{"id":10090,"date":"2022-03-08T17:03:35","date_gmt":"2022-03-08T22:03:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/thomasparkerhudson.com\/wordpress\/?p=10090"},"modified":"2022-03-08T17:07:33","modified_gmt":"2022-03-08T22:07:33","slug":"blind","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thomasparkerhudson.com\/wordpress\/2022\/03\/blind\/","title":{"rendered":"Blind?"},"content":{"rendered":"

A reader, responding to a recent post<\/a>, asked if my recurring problem with ‘seeing’ is physical. I do wear glasses these days but no. The seeing I’m describing is seeing with judgment. <\/em>This is aesthetic judgment that engages beauty. <\/p>\n

Unfortunately, when most people hear the word “beauty,” they think of Playboy models. While this example is beauty adjacent, to hold that beautiful women (or men) define beauty falls wide of the mark–by a large margin. It is like saying that blood circulation is life. While true, to maintain that blood circulation defines the whole of life is ludicrous.<\/p>\n

Read more<\/span>In the Studio Oct. 14 2012<\/span><\/a><\/div>

What I mean by beauty are things like Michaelangelo’s Pieta<\/em>, David’s Death of Marat<\/em>, and Brueghel’s Hunters in the Snow<\/em>.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Read more<\/span>In the Studio—10\/28\/12<\/span><\/a><\/div>

In art, aesthetic judgment proceeds all other types of judgment; it’s what makes an artist an artist. You can train your eye, for example, to be a true measure of shape and form but this still falls short of defining beauty. Without aesthetic judgment, you will produce the correct and lifeless drawings of which we are all familiar.<\/p>\n

Aesthetic judgment also drives the decisions necessary to finish a painting. When is a painting good enough? When is a painting finished? (It’s finished when I say it’s finished!) <\/p>\n

Read more<\/span>Hurricane Sandy<\/span><\/a><\/div>

Aesthetic judgment is what is referenced when people speak of their muse or the muses. The muses are real, as is beauty. Realism is not the imitation of nature but the imitation of beauty<\/strong>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A reader, responding to a recent post, asked if my recurring problem with ‘seeing’ is physical. I do wear glasses these days but no. The seeing I’m describing is seeing with judgment. This is aesthetic judgment that engages beauty.  Unfortunately, when most people hear the word “beauty,” they think of Playboy models. While this example […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":61,"featured_media":10094,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[251,139,1],"tags":[497],"class_list":["post-10090","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-aesthetics","category-bio","category-uncategorized","tag-aesthetics"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/thomasparkerhudson.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/hunters2.jpg?fit=800%2C569&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":9695,"url":"https:\/\/thomasparkerhudson.com\/wordpress\/2021\/07\/its-all-been-done-before\/","url_meta":{"origin":10090,"position":0},"title":"It’s all been done before","author":"Tom Hudson","date":"July 26, 2021","format":false,"excerpt":"Yesterday, I determined to finish Woman in White-stripped Dress. Even though I failed, I was excited to get back at it again today. This afternoon, I ran out of gas before finishing it. Oh well. Sometimes I can force myself to continue after I'm gassed but there is a chance\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "aesthetics"","block_context":{"text":"aesthetics","link":"https:\/\/thomasparkerhudson.com\/wordpress\/category\/aesthetics\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/thomasparkerhudson.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/07\/2021-7-25-studio.jpg?fit=1200%2C900&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/thomasparkerhudson.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/07\/2021-7-25-studio.jpg?fit=1200%2C900&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/thomasparkerhudson.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/07\/2021-7-25-studio.jpg?fit=1200%2C900&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/thomasparkerhudson.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/07\/2021-7-25-studio.jpg?fit=1200%2C900&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/thomasparkerhudson.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/07\/2021-7-25-studio.jpg?fit=1200%2C900&ssl=1&resize=1050%2C600 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":12563,"url":"https:\/\/thomasparkerhudson.com\/wordpress\/2023\/07\/do-not-be-an-art-appreciator\/","url_meta":{"origin":10090,"position":1},"title":"Do not be an art appreciator","author":"Tom Hudson","date":"July 4, 2023","format":false,"excerpt":"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 you put into this pointless activity.\" If you say, \"But that's not me! I really do appreciate art; I visit\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "aesthetics"","block_context":{"text":"aesthetics","link":"https:\/\/thomasparkerhudson.com\/wordpress\/category\/aesthetics\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/thomasparkerhudson.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/07\/nggallery_import\/The_News.jpg?fit=566%2C775&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/thomasparkerhudson.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/07\/nggallery_import\/The_News.jpg?fit=566%2C775&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/thomasparkerhudson.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/07\/nggallery_import\/The_News.jpg?fit=566%2C775&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":12445,"url":"https:\/\/thomasparkerhudson.com\/wordpress\/2023\/06\/turn-toward-realism\/","url_meta":{"origin":10090,"position":2},"title":"Turn toward realism?","author":"Tom Hudson","date":"June 25, 2023","format":false,"excerpt":"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. Much of it is Impressionism-adjacent which is not a good path. And for many new realists, Sargent has an oversize\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "aesthetics"","block_context":{"text":"aesthetics","link":"https:\/\/thomasparkerhudson.com\/wordpress\/category\/aesthetics\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":14087,"url":"https:\/\/thomasparkerhudson.com\/wordpress\/2025\/12\/healing-brush\/","url_meta":{"origin":10090,"position":3},"title":"Healing brush","author":"Tom Hudson","date":"December 28, 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"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 around a Scottish glen, like the dancer imitating the idea of loneliness. While you think about imitating an emotion or\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "aesthetics"","block_context":{"text":"aesthetics","link":"https:\/\/thomasparkerhudson.com\/wordpress\/category\/aesthetics\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/thomasparkerhudson.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/nggallery_import\/barefoot-janey.png?fit=600%2C855&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/thomasparkerhudson.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/nggallery_import\/barefoot-janey.png?fit=600%2C855&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/thomasparkerhudson.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/nggallery_import\/barefoot-janey.png?fit=600%2C855&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":11864,"url":"https:\/\/thomasparkerhudson.com\/wordpress\/2022\/12\/death-of-history-painting\/","url_meta":{"origin":10090,"position":4},"title":"Death of history painting","author":"Tom Hudson","date":"December 31, 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"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 contemporary events with the French Revolution. This current continued into the middle of the nineteenth century with Delacroix. Another important\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "aesthetics"","block_context":{"text":"aesthetics","link":"https:\/\/thomasparkerhudson.com\/wordpress\/category\/aesthetics\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/thomasparkerhudson.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/12\/108857995_muerte-marat.jpg?fit=800%2C1062&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/thomasparkerhudson.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/12\/108857995_muerte-marat.jpg?fit=800%2C1062&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/thomasparkerhudson.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/12\/108857995_muerte-marat.jpg?fit=800%2C1062&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/thomasparkerhudson.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/12\/108857995_muerte-marat.jpg?fit=800%2C1062&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":2867,"url":"https:\/\/thomasparkerhudson.com\/wordpress\/2014\/01\/cold-beauty-of-frozen-lake-erie\/","url_meta":{"origin":10090,"position":5},"title":"Cold beauty of frozen Lake Erie","author":"Tom Hudson","date":"January 3, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"The long shadows from the afternoon sun transforms Lake Erie into an otherworldly landscape. During the winter the sun is in the southwestern sky. In the summer it moves over the lake; by June it would be visible in the photo's left edge. The predicted high temperate for next Tuesday\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Bio"","block_context":{"text":"Bio","link":"https:\/\/thomasparkerhudson.com\/wordpress\/category\/bio\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/thomasparkerhudson.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/01\/winter-1-3-2014.jpg?fit=555%2C297&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/thomasparkerhudson.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/01\/winter-1-3-2014.jpg?fit=555%2C297&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/thomasparkerhudson.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/01\/winter-1-3-2014.jpg?fit=555%2C297&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x"},"classes":[]}],"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/s2Gw6F-blind","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thomasparkerhudson.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10090","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/thomasparkerhudson.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/thomasparkerhudson.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thomasparkerhudson.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/61"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thomasparkerhudson.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=10090"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/thomasparkerhudson.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10090\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":10098,"href":"https:\/\/thomasparkerhudson.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10090\/revisions\/10098"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thomasparkerhudson.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/10094"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thomasparkerhudson.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=10090"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thomasparkerhudson.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=10090"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thomasparkerhudson.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=10090"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}