Arts and Culture Introduction to the Humanities

As in our First Edition ofArts and Culture,we provide in this Second Edition an introduction to the world's major civilizations--to their artistic achievements, their history, and their cultures. Through an integrated approach to the humanities,Arts and Cultureoffers an opportunity to view works of art, listen to music, and read literature in historical and cultural contexts. Works of art from different cultures reveal common human experiences of birth and death, love and loss, pleasure and pain, hope and frustration, elation and despair. Study of the humanities--literature, philosophy, history, religion, and the arts--reveals what others value and believe, inviting each of us to consider our personal, social, and cultural values in relation to those of others. In studying the humanities, we focus our attention on works of art that reflect and embody the central values and beliefs of particular cultures and specific historical moments. In our approach we consider the following questions: What kind of artwork is it? To what artistic category does it belong?These questions lead us to consider a work's type. Why was the artwork made? What was its function, purpose, or use? Who was responsible for producing it? Who paid for or commissioned it?These questions lead us to consider the context of a work. What does the work express or convey? What does it reveal about its creator? What does it reveal about its historical and social context?These questions lead us to considerations of a work's meaning. How was the artwork made or constructed?This question leads us to consider technique. What are the parts or elements of a work of art? How are these parts related to create a unified artwork?These questions lead us to considerations of formal analysis, understanding the ways the artwork satisfies aesthetically. What social, cultural, and moral values does the work express, reflect, or embody?This question leads us to consider the social, cultural, and moral values of an artwork. InArts and Culture,we highlight the individual artistic qualities of numerous works, always in view of the cultural worlds in which they were created. We discuss each work's significance in conjunction with the social attitudes and cultural values it embodies, without losing sight of its individual expression and artistic achievement. Two important questions underlie our choice of works inArts and Culture:(1) What makes a work a masterpiece of its type? (2) What qualities of a work of art enable it to be appreciated over time? These questions imply that certain qualities appeal to something fundamental and universal in all of us, no matter where or when we may live. There are the aesthetic principles and predilections that link all of us together. MAKING CONNECTIONS We believe that a study of the humanities involves more than an examination of the artistic monuments of civilizations past and present. In our view, it also involves a consideration of how forms of human achievement in many times and places echo and reinforce, alter and modify each other. An important aspect of humanities study involves seeing connections among the arts of a given culture and discovering relationships between the arts of different cultures. We have highlighted three forms of connections that are especially important: Interdisciplinary connectionsamong artworks of an individual culture Cross currentsamong artworks of different cultures Transhistorical links between past and present,then and now These forms of connection invite our readers to locate relationships among various humanities disciplines and to identify links between the achievements of diverse cultures. Discovering such connections can be intellectually stimulating and emotionBenton, Janetta Rebold is the author of 'Arts and Culture Introduction to the Humanities', published 2004 under ISBN 9780131899155 and ISBN 0131899155.