Healing brush
Painting is seeing. Seeing is memetic, as Aristotle rightly said. Memesis means imitating, like Beethoven imitating the joyful sounds of spring, like the poet imitating the emotions engendered while ambling…
Caught cold in San Antonio
Whether it was the two flights to San Antonio, the graduation ceremony in the cold rain, or the two flights home, somewhere I caught a brutal cold. Ten days of…
Art lovers–bah!
I am not an art lover. I have no patience for those who wax elegant about art. Those who speak reverently on art as the new religion set my teeth…
Tissot etchings at Cleveland
I think James Tissot (1836–1902) is a much better artist than I once believed. I had lumped him with Sargent and other late-19th-century artists who I consider superficial and fashionable.…
Do not be an art appreciator
When I hear someone say, “I appreciate art,” I cringe. The speaker means, “I understand that this boring subject is somehow important to you,” or, “I see how much effort…
Turn toward realism?
Realism is becoming popular once again in painting studios. This development is welcome but it’s also sobering. Looking at the growing number of realists demonstrates how much has been lost.…
Good art books: David to Delacroix, The Rise of Romantic Mythology
Dorothy Johnson has written several books related to David and the Neoclassicists. David to Delacroix: The Rise of Romantic Mythology is probably her best work. I think about this little…
Death of history painting
At the end of the eighteenth century, art flowed along several currents. History painting, the primary current, was in its heyday and remained the undisputed champion until ‘history’ intruded into…