Creative Impulse, The: An Introduction to the Arts

For any introductory course in Humanities or Interdisciplinary Arts Appreciation. This text presents an overview of the arts in the Western tradition; in the contexts of the philosophy, religion, aesthetic theory, economics, and politics surrounding them. It is an historical introduction to the humanities yielding a basic familiarity with major styles and their implications as well as a sense of the historical development of individual arts media.

Preface.
Introduction—Getting Started and Understanding and Evaluating the Arts.
1. The Ancient World.
How Art Works—The Purposes of Art I. Providing a Record. Contexts and Concepts. The Arts of the Ancient World. Focal Point: Akhenaton and Monotheism—The Tell El Amarna Period.

2. Archaic Greece and the Aegean.
How Art Works—The Purposes of Art II. Giving Form to Feeling. Contexts and Concepts. The Arts of Archaic Greece and the Aegean. Focal Point: The Iliad and Odyssey of Homer.

3. Greek Classicism and Hellenism.
How Art Works—The Purposes of Art III. Revealing Metaphysical and Spiritual Truths. Contexts and Concepts. The Arts of Greek Classicism and Hellenism. Focal Point: From Idealism to Realism—Prometheus and Hecuba.

4. The Roman Period.
How Art Works—The Purposes of Art IV. Seeing the World in New and Surprising Ways (Appearance versus Reality). Contexts and Concepts. The Arts of the Roman Period. Focal Point: Augustus—Classical Visions.

5. Judaism and Early Christianity.
How Art Works—Symbols and Symbolism. Contexts and Concepts. The Arts of Judaism and Early Christianity. Focal Point: St. Paul and the Westernization of Christianity.

6. Byzantium and the Rise of Islam.
How Art Works—Icons. Contexts and Concepts. The Arts of Byzantium and Islam. Focal Point: In Praise of the Emperor—The Mark of Justinian.

7. The Early Middle Ages (The Monastic and Feudal Romanesque Period).
How Art Works—Emphasis. Contexts and Concepts. The Arts of the Early Middle Ages. Focal Point: The Carolingian Renaissance.

8. The High Middle Ages (The Gothic Age).
How Art Works—Universals I. Contexts and Concepts. The Arts of the High Middle Ages. Focal Point: Chartres Cathedral.

9. The Late Middle Ages.
How Art Works—Universals II. Revealing Reality. Contexts and Concepts. The Arts of the Late Middle Ages. Focal Point: Women Mystics of the Late Middle Ages.

10. The Early Renaissance.
How Art Works—Universals III. Reality versus Abstraction. Contexts and Concepts. The Arts of the Early Renaissance. Focal Point: Florence in the Quattrocento.

11. The High Renaissance and Mannerism.
How Art Works—Universals IV. Verisimilitude versus Stylization. Contexts and Concepts. The Arts of the High Renaissance and Mannerism. Focal Point: Papal Splendor—The Vatican.

12. Renaissance and Reformation in Northern Europe.
How Art Works—Language: Visual, Aural, and Oral. Contexts and Concepts. The Arts of the Renaissance and Reformation in the North. Focal Point: The Great Age of the Tudors.

13. The Baroque Age.
How Art Works—Aesthetics I. The Role of the Artist. Contexts and Concepts. The Arts of the Baroque Age. Focal Point: English Baroque—Seventeenth-Century London.

14. The Enlightenment.
How Art Works—Aesthetics II. Classical Inquiry. Contexts and Concepts. The Arts of the Enlightenment. Focal Point: The Enlightened Despot—Frederick II of Hohenzollern.

15. The Romantic Age.
How Art Works—The Anti-Classical: Romanticism and Individualism. Contexts and Concepts. The Arts of the Romantic Age. Focal Point: The Victorians.

16. From Realism to Modernism.
How Art Works—Form and Function: Functionalism versus Aestheticism. Contexts and Concepts. The Arts from Realism to Modernism. Focal Point: America's Gilded Age.

17. Modernism.
How Art Works—Modernism. Contexts and Concepts. The Arts in the Modern World. Focal Point: The Bauhaus—Integration of the Arts.

FROM PAST TO PRESENT: A PICTURE ESSAY.

18. From a Modern to Postmodern World.
How Art Works—Postmodernism. Contexts and Concepts. The Arts from Modernism to Postmodernism. Focal Point: An Outpouring of Ethnicity.

Glossary.
Notes.
Further Reading.
Index.