Cubism Essays (1304 words) - Art Movements, Modern Art, Cubism

Cubism Cubism is one of the first forms of abstract art. Cubism was a movement in painting that sought to break down objects into basic shapes of cubes, spheres, cylinders, and cones. Cubism originated in France and was influenced by African sculptures and by Paul Cezanne. The first cubist works were those in which objects, landscapes, and people are represented as many-sided solids. This enables you to see various views of the object at the same time. Later, cubism changed using a flatter type of abstraction, in which the complete pattern, becomes more important, and the objects represented are largely indecipherable. At first, most artists painted with little color. Most paintings were either monochromatic or gray, blue, brown, and white.? The final phase of cubism is called synthetic. In this phase color reappears as a primary element in the artwork. Cezanne was an artist who led the way to cubism or abstract art. Before Cezanne, artists would portray the world realistically. It is above all C?zanne's obsession with formal elements of composition and his use of color as tone rather than the Impressionist pursuit of light on surface that makes his art so important to those who followed. C?zanne's works made it possible for artists to start to question what they saw, the way in which they saw it, and how they interpreted and represented what was in front of them. Cezanne felt that paintings should reflect artist's sensations made into a pictorial form by brush strokes, color, and lines. He was known to work slowly and use colors to build shapes. In the still-life pictures that he made of fruits and bowls one can tell that he worked slowly as there are different and contradicting shadows in his pictures. Early in his career Cezanne loved to paint Sainte-Victoire (landscapes). Later he painted portraits such as Woman with a Coffee Po t and The Card Players. When he began to paint landscape again he used the bathers in his paintings. Later Cezanne would have a great impact on Picasso's paintings. Pablo Picasso is one of the most famous cubists. As he grew up his father encouraged him to become an artist. From 1901 to 1904 is called the Blue Period because Picasso used blue tones when he painted and his paintings showed poverty, death, and blindness. The Blue Period marks a deliberate step towards a plastic representation of form and emotional subject matter.? From 1904-1906, the Rose Period is when Picasso painted circuses, actors, and harlequin. This is when he visits family in Barcelona, Spain, and refreshes his memories of Romanesque and Gothic art. Even more important to him at this time was the discovery of Iberian sculpture dating from pre-Roman times, examples of which had been recently acquired by the Louvre. They attracted him by their unorthodox proportions, their disregard for refinement, and their rude barbaric strength. These influences rapidly gained an important place in his work, and lead to the sculptural distortions of nudes painted on his return to Paris.? From 1907-1909 is called the Negro Period. The paintings of Cezanne became familiar to Picasso. Picasso had also discovered the greatness of an obscure old man, Douanier Rousseau. These were the years when the power of primitive art imported from Africa and the South Seas was beginning to be noticed by certain painters in Paris, and styles which had formally been despised as barbaric began to be recognized as possessing great emotive strength.? Picasso painted Les Demoiselles d'Avignon to recapture primitive art. The new style depended in particular on a simplification of form and a clarification of the methods by which it was depicted. With a disregard for classical tradition, distortions were used freely to emphasize volume and convey emotional sensation. Picasso said I paint objects as I think them, not as I see them. Picasso was increasingly drawn to making creations according to his own internal vision. In African art he had found a conceptual art which was not based on immediat e visual reactions to a model. The original impact had been violent. It had forged the first real link between African art and Western ideas and it was followed during the two years that succeeded the painting of Les Demoiselles d'Avignon. At

Jarir Bookstore

Jarir Bookstore Individual Project Introduction The government of Saudi Arabia adopted a new labor in 2012 that compels companies in the private sector to employ more Saudis than foreigners. The government adopted the new law in order to reduce the high unemployment rate in the country. However, the law is expected to have significant effects in various industries in the country because most companies depend on the labor supplied by foreigners rather than Saudis (Hamdan).Advertising We will write a custom term paper sample on Jarir Bookstore specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More This paper will analyze the effect of this law on Jarir Bookstore, which is a leading retail company in Saudi Arabia. The company supplies computers, office equipment, and books among other products (Jarir). In particular, it will shed light on the risks associated with the legislation and the strategies that the company has adopted to overcome them. Additionally, it will highligh t the future implications of the new law to the company and its stakeholders. The Major Issues In November 2012, the government of Saudi Arabia enacted a new labor law that forces all private companies in the country to hire more Saudis than foreigners (Hamdan). This law was adopted against the backdrop of rising unemployment rate in the country. According to the new law, the number of Saudis working in private companies must exceed that of foreigners. Companies that fail to comply with this law are expected to pay a fine of approximately $640 annually for each employee from a foreign country (Hamdan). Jarir Bookstore is one the companies that were negatively affected by the new labor law. In 2012, the company had more than one thousand employees who were working in its stores in Saudi Arabia (Jarir). 60% of the employees were expats from Asian countries (Jarir). This means that the company had to pay the fine of $640 per foreign employee in order to maintain 60% of its workforce. I n this regard, the operating cost of the company was likely to increase because it was not ready to absorb the extra labor costs associated with the fine. Since its inception in 1979, Jarir Bookstore has focused on employing foreigners in order to reduce its operating costs. This strategy was based on the fact that expats demand lower wages than Saudis (Madhi and Barrientos 70-77). Thus, it is cheaper to employ foreigners than Saudis. In addition, most Saudis are reluctant to work in the private sector because the public sector pays higher wages. Since the company operates in cosmopolitan cities within Saudi Arabia, it prefers to employ people with good command of English and other international languages in order to serve its diverse clientele effectively. In this regard, the company hires multilingual foreigners since most Saudis speak only in Arabic rather than international languages such as English. Thus, replacing the expats was likely to have negative effects on the competiti veness of the company.Advertising Looking for term paper on business economics? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More Resolution Even though the enactment of the law came as a surprise to the company, it had no choice but to comply with it in order to avoid the costs associated with the fine. In order to prevent disruptions in its operations, the company had to replace most of the expats in its workforce immediately. Almost 80% of the company’s workforce consists of frontline employees who are responsible for performing duties such as sales and fulfilling customers’ orders (Jarir). Even though most Saudis are qualified to perform clerical and supervision, as well as, sales and marketing related duties, the company had trouble in replacing its frontline employees. This is because most of the new hires did not have the commitment that the expats had. Besides, most of them were fresh graduates from colleges and universities. Thus, they did not have adequate work experience that would enable them to fit into the organization without training. In response to this challenge, the company had to review its staffing policies in order to hire the right people. In particular, the company had to identify the job requirements that new recruits had to meet in order to be hired. This included possession of excellent skills in areas such as communication, negotiation, and leadership (Jarir). Moreover, the company designed and implemented training and development programs in order to enable the new recruits to acquire the skills that they needed in order to perform their duties effectively. The company has had to change its human resource policies in order to attract and retain the best talent from Saudi. This involved offering attractive remuneration packages, flexible shift schedules, and acceptable work environment. In addition, the company implemented a performance-based pay system in order to moti vate the employees and to improve their productivity (Jarir). A performance-based pay system involves rewarding employees who are able to meet or exceed their targets (Martin 75). At Jarir Bookstore, the employees were paid annual bonuses if they achieved predetermined conditions such as sales targets. The Future Implications The new labor law has several future implications for the company and its stakeholders. To begin with, the company will have to look for alternative ways of reducing its operating costs. This is because it can no longer depend on cheap labor to maintain low costs. In this regard, the company is likely to focus on the use of modern technologies to reduce its operating costs in the long-term. This will involve the use of technologies that reduce human involvement in the provision of its services. For example, the company has already established a sales and marketing website that enables it to reach its customers (Jarir). Thus, the company is likely to focus on on line sales rather than the store model in future. This will help it to reduce the number of employees that it needs to serve its customers, thereby reducing its operating costs.Advertising We will write a custom term paper sample on Jarir Bookstore specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More The second implication is that the company will have to strengthen its employ retention programs in order to reduce labor turnover. This is because the competition for skilled labor is likely to increase as more companies comply with the new law in future. Labor turnover is often high in markets where companies are competing for the few skilled workers. This is because employees will prefer to work for the few companies that are able to offer high wages (Hartel and Fujimoto 96). Consequently, the cost of acquiring talent is likely to increase significantly. The company can avoid losing its valuable employees by improving their commitment and job satisfactio n. The third implication is that the morale of the employees is likely to reduce as the expats leave the company. Employees usually lose morale in their work when a large number of their colleagues leave the workplace. This is because existing work relationships are destroyed and the remaining employees might not have adequate sources of support in their work (Hartel and Fujimoto 112). In addition, conflicts are likely to arise if the company is not able to integrate the new hires with the remaining employees. In this regard, the company will have to implement team-building initiatives in order to improve cohesion among its employees. Finally, the new law will enable the company to improve its reputation in the country by providing jobs to Saudis. Currently, the company has a bad reputation in the country because its staffing policies favor foreigners. However, the company’s reputation is likely to improve as it begins to hire more Saudis as required by the law. The Risks The implementation of the new labor law was associated with the following risks. First, the company was likely to lose its investments in knowledge and skill development as it replaced its employees from foreign countries. The company had already spent its scarce resources to train the expats on areas such as customer service, sales, marketing, and management. The benefits of this investment such as creativity among employees were likely to be lost if a large number of the expats left the company. This would reduce the firm’s competitiveness by limiting its ability to engage in product and process innovation (Madhi and Barrientos 70-77). Second, the company was likely to face disruptions in its operations if it was not able to find skilled Saudis to replace the expatriates. This is because the process of replacing employees who leave the company often takes a lot of time. Third, the company’s operating costs were likely to rise because hiring Saudis would increase the lab or costs, whereas employing foreigners would attract high fines. High operating costs was likely to reduce the company’s profits, thereby limiting its ability to expand to other markets.Advertising Looking for term paper on business economics? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More The strategies that have helped the company to overcome these risks include the following. First, company has implemented training and development programs in order to replace the lost skills and knowledge in its workforce (Jarir). These programs will enable the firm to improve the competence of new hires, thereby increasing its competitiveness in terms of ability to meet market needs. Second, the company has focused on reducing labor turnover in order to avoid losing its talented employees. This involves using intrinsic rewards such as promotions, as well as, extrinsic rewards such as bonuses to improve job satisfaction, motivation, and employees’ commitment. Finally, the company has embarked on cost cutting measures in order to absorb the high cost of hiring Saudis. This involves outsourcing processes such as transportation and logistics. Conclusion The aim of this paper was to analyze the effects of Saudi Arabia’s new labor law on Jarir Bookstore. The new law requir es private companies to employ more Saudis than foreigners. Jarir Bookstore focused on employing more foreigners than Saudis in order to reduce its labor costs. The main effects of the law included increased operating costs and loss of skilled employees. However, the company is also likely to improve its reputation in the country by employing Saudis. The company has not only complied with the new law, but has also implemented strategies to cope with its negative effects. The strategies it has adopted include staff training programs, cost cutting measures, and staff retention schemes. Hamdan, Sara. Saudi Arabia to Fine Firms with too Many Foreign Workers. New York Times, 21 Nov. 2012. Web. Hartel, Charmaine and Yuka Fujimoto. Human Resource Management. New York: McGraw-Hill, 2010. Print. Jarir. Company Profile. Jarir Bookstore, 31 Dec. 2012. Web. Madhi, Salah and Armando Barrientos. Saudisation and Employment in Saudi Arabia. Career Development International 8.2 (2012): 70-77. Print . Martin, John. Human Resource Management. New York: McGraw-Hill, 2008. Print.