Showing 31 articles
The Way of the Artist
Author: Shraddha ShettyApril 20, 2017
“Beauty is truth’s smile, when she beholds her own face in a perfect mirror.” (1) How would you define art? Usually, it is described as a form which is pleasing to the eyes. We call this form ‘beautiful’. Is beauty then related only to the sense of sight, motivated by the viewer’s feeling at the [...]
Hilma Af Klint: Painting the Unseen
Author: Siobhan FarrarNovember 12, 2016
Earlier this year the Serpentine Gallery held an exhibition described by the Telegraph as “a sense of unfathomable mystery”. Hilma Af Klint, a Swedish born female painter who began producing work in the early 1900s, is beginning to be recognised as the first artist ever to have produced a piece of ‘abstract art’. Prior to [...]
Renaissance Art and the Enigmatic Genius of Giorgione
Author: Agostino DominiciJuly 25, 2016
The Royal Academy of Arts has recently put together an excellent exhibition presenting some of the greatest painters of the high Renaissance (c. 1490-1530) in a single show. The main intent of the exhibition was to revisit in particular the enigmatic figure of Giorgione, considered by many to be the founder of Venetian painting of [...]
William Morris, a 19th century idealist
Author: Natalia LemaMay 11, 2016
Although perhaps most famous as an English textile designer, William Morris (24 March 1834 – 3 October 1896) was also an artist, writer, translator and socialist activist. Inspired by the philosophy of John Ruskin (art critic and champion of the Pre-Raphaelites), Morris was against the tasteless industrial production of arts and promoted the hand-crafted art [...]
Beauty in stone – the Greek Miracle
Author: Agostino DominiciJanuary 23, 2016
I have just learned that in the next few weeks the British Museum will be launching a major exhibition on Greek art – Beauty in the human form. Why is it that, despite the passage of twenty-five centuries, the beauty of Greek sculpture still commands so much attention? In what is sometimes called the Greek [...]
The Mask – a sacro-magical art form
Author: Agostino DominiciJanuary 13, 2016
The making and use of masks dates back several millennia. It is one of the most ancient and widespread art forms – one which has captured the imagination of countless people around the world. On a recent visit to Portobello Market in London, I found myself confronted by a remarkable display of antique Balinese masks. [...]
Do We Need Tradition?
Author: Gilad SommerDecember 3, 2014
The word ‘tradition’ comes from the Latin trans + dare: deliver, give across. It refers to the transmission of experience which lies at the base of every established civilization. Today, however, tradition has become a synonym of something which is old-fashioned and obsolete, nothing more than an interesting relic of the past to be put [...]