Come along with me on an exciting time traveling journey, on our trip we will go to many far away periods, including the Italian Renaissance, the Early 20th Century and the Indian Civilization. Time travel can be dis-orienting. This is also what it is like to appreciate works of art from different periods. As your tour guide back into time I have prepared this book to prepare you for the tour. The first three chapters of this book, prepares travelers for their journey and will help them remain oriented. The information provided in the first three chapters provide a frame of reference that can reduce the dis-orienting effect of visiting later periods of art history and cultures one may be unfamiliar with. We will ask;" how is the work of art we are observing "attained". Getting a proper orientation of architecture or a visual art is similar to taking a tour of a college campus. When you approach a college campus for the first time there are various buildings on the campus. You will have your first impressions as you approach the campus from a distance and more impressions as you get closer- which changes your perspective. Once one has visited several college campuses one learns how to orient themself. You can quickly find the administration building, library, dorms, etc. To keep one from getting lost in the world of Art developing a frame of reference can reduce culture shock and time disorientation. This book examines three periods and three different types of Art that will serve as a good frame of reference for making sense of our experience. The first initial three chapters consider three diverse kinds of art: architecture, music, and the Verdic period. This frame of reference will be used when we travel to different periods of art history and will serve as our landmarks in the art world. Chapter one will examine the Italian Renaissance, Chapter two will examine the Early 20th Century and the influence on the music genre Jazz, and lastly the third chapter will discuss the Indian Civilization, A basic comprehension of the first three chapters of this book will serve as a frame work to help the art time traveler keep up with your tour guide and remain oriented.

We have arrived, we have set foot on Italian soil, and we are living and breathing air during the Italian Renaissance. I have befriended the artist, Masaccio who has begun to show me his astoundingly beautiful paintings. He tells me about his struggles as a young boy growing up with a brother and his widowed mother, money was hard to come by, ultimately the situation bettered when his mother remarried. While he was growing up in Florence, Florence was under the control of Cosmo the Elder and the Medici had become the first family of the city both artistically and politically, and the city itself was enjoying a period of calm and prosperity. Masaccio was accepted into the guild of painters in Florence in 1422 he became friends with Donatello and Brunelleschi and was influenced by their work. Giotto was also a major source of inspiration for the painter, and he embraced Giotto's example in a rejection of the International Gothic style of the time. (Finnan, 2008-2012). Masaccio tells me about how he is one of the first artists to use a vanishing point in his art, and even uses a scientific perspective in his pieces. One piece of art he seems to be very proud of is the “San Giovenale Triptych” which is located in the church of Cascia di Reggello near Florence. The piece its self has made me hold my breath because it is so captivating to look at. While observing this beautiful piece of art, I see that the central panel shows the Madonna enthroned with two angels and the child Jesus eating some vine, as a symbol of the Eucharist. On the left panel it is depicting Saint Bartholomew and Saint Blaise, and on the right panel depicts Saint Anthony and Saint Juvenal (Giovenale). The left and right panels show a marked influence of 14th century models, while the complex perspective of the center panel would have been something new for its time. The fact that the piece appears to be three-dimensional, as well, I know this has to be something rare for this time period. Sadly while on my journey I come to find that my friend, Masaccio has passed away at the young age of twenty-seven, while in Rome. I hear that he did not attain much popularity like his peers did, but I think he would be pleased to know that many great Florence artists look to him as a form of inspiration. One such artist that is well-known in the modern world is Michelangelo, it has encouraged artists to direct Italian Painting way from the Gothic style and towards a more realistic and natural interpretation of the world. The San Giovenale Triptych was found many years in 1961, in a state of poor preservation, in the loft of a house adjacent to the small chapel of San Giovenale, as the story goes it was allegedly kept there before the Second World War, to prevent the occupying German army from removing it from the chapel. It was commissioned by the Florentine family of Castellani for the Basilica of San Lorenzo, and was later moved to San Giovenale.

Off to the next adventure, we are in the heart of the south, New Orleans, I see people eating crawfish, and gumbo by the bucket full. Suddenly, I hear a trumpet, playing in the background, a loud powerful voice, starts singing, I feel the emotion, I am stopped in my tracks. Where is this music coming from? What is this music, I have never heard before? I stop a passerby on the street, I ask what is this I am hearing? His reply, why it is Jazz of course! I later find out “Jazz is a byproduct of the unique cultural environment found in New Orleans at the late 19th and early 20th centuries, with the vestiges of French and Spanish colonial roots, the resilience of African influences after the slavery era and the influx of immigrants from Europe. The ways these cultures mingled, collided and evolved together in the Crescent City produced America’s most distinctive musical style”. ("New Orleans French Quarter.com", 2012-2014). I realize, I must find out more about this Jazz. I find a club in the French Quarter of New Orleans, where I meet, Louis Armstrong. I watch him wail on the trumpet and pour his heart out in song. I hear heartbeats beating along with each note, I see people dancing, smiling and swaying their bodies to the music. This is America’s century, so much passion is filled around me, and it’s contagious. We have just ended our First World War, emotions are high, you can feel it when walking the streets, the aftermath of the War is everywhere, it seems the one place people of all backgrounds can find solace, and a commonality with one another, is within a jazz club. Although historically, According to "New Orleans French Quarter.com" (2012-2014), Buddy Bolden a cornet player is known as the grandfather of Jazz, he began around 1895, and assembled a wildly popular band in New Orleans that would play at street parades and dances, with fellow Jazz musicians, Sidney Bechet, and Bunk Johnson. These three musicians helped the Jazz movement, find a voice. But the musician who shaped the early 20th Century was Louis Armstrong. According to Wynton Marsalis, “Louis Armstrong is jazz. He represents what the music is all about.” (PBS, 2005). Of all the developing genres, the blues would be the most far-reaching, with its influence felt in everything from jazz to rock, country music to rhythm and blues, and classical music.

Our final adventure we will travel to India, during the Verdic period, it is 1520 BCE, and we are exploring the Kuru Kingdom. The society during this time is vastly different from other periods of the Indian culture, it is patriarchal in nature, and I see that women are considered important inside and outside of the home. Families are what we considered “joint” families, and younger girls are given the chance to educate themselves, but unfortunately the sons education is still deemed more important than their daughters. There are four distinct society classes; Brahmins, Kshatriyas, Vaishya, and the Sudras, and there are certain boundaries with regards to their professions. The Jupiter Intermedia LTD (2008) along my journey I meet a man who wants to share his culture and art with me, and from what he shows me, I am utterly captivated. He tells me his title is that of “Dashka” who is The double incarnation of "RITUAL ART" According to "India And The Period Before Vedism" (n.d.), “He is the son of the "Immense Being" and considered to be the source of cosmic life, the father of the gods, of men and the anti-gods. He represents the power of ritual, which joins men to the gods”. He gave birth to the moving universe and his cult was linked to that of the King of the dead (Yama) and his scribe Citra. He goes on to tell me he has conceived sixty-nine daughters. Ten married the Law of Perfection: DHARMA, thirteen married the sage VISION: KASHYAPA : they were named the mothers of the world, four married the celestial horse Takshya, twenty-seven married the god of the moon, SOMA : they formed the houses of the moon, two married Existence: BHUTA, two married the flamboyant ANGIRASA, and two Married the "rich in horses" : KRISHASHVA. He decides to share with me the art of their period. It is called; “Seals in Mohenjo-Daro” Pictures of animals frequently on seals. Writing is in the corners, but the language hasn't been deciphered yet. They were probably used in commerce/trade, and animals may have represented families or had cultural significance (ex. bull related to agriculture). Some also had a sitting man, who may have been a shaman. He is sitting on a podium, suggesting power, and wears an animal mask (or may be two faces in one). Also representing power is his striped body and horns, erect penis, and the wild animals tame around him. Some also think he may have been Hindu god Shiva, because he controls nature, was a great yogi (he is in lotus pose) and has a large phallus, representing creation. The Mohenjo-Daro was an extremely well planned city that was similar to the Harappa in the North.

References
Finnan, V. (2008-2012). Italian Renaissance art.com. Retrieved from http://www.italian-renaissance-art.com/Masaccio.html

New Orleans French Quarter.com. (2012-2014). Retrieved from http://www.frenchquarter.com/history/JazzMasters.php

PBS. (2005). Louis Armstrong. Retrieved from http://www.pbs.org/wnet/americanmasters/episodes/louis-armstrong/about-louis-armstrong/528/

Jupiter Intermedia LTD. (2008). Verdic Civilisation in India. Retrieved from http://www.indianetzone.com/2/vedic_civilization.htm

INDIA and the period before VEDISM. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://historel.tripod.com/orient/10inde.htm