human condition

(noun)

The characteristics, key events, and situations which compose the essentials of human existence, such as birth, growth, emotionality, aspiration, conflict, and mortality.

Related Terms

Examples of human condition in the following topics:

  • What Does Art Do?

    • A fundamental purpose inherent to most artistic disciplines is the underlying intention to appeal to, and connect with, human emotion.
    • A fundamental purpose common to most art forms is the underlying intention to appeal to, and connect with, human emotion.
    • In its broadest form, art may be considered an exploration of the human condition, or a product of the human experience.
    • Historically, the fine arts were meant to appeal to the human intellect, though currently there are no true boundaries.
    • In general terms, the fine arts represent an exploration of the human condition and the attempt to experience a deeper understanding of life.

  • The Early 20th Century

    • With the widespread death and destruction of the greatest war the world had ever seen, art increasingly became a means for escapism, a way to abstract life and escape the difficulties of the human condition.

  • German Expressionism

    • Käthe Kollwitz (1867 – 1945) was a German painter, printmaker, and sculptor whose work offered an eloquent and often searing account of the human condition, and the tragedy of war, in the first half of the 20th century.
    • Schiele explored themes not only of the human form, but also of human sexuality.

  • Art and Illusion

    • An illusion describes a misinterpretation of a true sensation: the human brain constructs a world based on what it samples from the surrounding environment, but will sometimes organize this information by filling in the gaps, leading to inaccuracies.
    • Other illusions occur because of biological sensory structures within the human body or conditions outside of the body within one's physical environment.
    • Illusions may occur with more of the human senses than vision, but visual illusions - also known as optical illusions - are the most well known and understood, perhaps because vision often dominates the other senses.
    • A conventional assumption is that there are physiological illusions, which occur naturally in the world, and cognitive illusions that can be demonstrated by specific visual tricks that say something more basic about how human perceptual systems work.
    • In short, audio illusions highlight areas where the human ear and brain, as organic and makeshift tools, differ from perfect audio receptors (for better or for worse).

  • Paleolithic Cave Paintings

    • Paleolithic cave paintings demonstrate early humans' capacity to give meaning to their surroundings and communicate with others.
    • Tracings of human hands and hand stencils were also very popular, as well as abstract patterns called finger flutings.
    • Drawings of humans were rare and were usually schematic as opposed to the detailed and naturalistic images of animals.
    • The Chauvet Cave is uncharacteristically large, and the quality, quantity, and condition of the artwork found on its walls have been called spectacular.
    • As is typical of most cave art, there are no paintings of complete human figures in Chauvet.

  • Art in Western Europe

    • The Paleolithic or Old Stone Age existed from approximately 30,000 BC until 10,000 BC and produced some of the first accomplishments in human creativity.
    • Discovered in 1940, the cave contains nearly 2,000 figures, which are often grouped into the three main categories of animals, human figures, and abstract markings .
    • The Chauvet Cave is uncharacteristically large and the quality, quantity, and condition of the artwork found on its walls has been called spectacular.
    • Typical of most cave art, there are no paintings of complete human figures.
    • One of the earliest known realistic representations of a human face.Circa 26,000 and circa 24,000.

  • Rhythm

    • Rhythm (from Greek rhythmos, "any regular recurring motion, symmetry" (Liddell and Scott 1996)) may be generally defined as a "movement marked by the regulated succession of strong and weak elements, or of opposite or different conditions" (Anon. 1971).
    • In the performing arts, rhythm is the timing of events on a human scale, of musical sounds and silences, of the steps of a dance, or the meter of spoken language and poetry.

  • Mesolithic Art

    • During the Mesolithic period, humans developed cave paintings, engravings, and ceramics to reflect their daily lives.
    • Art from this period responds to the changing weather conditions to a warmer climate and adaption to sedentism, population size, and use of plant foods—all evidence of the transition to agriculture and eventually the Neolithic.

  • Rock Art in the Sahara

    • The Sahara, located in northern Africa, was the home of many complex human settlements dating from the Neolithic period.
    • The Neolithic Subpluvial was the most recent of a number of periods of "Wet Sahara" or "Green Sahara," during which the Sahara region was much more moist and supported a richer biota and human population than the present-day desert.
    • It contains Neolithic pictographs of people swimming that are estimated to have been created between 6,000 and 10,000 years ago, when wet climatic conditions maintained bodies of water deep enough for swimming and diving.
    • The range is noted for its prehistoric rock art depicting herds of cattle, large wild animals such as antelopes, and human activities such as hunting and dancing.

  • Compositional Balance

    • Although pre-modern architectural styles tended to place an emphasis on symmetry (except where extreme site conditions or historical developments lead away from this classical ideal), modern and postmodern architects frequently used asymmetry as a design element.
    • Leonardo da Vinci's Vitruvian Man is often used as a representation of symmetry in the human body and, by extension, the natural universe.