Italy and Spain Essay Example for Free

Italy and Spain Essay El Greco was a Greek painter, sculptor and architect, active in Italy and Spain. One of the most original and interesting painters of 16th-century Europe, he was renowned in his lifetime for his originality and extravagance. Being brought up as an artist of Byzantine tradition El Greco, on arriving to Italy and later to Spain, fused the Byzantine influences with styles of Western world, like mannerism and Venetian Renaissance. Slide 1 Title Page Born Domenikos Theotokopoulos in Candia, Crete, El Greco may be regarded as one of Spain’s foremost painters. He reached artistic maturity in Toledo, and his career and style are bound to the patronage and spiritual environment he found in the Spanish city. He usually signed his paintings in Greek Letters with his full name, Domenicos Theotokopoulos, underscoring his Greek descent. Slide 2 †¢ El Greco appears to have belonged to a Catholic Greek family of officials who worked for the Venetian colonial service; El Greco was formed in the tradition of Byzantine art current in Crete, where he was a master painter in 1566. His presence in Crete is documented until December 1566. †¢ By 1568 he is recorded in Venice, where he underwent a second artistic education that transformed him into a painter of the Venetian School. The pictures of this period, small tempera paintings, show his progressive assimilation of contemporary Venetian painting. He remained in Venice until late 1570, perhaps studying and working in Titian’s studio or perhaps only visiting it. †¢ In 1570 El Greco went to Rome, and the few paintings done there incorporate artistic models from central Italian 16th-century painting. By the end of the 1572 he had opened a workshop. Information on this period is limited, but there is evidence of enmity between El Greco and Giorgio Vasari, and of his criticizing Michelangelo’s Last Judgment in the Sistine Chapel, which probably caused his later departure for Spain. On the other hand, his stay in Rome aroused his interest in humanist and philosophical questions. It was in this context that El Greco formed his artistic creed as a colorist in the Venetian tradition. El Greco considered the color and light of the Venetians as the only possible means of imitating nature, thereby reinforcing the beauty of reality through art. Dissatisfied with his career in Rome, El Greco went to Spain in 1576. †¢ He is first documented in Toledo in 1577, at work on the Disrobing of Christ. The project that had taken him to Toledo was a commission for three altarpieces for Santo Domingo el Antiguo (1577–9). Having completed one commission for Philip II, the Glory of Philip II he was to embark on a second, the Martyrdom of St Maurice (1580–83), the work did not please Philip, however, and it was removed (though it remained in the King’s collection). At this point, in his forties, the artist decided to settle in Toledo and dedicate himself to a largely local clientele. In the 1580s he tended to give his paintings more clearly sculptural characteristics, closer to Spanish taste, using the portrayal of the mundane to create greater immediacy, and exaggerating features in the representation of divine and supernatural elements. †¢ While El Greco’s basic activity was as painting, he also designed sculptures and architectural decorations. Of greater importance, though not directly influential, was El Greco’s work as a designer of retables in an Italianate style. He introduced a type of retable in contrast to Spanish examples, based on models combining Palladian ideas with motifs derived from Michelangelo, in which the painted canvas is the focus of the composition, and the framework is only a complementary subordinate. Slide 3 The first work with which El Greco is documented in Toledo is Disrobing of Christ, a large canvas for the sacristy of Toledo cathedral. Its rich color and daring brushwork are Venetian in origin, but the composition’s density, spatial compression, and vertical axis reflect the concerns of central Italian Mannerist art. Slide 4 Toledo period was the most fruitful for El Greco. There he developed his specific style and made his greatest contribution to Spanish art. Some of the most distinctive features of his style—lack of space between figures, purplish red and acid olive-green draperies that obscure the underlying bodies—can already be seen in the central pictures for the high altar, the Assumption of the Virgin (Chicago, Art Institute). Slide 5 and 6 El Greco’s most famous work is the Burial of the Count of Orgaz (1586–8) in the church of Santo Tome in Toledo, painted in memory of a 14th-century benefactor of Santo Tome. It depicts the lowering of the Count’s body into his tomb by Santo Augustine and Santo Stephen, and his soul’s ascension to the Heavenly Glory. The Glory makes clear that El Greco had already developed an anti-naturalistic style for figures and space. (Slide5) In the earthly zone, which includes a gallery of portraits of Toledan gentlemen, on the other hand, the figures are only mildly attenuated and their garments are painted with the best Venetian illusionistic technique. Slide 7 The View of Toledo (c. 1597-1599; New York, Metropolitan Museum), El Greco’s only landscape, is formally consistent with his religious pictures. Its transcendental aura is a result of his compositional methods, which create a formidable tension between the patterns on the picture plane and the volumes implicit in the view, and of his characteristic cataclysmic skies and eerie light. The View is not a realistic panorama, but displays instead the city’s most notable monuments in a single image that highlights its past and present grandeur. Slide 8 El Greco also excelled as a portraitist, able not only to record a sitter’s features but also to convey their character. His portraits are fewer in number than his religious paintings, but are of equally high quality. Perhaps the earliest, in which format, composition, and iconography reflect Venetian models, is Giulio Clovio painted in Rome c. 1570–2. His most important one, for its size and superb artistry, is the Portrait of a Cardinal (c. 1600; New York, Metropolitan Museum). Unlike all El Greco’s portraits, austere and on a neutral ground, the Titianesque, colorist and naturalistic Portrait of a Cardinal shows his ability to render psychological and physical traits. These are conveyed through the impression of vitality and dynamism in repose of the sitter. The portrait’s format, a full-length, life-size seated figure, is rare at this date. Slide 9 El Greco’s last works testify development towards a freer, sketchy style. The painting Adoration of the Shepherds (1612–14; Madrid, Prado) is a smaller version of a work which the artist made to hang over his own tomb in the church of Santo Domingo el Antiguo in Toledo. This work has been interpreted as late and extreme witness to El Greco’s mystic and spontaneous expressionism; but it may alternatively be the result of his deliberate manipulation of form, using color and movement to convey the effects of light, mass and space. Extreme distortion of body characterizes the Adoration of the Shepherds like all the last paintings of El Greco. The brilliant, dissonant colors and the strange shapes and poses create a sense of wonder and ecstasy, as the shepherd and angels celebrate the miracle of the newly born child. The infant Christ seems to emit a light which plays off the faces of the barefoot shepherds who have gathered to pay homage to his miraculous birth. A rhythmic energy animates the painting, expressed in the dance-like motions of the figures. Slide 10. Key features of style and his contribution †¢ El Greco transformed the Byzantine style of his early paintings into another, wholly Western manner, which was developed during his Toledo period and brought him to the climax of glory. Stylistically, El Greco’s art is an expression of the Venetian school, and of the anti-naturalistic subjectivism of the international Mannerism of the second half of the 16th century. His deliberately distorted elongated figures, seated n a lurid, unearthly atmosphere are seen as a pre-figuration of modern Expressionism and as an instrument by which he could express his visionary, mystical and religious personality. †¢ His gift of colorist is revealed in the way he uses agitated and flickering light; while striking contrasts between light and dark passages heighten the sense of drama. He prefers Venetian coloring, and reveals taste for complexity which is realized by highly original compositions of elegance and dynamism, executed in a vital style. His consummate use of palette of brilliant color was imitated and refined by Diego Velazquez. In contrast to the portraiture of the court painters of the time of Philip II, El Greco brought a new spirit to a genre not often practiced in Spain and provided Spanish painting with an example of spontaneity, from which Velazquez was to learn. †¢ Because of his late assimilation of a Western style, he tackled certain formal problems and, free from prejudice, rejected norms of proportion and geometrical perspective that he considered superfluous to his purposes, particularly in his search for personal originality. His almost geometrical renderings of bodies and nature give his work â€Å"flatness† that is considered a goal of â€Å"pure† art or abstraction. El Greco’s colors and â€Å"cubistic† feel inspired Spanish modernists starting with Goya and following with Picasso, Dali and Gris.

Existentialism in Franz Kafkas The Metamorphosis Essay -- Metamorpho

Franz Kafka's The Metamorphosis is a masterfully written short story about Gregor Samsa, a man who devotes his life to his family and work, for nothing in return.   Only when he is transformed into a helpless beetle does he begin to develop a self-identity and understanding of the relationships around him.   The underlying theme of The Metamorphosis is an existential view that says any given choice will govern the later course of a person's life, and that the person has ultimate will over making choices.   In this case, Gregor?s lack of identity has caused him to be numb to everything around him.      Ã‚  Ã‚   One morning, Gregor awakens to find himself with the body of a beetle.   Although it never explains how Gregor morphed into a beetle, or shows that Gregor gives much thought to having the body of an insect, Kafka gives the strong impression that Gregor is extremely devoted to his work and is the sole support for his family, none of whom work themselves.   Gregor devoted himself to a life of work and self sacrifice, following ...

Blue Ocean Strategy Theory and Criticism

Outline the main components of Kim and Mauborgne’s (2004) concept of ‘Blue Ocean Strategy’. Critically assess the strengths and limitations of this approach to pursuing competitive advantage. Use relevant examples to support your argument. Introduction In the contemporary hostile business environment, innovation has become part of any company’s paramount strategy for continuous survival. Nokia, despite being the world’s largest mobile phone manufacturer having a large customer base, realized how lack of innovation to compete against rivals high end smart phones threatened its market presence. Kim and Mauborgne’s (2004) Blue Ocean Strategy is one of the major contributions in that context. Accordingly, this essay examines the Blue Ocean Strategy concept in the following order: First, the theory is explained with a real-life example. Secondly we look at few of its limitations. Thirdly, a critical appraisal of why this approach is better or worse off than other competing and value innovation theories is presented and finally the conclusion is drawn. Blue Ocean Strategy Theory According to Kim and Mauborgne (2004) the business universe consists of two distinct kinds of space: Red and Blue Oceans. Red Oceans  are the known market space where industry boundaries are defined and accepted, and the competitive rules of the game are known. Here companies try to outperform their rivals to grab a greater share of the market. As the market space gets crowded, prospects for profits and growth are reduced. Products become commodities, and cutthroat competition turns the ocean bloody and hence, the term  red ocean. Blue oceans, in contrast, refer to all the industries not in existence today—the unknown market space, untainted by competition. The essence of Blue Oceans is value innovation where demand is created rather than fought over. There is ample opportunity for rapid growth and profits. In Blue Ocean, competition is irrelevant because the rules of the game are waiting to be set. In contrast to Red Ocean which emphasizes either on cost or differentiation strategy, Blue Ocean suggests it is possible to attain both simultaneously. Pursuing this strategy is able to create high barriers to entry. There are two ways to create blue oceans: one is to give rise to completely new industries and the other is by changing the boundary of an existing industry. One of the classic examples of Blue Ocean strategy was Fords invention of Model T back in 1908. At that time the automobile industry in US was saturated (Red Ocean) with 500 small car companies manufacturing few expensive cars for the rich citizens only. Ford redefined the industry by the introduction of Model T car which was more robust, affordable and had less maintenance cost. With high demand and standardization in its product it was able to attain both differentiation and low cost. Thus instead of entering and competing on the same level Ford made the competition irrelevant by tapping into a whole new market or Blue Ocean within the existing industry. Limitations Some of the Blue Ocean Strategy limitation suggested by Bowman (2008) includes the cost associated with failed projects and innovations, the ambiguity in the industry definition and the methodology carried out for the theory. Other Strategy Theories and Approaches Competitive Strategy Forces Porter’s five forces viewing competition as the main issue that business out to be addressing is in direct contrast to Blue Ocean’s view of value innovation and creating new market. A recent research in the retail market by Barke (2010) suggests that Porter’s view of increased firm leading to lower profitability is in fact true but it does not go down alarmingly as suggested but rather a ‘pedestrian force’. Also Blue Ocean innovation in an existing market can last for 15 years before it to go down to a basic level (Barke, 2010). What that means is that the profit gains from innovation, in an existing market, are a lot more than previously supposed. Disruptive Innovation Kim and Mauborgne (2004) failed to identify the difficulty in adopting Blue Ocean strategy particularly for the established firms. Christensen and Overdorf (2004) spotted this issue in their ‘disruptive innovation’ model which bears similarity with Blue Ocean in that new markets can be created with the existing industry and ‘continual innovation’ is needed for survival. Broadly defining, it is a strategy which disturbs the trajectory f an industry it is heading to, instead of trying to change the whole industry and does so by targeting the so called non-consumers. Christensen argues that established firm’s strength in resources, process, and values culture can often lead to rigidity to change and adapt to threats or explore new markets. Easy jets incremental growth and rise in dominance against other airlines such as British Airways is a perfect example. British Airways tried to change its business model and copy Easy Jet’s low cost strategy but miserably failed due to its different value. Christensen and Overdorf (2000) highlight this issue about the ‘dangers of quickly imitating by established firms’ and instead urges new ‘organizational structure, acquisition’ means to tackle the issue. They further go on to say that small disruptive startups will always have an added advantage over established firms due to less stress in ‘managing resources’ and in CEO’s ‘quick intuitive decisions. ’ Their theory, thus, provide a whole new perspective in Blue Ocean Strategy model. Experience Innovation and Co-Creation of Value Prahalad (2004) argues that that today, customers want to be involved more and more in the production experience or become ‘co-creator’s’ instead of the ‘dominant logic’ of companies that decides which product to manufacture and sell as suggested by Blue Ocean strategy and other theories. According to him, this dominant logic fails to recognize threats, seize opportunities, growth and innovation. He suggests ‘value’ is created through experience of consuming the product rather than only measured by product, service or transaction (Prahalad, 2004: 173). This is what terms as ‘experience innovation’ that can be created through a paradigm known as ‘DART (Dialogue, Access and Choice, Risk Assessment and Transpercy). ’ Starbucks is a good example here – where people just don’t go to drink coffee but rather to experience of the coffee shop culture. Trends in Japanese Management While Blue Ocean Strategy emphasizes on finding a new market for competitive advantage, Clegg and Kono (2002) asserts that one of the rise of Japanese companies such as Hitachi and Toshiba was ‘developing strategic alliances and co operation with other companies’ (Clegg and Kono, 2002: 278). Further dissimilarity in Blue Ocean strategy includes Hamel and Prahalad (1989) ‘advantage of being a follower rather than a leader’ which enables companies to have a ‘strategic intent’ or a long term vision of winning and beating the biggest in the business such as Canon sought to beat ‘Xerox’ and ultimately matching global unit market share. Conclusion The competitive perspective suggests that companies should pay close attention to their existing markets when looking for opportunities for innovation; that competition is a much weaker force in terms of eroding the benefits from innovation. Disruptive innovation highlights the obstacles faced by firms in pursuing Blue Ocean but rightly urges firms to adopt this strategy for survival. With the current IT phenomena the experience innovation’s holistic view of measuring value through consumer is a new breadth of fresh air that should be included and be a part of Blue Ocean Strategy. Lastly, the trends in Japanese Management indicates that other successful strategy theories must also be considered alongside Blue Ocean as part of companies broader business plan to remain competitive.

Government Healthcare Pros and Cons

Government healthcare refers to government funding of healthcare services via direct payments to doctors, hospitals and other providers. In U.S. government healthcare, doctors, hospitals and other medical professionals are not employed by the government. Instead, they provide medical and health services, as normal, and are reimbursed by the government, just as insurance companies reimburse them for services. An example of a successful U.S. government healthcare program is Medicare, established in 1965 to provide health insurance for people aged 65 and over, or who meet other criteria such as disability. The U.S. is the only industrialized country in the world, democratic or non-democratic, without universal healthcare for all citizens provided by government-funded coverage. 50 Million Uninsured Americans in 2009 In mid-2009, Congress is working to reform U.S. healthcare insurance coverage which presently leaves more than 50 million men, women and children uninsured and without access to adequate medical and health services. All healthcare coverage, except for some low-income children and those covered by Medicare, is now provided only by insurance companies and other private-sector corporations. Private company insurers, though, have proven quite ineffective at controlling costs, and actively work to exclude healthcare coverage whenever feasible. Explains Ezra Klein at the Washington Post: The private insurance market is a mess. Its supposed to cover the sick and instead competes to insure the well. It employs platoons of adjusters whose sole job is to get out of paying for needed health care services that members thought were covered. In fact, multi-million bonuses are awarded annually to top healthcare executives as incentive to deny coverage to policy holders. As a result, in the United States today: Over a third of families living below the poverty line are uninsured. Hispanic Americans are more than twice as likely to be uninsured as white Americans while 21% of black Americans have no health insurance.More than 9 million children lack health insurance in America.Eighteen thousand people die each year because they are uninsured. Slate.com reported in 2007: The current system is increasingly inaccessible to many poor and lower-middle-class people... those lucky enough to have coverage are paying steadily more and/or receiving steadily fewer benefits. Latest Developments In mid-2009, several coalitions of Congressional Democrats are heatedly crafting competing healthcare insurance reform legislation. Republicans have generally not offered substantive healthcare reform legislation in 2009. President Obama has voiced support for universal healthcare coverage for all Americans which would be provided by selecting among various coverage options, including an option for government-funded healthcare (aka a public plan option or public option). However, the President has stayed safely on the political sidelines, thus far, forcing Congressional clashes, confusion, and setbacks in delivering on his campaign promise to make available a new national health plan to all Americans. Healthcare Packages Under Consideration Most Democrats in Congress support universal healthcare coverage for all Americans which offers various options for insurance providers, and includes a low-cost, government-funded healthcare option. Under the multi-option scenario, Americans satisfied with their present insurance can opt to keep their coverage. Americans dissatisfied, or without coverage, can opt for government-funded coverage. Republicans complain that the free-market competition offered by a lower-cost public-sector plan would cause private-sector insurance companies to cut their services, lose customers, would inhibit profitability, or go entirely out of business. Many progressive liberals and other Democrats believe strongly that the only fair, just U.S. healthcare delivery system would be a single payer system, such as Medicare, in which only low-cost government-funded healthcare coverage is provided to all Americans on an equal basis. Americans Favor Public Plan Option Per the Huffington Post about a June 2009 NBC/Wall Street Journal poll: ... 76 percent of respondents said it was either extremely or quite important to give people a choice of both a public plan administered by the federal government and a private plan for their health insurance. Likewise, a New York Times/CBS News poll found that The national telephone survey, which was conducted from June 12 to 16, found that 72 percent of those questioned supported a government-administered insurance plan — something like Medicare for those under 65 — that would compete for customers with private insurers. Twenty percent said they were opposed. Background Democrat Harry Truman was the first U.S. President to urge Congress to legislate government healthcare coverage for all Americans. Per Healthcare Reform in America by Michael Kronenfield, President Franklin Roosevelt intended for Social Security to also incorporate healthcare coverage for seniors, but shied away for fear of alienating the American Medical Association. In 1965, President Lyndon Johnson signed into law the Medicare program, which is a single payer, government healthcare plan. After signing the bill, President Johnson issued the first Medicare card to former President Harry Truman. In 1993, President Bill Clinton appointed his wife, well-versed attorney, Hillary Clinton, to head a commission charged with forging a massive reform of U.S. healthcare. After major political missteps by the Clintons and an effective, fear-mongering campaign by Republicans, the Clinton healthcare reform package was dead by Fall 1994. The Clinton administration never tried again to overhaul healthcare, and Republican President George Bush was ideologically opposed to all forms of government-funded social services. Healthcare reform was a top campaign issue among 2008 Democratic presidential candidates. Presidential candidate Barack Obama promised that he will make available a new national health plan to all Americans, including the self-employed and small businesses, to buy affordable health coverage that is similar to the plan available to members of Congress. See the entirety at Obama Campaign Promises: Health Care.    Pros of Government Healthcare Iconic American consumer advocate  Ralph Nader sums up the positives of government-funded healthcare  from the patients perspective: Free choice of doctor and hospital;No bills, no co-pays, no deductibles;No exclusions for  pre-existing conditions; you are insured from the day you are born;No bankruptcies due to  medical bills;No deaths due to lack of health insurance;Cheaper. Simpler. More affordable;Everybody in. Nobody out;Save taxpayers billions a year in bloated corporate administrative and executive compensation costs. Other important positives of government-funded healthcare include: 47 millions Americans lacked  healthcare insurance  coverage as of the 2008 presidential campaign season. Soaring unemployment since then have caused the the ranks of the uninsured to swell past 50 million in mid-2009.Mercifully, government-funded healthcare would provide access to  medical services  for all uninsured. And lower costs of government healthcare will cause insurance coverage to be significantly more accessible to millions of individuals and businesses.Doctors and other medical professionals can focus  on patient care, and no longer need to spend hundreds of wasted hours annually dealing with insurance companies.Patients, too, under government healthcare would never need to fritter inordinate amounts of frustrating time haggling with insurance companies. Cons of Government Healthcare Conservatives and libertarians oppose U.S. government healthcare mainly because they dont believe that its a proper role of government to provide social services to private citizens. Instead, conservatives believe that  healthcare coverage  should continue to be provided solely by private-sector for-profit insurance corporations or possibly by non-profit entities. In 2009, a handful of Congressional Republicans have suggested that perhaps the uninsured could obtain limited medical services via a  voucher system and tax credits for low-income families. Conservatives also contend that lower-cost government healthcare would impose too great of a  competitive advantage  against for-profit insurers. The  Wall Street Journal argues: In reality, equal competition between a public plan and private plans would be impossible. The public plan would inexorably crowd out private plans, leading to a single-payer system. From the patients perspective, negatives of government-funded healthcare could include: A decrease in flexibility for patients to freely choose from among the vast cornucopia of drugs,  treatment options, and surgical procedures offered today by higher-priced doctors and hospitals.Existing patient confidentiality standards, which would likely be diluted by centralized government info that would necessarily be maintained.Less potential doctors may opt to enter the medical profession due to decreased opportunities for highly compensated positions. Less doctors coupled with skyrocketing demand for doctors could lead to a shortage of medical professionals, and to longer waiting periods for appointments. Where It Stands As of late June 2009, the struggle to shape healthcare reform has only begun. The final form of successful healthcare reform legislation is anyones guess. The American Medical Association, which represents 29% of U.S. doctors, opposes any government insurance plan mainly because doctors  reimbursement rates  will be less than those from most private sector plans. Not all doctors oppose government-funded healthcare, though. Political Leaders on  Healthcare Reform On June 18, 2009, Speaker of the House  Nancy Pelosi told the press I have every confidence that we will have a public option coming out of the  House of Representatives  Ã¢â‚¬â€ that will be one that is actuarially sound, administratively self-sufficient, one that contributes as to competition, does not eliminate competition. Senate Finance Committee Chair  Max Baucus, a centrist Democrat, admitted to the press: I think a bill that passes the Senate will have some version of a public option. Moderate Blue Dog Democrats of the House say the public plan should occur only as a fallback, triggered if private insurers arent doing a good enough job on access and costs, per  Rob Kall at OpEd News. In contrast, Republican strategist and Bush advisor  Karl Rove recently penned a harshly dire  Wall Street Journal op-ed in which he warned that ... the public option is just phony. Its a bait-and-switch tactic... Defeating the public option should be a top priority for the GOP this year. Otherwise, our nation will be changed in damaging ways almost impossible to reverse. The  New York Times wisely summed up the debate  in a June 21, 2009 editorial: The debate is really over whether to open the door a crack for a new public plan to compete with the private plans. Most Democrats see this as an important element in any  health care reform, and so do we.