MyHumanitiesStudio Exercises


1			Impressionism (pp. 369-372) Art > Color > Function of Light http://www.mhhe.com/HumanitiesStudio/1/1/4/1/1.html Claude Monet's painting Impression: Sunrise (Fig. 13.14) gave its name to a new artistic style, which emphasized the effects of changes in lighting and of the movement of objects on human perception. What techniques did Monet use to paint a picture less about what people see than about how people see, as the text suggests? Based on this painting, what properties of light and color did Monet seem to understand? Compare this painting with the works of Renoir (Fig. 13.15), Degas (Figs. 13.16 and 13.18), and Cassatt (Fig. 13.19). How do these artists' use of form and light compare to Monet's? How well did impressionist art capture the human impression of the physical world? Consider impressionism in the light of nineteenth-century realist paintings such as Manet's Déjeuner sur l'herbes (Fig. 13.11), Eakins's Agnew Clinic (Fig. 13.12), and Courbet's Burial at Ornans (Fig. 13. 8). Should the impressionists be said to have repudiated the realist style or to have brought it to its culmination?




2			Late-Nineteenth-Century Architecture (pp. 362-364) Architecture > Material > Structure http://www.mhhe.com/HumanitiesStudio/2/5/2.html Perhaps the most important architectural innovation of the mid-nineteenth century was the use of cast iron. Designers such as Paxton and Eiffel used this material to create grandiose structures that would not be feasible using more traditional materials. Examine the images of their respective works, the Crystal Palace (Fig. 13.4) and the Eiffel Tower (Fig. 13.5). What advantages does cast iron have, which these structures use to good effect? What are the weaknesses of cast-iron structures? Is cast iron an aesthetically pleasing material? Compare these structures to the Guaranty Building of Buffalo (Fig. 13.6). Does the emphasis of the Guaranty Building's architecture seem to be on artistry or on practicality? Might the adoption of cast iron and similar materials be said to have made movements like Bauhaus (see Chapter 14) inevitable?

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