Art,藝術。

When we are talking about art. What art means to you ?

I don't know, but I can list something.

Defintion:

The second person singular, indicative mode, present tense,of the substantive verb Be; but formed after the analogy of the plural are, with the ending -t, as in thou shalt, wilt, orig. an ending of the second person sing. pret. Cf. Be. Now used only in solemn or poetical style.

Here is good thing.

A book, a beautiful book.

"The Illustrated History of Art"

簡介：

A unique visual resource with more than 2,000 illustrations。

Incisive, authoritative coverage of every significant development in art from Palaeolithic cave paintings to Superrealism

Features on individual paintings and sculptures of major importance in the story of art

Comprehensive picture specification list and index

Ideal reference tool for both general readers and those with specialized interests

Excerption: （幾段摘錄）

P128

The High Renaissance 1: Florence and Rome (文世復興的鼎盛期)

It is still generally accepted that the High Renaissance was both a peak and a watershed in the history of European civilization, and that the Christian era can be divided essentially into pre-Renaissance and post-Renaissance, into medieval and modern. The early Renaissance had been a gradual revolution affecting not only the visual arts but literature, technology and the sciences as well; its consummation and climax, its point of no return, came in the brief moment of the high renaissance in the early sixteenth century. 。。。。。。

P288

Chinese Art 3: Landscape Painting （中國山水畫）

The history of Chinese painting extends back well beyond the date of any surviving works: painting emerged as the supreme Chinese art probably during the Han dynasty(206BC-Ad 220). The development of Chinese painting was nevertheless continuous, rooted from the beginning in calligraphy-the art of writing characters expressively with brush and ink-and primarily devoted to landscape-the manifestation of the subtle workings of the Tao, or nature-as-change.

It was during the Han dynasty that the famous Chinese imperial civil service or “bureaucracy” was created-a class of scholar, poets and mean of letters fitted by their education for the administration of the Empire. Painting was aprt of the gentleman’s curriculum, one of the means by which he expressed his personal understanding of the world in a manner worthy of his ancestor. Surviving literature provides plentiful evidence of its theory and practice, which can be supplemented by one scroll, just possibly original, that is attributed to Gu Kaizhi(c.344-406) and illustrates Confucian maxims. 。。。。。。

P414

Dada (達達主義)

The orgy of destruction that convulsed the Western world between 1914 and 1918 checked the progressive spirit that had animated the arts in the years just before. Activity was not stifled(two global wars proved unable to quell Picasso’s genius), but the most significant movement took the form of a revolt again the culture and the corrupt, complacent values(many felt) that had encouraged the suicidal massacre of trench warfare. “Modern civilization” was itself to be destroyed, and the instrument to be used was not art but “anti-war” or “non-art”; there was no thought of development or replacement, even thought of development or replacement, even if “non-art” proved in fact to hold the seeds of just that, a new art, a new development. 。。。。。。