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Frog in the Well: Portraits of Japan by Watanabe Kazan, 1793-1841
by Donald KeeneA renowned authority on Japanese literature and culture presents a revealing portrait of samurai painter and intellectual Watanabe Kazan.
Frog in the Well: Portraits of Japan by Watanabe Kazan, 1793–1841 (Asia Perspectives: History, Society, and Culture)
by Donald KeeneFrog in the Well is a vivid and revealing account of Watanabe Kazan, one of the most important intellectuals of the late Tokugawa period. From his impoverished upbringing to his tragic suicide in exile, Kazan's life and work reflected a turbulent period in Japan's history. He was a famous artist, a Confucian scholar, a student of Western culture, a samurai, and a critic of the shogunate who, nevertheless, felt compelled to kill himself for fear that he had caused his lord anxiety. During this period, a typical Japanese scholar or artist refused to acknowledge the outside world, much like a "frog in the well that knows nothing of the ocean," but Kazan actively sought out Western learning. He appreciated European civilization and bought every scrap of European art that was available in Japan. He became a painter to help his family out of poverty and, by employing the artistic techniques of the West, achieved great success with his realistic and stylistically advanced portraits.Although he remained a nationalist committed to the old ways, Kazan called on the shogunate to learn from the West or risk disaster. He strove to improve the agricultural and economic conditions of his province and reinforce its defenses, but his criticisms and warnings about possible coastal invasions ultimately led to his arrest and exile. Frog in the Well is the first full-length biography of Kazan in English, and, in telling his life's story, renowned scholar Donald Keene paints a fascinating portrait of the social and intellectual milieus of the late Tokugawa period. Richly illustrated with Kazan's paintings, Frog in the Well illuminates a life that is emblematic of the cultural crises affecting Japan in the years before revolution.
From ASCII Art to Comic Sans: Typography and Popular Culture in the Digital Age
by Karin WagnerA fresh and provocative take on typography, computing, and popular culture, viewed through four idiosyncratic typographical phenomena from the digital age.From ASCII Art to Comic Sans offers an original vision of the history of typography and computing in the digital age, viewed through the lens of offbeat typography. We often regard text as pure information and typography as a transparent art form without meaning of its own. In this richly illustrated book, however, Karin Wagner offers a fresh perspective that shows how text is always an image that conveys meaning, and how typography, far from being meaningless, has in fact shaped modern visual and material culture in significant ways.By juxtaposing four odd typographical phenomena—the pedantic practice of ASCII art, the curious-looking machine-readable typefaces, the blurry letters of dot matrix printers, and the much-maligned font Comic Sans—Wagner paints a vivid picture of how functional technologies influence popular culture when used in ways their original creators never intended.Design practitioners, as well as fans of media, graphic design, type history, and computer technology, will enjoy this breezily sophisticated perspective on visual and digital culture. Spanning the material and visual aspects of typography from the 1960s to the present, From ASCII Art to Comic Sans is a unique contribution to the study of popular and material culture that fills a gap in the history of typography and computing.
From Abacus to Zeus: A Handbook of Art History
by James Smith PierceChapters are 'Art terms, processes, and principles; gods, heroes, and monsters; Christian subjects; saints and their attributes; Christian signs and symbols.'
From Abyssinian to Zion: A Guide to Manhattan's Houses of Worship
by David DunlapFrom modest chapels to majestic cathedrals, and historic synagogues to modern mosques and Buddhist temples: this photo-filled, pocket-size guidebook presents 1,079 houses of worship in Manhattan and lays to rest the common perception that skyscrapers, bridges, and parks are the only defining moments in the architectural history of New York City. With his exhaustive research of the city's religious buildings, David W. Dunlap has revealed (and at times unearthed) an urban history that reinforces New York as a truly vibrant center of community and cultural diversity.Published in conjunction with a New-York Historical Society exhibition, From Abyssinian to Zion is a sometimes quirky, always intriguing journey of discovery for tourists as well as native New Yorkers. Which popular pizzeria occupies the site of the cradle of the Christian and Missionary Alliance movement, the Gospel Tabernacle? And where can you find the only house of worship in Manhattan built during the reign of Caesar Augustus? Arranged alphabetically, this handy guide chronicles both extant and historical structures and includes 650 original photographs and 250 photographs from rarely seen archives 24 detailed neighborhood maps, pinpointing the location of each building concise listings, with histories of the congregations, descriptions of architecture, and accounts of prominent priests, ministers, rabbis, imams, and leading personalities in many of the congregations
From Acting to Performance: Essays in Modernism and Postmodernism
by Philip AuslanderFrom Acting to Performance collects for the first time major essays by performance theorist and critic Philip Auslander. Together these essays provide a survey of the changes in acting and performance during the crucial transition from the ecstatic theatre of the 1960s to the ironic postmodernism of the 1980s. Auslander examines performance genres ranging from theatre and dance to performance art and stand-up comedy. In doing so he discusses an impressive line-up of practitioners including Antonin Artaud, Jerzy Grotowski, Peter Brook, Willem Dafoe, the Wooster Group, Augusto Boal, Kate Bornstein, and Orlan. From Acting to Performance is a must for all students and scholars interested in contemporary theatre and performance.
From Antiquities to Heritage: Transformations of Cultural Memory
by Anne EriksenEighteenth-century gentleman scholars collected antiquities. Nineteenth-century nation states built museums to preserve their historical monuments. In the present world, heritage is a global concern as well as an issue of identity politics. What does it mean when runic stones or medieval churches are transformed from antiquities to monuments to heritage sites? This book argues that the transformations concern more than words alone: They reflect fundamental changes in the way we experience the past, and the way historical objects are assigned meaning and value in the present. This book presents a series of cases from Norwegian culture to explore how historical objects and sites have changed in meaning over time. It contributes to the contemporary debates over collective memory and cultural heritage as well to our knowledge about early modern antiquarianism.
From Autos to Architecture: Fordism and Architectural Aesthetics in the Twentieth Century
by David GartmanOne of the most interesting questions in architectural history is why modern architecture emerged from the war-ravaged regions of central Europe and not the United States, whose techniques of mass production and mechanical products so inspired the first generation of modern architects like Le Corbusier, Mies van der Rohe, and Walter Gropius. In From Autos to Architecture, sociologist David Gartman offers a critical social history that shows how Fordist mass production and industrial architecture in America influenced European designers to an extent previously not understood. Drawing on Marxist economics, the Frankfurt School, and French sociologist Pierre Bourdieu, From Autos to Architecture deftly illustrates the different class structures and struggles of America and Europe. Examining architecture in the context of social conflicts, From Autos to Architecture offers a critical alternative to standard architectural histories focused on aesthetics alone.
From Bauhaus to Ecohouse: A History of Ecological Design
by Peder AnkerGlobal warming and concerns about sustainability recently have pushed ecological design to the forefront of architectural study and debate. As Peder Anker explains in From Bauhaus to Ecohouse, despite claims of novelty, debates about environmentally sensitive architecture have been ongoing for nearly a century. By exploring key moments of inspiration between designers and ecologists from the Bauhaus projects of the interwar period to the eco-arks of the 1980s, Anker traces the historical intersection of architecture and ecological science and assesses how both remain intertwined philosophically and pragmatically within the still-evolving field of ecological design.The idea that science could improve human life attracted architects and designers who looked to the science of ecology to better their methodologies. Walter Gropius, the founder of the Bauhaus school, taught that designed form should follow the laws of nature in order to function effectively. With the Bauhaus movement, ecology and design merged and laid the foundation of modernist architecture. Anker discusses in detail how the former faculty members of the Bauhaus school -- including László Maholy-Nagy and Herbert Bayer -- left Nazi Germany in the mid-1930s and engaged with ecologists during their "London period" and in the U.S. A subsequent generation of students and admirers of Bauhaus, such as Richard Buckminster Fuller and Ian McHarg, picked up their program, and -- under the general banner of merging art and science in the design process -- Bauhaus-minded architects began to think ecologically while some ecologists lent their ideas to design. Anker charts complicated currents of ecological design thought spanning pre-- and post--World War II and through the cold war, including pivotal changes such as the emergence of space exploration and new theories on closed-system living in space capsules, space stations, and planetary colonies. Space ecology, Anker explains, inspired leading landscape designers of the 1970s, who used the imagined life of astronauts as a model for how humans should live in harmony with nature. Theories of how to design for extraterrestrial living impacted design and ecological thinking for earth-based living as well, as evidenced in Disney's Spaceship Earth attraction as well as in the Biosphere 2 experiments in Arizona in the early 1990s. Illuminating important connections between theories about the relationship between humans and the built environment, Anker's provocative study provides new insight into a critical period in the evolution of environmental awareness.
From Bauhaus to Our House
by Tom WolfeArchitecture as a lens to magnify a problem you see again and again in human society and human history.
From Betamax to Blockbuster: Video Stores and the Invention of Movies on Video
by Joshua GreenbergGreenberg's account offers a fresh perspective on consumer technology, illustrating how the initial transformation of movies from experience into commodity began not from the top down or the bottom up, but from the middle of the burgeoning industry out.
From Biblical Book to Musical Megahit: William B. Bradbury's Esther, the Beautiful Queen
by Juanita KarpfMany churchgoers will recognize the name William Bradbury, a nineteenth-century American composer of popular hymns still sung at Sunday services. Bradbury’s name may also bring to mind Esther, the Beautiful Queen, his choral setting of a text based on the biblical Book of Esther. The uncomplicated score became enormously popular almost immediately after its initial publication in 1856. In From Biblical Book to Musical Megahit: William B. Bradbury’s “Esther, the Beautiful Queen,” Juanita Karpf traces the work’s rich performance and reception history. Bradbury emphatically stated that he intended Esther to be sung as an unadorned religious and educational piece. Yet many music directors exploited the potential for his score, producing elaborately staged events with costumes, scenery, and acting. Although directors retained Bradbury’s original music, they nonetheless facilitated Esther’s rapid entrée into the realm of music theater. This stylistic transformation ignited a firestorm of controversy. Some clergy and religiously pious citizens condemned theatrical representations of biblical texts as the epitome of debauchery, sacrilege, and sin. In contrast, more tolerant and open-minded theater enthusiasts welcomed the dramatic staging of Esther as wholesome entertainment and as evidence of a refreshingly enlightened approach to biblical interpretation. However heated this debate seemed at times, it did little to quell the continued rise in popularity of Esther. In fact, by the late 1860s, Bradbury’s score had worked its way across the continent, north to Canada and, eventually, to Great Britain, Australia, Asia, and Africa. With performances recorded over a century after Bradbury published his score, Esther became, by any measure, an international megahit.
From Boal to Jana Sanskriti: Practice and Principles
by Sanjoy GangulyJana Sanskriti is internationally recognised as the most iconic post-Boalian Theatre of the Oppressed operation in the world today. This fully illustrated book by the Bengali company's founder and artistic director Sanjoy Ganguly, edited by Ralph Yarrow, collects and explains their programme of workshop exercises, placing them in the context of their social and activist work. A set of interviews with Ganguly complements these practical sequences, drawing in topics such as the role of the joker, the nature of development, participation and agency, aesthetics as transformation, and Theatre of the Oppressed in the context of a market economy.
From Bricks to Brains
by Michael Wilson Michael R.W. Dawson Brian DupuisFrom Bricks to Brains introduces embodied cognitive science, and illustrates its foundational ideas through the construction and observation of LEGO Mindstorms robots. Discussing the characteristics that distinguish embodied cognitive science from classical cognitive science, From Bricks to Brains places a renewed emphasis on sensing and acting, the importance of embodiment, the exploration of distributed notions of control, and the development of theories by synthesizing simple systems and exploring their behaviour. Numerous examples are used to illustrate a key theme: the importance of an agent's environment. Even simple agents, such as LEGO robots, are capable of exhibiting complex behaviour when they can sense and affect the world around them.
From Caligari to Hitler: A Psychological History of the German Film (Princeton Classic Editions Ser. #43)
by Siegfried KracauerAn essential work of the cinematic history of the Weimar Republic by a leading figure of film criticismFirst published in 1947, From Caligari to Hitler remains an undisputed landmark study of the rich cinematic history of the Weimar Republic. Prominent film critic Siegfried Kracauer examines German society from 1921 to 1933, in light of such movies as The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari, M, Metropolis, and The Blue Angel. He explores the connections among film aesthetics, the prevailing psychological state of Germans in the Weimar era, and the evolving social and political reality of the time. Kracauer makes a startling (and still controversial) claim: films as popular art provide insight into the unconscious motivations and fantasies of a nation.With a critical introduction by Leonardo Quaresima which provides context for Kracauer’s scholarship and his contributions to film studies, this Princeton Classics edition makes an influential work available to new generations of cinema enthusiasts.
From Camera to Computer
by George BarrEver wonder what it would be like to get inside the head of an accomplished photographer as he chooses a subject, works the scene, selects an image, and then edits the result into a piece of photographic art? As a follow-up to his successful first book Take Your Photography To The Next Level, author/photographer George Barr now applies the practice to the theory. Go along with George as he searches for subjects, sorts out scenes, refines his composition, and then moves from Camera to Computer to edit his images, not only correcting flaws, but making the images match his vision. You'll see proof sheets and "not quite there" images, and you'll learn tips on image editing from someone who is focused on creating a fine art image rather than mass producing many similar images-often the goal of commercial photographers. With his friendly, easy-to-understand approach George goes beyond how to edit your images by teaching the whys behind the editing process. This book is certain to help you dramatically improve your own images. Topics include: Finding photographic subjects Working the scene Practical issues in composition What to change in a captured image How to edit your images-a practical, easy workflow
From Castle to Teahouse
by John B. KirbyThe Momoyama period of Japanese art history, at the turn of the 16th century, is perhaps best known to the West through the resplendent paintings of the Kano masters and their fellow artists. Yet this same period offers such a variety of architectural pleasures that, in at least one of its many facets, it makes an appeal to every taste. It ranges from the largest and most imposing castles to the smallest and most tastefully designed teahouses. Paintings and gardens are an integral part of it, as they are in all Japanese architecture, and here, also, the range extends from the gorgeous and elaborate to the utmost in simplicity and restraint. It is with this exuberant period in Japanese history that the present book is concerned. Its purpose is to present, against a background of colorful history, the architectural achievements of an elegant age.In the first part of this book, Mr. Kirby discusses and illustrates the principal forms of castle, shoin, and sukiya architecture that he considers to the most important contributions of the Momoyama period. The second part presents existing examples of Momoyama structures together with a brief section on developments of less importance in religious architecture and construction of an essentially engineering nature. All of these are pictured in a generous selection of excellent photographs accompanied by plans and elevations for a number of the structures discussed.
From Celluloid to Cyberspace
by Kevin F. Mccarthy Elizabeth Heneghan OndaatjeCurrent knowledge of the operation of the arts world and its underlying dynamics is limited, especially with regard to the media arts--art that is produced using or combining film, video, and computers. The authors examine the organizational features of the media arts, placing them in the context of the broader arts environment and identifying the major challenges they face. They take a structural point of view, discussing audiences, media artists as a group, arts organizations, and funding for the media arts.
From Chaos to Concept: A Team Oriented Approach to Designing World Class Products and Experiences
by Kevin Collamore BraunThis book is written for product design, software development, graphic design, and UX professionals with a focus on creating measurably better user experiences. If you want to design solutions to meet business goals and delight your users, you can look to this resource which covers the following areas: Creating and documenting goals, strategies, objectives, and tactics Defining or refining personas based on your measurable objectives (OKRs) Creating and iterating on scenarios based your prioritized personas A team approach to defining the product and roadmap to address critical use cases Team based divergent ideation and solution exploration Team based convergent solution definition Wireframing potential solutions for rapid research and iteration Using quantitative and qualitative methods to understand usage and test with users Exploring approaches to taxonomy and information architecture Using psychology and human factors to drive your design decisions Developing performant, accessible, maintainable experiences Using analytics to measure the results and inform the next iteration How this process differs based on the size of the company or team that is employing it
From Clay to Bronze: A Studio Guide to Figurative Sculpture
by Tuck LanglandGoing beyond theory straight to hands-on practice, this studio workbook is devoted to the creation of a large, realistic bronze figure, from initial studies through the complex processes of enlarging, modelling, molding, casting and finishing.
From Concept to Form in Landscape Design
by Grant W. ReidFrom Concept to Form in Landscape Design provides vital, functional techniques that make the transformation easier and more effective.
From Concept to Screen: An Overview of Film and Television Production
by Robert L. BenedettiWritten by an Emmy-award-winning producer and director, this book focuses on the underlying principles of film and television production, emphasizing the creative rather than the technical aspects. The book describes how a film is created - from conception to screen - and provides a comprehensive overview of the entire production process. Not intended as a "how-to" book, this book presents only a limited amount of detailed technical information. Instead, it emphasizes the underlying principles and processes of primarily four kinds of films: feature, independently financed, made-for-network-television, and made-for-cable movies. For anyone interested in writing, directing, producing or acting for film/TV.
From Corbel Arches to Double Curvature Vaults: Analysis, Conservation and Restoration of Architectural Heritage Masonry Structures (Research for Development)
by Gabriele Milani Vasilis SarhosisThe book focuses on all typological aspects of arches and vaults within the heritage of design and construction, while bringing attention to new “green” materials, promoting a circular economy informed by limitations caused by global warming. The multidisciplinary approach involves several different competences in architecture, structural engineering, conservation and restoration, geomatics, BIM, building engineering, the technology and history of construction, graphical methods of assessment, and innovative design that utilizes non-polluting materials. After an overview of the technical and aesthetic advantages of masonry vaults, there is a review of the most up-to-date trends in historic preservation. Classic methods of static assessment and innovative building technologies are detailed. Surveying methods and data acquisition are discussed, particularly laser scanning technology and its applications in heritage masonry curved structures. Next comes the experimental static and dymanic behavior of masonry vaults, followed by a critical revision of Distinct Element innovative computerized Methods. An explanation as to how to pass from classic stability analysis to an adaptive Finite Element Method limit analysis procedure is offered. Reinterpretation of the past is then undertaken, with an eye towards emphasizing sustainability. Finally, the conclusion examines still existing gaps in knowledge and recommends avenues of future research.
From Craft to Profession: The Practice of Architecture in Nineteenth-Century America
by Mary N. WoodsThis is the first in-depth study of how the architectural profession emerged in early American history. Mary Woods dispels the prevailing notion that the profession developed under the leadership of men formally schooled in architecture as an art during the late nineteenth century. Instead, she cites several instances in the early 1800s of craftsmen-builders who shifted their identity to that of professional architects. While struggling to survive as designers and supervisors of construction projects, these men organized professional societies and worked for architectural education, appropriate compensation, and accreditation.In such leading architectural practitioners as B. Henry Latrobe, Alexander J. Davis, H. H. Richardson, Louis Sullivan, and Stanford White, Woods sees collaborators, partners, merchandisers, educators, and lobbyists rather than inspired creators. She documents their contributions as well as those, far less familiar, of women architects and people of color in the profession's early days.Woods's extensive research yields a remarkable range of archival materials: correspondence among carpenters; 200-year-old lawsuits; architect-client spats; the organization of craft guilds, apprenticeships, university programs, and correspondence schools; and the structure of architectural practices, labor unions, and the building industry. In presenting a more accurate composite of the architectural profession's history, Woods lays a foundation for reclaiming the profession's past and recasting its future. Her study will appeal not only to architects, but also to historians, sociologists, and readers with an interest in architecture's place in America today.
From Dead Ends to Cold Warriors: Constructing American Boyhood in Postwar Hollywood Films
by Peter W.Y. LeeAfter World War II, studies examining youth culture on the silver screen start with James Dean. But the angst that Dean symbolized—anxieties over parents, the “Establishment,” and the expectations of future citizen-soldiers—long predated Rebels without a Cause. Historians have largely overlooked how the Great Depression and World War II impacted and shaped the Cold War, and youth contributed to the national ideologies of family and freedom. From Dead Ends to Cold Warriors explores this gap by connecting facets of boyhood as represented in American film from the 1930s to the postwar years. From the Andy Hardy series to pictures such as The Search, Intruder in the Dust, and The Gunfighter, boy characters addressed larger concerns over the dysfunctional family unit, militarism, the “race question,” and the international scene as the Korean War began. Navigating the political, social, and economic milieus inside and outside of Hollywood, Peter W.Y. Lee demonstrates that continuities from the 1930s influenced the unique postwar moment, coalescing into anticommunism and the Cold War.