Art

"Ancient Japanese art has the oldest history; there is evidence of human settlements in Japan 30,000 years ago. Pottery and household utensils unearthed by archeologists cannot be precisely dated but are assumed to be older than almost any other comparable artifacts" (p.96)

I find Japanese and Asian history in general to be very interesting simply for how well preserved it is. Unlike the rest of the world they were relatively isolated from invaders and the only wars that would occur were civil wars. This led to the preservation of many historical documents and records as nobody was pillaging and destroying everything in their path compared to other places in the world. In my opinion some of the worse things to ever happen in human history would be the destruction of places like the library of Alexander and the Bagdad house of wisdom. To think about the vast amount of destroyed artifacts and texts truly breaks my heart. Which is why I really enjoy Asian history because of how accurate and dated it is.

"The work of Raphael and the other great artists of the Italian Renaissance has made Florence and Rome art centers that attract many thousands of visitors yearly and millions more through the magic of virtual tours on the Internet." (p.108)

In my opinion the best time for art was the renaissance as many new techniques were developed and applied. For example, sfumato, or the soft and hazy technique developed by Leonardo Da Vinci was revolutionary at the time. I enjoy paintings that use this style because it makes you draw your attention to all areas of the painting other than a super defined structure. I also like Leonardo's development of depth in his painting as it makes me feel like I'm really there looking at what's been painted. For these reasons and many others I think that the renaissance was by far the best era for Art in at least the last 1000 years.

" Abstraction was in some ways a reaction against the social realism that had found mainstream popularity during the early years of the twentieth century, but also a logical continuation of both Surrealism and Cubism, and the work of artists such as Picasso, Kandinsky, and Matisse." (p.124)

I included above a painting that falls into this category of abstracts. I really dislike this style of art as to me it represents nothing. I also don't like how people to like these try to tell me about the hidden meanings behind a paining that looks like someone just spilled paint on. This is just my opinion of course but I genuinely think almost anyone can create this abstract painting. To me there is no skill required such as with paintings like Jackson Pollock's "tiger". I don't see how splattering paint is supposed to create meaning in something or how it is somehow skillful in any way.

Janaro & Altshuler, The Art of Being Human - The Humanities as a Technique for Living 11th Edition, Pearson 2016