Portal:Arts
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Introduction
The arts refers to the theory and physical expression of creativity found in human societies and cultures. Major constituents of the arts include literature (including drama, poetry, and prose), performing arts (among them dance, music, and theatre), and visual arts (including drawing, painting, filmmaking, architecture, ceramics, sculpting, and photography).
Some art forms combine a visual element with performance (e.g., cinematography) or artwork with the written word (e.g., comics). From prehistoric cave paintings to modern day films, art serves as a vessel for storytelling and conveying humankind's relationship with the environment.
Featured article
The Exelon Pavilions are four structures which generate electricity from solar energy and provide access to underground parking in Millennium Park in the Loop community area of Chicago in Cook County, Illinois, US. The pavilions provide sufficient energy to power the equivalent of 14 Energy Star-rated energy-efficient houses in Chicago. The four pavilions, which cost $7 million, were designed in January 2001; construction began in January 2004. The South Pavilions were completed and opened in July 2004, while the North Pavilions were completed in November 2004, with a grand opening on April 30, 2005. In addition to producing energy, three of the four pavilions provide access to the parking garages below the park, while the fourth serves as the park's welcome center and office. Exelon, a company that generates the electricity transmitted by its subsidiary Commonwealth Edison, donated $5.5 million for the pavilions. Chicago Tribune architecture critic Blair Kamin praised the South Pavilions as "minor modernist jewels", but criticized the North Pavilions as "nearly all black and impenetrable". The North Pavilions have received the Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) silver rating from the United States Green Building Council, as well as an award from the American Society of Heating, Refrigerating and Air-Conditioning Engineers.
Did you know...
- ... that Swedish actor Liam Norberg became a devout Christian while serving time in prison for a bank robbery?
- ... that Titian's painting of Venus and Adonis exists in "two-dog" and "three-dog" versions?
- ... that 19th-century concert singer Sarah Mundell Crane was the mother of silent movie actor Harry Ogden Crane?
- ... that the "Memorial for the War to Resist America and Aid Korea" is no longer one of the national first-grade museums of China?
- ... that a museum in the Bedford Village Historic District occupies the former courthouse, erected in 1787 and the oldest government building in Westchester County?
- ... that a critic of the didactic comic strip Goofus and Gallant observed that the "obnoxious" Goofus may appeal to children more than the "do-gooder" Gallant?
- ... that the Grade I listed building 56 Artillery Lane in London is now used as a free art exhibition space?
- ... that the painting Ivan the Terrible and His Son Ivan has been attacked and damaged twice?
- ... that the terms of the 1796 Armistice of Bologna included payment in cash, goods, and works of art from the Papal States to France?
- ... that the Varvakeion Athena is considered the most faithful reproduction of the chryselephantine statue of Athena Parthenos which stood in the Parthenon?
- ... that the Kurşunlu Mosque and Complex hosts a museum that exhibits handmade meerschaum pipes?
- ... that the Indonesian actor Darussalam was a nurse by training?
In this month
- 1 January 1818 – Mary Shelley's novel Frankenstein is published anonymously in London
- 7 January 1927 – The Scottish Arts and Crafts architect Fred Rowntree (pictured) dies in London at the age of 66
- 13 January 1782 – Friedrich Schiller's play The Robbers, an important work in the German Sturm and Drang movement, premieres in Mannheim and is an overnight sensation
- 22 January 1956 – Camera Three, a Sunday morning television program devoted to the arts is launched by CBS
- 24 January 1925 – Maria Tallchief, the first Native American to become a prima ballerina, is born in Fairfax, Oklahoma
Selected images
In the news
- 22 January 2019 –
- The nominees for the 91st Academy Awards, honoring the best in cinema in 2018 are announced, with Roma and The Favourite leading with 10 nominations each. (The New York Times)
Featured biography
Bronwyn Bancroft (born 1958) is an Indigenous Australian artist, notable for being the first Australian fashion designer invited to show her work in Paris. Born in Tenterfield, New South Wales, and trained in Canberra and Sydney, Bancroft worked as a fashion designer, and is an artist, illustrator, and arts administrator. In 1985 Bancroft established a shop called Designer Aboriginals, selling fabrics made by Indigenous artists, including herself. She was a founding member of Boomalli Aboriginal Artists Co-operative. Artwork by Bancroft is held by the National Gallery of Australia, the Art Gallery of New South Wales and the Art Gallery of Western Australia. She has provided artwork for over 20 children's books, including Stradbroke Dreaming by writer and activist Oodgeroo Noonuccal and books by artist and writer Sally Morgan. She has also received design commissions, including one for the exterior of a sports centre in Sydney. With a long history of involvement in community activism and arts administration, Bancroft has served as a board member for the National Gallery of Australia. Her painting Prevention of AIDS (1992) was used in a campaign to raise awareness of HIV/AIDS in Australia. As of 2010, Bancroft sits on the boards of copyright collection agency Viscopy and Tranby Aboriginal College, as well as being on the Artists Board at the Museum of Contemporary Art, Sydney.
Featured audio
A Gregorian chant setting of Ave Maria, directed by Fr. Dariusz Smolarek SAC. Ave Maria (Hail Mary) is a traditional Roman Catholic prayer asking for the help of the Virgin Mary. It is commonly used in mass and as penance for sins.
Selected quote
| “ | "…life will not perish! It will begin anew with love; it will start out naked and tiny; it will take root in the wilderness, and to it all that we did and built will mean nothing—our towns and factories, our art, our ideas will all mean nothing, and yet life will not perish! Only we have perished. Our houses and machines will be in ruins, our systems will collapse, and the names of our great will fall away like dry leaves. Only you, love, will blossom on this rubbish heap and commit the seed of life to the winds. | ” |