Sunday 10 June 2007

Towers

A few things about towers since the subject of the paintings are tower(s).
From http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tower
Towers are tall man-made buildings, always (and usually much) taller than they are wide. Towers are generally built to take advantage of their height, and can stand alone or as part of a larger structure. Examples of the various uses of towers include:

* To save ground-level space: skyscrapers, cooling tower, chimney
* To enhance views: tourist towers, air-traffic Control tower, railroad yard tower, harbor control tower, filming tower
* To increase strategic advantage: prison watch tower, defensive walls, siege tower, fire lookout tower, camera tower
* To increase potential energy: storage silo, water tower, drilling tower, ski-jump ramp
* To enhance communications: radio mast, lighthouse, light tower, minaret, bell tower, clock tower, weather beacon
* As support: suspension bridge, cable-stayed bridge, pylon, aerial tramway support pillar
* To access tall or high objects: launch tower, service tower, supply tower, scaffold, tower wagon
* To access atmospheric conditions aloft: wind turbine, meteorological measurement tower, tower telescope, solar power station
* To protect from exposure: BREN Tower
* For industrial production: shot tower
* To drop objects: drop tower, bomb tower, diving platform
* To test height-intensive applications: elevator test tower
* To improve structural integrity: thyristor tower
* To mimic towers or provide height for training purposes: fire tower, parachute tower
* As art: Eiffel Tower, Shukhov Tower, Space Needle
* For recreation: rock climbing tower
* As a symbol: Tower of Babel, The Tower (Tarot card), church tower

Skyscrapers are often not classified as towers, although most have the same design and structure of towers. In the United Kingdom, tall domestic buildings are referred to as tower blocks. In the United States, the now-destroyed World Trade Center had the nickname the Twin Towers, a name shared with the Petronas Twin Towers in Kuala Lumpur.

Inccidently "The Tower" is a poem by William Butler Yeats which is a passionate indictment of a man wrestling with age. It can be read here.

Towers also relate to The Tower card.

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This post is part of an art assignment to research a painting,document this research and produce an interpretation of said painting.

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