Four arts

The four arts (四藝, siyi), or the four arts of the Chinese scholar, were the four main accomplishments required of the Chinese scholar-gentleman. They are qin (the guqin, a stringed instrument. 琴), qi (the strategy game of Go, 棋), shu (Chinese calligraphy 書) and hua (Chinese painting 畫).

Origin of the concept

Although the individual elements of the concept have very long histories as activities befitting a learned person, the earliest written source putting the four together is Zhang Yanyuan's Fashu Yaolu (Compendium of Calligraphy) from the Tang Dynasty.

Qin

Qin

Wéiqí (Go)

Wéiqí (Go)

Calligraphy

Calligraphy

Painting

Painting

Qín

Qín 琴 is the musical instrument of the literati, the gǔqín. Although it exclusively meant this instrument in ancient times, it has now come to mean all musical instruments, but essentially it refers to gǔqín only considering the context.

The gǔqín is a seven-stringed zither that owes its invention to the Chinese society of some 3,000 years ago. During the reign of the imperial China, a scholar was expected to play the gǔqín . Gǔqín was explored as an art-form as well as a science, and scholars strove to both play it well and to create texts on its manipulation. Gǔqín notation was invented some 1,500 years ago, and to this day it has not been drastically changed. Some books contain musical pieces written and mastered more than 500 years ago. Gǔqín is so influential that it even made its way into space: the spacecraft Voyager launched by the U.S. in 1977 contained a vinyl style record of a gǔqín piece named 'Flowing Water'. The fact that the gǔqín's name breaks down to 'gu' (old) and 'qin' (musical instrument) reveals the instrument's great antiquity.

The arts

The arts represent an outlet of expression, that is usually influenced by culture and which in turn helps to change culture. As such, the arts are a physical manifestation of the internal creative impulse. Major constituents of the arts include literature – including poetry, novels and short stories, and epics; performing arts – among them music, dance, and theatre; culinary arts such as baking, chocolatiering, and winemaking; media arts like photography and cinematography, and visual arts – including drawing, painting, ceramics, and sculpting. Some art forms combine a visual element with performance (e.g. film) and the written word (e.g. comics).

From prehistoric cave paintings to modern day films, art serves as a vessel for storytelling and conveying mankind's relationship with its environment.

Definitions

In its most basic abstract definition, art is a documented expression of a sentient being through or on an accessible medium so that anyone can view, hear or experience it. The act itself of producing an expression can also be referred to as a certain art, or as art in general.

Baryshnikov Arts Center

The Baryshnikov Arts Center (BAC) is a foundation and arts complex opened by Mikhail Baryshnikov in 2005 at 450 West 37th Street between Ninth and Tenth Avenues in the Hell's Kitchen neighborhood of Manhattan, New York City. The top three floors of the complex are occupied by the Baryshnikov Arts Center, which provides space and production facilities for dance, music, theater, film, design and visual arts. The building also houses the Orchestra of St. Luke's DiMenna Center for Classical Music.

History

The building is a 50,000 square foot complex which includes three theatre spaces. Ground was broken on the complex, then known as 37 Arts Theatre, as a commercial venture in July 2001. Construction was halted for a while but resumed after September 2001. The first artist in residence with the BAC was Aszure Barton in May 2005, and the administrative offices opened in November 2005. The 37 Arts Theatre was launched in 2005 with the Off-Broadway revival of Hurlyburly starring Ethan Hawke and Parker Posey, followed by In The Heights and Fela!, prior to their successful Broadway runs. Since then, the complex has presented artists including Laurie Anderson, Tere O’Connor, Molly Davies, William Forsythe, Lucy Guerin, Foofwa d’Imobilité, Toni Morrison, Benjamin Millepied, Richard Move, Maria Pagès, Mal Pelo, Lou Reed, Pierre Rigal, Meg Stuart and Donna Uchizono. The Wooster Group is the BAC's resident theatre company.

ARTS

ARTS may refer to:

See also