Arts & Culture
Arts & Culture, Good Living
Doubt vs. Certainty
Veronica Ryan February 20, 2009
Casts certainty on why the movie Doubt is leaving viewers wondering whether they can know anything for sure.
Arts & Culture
The Exalted Heroism of Alistair MacLean's Novels
Andrew Bernstein February 20, 2008
Surveys MacLean’s major works (including The Guns of Navarone and Where Eagles Dare); indicates their value to readers who love men of intelligence, ability, and courage; and incites a keyboard stampede to Amazon.com for the used copies of MacLean’s books, which are tragically out of print.
Arts & Culture
Caspar David Friedrich and Visual Romanticism
Tore Boeckmann February 20, 2008
Examines four paintings by Friedrich (plus one by Theodor Kittelsen), analyzes them by means of a new concept Mr. Boeckmann calls design-theme, and integrates them under the concept of “visual romanticism,” thus going a distance toward objectively defining that school. (The article is accompanied by five color images of the paintings discussed.)
Arts & Culture
How to Analyze and Appreciate Paintings
Dianne Durante August 20, 2007
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.
Arts & Culture, Ayn Rand & Objectivism
Transfiguring the Novel: The Literary Revolution in Atlas Shrugged
Andrew Bernstein August 20, 2007
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.
Arts & Culture
The Power of Observation: From Art to Literature to Life
Lisa VanDamme December 3, 2006
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…
Arts & Culture, Good Living
Mr. Jekyll and Dr. House: The Reason-Emotion Split as Manifested in House, M.D.
Veronica Ryan November 20, 2006
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.
Arts & Culture
Stop!
Craig Biddle September 2, 2006
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.
Arts & Culture, History, Philosophy
19th-Century French Painting and Philosophy
Dianne Durante August 20, 2006
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.
Arts & Culture, Philosophy
God's Word Cast in Plastic
Alan Germani July 17, 2006
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…