The teenaged Rodin applied for admission to the École des Beaux-Arts. But: “Rodin, who competed for the first time at seventeen, failed to gain admission — not once but three times within eighteen months. The humiliation of these rebuffs was scarcely lessened by the fact that the examiners acknowledged his gift for drawing but rejected
Art school reject: Auguste Rodin Read More »
(Reprising this post on my favorite biography.) I finished Anthony Holden’s Tchaikovsky (Random House, 1995), an outstandingly well-written account of the great composer’s life. Here is an indication of the young Pyotr’s aptitude for music: “Tchaikovsky’s parents entertained a Polish pianist of their acquaintance, who naturally gave an evening concert for the thin line of
Anthony Holden’s Tchaikovsky Read More »
An Artist’s View: Michael Newberry on Key Works of Art in History Michael Newberry, is an avant-garde figurative painter, writer and teacher promoting evolutionary flourishing through his work. He does this through advances in color theory, body language, symbolism, and composition. Michael is the author of two books released in 2021: Evolution Through Art and Newberry
Jan Vermeer | “Girl with a Red Hat” (1667) [Newberry on Great Art series] Read More »
The published series now includes thirty episodes, of which the first ten are: 1 Immanuel Kant on the limits of reason. Critique of Pure Reason. 2 William James on pacifism and defeating militarism. “The Moral Equivalent of War.” 3 Galileo Galilei on not persecuting scientists, “Letter to the Grand Duchess Christina.” 4 Arachne and Athena
The first ten *Philosophers, Explained* Read More »
Exhibit A: Suppose one is studying Plato’s philosophy and encounters this question: Are the Forms to be taken as metaphysical realities or as rhetorical devices? One notes that for years scholars have informally discussed the issue. A formal debate is then proposed. Immediately, one observes this among some Platonists: 1.This should not be debated! Plato
Debate or not? A psychological red flag Read More »
Who are the great philosophers, and what makes them great? Episodes: The full playlist. Stephen R. C. Hicks, Ph.D., is Professor of Philosophy at Rockford University, USA, and has had visiting positions at Georgetown University in Washington, D.C., the University of Kasimir the Great in Poland, Oxford University’s Harris Manchester College in England, and Jagiellonian
The last line of Camus’s famous essay is: “We must imagine Sisyphus happy.” But why must we? He is condemned to roll a boulder up a hill, repeatedly. What pointless exertion. What futility. Just like most people’s lives. Here is my reading of Camus’s classic text, with explanation: Related: The full Philosophers, Explained series, including
Why must we imagine Sisyphus happy? Read More »
“I love to sail forbidden seas, and land on barbarous coasts.” (Herman Melville, Moby Dick, Chapter 1) “It is the mark of a free man not to live at another’s beck and call.” (Aristotle, Rhetoric 1367a30) “One profits more by the mistakes one makes off one’s own bat than by doing the right thing on
The soul of adventure — quotations Read More »