This page includes Sculpture, Painting, Opera, Literature, and Movies & TV.  There are separate pages on this site for my writings on Alexander Hamilton; History, technology, and business; Writing, copywriting, and publishing; and Fearless Foreign FoodsFor book recommendations for kids, see this page; for music and toys for kids, see this page.

Sculpture

New York Sculptures

Specific artists & sculptures

  • Bernini’s Innovations (Kindle) –  Innovations by Bernini that changed the history of sculpture, followed by a brief chronological survey of this Baroque sculptor’s life and major works; with dozens of color illustrations.
  • Dr. J. Marion Sims, with Notes on New York’s Sculpture of Sims (Kindle): A look at the controversial career of Dr. J. Marion Sims, “the Father of Gynecology,” and the sculpture of him at Fifth Avenue and 103rd Street, New York City.
  • Alexander Hamilton: A Brief Biography (Kindle) – details on the four sculptures of Hamilton in Manhattan; see here.
  • MacMonnies’ Nathan Hale” – “MacMonnies’ Nathan Hale is a reminder not of what the Founding Fathers stood for, but of how they stood for it. …”
  • The Statue of Liberty: Timeless Art, Political Hot Topic (Kindle) – A look at the Statue of Liberty as a timeless work of art and as a political statement by those who conceived it and by their contemporaries in the late 19th century. Includes archival illustrations, close-up views of Liberty, quotes from sculptor Bartholdi and his contemporaries, and tips on photographing outdoor sculptures in New York.

Painting

  • Innovators in Painting (now available in print and as an ebook) uses innovations as a framework for an overview of the history of Western art. It’s a great introduction or refresher for anyone interested in art or art history. The broadest goal is to help you find more subjects, styles, and periods that intrigue you and appeal to you – that present the world the way you think it can and ought to be. Because what’s the point of looking at art, if not for moments like that? More here. It’s a stand-alone work, but a perfect companion to Innovators in Sculpture.
  • How to Analyze and Appreciate Paintings (Kindle) – Via discussions of Holbein’s Sir Thomas More and Bellini’s St. Francis in the Desert, we work through a series of questions to help you systematically observe the details of a painting, state what effect they have, and set them in the context of the rest of the work. As we go, we work out tentative themes and then a final statement of the theme; and finally, we evaluate the works in emotional, esthetic, philosophical, and art historical terms.
  • “How to Introduce Your Kid to Art” – advice from an art historian who’s also a former homeschooling parent.

Genres and periods

  • Landscapes: History and Significance – Landscapes have often been rated second-class compared to history and narrative paintings. How did this attitude develop, and what message or meaning can landscapes offer?
  • Still Lifes: History and Significance – At the famous Salon exhibitions in 19th-c. Paris, a mediocre mythological painting would have been displayed more prominently than the most exquisitely composed and executed still life. Why were still lifes considered second-class art for centuries? Is there an objective reason to rate them unfavorably vs. paintings that incorporate human figures?
  • Seismic Shifts in Subject and Style: 19th-c. French Painting and Philosophy (Kindle) – What caused the dramatic shifts in subject and style over the course of the 19th century – from Madame Recamier, by Jacques-Louis David (1800), to Luxe, Calme, et Volupte, by Matisse (1904)? This 30,000-word essay is a combination of art analysis and philosophical detection.

Specific works

  • Vermeer’s Geographer – “Think of a moment of insight – a moment when you had an integration of such scope that it made you stop writing, stop speaking, stop moving, so you could concentrate on working through the implications of that thought. What would you give for a reminder of that moment when you were tired, or had writer’s block, or when you just needed to remember that one man improves, and the whole of mankind progresses, by such moments of insight? …” Video here.
  • Comments on Tim’s Vermeer “- Did Vermeer uses a lens and a concave mirror to project an image onto the canvas, which he then painted?

Opera

Literature

Movies & TV

  • Movie Reviews and How to Write Them” (part 1 of 3) – Thinking through how to write reviews, with Chronicles of Narnia as a sample.
  • Best Picture: Says Who?” (part 2 of 3) – On the Academy Awards
  • Analyzing and Evaluating Films as Works of Art” (part 3 of 3) – Standards for judging films esthetically
  • Comments on Tim’s Vermeer – Did Vermeer uses a lens and a concave mirror to project an image onto the canvas, which he then painted?
  • Amadeus Revisited” – For 20 years, I refused to watch Amadeus because I couldn’t stand the way Mozart was represented (with excerpts from Pushkin!). When I finally did watch it again, I realized I’d been misinterpreting it.
  • Buffy the Vampire Slayer and the Real World” – “Why do I feel the Hellmouth is gaping because Buffy the Vampire Slayer’s last episode airs this month? After all, I have no immediate, ‘practical’ reason for watching it. I don’t need lessons in killing demons, or martial arts, or dressing twenty-chic. So what’s the appeal? …” (A thank-you of sorts to Joss Whedon.)
  • For blog posts on specific works, see the category Film.

More

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