Archives


2021

May

Spring,* 1894, by Lawrence Alma-Tadema (Dutch, (1836-1912). Oil on canvas, 70 1/4 x 31 5/8 in. (178.4 x 80.3 cm), J. Paul Getty Museum, Los Angeles. About the painting.
*Click on image to enlarge.

2020

December

The Blizzard, by Joseph Farquharson (Scottish, 1846-1935). Oil on canvas, approx. 24 x 20 in. (61 x 51 cm), date and collection unknown. This solitary figure of a child appears again, trailing behind her mother and younger siblings, in another painting (title, date, dimensions, and collection unknown) by the artist. See numerous other works in "Joseph Farquharson: Victorian Landscape Painter." Note especially Dawn (1903), Farquharson's stunning image of an egret taking flight over a luminous body of water.

NOTES & COMMENTS

Betsy James Wyeth (1921-2020) // Lincoln's Love of Music // Review: The Weight of Ink (a novel) // Articles by M.M.K in Academic Questions // M.M.K interviews // and more!

Remembering Randall Dipert - The Editors

"LUDWIG VAN B"
As a dear friend recently wrote from California:
Happy Holidays! What a year --triple oy! Am writing this on the 250th birthday of Ludwig van B. Focusing on the miracle of such creativity is a good antidote for all the hardships.

Indeed it is--which is why, this winter, the following may be especially welcome:

WORTH READING
*"How Young America Came to Love Beethoven," Nora McGreevy, Smithsonian Magazine, December 16, 2020.

WORTH READING & LISTENING TO
* "A Great Deaf Bear," James Wood, London Review of Books, January 2021. Though mainly a British literary critic and scholar, Wood was educated at Durham Chorister School and Eton College on music scholarships, as noted in his Wikipedia bio. (For the "listening part" of "A Great Deaf Bear," scroll down to the video link of Daniel Barenboim at the piano.)

WORTH LISTENING TO
* Beethoven, Symphony No. 9 in D Minor, op. 125 [Wikipedia], Chicago Symphony Orchestra, Riccardo Muti, Music Director, 2015 (be sure to click on the "Full screen" icon!). The thousands of comments, replies, and "likes" that follow the link attest to "Ludwig van B's" enduring worldwide popularity and relevance.

July

View at Lucerne, 1847, Felix Mendelssohn (German, 1809-1847). Watercolor, dimensions unknown, collection unknown. Pictured are Lake Lucerne, Switzerland, and the Church of St. Leodegar in the city of Lucerne.

* "Mendelssohn the Artist," Mendelssohn in Scotland, n.d. As this article notes, Mendelssohn was "as near to being a 'Renaissance Man' as any figure from history, musical or otherwise."
* "Felix Mendelssohn: Art Works" (article), Library of Congress, n.d. - "The development of Mendelssohn's musical and compositional skills parallels that of another aspect of his creativity: his skills in drawing and painting, which, like music, became a means of expression on which he relied throughout his life."
* The Mendelssohn Project. Devoted to the life and work of Felix Mendelssohn and Fanny Mendelssohn Hensel (1805-1847) --- Felix's older sister, who was "one of the best, yet unknown, composers of the 19th century."

A MENDELSSOHN MUSIC SAMPLER
* "Mendelssohn - A Beginners Guide," The Classic Review, November 7, 2018.
* Violin Concerto in E Minor , Op. 64 [about] [more ] - performed by Nathan Milstein (1903-1992), video, audio (with Bruno Walter and the New York Philharmonic); performed by Hilary Hahn (b. 1979), video (with Frankfurt Radio Symphony Orchestra), audio (with the Oslo Philharmonic Orchestra).

ARISTOS AWARD [About]
John Borstlap (Dutch Composer, Author)

NOTES & COMMENTS
Pandemic inspiration // New book by M.M.K. // Michelangelo's mind // Young classical musicians // Data visualization as "Art" // Musical genius // and more . . .

BOOKS: Borstlap's Gauntlet: Challenging the Musical Avant-Garde" (review of John Borstlap, The Classical Revolution: Thoughts on New Music in the 21st Century, rev. ed., 2017) - Frank Cooper

WORTH LISTENING TO
* Fanny, Felix, and Frank: Fanny Mendelssohn's 3 Songs Without Words, YouTube [16:35], Dmitry Ablogin, pianist, followed by illustrated commentary on Fanny & Felix by Frank Cooper (voice over, at 12:25)
* "Maestro's Choice - Jaap van Zweden Discusses John Borstlap," YouTube [3:15]. Dutch conductor van Zweden [more ] talks with Borstlap (at the piano) before the 2016 world premiere of the composer's Solemn Night Music, by van Zweden with the Dallas Symphony Orchestra.
* Joachim Raff, Piano Concerto in C Minor [YouTube, 33:04], Frank Cooper, pianist, Zsolt Deaky, conductor, Nuremberg Symphony Orchestra. [Raff: The Essential Reference/ List of compositions]

2019

December

Effect of Snow at Giverny (Effet de Neige à Giverny), 1893, Claude Monet (French, 1840-1926). Oil on canvas, 25 3/4 x 36 1/2 in. (65.4 x 92.7 cm.) Private collection. "Did You Know Monet Painted More than 100 Snow Scenes?" (scroll down for an "alcohol-optional" cocktail recipe [!] and more on Monet). "Monet in the Snow: Painting the Cold Season" (scroll down to end for closing comments).

October

Lake Nemi (near Rome), 1872, by George Inness, American, 1825–1894, one of our finest landscape painters. Oil on canvas, 29 3/4 x 44 7/8 in. (75.56 x 113.98 cm.), Museum of Fine Arts, Boston [about the painting]. Metropolitan Museum of Art biographical essay and images/information on works by Inness in the Met’s collection. View superb images of 342 of his works at The Athenaeum .

March

Spring: Kitchen Gardens, 1893, Alexei Kondratyevich Savrasov (Russian, 1830-1897). Oil on canvas (dimensions unknown), Perm State Art Gallery, Perm, Russia. View superb images of 252 paintings by Savrasov on The Athenaeum website.

According to the online magazine theartwolf.com, "Savrasov was one of the most important--arguably the most important--of all the 19th-century Russian landscape painters, considered the creator of the 'lyrical landscape style.'" From what we have seen online, he may be among the greatest of all landscape painters of that century.

2018

December

Winter Landscape with Church, c. 1811, by Caspar David Friedrich (German, 1774-1840). Oil on canvas, 12.8 x 17.72 in. (32.5 x 45 cm), National Gallery (U.K.). View superb images of 196 paintings by Friedrich at The Athenaeum. Friedrich combined landscape motifs with religious symbolism, and this picture represents the hope of salvation through the Christian faith. In the foreground a crippled man has abandoned his crutches and sits against a rock with his hands raised in prayer before a crucifix. The rocks and evergreen trees may be interpreted as symbols of faith, and the visionary Gothic cathedral emerging from the mist evokes the promise of life after death. -- National Gallery [further information]

NOTES & COMMENTS
Winslow Homer and photography // Andy Warhol redux // Upholding standards in art education

October

Autumn on the Seine at Argenteuil, 1873, by Claude Monet (French, 1840-1926). Oil on canvas, approx. 21 3/8 x 28 7/8 in. (54.36 x 73.15 cm), High Museum of Art, Atlanta, Georgia [Autumn HMA page].
As is well known, Monet was one of the founders of Impressionism in painting. Think you know his work? You don't. Not, that is, until you have skimmed the 1,339 images of his paintings at the Athenaeum. He is said to have completed more than 2,500 in all--mostly oils, but also pastels and drawings (the exact number is unknown, as he destroyed some and others were lost).

WORTH READING
On Delacroix, and Liberty Leading the People (his most famous and much-loved painting--which, regrettably, is not in the current exhibition):
* HuffPost's light-hearted guide to pronouncing his name and other "pesky monikers" in art history.
* "July 28. Liberty Leading the People [July 28, 1830]," cited in note 1 of the painting's Wikipedia article, provides an authoritative account of how Delacroix came to make the painting, as well as a detailed discussion of its content, including Liberty herself and key figures following her in battle.

August

Beach Scene, ca. 1869, by Winslow Homer (American, 1836-1910). Oil on canvas, 11.5 x 9.4 in. (29.3 cm x 24 cm), Thyssen-Bornemisza Museum [website], Madrid, Spain. The Athenaeum, 567 works.

Not What Congress Envisioned for Arts Education - Michelle Marder Kamhi

EXHIBITION: Lifelong Devotion to Drawing (brief review of Delacroix exhibition at the Metropolitan Museum of Art) - M.M.K.

WORTH READING: "Bringing Realism to the Heroic in 'The Sculpture of Augustus Saint-Gaudens,'" Cate McQuaid, Boston Globe, April 6, 2018. Saint-Gaudens bio (Wikipedia). Metropolitan Museum of Art: Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History. Superb images of 17 works ( The Athenaeum).

May

Almond Blossom [about ] [more], 1890, by Vincent van Gogh (Dutch, 1853-1890). Oil on canvas, 28.9 x 36 in. (73.5 x 92 cm), Van Gogh Museum, Amsterdam.

NOTES & COMMENTS
Landmark Michelangelo exhibition // Neglected female playwright // Maestro Toscanini // and more . . .

IN BRIEF: Don't Mess with a Classic (on The Red Shoes ballet and film) - Michelle Marder Kamhi & Louis Torres

January

Adirondack Lake, by Winslow Homer (American, 1836-1910). Watercolor over graphite pencil on paper, 14 x 20 in. (35.6 x 50.8 cm), Museum of Fine Arts, Boston.

As noted in "Andrew Wyeth Picks 20 Great American Watercolorists" (Maria Woodie, Artist Daily weblog, July 12, 2017), Winslow Homer--whose watercolors Wyeth first saw in his studio in Maine--was an early source of inspiration for him. The largest collection of Wyeth's watercolors is that of the Greenville County Museum of Art in Greenville, South Carolina.

Superb images of 563 of Homer's paintings in various media, sorted by year completed, are on The Athenaeum website. See watercolors (scroll down). The section on oil paintings begins on page 4 (scroll down).

2017

August

Summer Day, by Hans Dahl (Norwegian, 1849-1937). Date and dimensions unknown, private collection. The Athenaeum: 93 paintings, sorted by year completed in ascending order (some attributed to Dahl were actually made by his son, Hans Andreas Dahl [1881-1919], whose work was virtually indistinguishable from his own; whenever possible, note the signature).

NOTES & COMMENTS
G. Washington portrait medals // An ivory gazelle // Disappointing Dunkirk film // Artworld icon Robert Rauschenberg Misconstrued // and more . . .

Art Education or Miseducation? From Koons to Herring - Michelle Marder Kamhi

IN BRIEF: George Anthony Morton: An Artist against All Odds - Louis Torres

EXHIBITION: The Art of Henry James: Kinship between Literature and Visual Art - M. M. Kamhi

BEST OF THE PRINT ARISTOS
Revaluing the Liberal Arts," (Aristos, June 1994).With study of the liberal arts under increasing attack in academia (see "The Liberal Arts at War), it is worth recalling this brief article by us on the subject.

WORTH READING
"Frank Capra's America and Ours," by John Marini, Imprimis, March 2015. On the legendary director of such classic films as Mr. Deeds Goes to Town (1936), Mr. Smith Goes to Washington (1939), and Meet John Doe (1941).

April

The Swamp [enlarged], 1885, Konstantin Kryzhitsky (Ukrainian-born Russian, 1858-1911). Oil on canvas. Nikolaev Art Museum [scroll down] [more ], Ukraine. Weblog post (with images of some two dozen paintings), including a touching reference to Kryzhitsky's tragic death by suicide. The Athenaeum: 65 works, sorted by year completed, in ascending order.

NOTES & COMMENTS
Kamhi's Who Says That's Art? recommended by art educators // Da Vinci Initiative promotes classic art skills in K-12 education // Epoch Times's favorable coverage of Classical Realist art // Sculptor Camille Claudel emerges from Rodin's shadow // Botticelli and contemporary self-portrait exhibitions (see CURRENT NEWS) // And more. . . .

A Cognitive Theory that Challenges Institutional Definitions of Art - Michelle Marder Kamhi and Emmanuel Antwi

Why Discarding the Concept of "Fine Art" Has Been a Grave Error - M. M. Kamhi
* Response to British Journal of Aesthetics
* Response to Journal of Aesthetics and Art Criticism

LETTERS - About our note on Julian Onderdonk (1882-1922), American Impressionist painter - Dan Karlan

February

The Magpie*(La Pie) [enlarged ] [the bird] [about] [photo: a magpie ], 1869, Claude Monet (French, 1840-1926). Oil on canvas, 35 in. x 51 in. (89 cm x 130 cm). Musée d'Orsay, Paris. [The Athenaeum: 1,290 works by Monet]. Impression, Sunrise (1872) [about].

NOTES & COMMENTS
Marivaux at the Frick // Julian Onderdonk (1882-1922), American Impressionist // About CURRENT NEWS

EXHIBITION: Charlotte Brontë in Word and Image at the Morgan - Michelle Marder Kamhi

WORTH READING & LISTENING
Stradivarius Violins: (1)"The Brilliance of a Stradivari Violin Might Rest Within Its Wood," Steph Yin, New York Times, December 20, 2016. "For hundreds of years, the best violin players have almost unanimously said they prefer a Stradivari or a Guarneri instrument. Why nobody has been able to replicate that sound remains one of the most enduring mysteries of instrument building." (2) Antonio Stradivari, 1644-1737; Guarneri, family name: 17th and 18th centuries. (3) Who Are the Musicians Playing a Stradivarius?" See and hear them play on instruments that they exclusively use (one is Yo Yo Ma, on cello). A few explain why. Cmuse, August 5, 2015.

2016

December

Washington Crossing the Delaware [enlarged image: click on details to zoom in], 1851, Emanuel Leutze (German American, 1816-1868). Oil on canvas, approx. 12 ft. x 21 ft. (378.5 cm × 647.7 cm). Metropolitan Museum of Art, Gallery 760. Smaller version*[more], approx. 3 ft. x 6 ft., Minnesota Marine Art Museum, Winona, Minn.

ARISTOS AWARDS
Kate Davis (New York City)

NOTES & COMMENTS
Who Says That's Art at annual art ed conference // Update on forthcoming Torres book Trust Betrayed // Richard F. Lack: Catalogue Raisonné // and much more . . .

The Interminable Monopoly of the Avant-Garde - Louis Torres
Chapter 9 of After the Avant-Gardes: Reflections on the Future of the Fine Arts, edited by Elizabeth Millán (Open Court, 2016). [See introductory note at bottom of page 215 before reading essay. Suggestion: print notes.]

Ayn Rand's Theory of Art: "Original" and "Inspiring" Says Academic Philosopher - Louis Torres & Michelle Marder Kamhi
Rand's Romantic Manifesto on "What Is Art?" reading list published by American Society for Aesthetics.

Washington Crossing the Delaware: Select Links to Online Sources - L.T.
On Emanuel Leutze's monumental painting and the event that inspired it.

IN BRIEF
Misusing Art for Political (and Financial) Ends - M.M.K.
The Pearl Theatre Company's exploitation of Ionesco's play Rhinoceros.

February

Ice Floes, 1893, Claude Monet (French, 1840-1926). Oil on canvas, 26 x 39 1/2 in. (66 x 100.3 cm.), Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York City. "The prolonged freeze and heavy snowfalls in the winter of 1892-93 inspired Monet to capture their effects on the Seine in a series of paintings" [more]. See also Break-up of the Ice on the Seine, near Bennecourt, 1893. Illustrated bio of Monet.

NOTES & COMMENTS
Exhibition: Paintings by Lauren Sansaricq and Erik Koeppel, two young artists inspired by the Hudson River School // Best Sites: The Athenaeum, for viewing art // Is photography art? // M.M.K on the "Mattress Girl as "artist" // L.T. on a young "artist" who made it big // Vigée Le Brun (1755-1842), a little-known but brilliant painter // and more. . .

Harriet Whitney Frishmuth: A Compendium - compiled by Louis Torres

EXHIBITION
Picasso's Sculpture: Much Ado about Very Little - Michelle Marder Kamhi

BEST OF ARISTOS: THE PRINT YEARS (1982-1997)
"Harriet Whitney Frishmuth: Lyric Sculptor" (June 1984) - Beatrice Gilman Proske

WORTH READING AND VIEWING
Exhibition catalogue [full text] for The Boston School Tradition: Truth, Beauty and Timeless Craft, Vose Galleries, June 6 - July 18, 2015 (including "The Bostonians and Their Boston School," an essay by independent scholar and curator, Trevor J. Fairbrother).

January

NOTES & COMMENTS
Best Sites: Essential Vermeer--all that is known, and then some // Exhibitions galore: on Hellenistic bronzes; on Dance in art; on Art inspired by winter . . . and more.

WORTH READING
"Vermeer as Scientist," Claudia Swan, Times Literary Supplement, January 6, 2016 (review of Eye of the Beholder: Johannes Vermeer, Antoni van Leeuwenhoek, and the Reinvention of Seeing, by Laura J. Snyder). Related: Our review of the Essential Vermeer website in Notes & Comments.

2015

December

Sleigh Ride, c. 1890, Winslow Homer (American, 1836-1910). Oil on canvas, 14.1 x 20.1 in. (35.7 x 51 cm.), Clark Art Institute, Williamstown, Mass. Acquired by Sterling and Francine Clark, 1944. According to the Clark, "This small, unsigned canvas remained in Homer's studio until his death and was perhaps never intended to be exhibited in public" [emphasis ours; more ]. Winslow Homer: Bio / Paintings (540!)

NOTES & COMMENTS
Oliver Sacks, R.I.P. // James Gardner on painter Thomas Hart Benton // Essays by Aristos co-editors in new book // Blood and gore in new film of MacBeth // On P.D.Q., "the last and least offspring" of J.S. Bach // and much more . . .

Wyeth Country: Past, Present, and Future - Michelle Marder Kamhi. About a visit to Chadds Ford, Pa., home to three generations of Wyeths--with a caveat regarding avant-garde intrusions abetted by the related Brandywine River Museum of Art. For Further Reading and Viewing - Louis Torres

EXHIBITION
John Singer Sargent: Previously Unplumbed Depths - M.M.K.
On Sargent: Portraits of Artists and Friends at the Met.
+ For Further Reading and Viewing - L.T.

IN BRIEF
On Catesby Leigh's Objections to the 9/11 Memorial -L.T.
Letter to First Things praising Leigh's assessment (see "Worth Reading" below), while noting a surprising omission.

IN BRIEF
The Classical Tradition, Alive and Well in Long Island City - The Editors
On a modest off-the-beaten track gallery, devoted to Classical Realist art.

WORTH READING
"A Memorial to Forget" by Catesby Leigh (First Things, November 2014). A provocative essay on the 9/11 Memorial by one of America's foremost architecture and art critics. See "In Brief" item above.

November

Young Student Drawing, c. 1738, Jean-Baptiste Siméon Chardin [pronunciation]. Oil on panel, 8 1/4 x 6 3/4 in., Kimbell Art Museum, Fort Worth, Texas

July

Carnation, Lily. Lily, Rose, 1885-1886, John Singer Sargent (1856-1925). Oil on canvas, 68.5 x 60.51 in. (174 x 153.7 cm). Tate Britain. (Click on the girls' faces and other details to enlarge.)

June

May Pastoral, 1907. Willard Leroy Metcalf (1858-1925). Oil on canvas, 36 x 39 in. (91.44 x 99.06 cm). Private collection. [The Athenaeum - for viewing images of Metcalf's other work, enlarged and without annotations, preferably on Firefox ].

March

The Black Brook (also known as The Brook), c. 1908. John Singer Sargent (1856-1925). Oil on canvas, 21-3/4 x 27-1/2 in. (55.25 x 69.85 cm.) Tate Britain. [The Athenaeum - best for viewing images of Sargent's work, enlarged and without annotations, preferably on Firefox .] [JSS Virtual Gallery - very informative and broad in scope, often from a personal perspective.]

NOTES & COMMENTS
Winslow Homer's Birthday // High praise for movie Mr. Turner by art critic Christopher "Do whatever it takes" Knight // Two other critics find scrutinizing Cubism an "arduous task" // Retiring Gardner Museum director's shameless legacy // What one noted choreographer is reading (surprise!) // Shakespeare in Brooklyn, sans accent // and more. . . .

ARISTOS AWARDS
George F. Will, Columnist, Washington Post

WORTH READING
"Lonely Teardrops," Stephen Akey, The Smart Set (from Drexel University), February 4, 2015.

January

Hudson Valley in Winter from Olana, ca. 1870-1871. Frederic Edwin Church (1826-1900). Oil on academy board, 11-3/4 x 18-1/4 in. Olana State Historic Site, New York.

NOTES & COMMENTS
Movie Review: Mr. Turner // New Kamhi Website and Weblog // Don't Ask Wikipedia! (a cautionary tale) // Alchemies and Illuminations (a poetry collection // What Makes a Poem a Poem? // and more. . . .

ARISTOS AWARDS
A.C. Douglas, Independent Music/Culture Weblogger

Anna Hyatt Huntington: A Compendium - Louis Torres
On the life and work of this important twentieth-century sculptor.

POETRY: "A Belief in Alchemy" - Richard H. Behm
By a contemporary American poet.

WORTH READING
"In Praise of Dead White Men," Lindsay Johns, Prospect, September 23, 2010.

2014

May

May Day, 1960, Watercolor, Andrew Wyeth (1917-2009). Private Collection. Other version: May Day, 1960, dry brush on white paper, 12 3/4 x 29 inches. See catalogue entry in Andrew Wyeth: Dry Brush and Pencil Drawings, a loan exhibition organized by the Fogg Art Museum (Harvard University), 1963. See also Aristos Facebook post of May 1, 2014.

Portrait of Anna Vaughn Hyatt [Anna Hyatt Huntington], 1915, Marion Boyd Allen (1862-1941). Collection Maier Museum of Art at Randolph College, Lynchburg, Virginia. The sculptor is depicted working on a model of her Joan of Arc. Huntington's Joan of Arc in Riverside Park, New York City.

April

Spring Blossoms, Montclair, New Jersey* [enlarged ], ca. 1891, by George Inness (1825-1894). Collection, Metropolitan Museum of Art [about the painting]. Other works. / *Best viewed in Firefox.

2013

December
An Urgent Letter to Readers - Louis Torres, Chairman, The Aristos Foundation
* Moonrise (The Rising Moon) [more ], 1865 (10 x 17 in.), by Frederic Edwin Church [other paintings] (American, 1826-1900). Collection: Olana Historical Site.
* NOTES & COMMENTS
"Madness at the Met" (on "multimedia installation" purchased for the collection) // "Our Pithy Posts on Facebook" (a sampling) // What Art Is cited as influential in book on American philosophers by respected critic // On reprint of chapter from What Art Is in major reference volume. // etc.
* The Aristos Awards
Philip Roth, novelist: For his send-up of the pretensions surrounding abstract painting, in American Pastoral
* Has the Artworld Been Kidding Itself about Abstract Art? by Michelle Marder Kamhi
Review of "Inventing Abstraction, 1910-1925" at the Museum of Modern Art--with telling remarks by Director Glen Lowry.
* Vermeer's Girl by the Editors
Review of "Vermeer, Rembrandt, and Hals . . ." at the Frick Collection. On Girl with a Pearl Earring (the painting, the novel, the movie) and much more.
* Barbara Branden: Boswellian Biographer of Ayn Rand by the Editors
In Memoriam: Barbara Branden (1929-2012), Rand's friend and protégé, and author of The Passion of Ayn Rand.
* BEST OF ARISTOS
[From the Print Archives]
Boswell's Johnson--Branden's Rand: The Passion of Ayn Rand in Historical Perspective (May 1987) by Louis Torres

March
* NOTES & COMMENTS
* Bubbles and Beyond: An Ongoing Musical Saga - Alexander Comitas (Eduard de Boer)
A traditionalist composer reflects on avant-garde bias in Holland's Performing Arts Fund--and on the clever musical hoax he cooked up to prove his point.
* Picasso and Matisse: A Contrarian Reappraisal - L.T.
On Picasso's trajectory from academic realism to inscrutable or grotesque Cubism; and on Matisse as a "color genius."
* EXHIBITION: Peerless Piero - M.M.K.
Review of a small exhibition (just seven paintings) at New York's Frick Collection, featuring work by the early Italian Renaissance master Piero della Francesca.
* BEST OF ARISTOS
[From the Print Archives]:
The Misreading of Literature (October 1986).
* WORTH LISTENING TO (AND VIEWING)
J. S. Bach, The Unaccompanied Cello Suites
Suite No.1, Prélude [audio/video]
Suites Nos.1-6 [complete: audio]
Yo-Yo Ma, Cello

2012

December
* NOTES & COMMENTS
* A Jacques Barzun Compendium: Select Links to Online References - L.T.
* IN BRIEF
Bias and Inanity in Arts Funding: A Tale of Two Composers
- M.M.K
* IN BRIEF: EXHIBITION
The Apotheosis of Andy Warhol - M.M.K
August
* INSIDE: Eisenhower Memorial Design Dishonors National Hero
See The Aristos Awards and NOTES & COMMENTS.
* NOTES & COMMENTS
The Aristos Awards [about] [National Civic Art Society, Andrew Ferguson (journalist)]
* Understanding Contemporary Art - M.M.K.
* IN BRIEF: ART EDUCATION
At Least He Spelled My Name Right: A Reply to Professsor Edward O. Stewart - M.M.K.
* IN BRIEF:
What Is "Cave Art"? When Scientists Presume to Know - L.T.
* WORTH READING (AND VIEWING)
Alexandre Cabanel: The Tradition of Beauty (Stephen Gjertson, Stephen Gjertson Galleries, December 17, 2010). Scroll down to see images of diverse works by Cabanel (and others), among them: The Education of Saint Louis (1878), Portrait of a Young Girl (1886), and Love's Messenger (1883).
* WORTH LISTENING TO
Romeo and Juliet (1839), choral symphony, Hector Berlioz (1803-1869) - 1:45:43. The occasional subtitles are in Dutch, but no matter. Just listen! Alto solo from the symphony performed by Shirley Verrett (1931-2010) - 5:44. (See "Barzun and Berlioz" in Notes & Comments.)
June
* NOTES & COMMENTS
February
* NOTES & COMMENTS
* EXHIBITION REVIEW: Picturing the Individual (The Renaissance Portrait from Donatello to Bellini) - The Editors
* Portraiture or Not?--The Work of Chuck Close - The Editors
January
* NOTES & COMMENTS

2011

December
* NOTES & COMMENTS
November
BONNE 104E ANNIVERSAIRE
JACQUES BARZUN !
30 Novembre 2011
* NOTES & COMMENTS
October
* NOTES & COMMENTS
September
* NOTES & COMMENTS
August
* NOTES & COMMENTS
February
Thank You! To each member of that small but loyal band of Aristos readers who responded to our December appeal for support, we extend our heartfelt thanks. All who read these pages for free are in your debt. - The Editors
* NOTES & COMMENTS
* The Aristos Awards [About] [Citations: Daniel Graves (Painter/Teacher), Gerrard Barnes (Ordinary Person)]
* Rattigan's Renaissance (On British playwright Sir Terence Rattigan [1911-1977]. Reprinted from the inaugural issue of Aristos, July 1982.) - Holly Hill
* Terence Rattigan Centenary (News & Information) - The Editors
* IN BRIEF: DENIS DUTTON (1944-2010), R.I.P.
Burying the Hatchet (On correspondence with the author of The Art Instinct, shortly before his untimely death) - L.T.
* IN BRIEF: ART EDUCATION
Engaging Future Art Teachers (On a virtual classroom discussion with graduate students at Nazareth College.) - M.M.K
* WebCommentary - L.T.
* WORTH READING:
Beethoven Visits Cleveland: In 1958, the Colossus Speaks to an
11-Year-Old Boy
(American Scholar, Spring 2010)
* WORTH LISTENING TO:
Two by J. S. Bach, as performed by violinist Nathan Milstein (1903-1992): Sonata No.1 (audio) and Sonata No.3 (audio/color video), from Milstein's last concert at age 82. See also In Portrait , a DVD featuring Milstein.
* WORTH VIEWING:
Portrait Profile of a Woman - Louise Camille Fenne [more ]

2010

November
BONNE 103E ANNIVERSAIRE
JACQUES BARZUN!{JB103} 30 Novembre 2010
* NOTES & COMMENTS
* A Forum on Social Justice Art Education - M.M.K.
* The Great Divide in Art Education - M.M.K.
* The Ad Hom Instinct: A Reply to Denis Dutton (The Art Instinct) - L.T.
* IN BRIEF: "Hijacking" Article Stirs Debate - The Editors
* WebCommentary - L.T.
* The Definition of Art: Ch. 6 (full text, corrected) of What Art Is
* LETTERS:
Tracie Glazer, Visiting Instructor, Nazareth College, Rochester, N.Y.
Reply by Louis Torres to former NAEA president
* WORTH READING:
Chopin's Small Miracles (Wall Street Journal, 3/3/10) - On the Preludes.
Reading in a Digital Age (American Scholar, Spring 2010) - On the novel and the Internet.
* WORTH LISTENING TO:
Beethoven, Variations in F Major, Op. 34 (YouTube, 2/17/07) - Performed by Glenn Gould.
* WORTH VIEWING:
Five Brahms Waltzes in the Manner of Isadora Duncan (YouTube, 9/24/06) - Choreography by Frederick Ashton (1904-1988), danced by Tamara Rojo. Duncan (1877-1927) was a pioneer of modern dance. See also "Dance of a Goddess," Guardian, U.K. (2/21/04) - On Ashton and Duncan.
April
* NOTES & COMMENTS
* The Hijacking of Art Education - M.M.K.
* BOOKS: What Makes Art Art? Does Dennis Dutton Know? (on Dutton's The Art Instinct) - L.T.
* IN BRIEF (EXHIBITIONS): Art In an Intimate Setting (on Becoming and Artist: The Academy in 19th-Century France) - L.T.
* Free-Market Art, c. 1555 (on Titian, Tintoretto and Veronese: Rivals in Renaissance Venice) - Megan Sleeper
* WebCommentary - L.T.

2009

December
* NOTES & COMMENTS
* EXHIBITIONS: Vermeer's Milkmaid: More Than Meets the Eye? - M.M.K.
* The Curator Says It's About Sex - L.T. (on a controversial interpretation of Vermeer's Milkmaid)
* WebCommentary - L.T.
* THE BEST OF ARISTOS
[From the Print Archives]:
Ayn Rand's We the Living: New Life in a Restored Film Version (December 1988).
See Notes & Comments for information on the new two-disc Special Edition DVD.
* WORTH READING:
Is Classical Music Trying to Be Fashionable? (Financial Times, 5/29/09)
Goodbye, Mr. Keating (The Chronicle, 7/7/06)
August
* NOTES & COMMENTS
* WebCommentary [six new entries] - L.T.
* LETTERS:
John Silber, President Emeritus, Boston University
Shelbye J. Reese, Art teacher, Hart County (Ga.) H.S.
* WORTH READING:
First Impressions - What does the world's oldest art say about us? (The New Yorker, 6/23/08). See also "The Earliest Artists" in "Robert Payne: Uncommon Guide to the World of Art" (Aristos, 12/93).
Disputations: The Untouchables (New Republic, 7/14/09) - Why it's blasphemous to alter Shakespeare's words for a modern audience.
July
* NOTES & COMMENTS
* What Hope Is There for Art Education? - M.M.K.
* BOOKS: At His Father's Knee (review of Architecture of the Absurd: How "Genius" Disfigured a Practical Art, by John Silber) - L.T.
* WebCommentary - L.T.
* LETTERS: Samuel Knecht, Chairman, Hillsdale College Department of Art
* WORTH READING:
Thomas Jefferson, Musician (Wall Street Journal, 7/2/09)
Old Masters: Overlooked Women Artists (Joan Altabe, Gadfly Online, 1/14/02)

2008

June
* NOTES & COMMENTS
* What About the Other Face of Contemporary Art? - M.M.K. & L.T.
* EXHIBITIONS: Painting Landscapes, Then and Now (Jacob Collins at Hirschl & Adler Modern) - L.T.
* Museum Miseducation: Perpetuating the Duchamp Myth - M.M.K.
* LETTERS: Julian Spalding, former director, Glasgow Museums, Scotland (responding to review of his Eclipse of Art, 11/07)
* WORTH READING: The Myth of the Mozart Effect (from eSkeptic)

2007

November
* NOTES & COMMENTS
* The Intrepid Mrs. Sally James Farnham: An American Sculptor Rediscovered - Michael P. Reed
* Unveiling Sally James Farnham's Bolívar: A Youthful Memoir - Mariquita MacManus Mullan
* Reflections on "Classical Realism" - Jacob Collins
* Thought and Feeling in Art - M.M.K.
* BOOKS: Artworld Maverick (review of The Eclipse of Art, by Julian Spalding) - L.T.
* EXHIBITIONS:
Richard Serra's Fun House at MoMA - M.M.K
Night and Day at the Morgan - M.M.K.
* LETTERS: Jacob Collins, painter

2006

December
* NOTES & COMMENTS
* The Joys of Light Music - Jesse F. Knight
* The Legacy of Richard Lack - L.T.
* CRITIQUING THE CRITICS: Muddying the Waters of Classical Realism - L.T.
* EXHIBITIONS:
Painting the Nude (Jacob Collins: Figures) - L.T.
Slow Painting? (Slow Painting: A Deliberate Renaissance)
BOOKS: Why Teach Art? (on Art and Cognition, by Arthur Efland) - M.M.K.
* LETTERS: Kurt Leininger (on Edward Hopper vs. Andrew Wyeth)
* THE BEST OF ARISTOS
[From the Print Archives]:
Bouguereau's Legacy, September 1982 - Richard Lack.
On the nineteenth-century French academic painter (see also Letters regarding Bouguereau, below)
The New Dawn of Painting, March 1986 - L.T.
Review of Realism in Revolution: The Art of the Boston Painters (see Note on images).
On Responsible Arts Criticism, August 1984 - L.T.
Letters to New York Times regarding critical bias against Bouguereau, and the absence of letters to the editor in the "Arts and Leisure" section (see Note on image of Bouguereau painting) - L.T.
August
* NOTES & COMMENTS
* EXHIBITIONS: Interpreting Goya - M.M.K.
* CRITIQUING THE CRITICS: First Paragraphs - L.T.
June
* NOTES & COMMENTS
* He Felt Like Shooting Himself--A Postscript (more on the censure of a music critic and two composers) - L.T.
* EXHIBITIONS:
Girodet--A Long-Forgotten Romantic - M.M.K.
John James Audubon--Rara Avis - L.T.
* THE BEST OF ARISTOS
[From the Print Archives]:
The Child as Poet: An Insidious and Injurious Myth (on The Child as Poet: Myth or Reality? by Myra Cohen Livingston), January 1988 - L.T.
On "The Child as Poet: An Insidious and Injurious Myth (Letters by Jacques Barzun and others), December 1988
Robert Payne: Uncommon Guide to the World of Art (on his World of Art), December 1993 - M.M.K
January
* NOTES & COMMENTS
* The Other Face of "Contemporary Art"
* EXHIBITIONS: Van Gogh at His Eye-Opening Best - M.M.K.
* CRITIQUING THE CRITICS: "The Meaning of Life," "Life-Enhancing Ripples," and Other Inanities - L.T.
* BOOKS: Tom Wolfe's Epiphany (on The Painted Word)- L.T.
* LETTERS:
Ken Carpenter, President, Canadian Section, International Association of Art Critics
Currie McCullough, art gallery director
Michael Ome Untiedt, painter

2005

December
* NOTES & COMMENTS
* DANCE: Mark Morris--a Postmodern Traditionalist - M.M.K.
* CRITIQUING THE CRITICS: Santiago Calatrava: An Architect Who Makes . . . Sculpture? - L.T.
* LETTERS:
Philippe Faraut, sculptor
Tom Lauerman
August
* NOTES & COMMENTS
* MUSIC: He Felt Like Shooting Himself (censure of a music critic and two composers) - L.T.
Modernism, Postmodernism, or Neither?--A Fresh Look at "Fine Art" - M.M.K.
* THEATER: Doubtful Pulitzers - M.M.K.
The National Portrait Gallery: Captive to Postmodernism - L.T.
April
* NOTES & COMMENTS
* The Boston Museum of Fine Arts? - M.M.K.
* CRITIQUING THE CRITICS: Art's Porous Borders - L.T.
* EXHIBITIONS: A Window onto the Glory of the Italian Renaissance (from Filippo Lippi to Piero della Francesca) - The Editors
February
[Special Issue on Christo's 'Gates']
* ARISTOS NEWS: Aristos Editors Dub 'Gates' "Bogus Art"
* RELATED LINKS: a, b, and c
* Metropolitan Museum of Art
* Central Park Website
* FROM ARISTOS: "The Sculpture of Central Park," August 2003

2004

December
* NOTES & COMMENTS
* Editors' Note (on "Why We Need a Definition of Art")
* Why We Need a Definition of Art by Kenneth M. Lansing
November
* NOTES & COMMENTS
* When Journalistic Misfeasance Becomes Felony ("The Arts" at the New York Times) - L.T.
May
* NOTES & COMMENTS
* Sitting on Furniture and Other 'Visual Art' Experiences - L.T.
April
* NOTES & COMMENTS
* A Tale of Three Operas - M.M.K.
* Aeschylus's Persians--Lessons for Today? - M.M.K.
March
* NOTES & COMMENTS
* EXHIBITIONS: Messages from the Heart (Love Letters: Dutch Genre Paintings in the Age of Vermeer) - L.T.
February
* NOTES & COMMENTS
* Clueless Critics (& Moderator) - L.T. and M.M.K.
* Scholarly Engagement: When It Is Pleasurable, and When It Is Not (from Journal of Ayn Rand Studies) - L.T.
January
* NOTES & COMMENTS
* Rescuing Art from 'Visual Culture Studies' (based on a talk given at the National Art Education Association) - M.M.K.
* LETTERS: Gerald Ackerman, Professor, Emeritus, Art History, Pomona College (on homoerotic aspects in Thomas Eakins's painting Swimming)

2003

December
* NOTES & COMMENTS
* EXHIBITIONS:
The Dahesh Museum: Reclaiming Academic Art (French Artists in Rome: Ingres to Degas, 1803-1873) - L.T.
Birds, Birds, Birds (Wings of Hope, Wings of Peace) - L.T.
What "Rand's Aesthetics" Is, and Why It Matters (from Journal of Ayn Rand Studies) - M.M.K.
* BOOKS: Not Smart about Art (The Annotated Mona Lisa) - L.T.
* FILM: Three Cheers for Seabiscuit! - M.M.K.
August
* NOTES & COMMENTS
* EXHIBITIONS: Thomas Eakins: Painting Pure Thought (Thomas Eakins) - L.T.
* VIRTUAL TOUR: The Sculpture of Central Park
* LETTERS: William Conger, abstract painter and Professor, Art Theory & Practice, Northwestern University
May
* NOTES & COMMENTS
* Hilton Kramer's Misreading of Abstract Art - M.M.K.
* BOOKS: Judging a Book by Its Cover (review of But Is It Art? by Cynthia Freeland) - L.T.
* EXHIBITIONS: Bill Viola's Passions--No Kinship to Rubens - M.M.K.
* THE ACADEMIC SCENE:
Barnard College: Art Succumbs to Visual Culture - M.M.K.
Columbia University: The Future of the Art World - L.T.
LETTERS FROM THE EDITORS
* WORTH READING:
Avant Garde Against Humanity: The Rise and Fall of Anti-Social Architecture (American Enterprise, 1-2/02) - On the pretensions and failures of contemporary architecture.
A Reader's Manifesto (Atlantic Monthly, 7-8/01) - An exposé of the "growing pretentiousness of American literary prose."
January
* EDITORS' NOTE: Aristos Re-born Online
* Art and Cognition: Mimesis vs. the Avant Garde - M.M.K.
* FILM: Monte Walsh (TNT premiere) - L.T.