Waterways in art.

Waterways in art. Rivers and lakes have played a vital part in life on Earth sincethe very beginning. They provide drinking water drinking watersupply of water available to animals for drinking supplied via nipples, in troughs, dams, ponds and larger natural water sources; an insufficient supply leads to dehydration; it can be the source of infection, e.g. leptospirosis, salmonellosis, or of poisoning, e.g. for animals and enableplants to grow and flourish. As people populated the world they gathered around fresh water, notonly for drinking, but also for washing, cooking, fishing and farming.Eventually, communities grew up on the banks of numbers of rivers andlakes that had water in them year round. Some of these communitiesbecame the centers of great civilizations, such as the Egyptians on theNile River Nile RiverArabic Bahr al-NilRiver, eastern and northeastern Africa. The longest river in the world, it is about 4,132 mi (6,650 km) long from its remotest headstream (which flows into Lake Victoria) to the Mediterranean Sea. , the Mesopotamians on the Tigris and Euphrates Tigris and Euphrates is a German strategy board game designed by Reiner Knizia and first published in 1997 by Hans im Gl��ck in German (as Euphrat und Tigris). Rivers, andthe Mexicans on Lake Texcoco This article is about the lake. For the pre-Columbian city-state, see Texcoco (Aztec site). For the modern municipality and city, see Texcoco, M��xico.Lake Texcoco was a lake in Mexico. . Until very recently, travel by water was the most efficient way tomove around. What few roads there that existed were usually very roughand travelers were often attacked by bandits. The presence of a waterway made it possible for people in one placeto carry food and things they had made and trade them with other peopleon another part of the lake or river. Waterways also enabled armies totravel by boat and attack distant towns and villages, often expandingtheir power to build empires. It should be no surprise, therefore, that artists all over theworld have shown waterways in art from the very earliesttimes--especially artists who lived and worked among people who spentmuch of the their time on the water. For example, Egyptian wall paintings (murals) often show fishingand hunting scenes on the Nile, as well as paintings of boats owned byrich and powerful people. Later, as people became more adventurous, theytraveled and traded around the coastlines of the Mediterranean Sea Mediterranean Sea[Lat.,=in the midst of lands], the world's largest inland sea, c.965,000 sq mi (2,499,350 sq km), surrounded by Europe, Asia, and Africa.GeographyThe Mediterranean is c.2,400 mi (3,900 km) long with a maximum width of c. fromone community to another, most seaports This is a list of the world's seaports: Atlantic OceanMain article: List of ports and harbours of the Atlantic Ocean Accra, Ghana A Coru?a, Spain Banana, Democratic Republic of the Congo either being up a river orhaving safe harbors for protection against bad weather. Before the invention of engines, boats had to be moved using sails,oars and paddles, so it is not surprising that, until about 200 yearsago, artists should be showing these kinds of boats in their pictures.Certain seaports became very wealthy through trading and the peopleliving there were proud to have pictures showing boats that were thesource of their wealth or warships used to protect their merchant ships. The seaport of Venice, Italy, for example, was one of the earliestseaports to become an international center for seagoing sea��go��ing?adj.Made or used for ocean voyages.seagoingAdjectivebuilt for travelling on the seaAdj. 1. trade. It wasclosely followed by cities such as Amsterdam in the Netherlands and byLondon, England. Today, some of the busiest seaports in the world areLong Beach, California Long Beach is a city located in southern Los Angeles County, California, USA, on the Pacific coast. It borders Orange County on its southeast edge. It is about 20 miles (30 km) south of downtown Los Angeles. ; Rotterdam, the Netherlands; Shanghai, China; andSingapore. And most of them are on the shores of protected waterways. For many years, people have enjoyed looking at pictures of sailingboats, perhaps because their sails are very picturesque and/or theysuggest romantic seagoing adventures. Since the invention of steam-driven boats and later oil-poweredmarine engines, however, interest in pictures of boats has declined. Itis rare that we see paintings of oil tankers on living room walls today,and yet it is quite common to see pictures that include recreationalsailboats or people paddling canoes. War artists include modern warshipsin their paintings, and many people have photographs of cruise boatsthey have been on, but very few artists have made a career out ofpainting modern shipping. Despite many changes, artists' interest in waterways continuesto show itself in their work. Various waterways are represented in themonthly reproductions shown in this year's Clip & Save ArtPrint series. Some are scenes that were painted centuries ago and othersare quite recent. The selection also includes waterways that appear in art from allparts of the world, although the main emphasis is on European andAmerican art. And some are by artists who are unknown while others areworld famous. The reproductions that appear with this article were chosen tointroduce this series and illustrate some of the differences amongartistic images of waterways throughout history and across the world. The sections of an Egyptian mural (wall) painting shows a scene onthe Nile River and was painted over 3,000 years ago. The manuscriptillumination manuscript illumination:see illumination, in art. (illustration) was painted in a handwritten hand��write?tr.v. hand��wrote , hand��writ��ten , hand��writ��ing, hand��writesTo write by hand.[Back-formation from handwritten.]Adj. 1. book(manuscript) of a sea battle that happened 700 years ago. The mostrecent scene was made 150 years ago and comes from the other side of theworld: Bangkok, Thailand. It is part of a mural on a temple wall andshows the city and life on its waterways. THE CLIP & SAVE ART PRINT FORMAT Each Art Print and relatedtext continues to be organized--as in preceding years--so that readerswill know what to expect and be able to find information that could beuseful to them. As usual, the center of the magazine will be occupiedwith a large, full-color reproduction of an artwork suitable forclassroom display. The page before the reproduction includes information about theart. The opening section, "About This Painting," has to dowith information that students can learn about the work. Most but notall of the series are paintings. The section that follows, "About the Artist," providesinformation about the artist's life so students may learn some ofthe things that caused the artist to work in the way he or she did. The page after the reproduction includes some suggestions for usingit in the classroom. The page includes items of information about whatstudents might learn: "Things to Learn," followed by a sectiondescribing practical activities: "Things to Do." Lastly,"Building a Picture File," is intended to help teachers andstudents make full instructional use of the print. A method for helpingteachers organize Art Print images efficiently in a teaching file isavailable on request. USING THE CLIP & SAVE ART PRINTS The single most importantthing a teacher can do with the prints is display them on the classroomwall and direct student attention to them. Students might be askedquestions about the meanings of the images with answers derived from theaccompanying notes. After some preparatory thought, teachers can alsoencourage students to participate in discussions about the artworks andhelp make them more confident when defending their opinions in public. To help achieve the above goals, teachers are encouraged tolaminate laminate,n a thin slice of porcelain or plastic fabricated in a dental lab, which is cemented to the front of the teeth to cover gaps, whiten stained teeth, or reshape chipped or broken teeth. the reproductions to extend their useful life. This isespecially important if students are to handle the prints. Other teachers may prefer to matte the prints for wall display andplace photocopies of the notes beside them for students to read.Alternatively, the 10 monthly prints may be used to form a nucleus ofimages to which students may add other prints and, in so doing, extendtheir knowledge and appreciation of the kinds of art represented. THIS MURAL (WALL PAINTING) SHOWS people in a boat on the Nile Rivercatching birds that live in the reeds by the river, and also catchingsome of the many fish swimming there. The mural is painted in the styleinvented by the Egyptians that shows what they want to be seen but isnot what we think of as realistic. The edge of the river is marked with tall papyrus reeds. And theboat appears to have been made of reeds that have been tied together.Papyrus reeds were also made into an early kind of paper used forwriting. The artist shows the standing figures in the ancient Egyptian waywith side views of heads, front views of the body and side views oflegs. The sizes of the figures tell us about their importance with thelarger ones being more important than the smaller ones. Instead oflooking down on the water it is shown here from the side with zigzaglines that enable us to see the many kinds offish off��ish?adj.Inclined to be distant and reserved; aloof.offish��ly adv.off that live there.Dangerous animals also live in the Nile, such as crocodiles andhippopotamuses, but they are not included in this mural. The Nile was the main source of life in ancient Egypt Editing of this page by unregistered or newly registered users is currently disabled due to vandalism. and continuesto be today. The birds and fish provided food. The reeds suppliedmaterial for boats and paper. The river also watered crops and enabledboats to carry people and goods from one place to another. Because ofthe importance of the river this mural was painted on the tomb wall sothe dead king (pharaoh) could enjoy the river in the new life he wasgoing to. THIS PICTURE OF A FAMOUS SEA BATTLE BETWEEN England and France, inthe year 1340, was painted on the page of book. In the days beforeprinting arrived in Europe from China, books were all hand written andwere called "manuscripts." The pictures and decorations inmanuscripts were called "illuminations" because theybrightened up pages otherwise written in black ink. This battle took place at the mouth of a river on the coast ofFlanders (present-day Belgium). A French invasion fleet of 200 boats hadjust set sail for England when the English, also with 200 boats,intercepted it. At the end of the battle, the English were victorious,the French suffered enormous casualties and the invasion failed. The problem for the artist was that he couldn't possibly show400 boats on a single page of a manuscript. He solved the problem byincluding one example of the way sea battles were fought in the 14thcentury. Small groups of boats from each side rammed into each other andbecame fighting platforms for soldiers armed with swords, clubs andspears, as well as bows and arrows--guns had not yet been invented.Fighting on the decks of small boats was both difficult and dangerous,as can be seen from this painting, with numbers of soldiers fallingoverboard and drowning. The background is an artistic invention to help make the paintingmore interesting. There was no city with great buildings along the shoreand the landscape at the site of the actual battle is very flat. CITIES HAVE GROWN UP BESIDE GREAT RIVERS in many places in theworld. Bangkok, Thailand, is one of them and is built on the banks ofthe Chao Phraya River Chao Phraya Riveror Maenam RiverRiver, Thailand. Flowing south from the highlands on the country's northern border to the head of the Gulf of Thailand near Bangkok, it is some 225 mi (365 km) long and is Thailand's principal river. that flows through the center of the country.Bangkok is on very flat ground, so it was possible to dig canalsthroughout the city so people could move around and transport goods moreeasily than through the streets. The Thai people This article is about Thailand's ethnic majority. For other Tai ethnic groups, see Tai peoples.The Thai (or Tai) are the main ethnic group of Thailand and are part of the larger Tai ethnolinguistic peoples found in Thailand and adjacent countries in are mostly Buddhist and worship in temples that arehighly decorated in a style that is found nowhere else but in Thailand.This style of architecture can be seen here where ornamental rooftopsrise beyond the simpler buildings in the foreground. The artist crowded the buildings tightly together because that isthe way people live in Bangkok. Life on the river and the branchingcanals is also included, because it is such an important part of lifethere. Boats carry people from one place to another, farmers andfishermen bring their produce to the city to sell, and every year theking of Thailand holds important ceremonies on the water in his royalbarge. The mural, like all Thai art This article needs copy editing for grammar, style, cohesion, tone and/or spelling.You can assist by [ editing it] now. , is very decorative and detailed andis not intended to be realistic. The people and buildings are seen fromthe side even though the view is from above to enable us see the riverand the more distant buildings. Trees in the foreground, however, areabout the same size as trees in the far distance. Guy Hubbard is Professor Emeritus of Indiana University Indiana University,main campus at Bloomington; state supported; coeducational; chartered 1820 as a seminary, opened 1824. It became a college in 1828 and a university in 1838. The medical center (run jointly with Purdue Univ. ,Bloomington, and is on the Editorial Advisory Board of Arts &Activities.