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In 1968 Shirley Chisholm became the first Black woman elected to the United States Congress. In 1972 she launched a campaign for the Democratic presidential nomination, breaking another political barrier.
MORE →Reflects the personal views, recollections, and perspective of the author, Mike Davis.
This is a personal recollection on the Move fire on May 13, 1985
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Trajanic art is the artistic production of the Roman Empire during the reign of Emperor Trajan from 98 to 117. In this period, Roman art further developed the innovations of the Flavian era, coming to definitively detach itself from Hellenistic influence.[citation needed]
Under Trajan, the Roman Empire reached its maximum expansion. This meant a new condition of well-being for Roman society, which, both in Rome and in the provinces, allowed the emergence of a vast middle class, capable of expressing its needs and its own taste in the artistic field.
At that time, the Roman state still had a widely shared semblance of a "presidential republic"; to justify the state of affairs at the time of Trajan, everything was focused on the observance of the laws and on consensus, cemented by solid financial security and on broad economic and commercial development.
A new type of imperial portrait was created on the tenth anniversary of Trajan's rule, the so-called "portrait of the decennial". Seemingly devoid of emotion, this is a typical example of the realism of Roman private portraits: a simple and objective image with firm and calm features, however highlighting the authority and dignity of the subject. A merging is seen between two previously separate types of portraiture; the official, honorary, portrait, and the private, often funerary, portrait.
This attitude towards the figure of the emperor is seen in his depictions on Trajan's Column. Among the many small images, that of Trajan's conversation with one of his commanders (perhaps Lucius Licinius Sura) during the Second Dacian War stands out. With great formal simplicity, the emperor is depicted nonchalant while explaining a plan to the general, fixing him in the eyes and relaxing the palms of hands in front of him, according to an intense relationship of trust and respect between him and the subordinate, of an intelligent and virile conversation, devoid of any rhetoric or courtesy.
The reliefs of Trajan's Column produced in this period are considered not only masterpieces of Roman civilization, but of ancient art in general.[1]
The spiral-shaped column covered with reliefs was an absolute novelty in ancient art and became the most avant-garde arrival point of the Roman historical relief. The artist of the column frieze had in fact fully assimilated Hellenistic (and classical) art, further developing it in the wake of the Roman historical narrative, with motifs taken from the immediacy of life.[2]
Trajan's Dacian Wars (from 101 to 102 and from 105 to 107) are narrated in the historical relief, for about two hundred continuous meters without repetition.[3] The expressive style is also new, with a very low relief, so as not to alter the architectural line of the column. It is often highlighted by a contour furrow and rich, expressive variations to effectively render the effect of the different materials (fabrics, hides, trees, armor, melts, rocks, etc.). The artist most likely had to copy a drawn model on the large marble cylinders already in place.
Certainly the relief was made even more expressive by the polychromy and the metal inserts used for the weapons. The reading of the scenes was facilitated by its location in a courtyard between the two loggias of the libraries in Trajan's Forum.
The value to the scenes on the Column is not limited to their technical aspect. The figures in Roman historical reliefs, from the painting in the Esquiline Necropolis to the reliefs of Ara Pacis, are technically impressive, but lack a certain human element that makes them relatable and compassionate. Trajan's Column, on the other hand, is full of narrative values, which make the sacrifice scenes and battles feel full of action and glory. Tragic scenes, such as mass suicides or the deportation of entire families, are represented with drama and pity. The sense of human respect for the beaten enemy is a legacy of Greek culture, which will be found up to the Meditations by Marcus Aurelius about the Sarmatians.
The production of marble sarcophagi adorned with mythological reliefs began in this era. The sarcophagi could be decorated on four or, more often, on three sides, depending on whether they were leaning against a wall (traditionally an Italian placement) or placed in the center of a sepulcher (as was traditional in Asia Minor).
Trajan oversaw the installation of many sculptures. This is evident as the coins of the time depict Trajan's Forum rich in statues and reliefs.
In the Arch of Constantine, there is a long frieze from the Trajan era broken into four sections, but originally almost certainly part of a single relief. It is full of vibrant high-relief figures and is closely connected with the art of the Column. The Arch of Trajan at Benevento (from 114) depicts citizens benefiting from the subsidies of the Institutio Alimentaria, a provision taken in 103 by Trajan to provide relief for the needy children of Rome.
Trajan's Forum was the complex that grandly completed the urban planning of the Imperial Fora, to allow the capable administrative, commercial, judicial and political functioning of the capital of the empire. The construction opened up a large public spaces complete with the Basilica Ulpia. The Forum was cut into the Quirinal Hill, and Trajan's Market was constructed to exploit the available space in an articulated way, with several levels and a complex of offices and administrative spaces.
Noteworthy was the production of arches, such as the aforementioned arch of Benevento, one celebrating the opening of the Via Traiana in 114, and the Arch of Trajan of Ancona in 115.
In Rome and in the other Italian cities, the presence of paintings from this period is very scarce. The best examples of pictorial decorations found in the Empire that date back to the time of Trajan are found in Vienne, Magdalensberg, Aquileia, Carnuntum, Aquincum, Sabaria, and Scarbantia. This indicates that the provinces were flourishing during this time as well.
In the last years of Trajan's reign (114 - 116), the Philopappos Monument was erected in Athens on the top of the hill in front of the Acropolis. The architecture is inspired by Syrian, Commagene, and Lycian works, with Greek influenced moldings and a frieze that shows a relationship with the historical reliefs in Rome. This demonstrates the unity and mutual cultural exchange now active between Rome and the provinces, even the most advanced ones.
In Dacia, infrastructure was built during the military campaigns, among which remains Trajan's Bridge over the Danube. This is the longest masonry bridge ever built. A large memorial was also erected for the fallen in the wars and the celebration of the final victory. This was the Tropaeum Traiani in the Romanian town of Adamclisi. It is circular, according to the Roman funeral model. The reliefs on the metopes of the frieze and the battlements are particularly interesting because they demonstrate that local workers used iconographic models from Rome.
Source: Wikipedia. Article content is retrieved live through the MediaWiki API.
Trajanic art is the artistic production of the Roman Empire during the reign of Emperor Trajan from 98 to 117. In this period, Roman art further developed the innovations of the Flavian era, coming to definitively detach itself from Hellenistic influence.
Art Deco, short for the French Arts décoratifs (lit. 'Decorative Arts'), is a style of visual arts, architecture, and product design that first appeared in Paris in the 1910s just before World War I and flourished internationally during the 1920s to early 1930s, through styling and design of the exterior and interior of anything from large structures to small objects, including clothing, fashion, and jewelry. Art Deco has influenced buildings from skyscrapers to cinemas, bridges, ocean liners, trains, cars, trucks, buses, furniture, and everyday objects, including radios and vacuum cleaners. The name Art Deco came into use after the 1925 Exposition internationale des arts décoratifs et industriels modernes (International Exhibition of Modern Decorative and Industrial Arts) held in Paris. It has its origin in the bold geometric forms of the Vienna Secession and Cubism. From the outset, Art Deco was influenced by the bright colors of Fauvism and the Ballets Russes, and the exoticized styles of art from China, Japan, India, Persia, ancient Egypt, and the Maya. In its time, Art Deco was tagged with other names such as style moderne, Moderne, modernistic, or style contemporain, and it was not recognized as a distinct and homogeneous style. During its heyday, Art Deco represented luxury, glamour, exuberance, and faith in social and technological progress. The movement featured rare and expensive materials such as ebony and ivory, and exquisite craftsmanship. It also introduced new materials such as chrome plating, stainless steel, and plastic. In New York, the Empire State Building, the Chrysler Building, and other buildings from the 1920s and 1930s are monuments to the style. The largest concentration of Art Deco architecture in the world is in Miami Beach, Florida. Art Deco became more subdued during the Great Depression. A sleeker form of the style appeared in the 1930s called Streamline Moderne, featuring curving forms and smooth, polished surfaces. Art Deco was an international style but, after the outbreak of World War II, it lost its dominance to the functional and unadorned styles of modern architecture, in particular what is now called the International Style.
Art Nouveau ( AR(T) noo-VOH; French: [aʁ nuvo] ; lit. 'New Art') is an international style of art, architecture, and applied art, especially the decorative arts. It was often inspired by natural forms such as the sinuous curves of plants and flowers. Other characteristics of Art Nouveau were a sense of dynamism and movement, often given by asymmetry or whiplash lines, and the use of modern materials, particularly iron, glass, ceramics and later concrete, to create unusual forms and larger open spaces. It was popular between 1890 and 1910 during the Belle Époque period, and was a reaction against the academicism, eclecticism and historicism of 19th-century architecture and decorative art. One major objective of Art Nouveau was to break down the traditional distinction between fine arts (especially painting and sculpture) and applied arts. It was most widely used in interior design, graphic arts, furniture, glass art, textiles, ceramics, jewellery and metal work. The style responded to leading 19th-century theoreticians, such as French architect Eugène-Emmanuel Viollet-le-Duc (1814–1879) and British art critic John Ruskin (1819–1900). In Britain, it was influenced by William Morris and the Arts and Crafts movement. German architects and designers sought a spiritually uplifting Gesamtkunstwerk ('total work of art') that would unify the architecture, furnishings, and art in the interior in a common style, to uplift and inspire the residents. The first Art Nouveau houses and interior decoration appeared in Brussels in the 1890s, in the architecture and interior design of houses designed by Paul Hankar, Henry van de Velde, and especially Victor Horta, whose Hôtel Tassel was completed in 1893. It moved quickly to Paris, where it was adapted by Hector Guimard, who saw Horta's work in Brussels and applied the style to the entrances of the new Paris Métro. It reached its peak at the 1900 Paris International Exposition, which introduced the Art Nouveau work of artists such as Louis Tiffany. It appeared in graphic arts in the posters of Alphonse Mucha, and the glassware of René Lalique and Émile Gallé. From Britain, Belgium and France, Art Nouveau spread to the rest of Europe, taking on different names and characteristics in each country (see Naming section below). It often appeared not only in capitals, but also in rapidly growing cities that wanted to establish artistic identities (Turin and Palermo in Italy; Glasgow in Scotland; Munich and Darmstadt in Germany; Barcelona in Catalonia, Spain), as well as in centres of independence movements (Helsinki in Finland, then part of the Russian Empire). By 1914, with the beginning of the First World War, Art Nouveau was largely exhausted. In the 1920s, it was replaced as the dominant architectural and decorative art style by Art Deco and then modernism. The Art Nouveau style began to receive more positive attention from critics in the late 1960s, with a major exhibition of the work of Hector Guimard at the Museum of Modern Art in 1970.
Erotic art in Pompeii and Herculaneum has been both exhibited as art and censored as pornography. The Roman cities of Pompeii and Herculaneum around the bay of Naples were destroyed by the eruption of Mount Vesuvius in 79 AD, thereby preserving their buildings and artefacts until extensive archaeological excavations began in the 18th century. These digs revealed the cities to be rich in erotic artefacts such as statues, frescoes, and household items decorated with sexual themes. The ubiquity of such imagery and items indicates that the treatment of sexual iconography in ancient Rome was more relaxed than in current Western culture. The creation of erotic art in ancient Rome is thought to have occurred over seven centuries from the first century BCE to the fifth or sixth century CE. Much of what might strike modern viewers as erotic imagery, such as oversized phalluses, could arguably be fertility imagery. Depictions of the phallus, for example, could be used in gardens to encourage the production of fertile plants. This clash of cultures led to many erotic artefacts from Pompeii being locked away from the public for nearly 200 years. In 1819, when King Francis I of Naples visited the Pompeii exhibition at the Naples National Archaeological Museum with his wife and daughter, he was embarrassed by the erotic artwork and ordered it to be locked away in a "secret cabinet", accessible only to "people of mature age and respected morals". Re-opened, closed, re-opened again and then closed again for nearly 100 years, the Secret Museum, Naples was briefly made accessible at the end of the 1960s (the time of the sexual revolution) and was finally re-opened for viewing in 2000. Minors are still only allowed entry to the once-secret cabinet in the presence of a guardian, or with written permission.
Before the 1921 destruction of Tulsa’s Greenwood District, Black residents had created a remarkable center of business and community life. The district included stores, professional offices, entertainment venues and homes owned by Black citizens. Understanding Greenwood means learning what was built—not only what was burned.
MORE →Shirley Chisholm, elected in 1968.