Arts & Culture

Provides a step-by-step method for viewing, assessing, and enjoying this rich visual medium. The article is accompanied by fifteen images of the paintings discussed, some of which are a feast, others of which are a foil.

Celebrates the fiftieth anniversary of Ayn Rand's magnum opus (which was published on October 10, 1957) by examining key aspects of the book's artistic elements. Focusing on Rand's dramatization of the plot-theme, her use of literary techniques, and the nature and significance of key figures in the story, Bernstein shows how Rand employed such elements to tap the full potential of this supremely conceptual art form and thus to create a thoroughly integrated novel.

One of the great joys of the present school year has been the addition of an art appreciation class, taught by art enthusiast and VanDamme Academy teacher Luc Travers. Mr. Travers' unique approach to analyzing a work of art has transformed my esthetic life, enhancing my enjoyment of art, of…

Examines the popular television series House, M.D., zeros in on its main flaw—acceptance of the reason-emotion dichotomy and all that it entails—and shows why this potentially excellent show is tragically mixed.

Don't do it. There's no need to purchase that expensive Jackson Pollock painting. You can make your own for free—and it will be just as good.

Examines the relationship between art and fundamental philosophic ideas by considering the Kantian notion that man cannot know reality by means of reason—a notion that became increasingly prevalent over the course of the 1800s—in connection with the works and words of 19th-century French painters and art critics, who, correspondingly, became increasingly hostile to reason over the same period. The article is accompanied by fifty-eight color images of the paintings discussed, which range from the sublime to the grotesque.

If you want a good laugh—at the expense of a bad book—check out the work of Brendan Powell Smith at www.thebricktestament.com. Smith explains the project and its beginnings in the introduction to his first book, The Brick Testament: Stories from the Book of Genesis: There I was enjoying a leisurely…

Examines two equestrian sculptures—George Washington, by Henry Kirke Brown, and the Cid, by Anna Hyatt Huntington—and demonstrates a method by which to approach such works in order to reap the most enjoyment from them.

On May 1, writer Tom Miller reviewed the film "Flight 93" for Military.com. http://www.military.com/features/0,15240,95869,00.html?ESRC=dod.nl Miller is a novelist, and a former history professor, Army officer, and Vietnam veteran. His review is less of the film than of the need to remember why it needed to be made: [I]f people need…