The Humanities Through the Arts examines how values are revealed in the arts while keeping in mind a basic question: “What is art?” It binds us together as a people by revealing the most important values of our culture. This program’s genre-based approach offers students the opportunity to understand the relationship of the arts to human values by examining, in-depth, each of the major artistic media: painting, sculpture, architecture, literature, theater, music, dance, photography, cinema, and television and video art. Subject matter, form, and content in each of the arts supply the framework for careful analysis. All of this is achieved with an exceptionally vivid and complete illustration program.
The wide range of opportunities for criticism and analysis helps the reader synthesize the complexities of the arts and their interaction with values of many kinds. The text contains detailed discussion and interactive responses to the problems inherent in a close study of the arts and values of our time.