Do Chagalls Depictions of David Reflect His Intense Religiosity Essay

Do Chagalls Depictions of David Reflect His Intense Religiosity - Essay Example Interestingly, David is one of the Biblical characters who are often depicted in Chagall's paintings. Throughout his works, Chagall was able to incorporate David's stories, as stated in the Jewish Bible, with his own interpretation of David. Chagall's understanding of David, which is influenced by his intense religiosity according to Friedman (1984, p.376), is shown by comparing the implications of his paintings to the Hebrew scripts. Hence, Chagall's depictions of David in his paintings, which is a juxtaposition of his own interpretation and David's stories in the Bible, reflect his own intense religiosity. Marc Chagall is an artist famous for his etchings which reflect interpretations of Biblical stories. He admitted the his viewing of the Bible was less as a religious text and more as an interpretation of the nature of humans and the divinity inherent in them as well as their flaws (Amishai-Meisels, 1996, p. 72). Also, he confessed that his artworks represent his effort in transmitting to canvas the echo of nature portrayed by the Bible. Hence, he chose to focus on the love the Bible tries to foster, rather than on the punitive aspect of it. The aim is to strive for that perfect love, forgiveness and mercy, without letting the retribution to be the focus of the stories. This view of Chagall... This is evident in his approach to his artworks, where he uses abstractive figures supporting a central subject. This type of painting originated from Jews (Saltman, 1981, p.44). However, the way he views the Bible is influenced by his Christian background. This can be seen in the implications of his paintings depicting stories of David, among other Biblical stories, which focuses on the themes of love and forgiveness while ignoring the themes of punishment and discipline. In this regard, the Christian influence is clear. Although the Jewish Bible is the same as the Old Testament of the Christian Bible, the emphasis on the Christian Bible represented by the New Testament is on love and forgiveness, which is amply demonstrated through Chagall's work. Chagall's painting "David and Bathsheba" depicts the affair which was shared by David and Bathsheba. The painting itself covers David's lust for a married woman named Bathsheba and this woman's conception of their child. In the Bible, the affair started when David sends for her and " she came to him, and he lay with her The woman conceived; and she sent and told David, 'I am pregnant'" (Holy Bible, 2 Samuel 11:4-5). Knowing that his act of adultery was sinful, he initially tries to cover it up by sending for her husband Uriah on the excuse of wanting news of the battle and then sending him home so that he may sleep with his wife and, therefore, claim the child as his own. When that fails, he engineers Uriah's death in order to marry Bathsheba. In doing so, he has fallen short of every standard set by God, and later God punishes him by refusing to cure the child conceived by Bathsheba, allowing it to die. The central subject of the painting "David and Bathsheba"

Strategic objectives for a business Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Strategic objectives for a business - Essay Example Its mission is offering excellent hair services and beauty products, to its customers. Its values include respect, leadership, integrity, diversity, and accountability. The paper will look at the business objectives in relation to the four pillars of balanced scorecard including the financial pillar, customer pillar, internal operations pillar, and employees’ pillar. One of the key objectives as far as the financial pillar is concerned is coming up with an effective internal control environment. Such an environment would prevent financial crimes such as fraud or embezzlement of the business’ financial resources. The second key objective is ensuring stability in revenue and profitability. This is important as far as growing the shareholder wealth. For example, ensuring profitability stability contributes to the stability of the shares’ prices, which is in the best interest of the shareholders. The third key strategic objective is maximizing the shareholder wealth. This would happen, for example, by a business operating at optimum level would maximize the shareholder wealth. One of the key strategic objectives as far as customer pillar is concerned is enhancing customer satisfaction. Since the business is offering both services and products, customer satisfaction is extremely important. It helps in ensuring that the customers make repeat visits in the business, which helps in growing the market share. A key metric for this objective is the number of absenteeism within a given period. The second key strategic objective is offering high quality services and products to the customers. The customers expect value for money when they purchase the beauty products (Chia-Chen, 2006). The hair services should be excellent, which would translate into increased customer satisfaction. An effective metric for this objective is the number of repeat customers per a given period. The third strategic