Video review week 11

An Introduction to the Italian Renaissance (Giorgio Vasari)

This video was quite interesting to me. I learned a good amount.
Vasari wrote, “Lives of the Artist’s”, and it acted as a culmination of famous artists and their work throughout the years. By doing this, it allowed new artists to learn from previous artists that had already mastered many different styles of art. During this time, barbarians destroyed a lot of artwork, which made it  necessary to document paintings and sculptures in order to keep track.
The artist Giotto used landscaping and architecture to add depth to his paintings.
Older works of art also were an influence on Giberti. As a result, he was able to reproduce the human figure very accurately.
The very famous Da Vinci added science and math when creating his art. He needed to see things from the inside out in order to recreate them. The human form needed to appear naturally in the surroundings.
Raffaello made sure his painting were never too crowded or lopsided. He used balance to be sure of this. Lastly, Michaelangelo taught himself at 14 how to paint and sculpt by studying the work of others.


The Colonial Encounter: Views of Non-Western Art and Culture

This video wasn’t one of my favorites from this class. However, the following is what I learned.
The video discussed that the largest fair was in 1900 in Paris. It was to celebrate friendship.
The Dahome exhibit consisted of mud structures to portray African culture.
Later, violence eventually broke out and civilizations became fearful. The barbaric people were banned from Europe.
In the art, Dahome’s independence was shown through the portrayal of sharks. It represented determination to protect the water surrounding their land.
By the 1900s, tourism was becoming a major industry, which then led to building hotels to support travelers. Because of this, the exploitation of African men and women began taking place.


The Critics: Stories from the Inside Pages

I learned a good deal from this video. It taught me that critics give you another way of looking at things. Steven Hunter believes that through writing we are able to evoke the imagination of others. Furthermore, the main function of critics is to help the consumers get the most out of the money that they spend.
Because of critics, authors, directors, artists, and actors have to do their best possible because they know that they are being rated in the media for millions to see. The video also discussed that book critics are the most influential in their ability to help out new writers.
This can breed subjective criticism.
When reading a critics review, there is no real way to say that they are 100% accurate.


Criticism should be constructive, no matter if good or bad. It is important to use criticism personally in order to grow and better ourselves and our work. When criticism others’ work, we must take into consideration that it is for the purpose they better themselves and their work, and not to make it too personal.

I thought the films were informative and mostly interesting. I liked the video called “Stories from Inside Page”. The video I didn’t like was  “The Colonial Encounter”. It just did not interest me all that much, at least a lot less than the others.