Russia, could be a feature of Romantic art and music and in the arts of the late 1800s. Give primary examples of music today (besides national anthems) that is characterized by nationalism.
Select two (2) paintings depicting females by both a male artist and female artist named within the Explore section. Compare and contrast these two (2) depictions of women, and comment on any general tendencies that you detect among artists of that era in this respect. Compare this situation in the late 1800s to the way females are depicted in our own modern times, using at least one (1) specific modern example.
treaming Live and Harlem Renaissance" Please respond to one (1) of the following, using sources under the Explore heading as the basis of your response:
Write for one (1) minute using the stream of consciousness writing method (Note: You may also type it offline and copy it within this discussion thread). Describe your experience and your reaction to what you wrote. Of the samples of the stream of consciousness technique given in this week's chapters, determine which you prefer and explain the reasons why.
Of the various authors, artists, and musicians who participated in the Harlem Renaissance, identify the person whose autograph you would most want, and explain the reasons why. Provide one (1) example that illustrates the reason why you selected the person that you did.
Government and the Arts; Abstract Expressionism and Music" Please respond to one (1) of the following, using sources under the Explore heading as the basis of your response:
Examine the U.S. Government's support during the Great Depression for programs, such as the Federal Arts Project, the Federal Writers' Project, and other such efforts. Determine whether or not such projects were good government investments during those hard times, and provide two (2) examples that support your viewpoint. Determine in what ways the U.S. government currently tries to support the arts.
State whether you agree or disagree with the perception of Abstract Expressionism as exemplifying individualism and freedom. Explain the reasons for your views.
Compare and contrast one (1) example of Abstract Expressionist visual art to John Cage's musical compositions. After reviewing the pages and Websites below, explain how an abstract expressionist artist might respond to the assertion "my kid could paint that". Explain your position on that assertion.
"Twentieth Century African-American Artists; Postmodern Architecture" Please respond to one (1) of the following, using sources under the Explore heading as the basis of your response:
Choose two (2) of the following late 20th century African-American artists, and compare and contrast their art: Bearden, Lawrence, Basquiat, or Colescott.
Describe specific elements of the works from the chosen artists that represent the multiplicity of the African-American experience.
Identify one (1) of these works (or some other by an African American artist) that you would like in your workplace, and explain why.
Choose one (1) example of architecture that you believe best exemplifies the characteristic post-modern style. Provide a rationale for your selection, and describe two (2) of the features of post-modern style that you find intriguing.