Introduction
The advent of the 20th century saw major remarkable improvements in the art culture. The rapid increase in technological innovation facilitated this departure from the long-held traditional art forms. This was the onset of the age of modernism. The idea of pluralism denies the existence of absolute truth. It depicts that truth is relative and that there is no real absolute truth. The word ‘modern’, in art history, depicts the period dating from the 1860s through the 1970s and it illustrates the styles and ideology of art made during that time (Witcombe, 1997, para 2). The age of modernism and pluralism indicates the enlightenment period when the fight for people’s respect, rights, and liberty is evident. Evidence of failing modernism was seen in the global tragedy of the first and the Second World War. The thousands of people slaughtered during the wars showed the incapability of modernism in leading the path to a better world. Prominent artists participated actively in giving support to the political revolution. An atmosphere of freedom and the fall from traditional imperialism characterized the social and the political aspects of mid 20th century. Mahatma Gandhi was one of the prominent advocates in upholding human rights and improvement of the quality of life for people. The different aspects of human life produced publications that were motivated by these social issues. Throughout his life, Bill Clinton fostered the ideals of modernism and pluralism in the fight for social and civil reforms and democratic principles throughout the world.
Bill Clinton’s life and times
William Jefferson Blythe was born on August 19, 1946, in Hope, Arkansas (“William J. Clinton”, 2009). His father died in an automobile accident three months before his mother delivered. His mother remarried Roger Clinton, of Hot Springs, Arkansas, when he was four years of age. At age fourteen, he took his stepfather’s name, Clinton.
Clinton had a liking for his grandfather who had a grocery shop in Arkansas; therefore, he spent most of his free time helping him. His pluralistic ideals were injected into him at this tender age by his grandfather who instructed him on issues of racial tolerance and pluralism. In his autobiography, he says that his violent stepfather could at times abuse his mother, and he regularly intervened to calm the situation (Bill, 2004).
His skills in mediating disputes are rooted in these early incidences of his life as he eventually assisted his mother in getting a legal divorce from her abusive husband.
Clinton’s genius ability was enhanced during his life in high school. He got appraisals from the teachers as he often achieved above-average grades. He has been actively involved in school extra-curricular activities, an opportunity that made him go places. He was a brilliant saxophone player and he participated in the Boy’s Nation Club. In 1963, when he was sent as a representative of the Boy’s Nation training program in Washington, he paid a visit to President Kennedy and shook hands with him. Dr. Martin Luther King’s, “I have a dream”, speech reiterated to him the need of standing out in defending human rights. These two experiences motivated him to make a career in politics (“William Jefferson Clinton”, n.d).
Georgetown University opened its doors to the young achiever once he finished high school. The proximity of the institution to Washington City played a pivotal role in exposing him to the life of politics. His leadership skills were demonstrated when he was elected the person in charge of the freshmen. He volunteered his time to work with Senator Fulbright of Arkansas, who nurtured him in his dream pursuit of engaging in politics. Upon successful completion of his undergraduate studies in Foreign Service, Clinton applied and was marveled when he received the esteemed Rhodes scholarship to learn at Oxford University in London. On completion of the scholarship program, he entered Yale University Law School and graduated in 1973 with a degree in law. Hillary Rodham, the current United States Secretary of State, met with her would-be husband while at Yale and married in 1975. His outstanding academic achievements substantiate the claim of him being a genius.
Upon graduating from Yale, he became a professor at the University of Arkansas where he took part in fighting for students’ rights. At 28 years of age, he unsuccessfully ran for the position of Congressman. He became a state general in 1976 after a successful bid, and later in 1979, he managed to be the nation’s youngest governor since 1938 on clinching the post of Arkansas governor (“William Jefferson Clinton”, n.d).
He later lost the position but regained it in 1986 with a promise to enact major reforms in education and the welfare of the people. The education system in Arkansas became one of the best in the country due to its good governance. The teachers’ needs were addressed, and the students received equal treatment regardless of their status and race. These remarkable achievements of Bill Clinton illustrate without a doubt that he values the ideals of modernism.
He broke twelve years of Republican domination of the White House when he became the president in 1992, beating the incumbent president, George W. Bush, and the Independent candidate, Ross Perot. He was re-elected in 1996 on a promise to bridge up the gap to the new century.
Clinton did not relent on the philosophies he stood for during his well-spent two terms in office. Out of the many guiding principles he established, three are renowned to depict the ideals of modernism. These were The Hate Crimes Prevention Act, welfare reforms, and participation in international matters, such as the crisis in Kosovo.
Even though President Obama has signed the Hate crimes bill into law, it had its roots in the Clinton administration. He saw it as a positive step for bridging the gap into the 21st Century. In compelling for this direction during his April 6, 1999 address, he urged Congress to expand the list of hate crimes to consist of crimes of sexual orientation. He directed institutions to report hate crimes carried out within their premises (“Clinton urges expansion of hate crime law”).
Clinton enacted major welfare reforms during his tenure that reduced the poverty level of the populace and improved the quality of life. In 1995, he spearheaded the welfare reform initiative between him and the new Republican Congress, which sought to decentralize the delivery of welfare. He signed the bill into law. Clinton expanded the EITC from $15.9 to $21.2 billion. The reforms significantly reduced the rising of children out of wedlock, supported low-income families, and addressed homelessness (“Bill Clinton on Welfare & Poverty”).
Clinton signed a document on May 24, 1999, that gave the NATO forces the authority of quelling the violence in Kosovo. Thousands of people had been driven out of their homes, villages burnt, due to the ethnic dispute. Clinton fought for the locals’ racial equality according to the best of his capability (“News: President Clinton to Dedicate Statue in Kosovo.” para. 2).
Bill Clinton’s dedication as a public servant yielded much fruit. He skillfully used his genius to deliver reforms in many aspects of the government. He enacted civil rights reforms, fought against racism, and enforced transparency in the public service. The quality of living improved tremendously due to his education and welfare agenda. The policies of this diplomat reveal his strong belief in the principles of modernism and pluralism.
Clinton’s fervent support for human free will is rooted in the early age experience with art and culture. He was ready to learn the diverse cultures, art, and music, which empowered him to fight for human rights later in life. His love for music, in particular, shaped his dreams.
The National Endowment for the Arts in the United States is a largest annual sponsor of the arts programs in the country. It aims to bring arts to all Americans and offer sound leadership in arts education (“About Us”, n.d). During Clinton’s term in office, he facilitated in offering grants to support this organization in reaching its goals. This public agency was established in 1965 by congress as an independent organization of the federal government, but during Clinton’s second term in office, the agency was almost declared bankrupt. An intense battle between the President and Congress erupted. The President ultimately won in ensuring that NEA objectives were sustained.
Clinton managed to reduce the budget expenses during his Presidency. At the time he was leaving office on January 20, 2001, the federal budget recorded its first surplus for the first time in a generation. He was at the forefront of facilitating an increase in foreign aid to Russia and Baltic republics to assist in alleviating poverty. He was also lightly involved in mediating the peace process between The Israelis and The Palestinians (“William Jefferson Clinton”, n.d).
Conclusion
Bill Clinton’s modernism and Pluralism ideals are due to the exposure he had and the God-given genius that made him incorporate these values into the day-to-day lives of his fellow Americans. Right from his teen years, he demonstrated heroism in alleviating the suffering of his fellow compatriots. He protected his mother from an abusive husband and enabled her to get a legal divorce. He instituted educational and civil reforms during his work as a public servant. He actively participated in efforts of alleviating poverty and rights activism in foreign countries. His love for music demonstrated the impact art could do in transforming the community. Bill is a 20th-century figure whose artistic contributions in embracing the ideals of modernism and pluralism enabled him to stand out as a true genius of Western culture.
Reference
About Us. National Endowment for the Arts. 2004. Web.
Bill, C., (2004). My life. Washington: Knopf Publishing Group.
Bill Clinton on Welfare & Poverty. On the Issues. 2004. Web.
Clinton urges expansion of hate crime law (1999). CNN.com. 2004. Web.
News: President Clinton to Dedicate Statue. Clinton Foundation. 2004. Web.
William J. Clinton (2009). The White House Presidents. Web.
William Jefferson Clinton. (n.d). Historycentral.com. 2004. Web.
Witcombe, C.L. (1997). Modernism. Web.
Accounting, Marketing, And Management In The Organization
Introduction
An organization is a complex system that is made up of integrating structures, systems, and applications that are represented in form of roles and functions as indicated in the organizational structures and departments/ functions. Departmentalization, therefore, is the process via which the tasks and applications in an organization are subdivided and grouped into distinct but interacting functions and which are represented in terms of function in the organizational structure. Such functions include marketing, finance, human resources, accounting, research, and development among others. The functions operate as distinct units with specified roles and responsibilities, characteristic of different tasks that they undertake but which are all geared towards the achievement of unified organizational objectives, mission, and vision. This paper, therefore, presents an overview of organizational systems and application; marketing accounting and management in particularity
Management
Management is generally a combination of all activities that are performed in the organization with the objective of achieving the organizational goals and objectives. Pragmatically, management is a wide subject whose functions are so extensive that they cannot be exclusively specified with accuracy. Consequently, management includes planning, organizing, coordinating, and controlling the organizational resource with the objective of mobilizing them towards the achievement of the overall organizational objectives, mission, and vision (Gareth, Jennifer & Charles, 2000, p.7). It involves setting up the organizational goals determination of tasks, allocation of such tasks, responsibilities, and roles to specific individuals or teams in the organization directing the performance of the tasks or rather the leadership role, evaluation, and control to assess the progress of the latter in the achievement of the predetermined goals. Management involves such functions as staffing and marketing. The management systems plan, organize, coordinate, and control the operations of specific functions such as marketing and accounting (Richard, 2003, p.47).
Marketing
Marketing is a management function in which the organization seeks to ascertain the needs and wants of the market and then respond by the production of a marketing mix that meets the market need to be ascertained therein. As such, it involves activities such as carrying of market research, gathering market intelligence, product development, branding, packaging, pricing distribution, and promotion of the organizational product (Richard, 2003, p.12). The latter asserts that marketing is concerned with the development and implementation of market targeting strategies, competitive strategies, attaining competitive advantage over others in the market, social responsibility, and ethics as well as the strategies geared towards the development of a market fit i.e. products that are responsive to the market demands/ needs. Marketing management, therefore, involves all the activities that are involved in the management of the 4ps (product, pricing, production, and management of the marketing systems distribution of the products to the various markets).
Accounting
Accounting is a management function that is concerned with all aspects of bookkeeping and recording of transactions in the organization. As such, it is charged with the responsibility of recording all the transactions of the organization preparing and disbursement all financial statements in the organization; the latter of which the organization’s management uses to make important managerial decisions. In some organizations, the accounting function is involved in the preparation of budgets. Accounting also involves some activities such as auditing (Elliot, & Elliot, 2004, p.245).
Conclusion
The complexity of the organization is mainly a result of the diversity of the systems and functions that constitute it. While management is the overall organizational function that plans, organizes, coordinates, and controls the other systems such as marketing, accounting human resources, finance among others depending on the nature of the organizational structure and size of the organization, the various functions represent specific roles and perform distinct tasks. Marketing management is a function that concerns itself with the management of the 4ps (product, price, promotion, and place). On the other hand, accounting is a function that is charged basically with the overall bookkeeping and preparation of financial statements for managerial decision making in the organization, and which includes sub-functions such as auditing.
References
Elliot, B. & Elliot, J. (2004). Financial accounting and reporting, Prentice Hall, London 254-256.
Gareth, R., Jennifer. M. and Charles, W. (2000). Contemporary Management, 2nd edition – Business & Economics, McGraw hill. Web.
Richard, B. (2003). Vocational Business: Training, Developing and Motivating People: Business & Economics pp 43- 51.
Michelangelo And Later Renaissance Art
The world know Michelangelo as a Renaissance painter, poet and architect. All his works without exception are masterpieces of art that inspired many other artist of that period. Anyway, his real talent was brightly revealed in art of sculpture. As a sculptor, Buonarroti created numerous chef d’oeuvres that became the symbol of Renaissance epoch. In his David, Bacchus, and The Rome Pieta, he concentrated on the depiction of human body which is the central theme of that period (Kleiner, 2009). Hence, Michelangelo represented the human figure without in its most natural appearance thus emphasizing the beauty of the nude and human body.
All three sculptures were made from marble blocks from different and over the usual human size. The material he used inspired him thus passionately curving the solid marble in order to find out what God put inside (Steve et. al. 2007). Hence, Bacchus, the god of wine with cup near his lips and little faun beside his left hand, is almost 2 meters height; David is even higher – 13 feet high that is much considerably overcomes natural human size (Steve et. al. 2007). This great difference in sizes was explained by Michelangelo’s intention to humanize God who looked like a mere man and to extol the human who similar to a god. Rome Pieta also includes some divine motives thus presenting the Pieta of Mary with dead body of the Christ on her knees. Here again, we can see that priority was given to the forms and sizes.
All figures embody a deep meaning symbolism that was revealed though poses and details, face expressions and proportions. Hence, all the lines thoroughly curved from the marble express were done on purpose. Thus, David’s face was created with a fined caution where each line bears some special message and meaning. A special consideration needs David’ mouth which is perhaps the most perfectly modeled mouth in all sculpture. The most striking thing about it is the form of it is highly symmetrical and the line between lower and upper lip is neither thin not thick (Puthan 2003) Further, the face expression of Mary in The Rome Pieta also mattered. Here, Mary – mother of 33 years-old Jesus – looks like a teenager with ideal features and innocent and sad look. By this, Michelangelo emphasized the insight youthfulness of the virgin who was always ready to help his son. As for Bacchus, the expression on his face shows his light-heartedness and indifference thus showing his superiority over the humans.
If comparing David and Bacchus, there observed a tangible difference in pose and frame. Thus, Bacchus, with his smooth muscles and his drum belly considerably contrast with strong and muscular figure of David. Even the poses symbolize their different origin. So, in this respect, Michelangelo’s God’ are resemble humans rather than powerful divine creatures whereas men were imaged as noble and strong (Steve et al. 2007).
As it can be viewed, most of the sculptures of the artist were nude. However, the nudity in his works did not symbolize sexuality of eroticism but partially. On the contrary, by this device Michelangelo wanted to reveal all the beauties of the human body and its relief that empowers him to create the contrast between the light and the shadow. Working with forms, he was able to show the strength of David, sufferings of Jesus and unconcerned life of Bacchus. Therefore, Michelangelo may be regarded as the conqueror of marble and the connoisseur of human body.
Reference
Kleiner, F. S. (2009). Gardner’s Art Through the Ages: The Western Perspective. US: Cengage Learning.
Puthan, B. (2003) The Sculptor’s Way: A Guide to Modeling and Sculpture Us: Courier Dover Publications.
Steves, R., and Openshaw, G. (2007) Rick Steve’s Florence and Tuscany 2008 US: Avalon Travel.