The gesture of looking in classical history painting

In this paper, possible functions of the gesture of indicating, either with hands or postures, or with looks or facial expressions, portrayed on the figures found in the history painting of the XVIIth century are studied. Two examples from the paintings of Le Brun and Poussin are analyzed in detail to show how these gestures are signifying elements of the story represented through the dispositio of its figures as well as operative parts of a representational apparatus historically and esthetically defined. The gesture of indicating, intended to articulate and regulate the viewer's reception of the painting, is supposed to constrain how he adheres to the religious, social or political values — that is the ideological background of the scene represented in the painting.     

画到深情飘没处 更无真相有真魂——浅论馆藏黄慎人物画及其创作风格

黄慎,生于清康熙二十六年(1687),卒于清乾隆三十一年(1766)。字恭懋,一字恭寿,号瘿瓢,福建宁化人。他少时家贫,一生布衣,为谋生计,以卖画为业。自述“某幼年孤,母苦节,辛勤万状,抚某成人,念无以存活,命某学画。又念唯写真易谐俗,遂专为之。已旁及诸家,差解古人法外意。”早年,黄慎曾师从同乡上官周,习工笔人物。后离乡远游近十年,对当时江南各地的社会生活有深入了解,也对他后来的人物画创作产生了深刻影响。雍正初年,     

指下云山意无穷 信手写来入化境--刘知白指画山水的艺术特色

刘知白先生是现代山水画系中的一位隐士型画家,其泼墨山水取得的杰出成就,不仅在于笔墨语言和审美观念方面的突破,还在于图式构成中亦自成面目,深受美术界关注。刘知白具有极深的传统功力,他的艺术路子广阔,山水、花鸟俱佳,而且在诗与书法方面皆有造诣。值得一提的是,刘知白先生的指画在方法上延续了传统模式,但是却能融入画家个人情怀和时代精神,他擅长以极为简淡物象,抒写心志,表达如诗的山水意境,有着较高的研究价值。     

包世臣的文论、诗论及文学成就

包世臣认为,为文除要严守文法,做到“其言有序”外,还要做到“其言有物”,而且就“其言有序”和“其言有物”比较而言,后者具有更为重要的意义。他的一个基本观点是认为,“文字之教”的基本功能是“成其俗”。因此,他主张文学家要介入社会,关心国计民生。与此相联系,他主张为文要“崇实”而反对“致饰”。包世臣诗论的核心,是儒家的诗教原则。当然,作为嘉道年间的重要诗人,包世臣也特别重视诗的艺术性。首先,他认为写诗要直抒胸臆,“言为心声”;其次,他主张华实结合,朴质得宜,反对华而不实,尤其反对“侈于声色”;第三,他虽然反对“侈于声色”,但不反对韵律,认为写诗要讲求平仄。基于上述见解,包世臣将诗分成上、次、下三类。包世臣的文学成就,主要表现在两个方面,一是文,二是诗。尤其是他的诗,无论形式的多样性,还是题材的广泛性,以及内容的思想性与艺术性的统一,在嘉道年间的诗人中都是一流的。     

Mathematics and painting

Abstract

Mathematics and painting are interrelated in many ways. At a technical level mathematics can be used to enhance our appreciation of paintings. This was recently demonstrated beautifully by Taylor, Micolich, and Jones in their analysis of Jackson Pollock's drip paintings, which led them to the conclusion that Pollock's paintings are in a way figurative pictures. Relations also exist at a more basic level. Painting and mathematics can share subject matter, as is illustrated here by a discussion of the mathematical concepts 'open' and 'closed', which are related to paintings by Pollock, Kandinsky, Turner, and van Gogh. It is suggested in conclusion that mathematics and painting are so closely related and have so many similarities that it is reasonable to consider them simply as two different but complementary ways of visualising aspects of the concrete or abstract reality in which we are embedded.     

Property and Authority in a Migrant Society: Balinese Irrigators in Sulawesi,Indonesia

Multiple definitions of resources as property lead to competition over legitimate authority between state and non‐state organizational and institutional arrangements. This article focuses on the overlapping and competing domains of the water users’ association, WUA, and the ‘traditional’ Balinese irrigators’ institution, subak. While the former is backed up by the power of state regulation and administration, the latter derives legitimacy from Balinese irrigators. The author presents a case study of the establishment and transformation of property rights in an irrigation‐based Balinese migrant society in Indonesia; he concludes that, in the ongoing process of competition for authority and mutual adjustment, both institutions undergo important transformations.     

Inside and outside the school lunchbox: themes and reflections

We examine here the discourses surrounding the lunchbox taken to school by children: aspects both of the contents and of how children consume and understand these.1 The observations presented here form part of the preliminary stages of a broader project examining ‘Men, Children and Food’. The project itself is part of a large research programme – ‘Changing Families, Changing Food’ – funded by the Leverhulme Trust (award number F/00118/AQ) from 2006 to 2008, and situated at the University of Sheffield, working in collaboration with colleagues at Royal Holloway University of London. Our aims, in ‘Men, Children and Food’, are to explore the experiences of fathers (and other male figures in the household) and of children, in relation to food practices, including ways in which the two interconnect. View all notes Examples within and beyond the UK suggest that the lunchbox is a container for various aspects of the private and public. What traces can be found inside of wider social relations, including processes of care and surveillance? We argue that the lunchbox consists of intersecting spatialities, within which children constitute a public face, and create identities, relationships and subjectivities; this perspective frames opportunities for priorities in future empirical research with children.     

George Horton: the literary diplomat

Abstract

George Horton was a man of letters and United States Consul in Greece and Turkey at a time of social and political change. He writes of the re-taking of Smyrna by the Turkish army in September 1922. His account, however, goes beyond the blame and events to a demonization of Muslims, in general, and of Turks, in particular. In several of his novels, written more than two decades before the events of September 1922, he had already identified the Turk as the stock-in-trade villain of Western civilization. In his account of Smyrna, he writes not as historian, but as publicist.     

Global Markets, Local Home-working: Governance and Inter-firm Relationships in the Balinese Clothing Industry

Abstract: Within the industrialization process of the Indonesian economy, the manufacture of clothing has played a significant role. Besides Java, Bali has the second highest agglomeration of industrial activities within this sector. However, in contrast to Javanese clothing firms, which have a strong emphasis on Western-styled clothing, Balinese clothing firms focus on the manufacture of Batik and embroidery products. Based on the commodity chain debate, I will show in this paper how Balinese clothing industry is organized into and governed within the global and local economy. This aims in particular to unravel how these types of garments (Batik and embroidery) can shape and reshape buyer relations. The analysis will also include a discussion of aspects, such as product development and raw material procurement. Furthermore, since Balinese clothing companies organize their production activities within extensive networks of rural home industries, the driving forces behind these specific network co-ordinations will be explored.