Arts & Culture

The Dictionary of Human Form, by Ted Seth Jacobs. Santa Fe: Mariposa Press, 2011. 819 pp. $150. Reviewed by Daniel Wahl Ted Seth Jacobs painted The Open Window—one of the most beautiful paintings of the twentieth century. He taught Jacob Collins and Tony Ryder—two of the realist movement’s most influential…

Joseph Kellard interviews Donna Hassler about the works of Daniel Chester French, the great American artist perhaps best known for his sculpture of Abraham Lincoln housed at the Lincoln Memorial. Ms. Hassler is executive director of Chesterwood, which was French's summer home and studio in Stockbridge, Massachusetts, and which is now a historic site of the National Trust for Historic Preservation.

Dianne Durante has released an Android app based on her book Outdoor Monuments of Manhattan. The app, produced by Guides Who Know, features more than three hours of video on the fifty-four sculptures that appear in the book, including Continents by Daniel Chester French, Sherman Monument by Augustus Saint-Gaudens, and the Statue of Liberty.

Nureyev’s defection inspired other famous Russian dancers, including Natalia Makarova and Mikhail Baryshnikov, also to defect to the West, where they could flourish in their lives and careers. For example, now free, they could dance to the music of Prokofiev and the choreography of Balanchine, both of which were illegal in the Soviet Union.

Rather than appreciate the joys and challenges of his work managing film negatives for Life magazine, ask a woman he likes out on a date, go on adventures, or stick up for himself when insulted or mistreated, Mitty frequently “zones out” and vividly imagines himself doing heroic things and going to interesting places.

Imagine if you could relive yesterday. What would say that you did not say? What would you do that you did not do? Now imagine you could relive any day in your past until you made it a perfect day. That is the premise of the 2013 film written and directed by Richard Curtis, About Time.

The Monuments Men saved such cultural treasures as The Adoration of the Lamb by Jan van Eyck and Madonna of Bruges by Michelangelo. Among many other operations in which the unit was involved, it assisted with the recovery of artworks stored by the Nazis in the Austrian salt mines of Altausee.

In its artistry, the film is hauntingly beautiful, with its lush landscapes, intricate costuming, heart wrenching performances, and ponderous direction. In its subject matter—it details the years that free-born Solomon Northup spent in slavery after he was kidnapped and sold into bondage—the film is horrific.

The Johnson Wax buildings, as they are commonly called, offer a great example of how a company’s architecture can be integral to its identity. The S. C. Johnson company has always been extremely proud of its Wright-designed buildings, and the buildings’ design has helped shape the identity and culture of the company over the years.

Quiz shows such as Jeopardy! highlight the amazing capabilities of contestants to remember varied, esoteric facts and to recall them under enormous pressures of time limits and high-dollar competition. Viewers witness the power of the human mind to function at extremely high levels in a competitive setting, and many who watch draw inspiration to improve their own minds.