artist at work
“If I didn’t have my camera to remind me constantly,... Read more →
On Images of The Prophet
The author explores images of the Prophet Muhammad through creating an historical and cultural timeline sourced from Islamic texts, book art, and paintings. I post this as a point of interest and insight to learn, not for debate. I am not a Muslim, I am not knowledgeable, I offer no opinion, no answers. I do have deep respect and […]
A Scandalous Makeover at Chartres
“Carried away by the splendors of the moment, I did not initially realize that something was very wrong. I had noticed the floor-to-ceiling scrim-covered scaffolding near the crossing of the nave and transepts, but had assumed it was routine maintenance. But my more attentive wife, the architectural historian Rosemarie Haag Bletter—who as a Columbia doctoral candidate took courses on Romanesque sculpture with the legendary Meyer Schapiro and Gothic architecture with the great medievalist Robert Branner—immediately noticed that large areas of the sanctuary’s deep gray limestone surface had been painted…”
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Chartres Cathedral Make-Work Scheme
It’s a trend… Chartres Cathedral Make-Work Scheme A Columbia University trained architectural historian, Martin Filler, has reported (A Scandalous Makeover at Chartres) his great shock when visiting Chartres Cathedral to discover that: “In 2009, amid a rising wave of other refurbishments of medieval buildings, the French Ministry of Culture’s Monuments Historiques division embarked on […]
Michelangelo’s disintegrating frescoes
“Without having seen the Sistine Chapel one can form no appreciable idea of what one man is capable of achieving.” —Johann Wolfgang Goethe, 23 August 1787, The article, and title of this post, is below The Restoration of 1984-94 segment. It is about the current alarming state of the Michelangelo’s Sistine Chapel ceiling. It is […]
Gojira
“Godzilla does not feel emotion…Godzilla is emotion” I imagine that you find this ridiculous. Far from it. This documentary from the BBC begins with the birth of the Godzilla phenomenon as an embodiment of the collective anxiety, helplessness and rage of the Japanese people after WWII. As they fell prey to the American atomic program in […]
Medieval Sephardic Music | performance
Medieval Jewish music of Spain. Beautiful. Exotic to our ears, ethereal and rhythmic. Above is a long playlist of 26 pieces of Spanish Sephardic music. The first performances are by “Ensemble Fontegara”. They are period pieces featured at the beginning of the playlist. I have not listened to the entire list, I love their work. It […]
Cha Qu 茶趣: How water affects the taste of tea
Chinese see everything in the world as a manifestation of either a male or female principle. For example, water is female, which means tea must be male. A funny thing is that when a boy chases or flirts with a girl, it is called “to brew – pao 泡” in Chinese. Well, if water is female, this means a […]
This Moment
“Drink your tea slowly and reverently, as if it is the axis on which the earth revolves – slowly, evenly, without rushing toward the future. Live the actual moment. Only this moment is life.” ~ Thich Nhat Hanh Thich Nhat Hanh Thich Nhat Hanh, now in his 88th year, is a gentle, humble monk […]
Whitman in color
A stunning piece. A colorized portrait of Walt Whitmanm. So well done, long surpassing the pink color of past works. Very life-like, especially the transparent blue of his eyes. by artist Dana Keller Related articles Colorized Photos That Bring Walt Whitman, Charlie Chaplin, Helen Keller & Mark Twain Back […]
Frank Lloyd Wright master work
Spectacular, sweeping, graphic animation tour of the house in Fallingwater over Bear Run organically emerging from the ground to form a beautifully completed structure and a visual tour. Fallingwater over Bear Run. The Kaufmann House. Commissioned and designed in 1935. Like this:Like Loading…
