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Art & Aesthetics

How to look at a painting, how to listen to music

Day 1How to Look at a PaintingComposition · Light & Color · Brushwork · Ways of Seeing Day 2Turning Points in Western PaintingPerspective · Impressionist Light · Cézanne to Cubism · Abstraction Day 3The Language of Chinese PaintingNegative Space · Brush & Ink · Dwellable Landscape · Inscriptions & Seals Day 4How Music Moves UsMelody Harmony Rhythm · Tension & Resolution · Why Minor Sounds Sad · Training the Ear Day 5A Beginner's Way into Classical MusicBaroque · Bach · Classical · Mozart · Romantic · Beethoven · Hearing a Symphony Day 6Jazz & ImprovisationThe Blues Scale · Improvisation as Conversation · The Feel of Swing · Listening to Miles Davis Day 7The Language of CinemaShot & Shot Size · Montage · Mise-en-scène · Reading the Long Take Day 8The Director's EyeKurosawa's Motion · Ozu's Stillness · Hitchcock's Suspense · Wong Kar-wai's Mood Day 9How to Look at ArchitectureSpace & Circulation · Shaping Light · Material & Structure · Scale & the Body Day 10East & West: Worldviews in ArchitectureGothic Upward · The Garden's Winding Path · Modernist Honesty · Japanese Wabi-Sabi Day 11The Designer's EyeForm Follows Function · Grid & Typography · Minimalism & White Space · Ten Principles Day 12Seeing PhotographicallyThe Decisive Moment · Light & Composition · Documentary vs Art · The Smartphone Age Day 13The Language of ColorColor Psychology · Color Harmony · Color in Culture · The Painter's Palette Day 14Sculpture & SpaceMass & Negative Space · From Greece to Rodin · The Expression of Material · Installation Art Day 15Modern & Contemporary ArtDuchamp's Provocation · Abstract Expressionism · Pop Art · How to Look at Contemporary Art Day 16Theatre & the StageConvention · Stanislavski vs Brecht · Peking Opera Forms · Modern Theatre Day 17Dance & the BodyClassical Ballet · Modern Dance · The Body as Narrative · Chinese Dance Imagery Day 18The Beauty of Folk CraftThe Mingei Movement · The Warmth of the Handmade · Beauty Born of Use · Intangible Heritage Day 19Calligraphy as AbstractionThe Life of the Line · The Five Scripts · The Mind's Picture · Japanese Shodō Day 20Gardens & the Art of LandscapeBorrowed Scenery · The Dry Landscape · English vs French · Nature & Artifice