Chinese Art in Europe Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Chinese Art in Europe - Assignment Example Four pieces recently on display in the National Museum of China demonstrate these contradicting desires, creating Chinese-inspired European art that often fails to capture Chinese aesthetic qualities. The desire to copy and imitate Chinese art in European art is a curious one: for much of European history Europe had been relatively assured of cultural superiority over others, especially non-Christian peoples. With China, however, something different seems to have taken place. European missionaries seemed to largely consider Chinese materially and culturally at least Europe’s equal, and possibly Europe’s â€Å"superior† (Mungello 85). This gave the Europeans the impulse to copy Chinese art. Furthermore, it was tempting for Europeans to attempt to form parallels between Chinese society and European society in order to bolster their own European institutions, such as the French Empire (Thomas 2). These forces led to an effort by European artists to imitate Chinese s tyle. Yet much of Chinese art was misunderstood by Europeans, or understood solely from their world view (Thomas 1). Many pieces of art in the National Museum demonstrate the desire to fit China into a European world view. The â€Å"Cup with Kinrade Decorations and German Gilded Silver Mounts,† for instance, features a highly ornate Chinese cup positioned on a gilded German mount, making the whole piece appear something like a massive chalice. Though the style of the bowl and the cup clearly clash fairly significantly, it is easy to see the European attempt to integrate Chinese art into a European formation, both making it part of something clearly European (an ornate chalice) and combining its style with European style. The Coffee Pot with Pierced Outer Wall, a later piece, shows a more genuine desire of complete imitation, possibly indicating a move away from stress about integrating Chinese culture with European that might have been associated with Europe’s ability to exert forms of colonial control on China (Thomas 17). While clearly there was a significant attempt to draw China closer to Europe, and form parallels between Chinese society and European, this does not change the fact that Europeans still showed an intense need to exoticize Chinese art and people. Joachim Kandler’s Sweetmeat Stand and Johan Lanz’s Inkstand with Exotic Figurines both demonstrate this desire to focus on the exoticness of China. Neither features a particularly Chinese style, both being highly ornate, even opulent in a rococo style, though the sweetmeat stand does preserve a few touches of Chinese authenticity (the lilies seem to have a Chinese touch about them). Instead, the focus of each work is on the figures, who are highly stylized in imagined Chinese dress. Each character features a highly ornate conical hat, clearly something Europeans were already associating with China at this point, along with robes of different sorts that do not seem to real ly bare a great deal of resemblance to Chinese dress. The clothing, however, is all clearly different from European clothing. The characters themselves are similarly stylized, with overwrought Chinese features. In these pieces, it is clear that the desire to express or imitate Chinese attributes through European art

Discussion 9 and 10 Coursework Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Discussion 9 and 10 - Coursework Example It has affected many different mechanisms in the way humans work and interact such as information gathering and information sharing. However, the advent of the Internet has also had many effects on the way that people think, they way that they structure their time, their perceptions and the manner in which they structure their interests. An example of this is social media, which is internet content that relies on content generated by users. Such social media includes websites such as Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and MySpace. For many the use of such sites has become a daily ritual, often supplanting things that they are meant to be doing, such as studying or working. This essay will examine the manner in which technology alters the structure of our interests in respect to the Internet and associated technologies. It will involve a in-depth review of the literature available, and if an unaddressed area still remains than a qualitative research method will be determined. References Cer uzzi, P. E. (2004). The "Problem" of Computer-Computer Communication, 1995-2000: A Technological Fix. In L. Rosner (Ed.), The Technological Fix (pp. 203-217). New York: Taylor & Francis Books, Inc.  Discussion Two For this I originally planned to ‘fast’ from using the Internet. ... As time progressed I found it much easier not to turn on the television and to find other activities. While the ‘fast’ was difficult at first and required a substantial amount of thought and effort to determine other activities I found that I learnt a lot about myself in the process. When I stopped the ‘fast’ I found that I did not watch television as much as before, preferring other activities, and it was not automatic for me to turn it on whenever I was in the same room. In retrospect, I found that fasting from one form of technology increased my use of other technologies. I had expected that stopping using television would increase the amount of time that I spent with other people and outdoors, but this was not the case. In general I found that I spend increased time on the Internet, although I did not watch online movies or television episodes as I considered this to be cheating the spirit of the fast. Instead I spent a lot of time on social networking s ites, especially Facebook, and playing games. I considered that this experiment provided an interesting demonstration of the role that technology plays in our lives. Even though I restricted myself from using one particular form of technology, I found that my use of another increased. It was difficult at first not to watch television, and I imagine it would be extremely difficult not to use any form of technology for pleasure even for a day. Technology has become extremely integrated in our lives and this was evident during my ‘fast’ from