"Because No One Can Seize me from Behind": Sir Christopher Hatton's Double Portrait and Elizabethan Textual Paintings

Many researchers have emphasised the special use of inscriptions and texts in Tudor paintings. Especially in Elizabethan times, emblematic images emerge and contain texts which present riddles to their audience, address an implicit or explicit beholder, and also give information about their own function. The enigmatic double-sided portrait of Christopher Hatton serves as an outstanding example of the various relations that texts and images form in this era. Two elements of its composition will be discussed here: the inscription and the depiction of Father Time, both on the verso-side. One, a textual element, forms a unit with the other, a pictorial element. On their own and in combination, both built up a reference to emblem books and sources outside the picture and contextualise themselves in humanistic discourses about opportunity and time. Thus, their exclusive presentation forms a dialogue with the beholder and opens up a meta-level of artistic expression. The ancient pictorial tradition of the God Kairos is addressed in the combination, while it labels itself as a depiction of time. Overall, the object briefly examined in this study is an outstanding example of Elizabethan artistic culture and remains a desideratum in art history.

METHODS OF TEACHING HIEROGLYPHIC WRITING AT AN EARLY AGE

In recent years, there has been a steady increase of interest in learning the Chinese language, starting from an early age. However, the learning process at the initial stages is fraught with many difficulties, one of which is associated with memorizing a pictorial element – a hieroglyph. The present study is relevant due to the lack of studies on the methods of teaching hieroglyphic writing to preschoolers and younger students. The aim of the work is to create a productive system for teaching Chinese characters at tender age. The present article examines the difficulties arising in the study of Chinese writing, the special aspects of the study of hieroglyphic writing by preschoolers and younger schoolchildren, as well as proposes some methods of teaching hieroglyphics in this age group. The conducted research made it possible to formulate some conclusions. Due to the multidimensionality of the Chinese language, which distinguishes it from the Romance languages, the study of hieroglyphics in the classroom is not prevalent, giving way to the development of children’s oral speech skills. However, even in limited conditions, the teacher needs to lay the foundation for the formulation of graphic skills, etymological and structural analysis of hieroglyphs, relying on game forms of information presentation. Teaching hieroglyphic writing to children at an early age is a complex process which is associated, on the one hand, with the characteristic features of the Chinese language, and, on the other hand, with the psychoemotional features of children of this age group. To address the issues that arise during the learning process, a number of methods are proposed which could contribute to a deeper acquisition of hieroglyphic material. To increase the motivation to study, the teacher should, taking into account the specific situation, combine various approaches to teaching hieroglyphic writing. Further detailed discussions with Chinese teachers, as well as the development of teaching aids and recommendations for both preschoolers and primary schoolchildren are extremely important for creating a comprehensive and effective system of hieroglyphics teaching to children at an early age.

Application of Pictorial Elements in Body Art: Focusing on the Buddha expressed in Buddhist art in the Unified Silla Period

In modern society, with its coexistence of diverse culture, it is a process of genuine cultural development to remember the beauty of the traditions in our cultural heritage and allow it to continue to evolve through art and cultural exchange and creative work. The truth and concept of religion are invisible in our daily lives. To expose it, help from art is needed. Buddhism, in which people realize truth on their own, samsara, and the redemption of all people are recognized as the highest values, has long been entwined with the history of the Republic of Korea. During the era of the Unified Silla Dynasty, Buddhism was beyond a mere religion and was an official state religion. Since it was directly connected with the country’s fate, Buddhist temple-related fine arts flourished. Therefore, this study attempted to reinterpret the images of Buddha based on a theoretical review of Buddhist concepts and characteristics of Buddhist art during the Unified Silla period and suggested new styles of both Korean and modern ambivalence by expressing pictorial element-applied design through body painting in a torso mannequin style. It is expected that these works would offer an opportunity to contemplate the meaning and value of Korean traditional patterns by expressing the Buddhist art of the Unified Silla Dynasty. It is also anticipated that they would be available as art and aesthetic cultural contents in a creative and diverse fashion.

What Color as an Integrated Pictorial Element in Himalayan Art Can Communicate: Cross-Cultural Congruence of Color-Emotion Conceptualizations in Himalayan Art

The idea of art as a language of emotion has historical roots. This study asked if color, as an integrated pictorial element in Himalayan art, can communicate the intended emotions to North American viewers. To investigate the extent to which those emotions are congruent cross-culturally, participants were assigned to four conditions of varying levels of informativeness, based on whether they did or did not receive an informational brochure and a checklist of emotional terms to reference. Results were analyzed using Latent Semantic Analysis to assess the similarity of word meanings. Participant responses were compared to the emotions that should be conveyed according to Himalayan culture and curators of an exhibit on Himalayan art. Cosine values were generally high in all conditions, indicating that certain colors (i.e., red, black, and gold) can convey consistent emotional information to viewers from very different cultures, even with little or no corresponding verbal material.

The Line in Neo-Modernism Geometrical Abstraction

The article overviews the development of the line as a pictorial element in Neo-Modernism. It refers to different variants of linear strategy in geometric abstractions and the tendency of the line to become the leading element of the work of art up to pure linear constructions, such as a two-or three- dimensional grid. This grid is the key structure of the new forms of modern art built on repetition.

Chiaroscuro as an Artistic Device in Cooper's Fiction

Although the pictorial element has long been recognized as an important factor in James Fenimore Cooper's descriptive style, detailed analyses of specific techniques that Cooper shared with contemporary landscape painters can still add much to our understanding of his fundamental artistry. A number of such studies have already appeared. Howard Mumford Jones has shown how Cooper's moral view of the world found a means of expression—the expansive depiction of a panoramic scene—that is strikingly similar to the typical landscape of the Hudson River School of painting, and James Franklin Beard has written of the basic artistic technique that Cooper shared with the painter Thomas Cole—the harmonization of precise details to present an ideal truth. Other studies, moreover, have pointed out a number of specific devices that Cooper and his artistic friends employed to express their related themes. One important painterly technique used by the novelist, however, has yet to be treated in detail: the chiaroscuro, or arrangement of light and shadow, that he, like the painters, included in his delineation of the natural scene. Many readers of Cooper, no doubt, have perceived the effectiveness of Cooper's carefully lighted descriptions, and comment upon them has, indeed, appeared in print. The technique, however, is so important in Cooper's art that it merits a much more extended treatment than it has yet received.