“What was the first book printed in English? The Recuyell of the Historyes of Troye, a prose romance by Raoul Lefevre, printed by William Caxton in 1474 in Bruges, Belgium. Caxton himself translated it from the French. Caxton also printed the first dated book printed in English, Dictes and Sayenges of the Phylosophers, published on November 18, 1477.”
Excerpted from: Corey, Melinda, and George Ochoa. Literature: The New York Public Library Book of Answers. New York: Simon and Schuster, 1993.
Readers and users of this blog are already aware that I have published here a great deal of reference material related to the visual and plastic arts. I’m well aware that I’m not the only person to decry the decline of arts education in our public schools. I’m not an artist myself–I cannot draw a straight line without the aid of solid straight edge to guide my writing instrument–but I love art and believe kids should learn about it–if not learn to create art themselves.
In that spirit, here is a reading on expressionism and its accompanying vocabulary-building and comprehension worksheet.
If you find typos in these documents, I would appreciate a notification. And, as always, if you find this material useful in your practice, I would be grateful to hear what you think of it. I seek your peer review.
“Atmosphere: The mood and feeling, the intangible quality which appeals to extra-sensory as well as sensory perception, evoked by a work of art. For instance, the opening scene in Hamlet where the watch is tense and apprehensive, even “jumpy.” By contrast, the beginning of Ben Jonson’s The Alchemist indicates clearly that the play is going to be comic to the point of knockabout. An excellent example in the novel is Hardy’s depiction of Egdon Heath in The Return of the Native.”
Excerpted from: Cuddon, J.A. The Penguin Dictionary of Literary Terms and Literary Theory. New York: Penguin, 1992.
“Synthetic Cubism: Often referred to as the ‘second phase of cubism,’ it lasted from 1912 to 1914. In contrast to Analytic Cubism, Synthetic Cubism allowed for a reemergence of tactile qualities and decorative elements. Color and handling became important once again, as did the inclusion of stenciled lettering and collage elements.”
Excerpted from: Diamond, David G. The Bulfinch Pocket Dictionary of Art Terms. Boston: Little Brown, 1992.
Posted in English Language Arts, Quotes, Reference, Social Sciences
“Style: The characteristic manner and appearance of the works of an individual artist, school, or period. Stylistic elements comprise qualities resulting from both form and content. Artistic styles emerge from individual and collective interpretations in social, political, and economic contexts.”
Excerpted from: Diamond, David G. The Bulfinch Pocket Dictionary of Art Terms. Boston: Little Brown, 1992.
“Federal Style: An American architectural style of about 1780 to 1820 which reflected English Georgian models, especially the influence of Robert Adam. Symmetrically designed facades, smooth surfaces, and restrained classical ornament typify buildings in that style.”
Excerpted from: Diamond, David G. The Bulfinch Pocket Dictionary of Art Terms. Boston: Little Brown, 1992.
If you are of a certain age, you wouldn’t need this context clues worksheet on the noun kiln because you would have had an art class, where you would have had a chance to shape clay and fire it into a ceramic object–using a kiln. Now, however, since we as a society appear to have resolved that children don’t need arts instruction, kids have fewer and fewer interactions with industrial objects like kilns. So we can’t count on their knowing what a kiln is or what it does.
In any case, it was the Word of the Day today at Merriam-Webster; as you can see, I couldn’t let it pass without comment or context clues worksheet.
If you find typos in this document, I would appreciate a notification. And, as always, if you find this material useful in your practice, I would be grateful to hear what you think of it. I seek your peer review.
“Structuralism: Seen as a form of constructivism, it is manifest as low-relief sculpture that interprets nature in the tradition of Cezanne by the application of simple geometric forms to a flat surface. Named by American artist Charles Biederman, it has a strong following in Holland and Canada.”
Excerpted from: Diamond, David G. The Bulfinch Pocket Dictionary of Art Terms. Boston: Little Brown, 1992.
“Expressionism: Art in which the emotions of an artist are paramount and take precedence over a rational and faithful-to-life rendering of subject matter. Expressionist compositions and forms therefore tend toward distortion and exaggeration, as in the art of El Greco. In modern art, expressionism is associated with German movements of the early 20th century, especially in Die Brucke and Der Blaue Reiter, which are usually referred to as German expressionism. In the Americas expressionism was embraced by Mexican muralists searching for a national style that incorporated European and pre-Columbian elements. See neo-expressionism.”
Excerpted from: Diamond, David G. The Bulfinch Pocket Dictionary of Art Terms. Boston: Little Brown, 1992.
“Junk Sculpture: With Dada roots in the collages of Kurt Schwitters, which were created from trash collected from the streets, junk sculpture first appeared in the United States in the 1950s works of John Chamberlain and Robert Rauschenberg. It is a type of assemblage sculpture in which the sculptor uses materials cast off by modern urban culture and reassembles them with little or no comment. Junk sculpture has affinities to Arte Povera in Italy and similar movements in other European countries where it took on more nostalgic tones.”
Excerpted from: Diamond, David G. The Bulfinch Pocket Dictionary of Art Terms. Boston: Little Brown, 1992.
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