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Immersione nella Roma del vizio
Michelangelo Merisi (detto Il Caravaggio) fu senza dubbio uno dei più grandi pittori del XVIIo secolo. Benché Caravaggio sia stato famoso per il suo chiaroscuro e i suoi giocchi di luce, era anche riconosciuto per la sua vita tumultuosa. Cortigiano della Roma degli anni 1600, nervoso, sempre pronto a litigare, Caravaggio fu costretto a fuggire dopo l’assassinio di Ranuccio Tommasini durante un gioco. Da qua, comincia una vita sregolata, passando da Napoli, Malta o ancora Palermo. Profilo dell’artista ribelle. Con le opere di Caravaggio facciamo un salto nel tempo. Ci ritroviamo nei bassifondi, nel volto nascosto della Roma dell’inizio del XVIIo secolo. Caravaggio ci mostra un’aspetto della capitale italiana molto…
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Kunst für zwischendurch
Man kennt das: man sitzt in einem Flugzeug, der Start verzögert sich und die Langeweile ist bereits mit Händen zu greifen. Man müsste eigentlich dringend zu einem Termin oder erwartet einfach nur sehnlichst den wohlverdienten Urlaub, doch der Pilot gibt nur eine Hinhaltenachricht nach der anderen durch. Hebt man dann endlich ab, wird es aber auch nicht besser. Die typischen Beschäftigungen während eines Fluges – nur halb die schon tausend mal gehörten Sicherheitsanweisungen verfolgen, einen kurzen Blick in die in den Vordersitz geklemmten Hefte werfen, die überteuerten Verkaufsangebote so gut es geht ignorieren und das kaum zu erschmeckende Essen genießen – werden so oft zu den spannendsten Momenten eines Langstreckenfluges.…
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Io ho un sogno
Io ho un sogno (tramite tanti). È quello di avere una grande biblioteca nella mia futura casa. Una stanza piena di libri, libri d’arte, libri più commerciali, libri di collezione, tutto. Certo, non come queste grandi biblioteche che vediamo nei film perché non me lo posso permettere magari se mai incontro un bello ricco ragazzo! Anche se viviamo in una epoca dove gli ebooks e il digitale si stanno sviluppando, e devo ammettere che sono pratichi, se vuoi leggere viaggiando non bisogna portare 30 kili di libri, una tablet è sufficiente, devo dire che, io amo i libri perché un libro è un’oggetto bellissimo che si deve conservare. Rappresenta una…
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Masculine/ Masculine?
When we hear ‘nude’, for most of us the image of a female body would immediately spring to mind. One of Titian’s fleshy, languorous beauties perhaps, or self-possessed Olympia and her hostile black cat. This is unsurprising, considering the proliferation of female nudes dominating art in the recent centuries. Before the 19th century, however, the male nude was considered much more important to artists. The male body was thought more attractive and the more important of the human forms. So much so that looking at many works from the Italian Renaissance, you would be forgiven for seeing men with a couple of breasts stuck on for fun, rather than a…
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Why the Soul of Surrealism is in India
If all the world’s a stage, and all the men and women merely players, then where do the Surrealists sit? According to my imagined global map of where art movements should be located, the Impressionists are based in the South of France, the Blaue Reiter in Germany, the Nabis in Stockholm, Cubism in Iceland, the Old Masters (da Vinci, Raphael, Michelangelo, etc.) in Italy, Aestheticism in Decorative Arts in Shanghai, Digital Art in Oslo, and Lyrical Abstraction in Tokyo. Of course, this is entirely subjective, but I think that certain countries, or cities, really do go hand in hand with the style or ideals that various art movements represent.
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Erase the line between Genius and Insanity!
Being labelled a genius puts one precariously close to being pigeonholed as insane. Where insanity is recognised as the repetition of the same action over and over, is genius not finally achieving some far-fetched goal, whether it is in science, maths, or art? History is littered with larger than life talents that we still learn about in our studies and discuss with our peers: Einstein, Michelangelo, Da Vinci, etc. Artists made sketches and drafts of the way the human body works, whether in physical labour or dancing, to better portray the human condition in their paintings. Michelangelo and Degas are not only famous for the Sistine Chapel and Impressionism respectively,…
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The Face that Launched a Thousand Ships
It was Christopher Marlowe who coined the infamous line regarding Helen of Troy; ‘the face that launched a thousand ships’. I have to say, I do feel sorry for Helen! Put in a position where she was, effectively, responsible for a ten-year war, loss of lives, and the sacking of a city. I ask: was it even her choice to leave Menelaus? Sure, the story goes that she and Paris fell in love and escaped Sparta and her husband by fleeing to Troy. But, really, what if this wasn’t the true story? What if she was actually in love with Menelaus, and was just kidnapped by Paris? Admittedly, if Paris…
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Living Marble Masterpieces
I grew up about an hour outside of Philadelphia – a hub of culture, art, and United States history. Being introduced to the arts and science (I still, in my late twenties, love to touch things in the Franklin Institute) at a young age, Auguste Rodin’s sculptures are amongst my earlier memories. I always stared at them the longest and hardest, waiting for them to breathe. You should also know I stood quite a distance away because works like Adam (bronze, modelled 1880-1881) are fairly frightening for a ten year old. It’s said that marble is the most flesh-like material; naturally cold and hard, it needs to be warm and…
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