Italian Renaissance Art and Architecture: 15th Century
The Italian Renaissance: Quattrocento
The Renaissance was a period when humanity was seen as the center of the universe. This period saw the rise of great humanists and artists, often sponsored by powerful patrons like the Medici, Sforza, and the Papacy. The habit of acquiring prestige through art gave new value to artists.
15th and 16th Century Renaissance
The Renaissance began in Italy and had two main phases:
- The 15th century, known as the Quattrocento
- The 16th century, which is divided into the Cinquecento
Journalism: Reporting, Interpretation, and Opinion Formation
Features of Journalism
Journalism not only informs about reality but also interprets it. To do this, it uses persuasion mechanisms and, sometimes, manipulation. Both the selection of news and issues like the extension and the placement on the page or in the information are persuasion and manipulation mechanisms, which also contribute to the use of emotional arguments. The intention of the issuer at the time of transmitting a fact and the effects sought determine the choice of the receiving genre.
Read MoreBaroque Art and Architecture: Origins and Evolution
Baroque: The Term’s Origin and Evolution
The term “Baroque” surged in the 16th century in Spain and Portugal, initially describing pearls of irregular form. Later, it was extended to characterize granitic rocks. In 1690, the term was introduced in France with a similar meaning. By the mid-18th century, it was comprehensively used in dictionaries of the French Academy to describe odd-shaped and irregular objects. In 1788, the *Encyclopédie Méthodique* used it to describe extravagant architecture.
Read MoreMajor Art Movements: Dadaism to Surrealism
Dadaism
Dadaism was an anti-art movement, anti-literary and unpoetic, questioning the very existence of art, literature, and poetry. It presented itself as a way of life and as an absolute rejection of any tradition or previous scheme. It was against eternal beauty, against the eternity of principles, against the laws of logic, against the immobility of thought, and against the universal. The Dadaists promoted change, individual freedom, spontaneity, immediacy, and contradiction. They defended chaos
Read MoreRationalism and Organicism: Le Corbusier and Frank Lloyd Wright
Modern Movement: Rationalism and Organicism
Rationalism: Le Corbusier
Rationalism adapts modern construction techniques to functional needs. It features unornamented, transparent volumes, with decoration derived from the arrangement of openings in facades. Le Corbusier, a key theorist, urbanist, and architect, developed the Modulor. He envisioned a plan for a contemporary city of three million inhabitants. His focus was on housing, both individual homes and apartment blocks. These “machines for living”
Read MoreSpanish Society, Culture, and Avant-Garde Literature
Society and Culture
No Renewal. Technical progress: radio, telephone, cars, movies… New scientific theories: relativity theory (Einstein) and method of psychoanalysis (Sigmund Freud). This created a school of thought: human beings repressed since childhood by customs and traditions, limiting freedom. World War (1914-1918)… a crisis which affected all of Europe, leading to a search for new approaches and ways of living. Spain did not participate, but suffered the consequences. Primo de Rivera,
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