This book examines fundamental questions about funding for the arts: Why should governments provide funding for the arts? What do the arts contribute to... daily life? Do artists and their publics have a social responsibility? Challenging questionable assumptions about the state, the arts, and a democratic society, Lambert Zuidervaart presents a vigorous case for government funding, based on crucial contributions the arts make to civil society. He argues that the arts contribute to democratic communication and a social economy, fostering the critical and creative dialogue that a democratic society needs. Informed by the author's experience leading a nonprofit arts organization as well as his expertise in the arts, humanities, and social sciences, this book proposes an entirely new conception of the public role of art with wide-ranging implications for education, politics, and cultural policy.

Art mattered in the Renaissance... People expected painting, sculpture, architecture, and other forms of visual art to have a meaningful effect on their... lives,” write the authors of this introduction to Italian Renaissance art.   A glance at the pages of Art in Renaissance Italy shows at once its freshness and breadth of approach, which includes thorough explanation into how and why works of art, buildings, prints, and other forms of visual production came to be. The authors also discuss how men and women of the Renaissance regarded art and artists, why works of Renaissance art look the way they do, and what this means to us. Unlike other books on the subject, this one covers not only Florence and Rome, but also Venice and the Veneto, Assisi, Siena, Milan, Pavia, Padua, Mantua, Verona, Ferrara, Urbino, and Naples—each governed in a distinctly different manner, every one with individual, political, and social structures that inevitably affected artistic styles. Spanning more than three centuries, the narrative brings to life the rich tapestry of Italian Renaissance society and the art that is its enduring legacy. Throughout, special features, including textual sources from the period and descriptions of social rituals, evoke and document the people and places of this dynamic age.

KEY BENEFIT: A glance at the pages of Art in Renaissance Italy shows at once its freshness and breadth of approach, which includes thorough explanation... into how and why works of art, buildings, prints, and other forms of visual production came to be. The authors also discuss how men and women of the Renaissance regarded art and artists, why works of Renaissance art look the way they do, and what this means to us. Unlike other books on the subject, this one covers not only Florence and Rome, but also Venice and the Veneto, Assisi, Siena, Milan, Pavia, Padua, Mantua, Verona, Ferrara, Urbino, and Naples–each governed in a distinctly different manner, every one with individual, political, and social structures that inevitably affected artistic styles. Spanning more than three centuries, the narrative brings to life the rich tapestry of Italian Renaissance society and the art that is its enduring legacy. Throughout, special features, including textual sources from the period and descriptions of social rituals, evoke and document the people and places of this dynamic age. The book covers the art and artists of Italy during the Renaissance–Florence, Rome, Milan, Venice, Naples and other regions, from the 13th through the 15th centuries. For Renaissance art enthusiasts and others interested in the art of Italy’s Renaissance.

The Italian Renaissance was a pivotal period in the history of Western culture during which artists such as Masaccio, Donatello, Fra Angelico, and... Leonardo created some of the world's most influential and exciting works in a variety of artistic fields. Here, Evelyn Welch presents a fresh picture of the Italian Renaissance by challenging traditional scholarship and placing emphasis on recreating the experience of contemporary Italians: the patrons who commissioned the works, the members of the public who viewed them, and the artists who produced them. Art in Renaissance Italy 1350-1500 dramatically revises the traditional story of the Renaissance and takes into account new issues that have greatly enriched our understanding of the period. From paintings and coins to sculptures and tapestries, Welch examines the issues of materials, workshop practices, and artist-patron relationships, and explores the ways in which visual imagery related to contemporary sexual, social, and political behavior.

Each one of the 34 readings in this text is derived from rigorously collected field data, and addresses the major questions about art in ... small-scale societies: what does art do, what meanings does it convey, who makes it, how is it conceptualized by those who use it, and how does it change with the passage of time? Over 100 illustrations provide visual references and the text represents a wide variety of cultures, art forms (not only visual arts but performing arts as well), authorial voices, and theoretical models. For artists, sociologists, undergraduate and graduate readers.

Illustrated with over 300 photos, Art in the Elementary School, Fifth Edition, provides prospective elementary school teachers and art teachers with a... thorough knowledge of art curriculum, production, and appreciation.

'The best reason to study Hellenistic art is for its own sake' writes Professor Pollitt in the Preface to Art in the Hellenistic Age. 'But', he... continues, 'I would suggest that there is an additional quality that should make the art of the Hellenistic age of particular interest to modern audiences: the fact that in background and content it was the product of an age in many ways similar to our own ... The result of the historical conditions (of the age) was an art which, like much modern art, was heterogenous, often cosmopolitan, increasingly individualistic, and frequently elite in its appeal'. This book is an interpretative history of Greek art during the Hellenistic period - i.e. from the death of Alexander the Great in 323 BC, to the establishment of the Roman Empire at the end of the first century BC - which also explores ways in which that art is an expression of the cultural experience and aspirations of the Hellenistic age.

Marina Tsvetaeva (1892-1941) was one of the four great Russian poets of the 20th century, along with Akhmatova, Mandelstam, and Pasternak. Her richly... diverse essays provide incomparable insights into poetry, the poetic process, and what it means to be a poet. First published in English in 1992, Art in the Light of Conscience includes an introduction by the translator, textual notes, and a glossary, as well as revised translations of 12 poems by Tsvetaeva on poets and poetry.

This popular anthology of twentieth-century art theoretical texts has now been expanded to take account of new research, and to include significant... contributions to art theory from the 1990s.New edition of this popular anthology of twentieth-century art-theoretical texts.Now updated to include the results of new research, together with significant contributions from the 1990s.Includes writings by critics, philosophers, politicians and literary figures.The editors provide contextual introductions to 340 texts.Complements Art in Theory 1648-1815 and Art in Theory 1815-1900 to create a complete survey of the theories underpinning the development of art in the modern period.

Forty years after China's tumultuous Cultural Revolution, this book revisits the visual and performing arts of the period - the paintings, propaganda... posters, political cartoons, sculpture, folk arts, private sketchbooks, opera, and ballet - and examines what these vibrant, militant, often gaudy images meant to artists, their patrons, and their audiences at the time, and what they mean now, both in their original forms and as revolutionary icons reworked for a new market-oriented age. Chapters by scholars of Chinese history and art and by artists whose careers were shaped by the Cultural Revolution offer new insights into works that have transcended their times.Richard King is the director of the Centre for Asia-Pacific Initiatives and an associate professor of Chinese studies at the University of Victoria.

This book presents a history of Old Cairo based on new archaeological evidence gathered between 2000 and 2006 during a major project to lower the... groundwater level affecting the churches and monuments of this area of Cairo known by the Romans as Babylon. Examination of the material and structural remains revealed a sequence of continuous occupation extending from the sixth century BC to the present day. These include the massive stone walls of the canal linking the Nile to the Red Sea, and the harbor constructed by Trajan at its entrance around 110 AD. The Emperor Diocletian built the fortress of Babylon around the harbor and the canal in 300 AD, and much new information has come to light concerning the construction and internal layout of the fortress, which continues to enclose and define the enclave of Old Cairo. Important evidence for the early medieval transformation of the area into the nucleus of the Arab city of al-Fustat and its later medieval development is also presented.