Rage as a tool

Rage is an emotion, and as such it can be useful or dangerous. It’s up to us to figure out how to use it adequately. Many people would use other techniques to funnel their rage so that it wasn’t destructive.

Some would run, lift weights, or apply themselves in sports.

Others would internalize it, drink, brawl, or jut be an asshole.

Still others funnel that rage into music.

Those of us who are from the United States, or from the Domain, or have survived a broken marriage, a bad boss, or a corrupt government have all experienced real cold rage. I know I have. And I do my best to control it, least my “incredible hulk” comes out.

This post is going to be a tad different.

And it isn’t for everyone. What this post contains is some pretty harsh rock-n-roll music that has often served me (personally) in releasing and dealing with rage.

As such, it’s a bid dangerous and a tad toxic if you are not ready for it.

If you are not ready, then just skip this article and wait for a calmer and gentler post tomorrow. But if you are ready, or willing, or adventuresome, then have some fun…

BUT DON’T SAY I DIDN’T WARN YOU

Here we go…

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The art of Sam Yang

Normally, digital art doesn’t really do anything for me. But this art is different. Please kindly enjoy his work. I hope it makes you feel clean, and new, and reminds you of special times, like it does for me.

It speaks to me; my God, it really, really does.

Sam Yang is a digital artist. He lives in Toronto. He has a Youtube channel, an Instagram account and a patrean account. He draws digitally. That guy focused more on the characters.

Although he is quite young, he makes great drawings that can be used in many places! His talent is at an uncommon value. His drawings can be used in many areas such as computer games and animes. He has a youtube channel. And he shares the stages of his drawings on this channel. Thus, it sets an example for people who are interested in drawing like him. This generosity he has done also gives him a reputation!

More: Instagram, Patreon

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Conclusion

I love his art. It’s special and he has real skill.

It speaks to me. It takes me to other places, and carries me away. That is special, and unique. And thus, I present this here. I hope that you have enjoyed this article.

Do you want more?

I have more articles like this one in my Art Index here…

ART

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MM Articles & Links

Master Index

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You’ll not find any big banners or popups here talking about cookies and privacy notices. There are no ads on this site (aside from the hosting ads – a necessary evil). Functionally and fundamentally, I just don’t make money off of this blog. It is NOT monetized. Finally, I don’t track you because I just don’t care to.

  • You can start reading the articles by going HERE.
  • You can visit the Index Page HERE to explore by article subject.
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  • You can find out more about the author HERE.
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The art of Myeong-Minho and his portraits of love and relationships

All of these Earth-shattering events have really eaten up my time and had to; and forced me, to put important articles / posts on the “back-burner”. Here, in this article, we are going to explore the beauty of art. Oh, don’t give me that look. Art is wonderful and stupendous. And I happen to treasure it.

I hope you enjoy this article as much as I enjoyed putting it together.

South Korea is full of talented artists, and Myeong-Minho is one of them. This man is slowly but surely taking over the hearts of people all over the internet with his beautiful drawings. And after looking at them, you might feel the beauty of falling in love yourself.

Myeong-Minho draws cozy, intimate daily moments of a cute couple’s lives – from cooking, napping together, to travel.

The cat that can be seen in most of Myeong drawing ideas is inspired by his real-life cat Dorim.

But the art is about family.

And it is about relationships.

It is about feelings.

And it is about community.

“Dorim has a lot of charm and playfulness like a puppy,” illustrator wrote on his Instagram.

“He is really cute and pretty, except for his hand and claws.”

Myeong-Minho adopted the kitten when in the early fall of 2016, a woman came to him when he was drawing near The Dorimcheon river and asked him to hold the cat for a few minutes but then disappeared.

And so the kitten left in the artist’s hands.

Myeong-Minho is an amazing illustrator whose warm and cute drawings are worth the praise and recognition, so take a look at some of his creations below.

And so let me present this…

And this…

And so let me present this…

And this…

And so let me present this…

This too…

And so let me present this…

And this…

Yes. So many beautiful prints.

Ah, it’s only the “tip of the iceberg”.

Here’s one about COVID…

So many drawings to select from.

This is only a small sampling.

Imagine these prints all over your home…

Looks like paradise? It’s reality. If you allow it.

If you allow these images in your life, they will manifest for you.

Understand the power of thought.

It bends your reality and changes it.

It’s quantum physics 101.

To understand how to control your life, you have to realize this basic principle.

Thought is everything.

Control your thoughts and you control your life.

How do you feel after looking at all these drawings?

Do you feel sad? Gloomy? Or, do you feel positive and hopeful?

Whatever your age, and whatever your situation, I promise you that there is a GREAT life waiting for you.

Whether alone with a sunshine monkey daughter…

Or getting old and grouchy…

We all have some traits that define us in a good way. Embrace them.

You deserve it. You really, really do.

The art is about a boy and a girl falling in love.

Then, they get married and set up a home.

Then, they have a child.

And a kitty cat.

And another child.

And then they grow old together.

The art carries me away to happy times.

And I hope, that it carries you also to good places and happy times.

Have a wonderful day!

Do you want more?

I have more posts like this in my (underutilized, and rarely visited) Art Index. Please go there to see some more beauty…

ART

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Articles & Links

Master Index

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  • You can start reading the articles by going HERE.
  • You can visit the Index Page HERE to explore by article subject.
  • You can also ask the author some questions. You can go HERE to find out how to go about this.
  • You can find out more about the author HERE.
  • If you have concerns or complaints, you can go HERE.
  • If you want to make a donation, you can go HERE.

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The art of Jacob Collins

Jacob Collins is a living artist that I consider to be very talented and quite the master of the medium. His works speak to me, and I would like to share them with you. This is a simple article where we enjoy the art for the sake of beauty and nothing much else.

Please let’s enjoy the beauty of his art, for the sake of enjoyment only. Consider how you feel when you look at the paintings. I find art to be satisfying to me personally.

His art speaks to me. Like this first painting.

Nantucket Pines

Nantucket Pines

Candlemaker’s Stove

Candlemaker’s Stove

Seated Nude

Seated Nude

Trequanda Hillside

Trequanda Hillside

Tracks in Snow

Tracks in Snow

Calle des Hornes

Calle des Hornes

Grimaldi in Studio

Grimaldi in Studio

Interior

Interior

Reclining Nude

Reclining Nude

Conclusion

Art isn’t a singular painting that some wealthy patron buys and hoards inside his house. It is everything.

It is the dew on the grass in the morning, to the sleek lines of your clothes iron. It is the smile on your pet’s face when it is napping after a meal, and the warmth of a pile of clothes out of the dryer on a cold, cold Winter day.

I just wanted to share these images with you all. I hope that you enjoyed them.

Have you ever wanted to try your hand at painting? It’s not hard. You watch a few Bob Ross videos and get started. It’s fun, and a great way to relax and pass the time.

I recommend it wholeheartedly.

Art comes in many forms. From cooking up a delicious meal, to planting a garden, to woodworking a fence or mailbox. I for one enjoy art in all it’s many forms.

I hope that you too appreciate art. Whether it is a painted image, or a delicious steak, or maybe a nice handmade rocking chair, or perhaps a hand made whimsy for your front yard.

Savor the creative aspects that lie inside of us all.

Do you want more?

I have more posts like this in my Art Index here…

ART

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Articles & Links

Master Index

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  • You can start reading the articles by going HERE.
  • You can visit the Index Page HERE to explore by article subject.
  • You can also ask the author some questions. You can go HERE to find out how to go about this.
  • You can find out more about the author HERE.
  • If you have concerns or complaints, you can go HERE.
  • If you want to make a donation, you can go HERE.

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Defending your Life

There’s a great movie from the 1990’s titled “Defending your life”. It’s a fantasy movie about what it is like when you die, and you have to justify the kind of life that you had when you were alive. It’s a fun movie, a lite comedy romance. It’s fun. But I want to look at it from are more serious angle. And that is what we are going to do here.

Advertising executive Daniel Miller dies in an auto accident and finds himself in Judgment City. He is taken to a hotel to rest, and the next day he takes a tram downtown to meet his lawyer, Bob Diamond (Rip Torn). Diamond informs him that there is to be a five-day examination of his life to decide whether he has overcome fear. At a comedy club he meets Julia and they fall in love. But as their trials progress, it becomes clear Julia has overcome fear and is moving on, while Daniel seems doomed to go back to Earth.

Diana Barahona

It is Albert Brooks‘ notion in this film that after death we pass on to a sort of heavenly way station where we are given the opportunity to defend our actions during our most recent lifetime.

The process is like an American courtroom, with a prosecutor, defense attorney and judge, but the charges against us are never quite spelled out. The basic question seems to be, are we sure we did our best, given our opportunities?

Defending your life.

In the movie, Brooks plays Dan Miller, a successful exec who takes delivery on a new BMW and plows it into a bus while trying to adjust the CD player. He awakens in a place named Judgment City, which resembles those blandly modern office and hotel complexes around big airports. He’s given a room in a clean but spartan place that looks franchised by Motel 6.

Defending your life.

At first Dan is understandably dazed at finding himself dead, but the staff takes good care of him. He’s dressed in a flowing gown, whisked around the property on a bus, and told he can eat all he wants in the cafeteria (where the food is delicious but contains no calories).

Then he meets his genial, avuncular defense attorney (Rip Torn), and his hard-edged prosecutor (Lee Grant). It’s time for the courtroom, in which we see flashbacks to Dan’s life as he tries to explain himself.

Defending your life.

… (and) he falls in love with another sojourner in Judgment City.

Defending your life.

She is a sweet, open-faced, serene young woman named Julia and played, of course, by Meryl Streep, who is the only actress capable of providing the character’s Streepian qualities. They fall into like with one another.

Dan visits her hotel and is dismayed to discover that she has much better facilities than he does – Four Seasons instead of Motel 6 – and he wonders if maybe your hotel assignment is a clue about how well you lived your past life. But nobody in Judgment City will give him a straight answer to a question like that.

Defending your life.

The best thing about the movie, I think, is the notion of Judgment City itself. Doesn’t it make sense that heaven, for each society, would be a place much like the Earth that it knows? We’re still stuck with images of angels playing harps, which worked fine for Renaissance painters. But isn’t our modern world ready for images in which the angels look like Rotarians and CEOs?

Defending your life.

The movie is funny in a warm, fuzzy way, and it has a splendidly satisfactory ending.

MM Thoughts

The movie is a fiction.

But it does get a number of things right.

  • Review Process. There is always a review process once you exit the physical reality and return to the non-physical reality.
  • Judgement of your Actions. Yes, you are judged by your actions. There is no escape from that.
  • No Golden Harps. Forget the notions of golden harps, big diamonds and all those other images that are so conventional regarding the non-physical reality. There are other “things” in the non-physical reality, and you might be surprised how “futuristic”, and yet “conventional” they actually are. As well as the enormous scale of them.
  • Not immediately returned via reincarnation. Certainly the narrative from “Alien Interview” cautions that consciousness is immediately processed and thrown back to the physical Earth reality, without memories, but that is not my experience. Nor is that the experience of Dr. Newton.
  • Planning is required. A return back to the earth physical reality requires work, planning, and coordination. The only way that consciousness can return back and enter a new born body quickly is if the consciousness is being “punished” in some way. Like for attempting suicide or something like that.

How do I know all this? Well, as I have stated that there are channels, and to continue my ELF interactions it is (was) with another entity and that provided me insight. Not to mention that the EBP provides <redacted>.

Defending your life.

I strongly urge people to watch this movie.

Because there are so many things in the non-physical world that resemble what we have in the physical world that you would be astounded.

Also you all need to recognize that the overall sequence is obtain experiences, die, review, map out more experiences, and repeat.

Defending your life.

The general human on Earth sequence

  • Birth in a body
  • Obtain experiences.
  • Die.
  • Life review.
  • Map out what is next.
  • If Earth as a human, then…
  • Repeat.

Alien Interview

I have discussed the book “Alien Interview” elsewhere. I personally believe that it is exactly what it says it is.

I believe [1] the back-story that the documents were actual transcripts of an interrogation with a type-1 grey extraterrestrial in 1947. I also [2] believe that everything that was recorded and written down are what the extraterrestrial said, and further, [3]I believe that it was mostly truthful and [4] saying things truthfully based on it’s understanding in 1947. All in a way or manner that [5] would be understood by the post world-war II generals and leaders gathered at the Roswell military base.

However, as I parsed the book in great detail, I came to realize the there were some elements within the statements that could easily be misunderstood.

Earth as a “Prison Planet” and us convicts and felons within it, are immediately recycled back to Earth upon death, over and over and there is no escape…

…however, it listed numerous people who have actually managed to escape this environment. One has total recall and made great contributions to this region and was reassigned elsewhere in the universe.

So, obviously there ARE avenues of egress.

Further, this “Alien Interview” event spawned the creation of MAJestic shortly afterwards, and it enlisted folk like myself (MM) and we were tasked with “participating in events that were bigger than any government, and that mattered to the entire human species”.

For the period from the creation of MAJestic to today, the type-1 greys (and a number of other species) have been working with MAJestic towards certain objectives, goals, and directives.

I cannot help but believe that there has been some substantial changes in the situation of 1947 to today in 2021. And these changes have manifested in many ways. Such as [1] the ability to map out the topography of Heaven like Dr. Newton has (HERE), and [2] the recovery of memories of reincarnation that we see from time to time, and [3] the growth of the “new age” movements.

Whether the “constructions”, “arrangements” and the extensive geography of the non-physical reality is a [1] fabrication designed to entrap us earth-bound prisoners, or actually [2] the non-physical reality that surrounds the earth is unknown.

My personal belief is that the non-physical reality is exactly that. And the systems that force earth humans to immediately return to earth is broken. It no longer exists. However, what does exist is a massive non-physical infrastructure that is dedicated to humans experiencing and obtaining physical experiences. These experiences are all recorded in memories and still exist and are not erased. At least I can access them, and I very convinced that others can as well.

My constant entanglement with the EBP, as well as how my ELF probes worked before I was “retired” clearly indicate that there is a vibrant and active non-physical world all around us. Older and more advanced species enter and leave this reality at will.

It is complex, active, vibrant, and substantive. You not need to fear it, or to remember one time when you were “put under anesthesia” before an operation and blanked out with no memories. That was not death. That was something different. You should never believe that being put under by drugs is the same experience that you would have upon death.

This is a fun movie, but it reminds us that our actions as we live all have consequences. You can believe that it is “karma”. You can call it cycling through “reincarnations”. You can believe that it is “quantum associations”, or that “like thoughts attract like actions”. You can believe what ever seems most comfortable with you.

But I will definitively tell you that there is a community that exists outside of our reality, and it is populated with humans (and a lot of other “stuff”). And if you want to (as they say in the movie “move on to bigger and better things”) make this life a good one.

Make this life a great one.

Make a difference in this world. Help others. Do great things. Perform great works. Smile. Be the sunshine that helps others. Do not be the dark pit of blackness that takes and takes from others. Don’t do that.

Be kind and be helpful.

In the non-physical reality you will glow like a big beacon or torch. And others of similar beliefs will be attracted to you. Be great. You will be wonderful.

Watch the movie, and tell me what you all think.

Defending your life.

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The latest Jumanji movies are a respectful nod to Doc Savage; The Man of Bronze

When I was growing up, I had a complete collection of Doc Savage paperbacks and I devoured them completely, When it was time for me to grow out of them, my younger brother took over, and he too was hooked. And he, as well, read every single book.

As a long time reader of Doc Savage, I cannot help but compare the latest two Jumanji movies with the adventure pulps that I read as a boy. And to this end, I want to wax ecstatic about them.

Dr. Clark Savage Jr. was raised from birth to be a man of superhuman strength and protean genius! With his five scrappy aides -- the greatest brains ever assembled in one group -- and a vast Mayan wealth at his disposal, he has dedicated his life to the destruction of evil doers the world over!!

Doc Savage, the Man of Bronze is the hero of 181 novels which ran in his own pulp magazine from 1933 to 1949, and were reprinted as paperback books from 1964 to 1990. First time around, author Lester Dent practically invented the first “super” hero. The second time around Bantam Books invented the numbered men’s adventure series. These high adventures have spawned Doc Savage comic books, radio shows, a movie, new novels — even a biography.

My argument that while Jumanji is not a Doc Savage remake, it’s not a Jumanji remake either. I like to believe; or want to believe that the latest Jumanji movies take the best elements from both venues and create a completely wonderful new reality. A reality that we want to visit.

The Doc

Let’s consider Doc “smolder” Bravestone.

In many ways his character is derived from Doc (Clark) Savage, Jr.

Both have a “skull cap” style hair cut (what ever that actually is). Both like to walk around in torn or distressed khaki shirts. Both have bronze skin. Both are strong, brave and take the world on head-first. And both have their own peculiar traits.

Doc Bravestone has his “smoldering intensity”, and Doc Savage has his “animated “twinkle” in his eye”.

I know, I know. My premise has a lot of holes in it.

However, we do know that prior to the 2017 Jumanji; Welcome to the Jungle, that the lead character Dwayne Johnson (who played Spenser) was in negotiation regarding remakes of Doc Savage pulp stories.

“It’s OFFICIAL: For all comic book fans you already know the world’s first superhero (pre-dating Superman) is the “Man of Bronze” himself Clark “Doc” Savage.

Want to thank my bud director/writer Shane Black and his writing team Anthony Bagarozzi and Chuck Mondry for flying in from LA and sitting with me and our @sevenbucksprod’s producer @hhgarcia41 on this Memorial Day weekend to chop up creative and break story on this very cool project.

Comic book fans around the world know that the cool thing about “Doc” Savage is that he’s the inspiration for Superman. First name Clark, called “Man of Bronze”, retreats to his “Fortress of Solitude” in the Arctic etc etc.

Doc was physically and mentally trained from birth by his father and a team of scientists to become the perfect human specimen with a genius level intellect. His heightened senses are beyond comprehension. He can even identify a women’s perfume from half a mile away. He is literally the master of everything.

But here’s the #1 reason I’m excited to become Doc Savage.. HE’S A F*CKING HILARIOUS WEIRDO!

Confidently, yet innocently he has zero social graces whatsoever due to his upbringing so every interaction he has with someone is direct, odd, often uncomfortable and amazingly hilarious.

After speaking for hours w/ Shane Black I can see why the creator of Superman took only the best parts of Doc Savage and leaving the “weirdo” part behind. But to us, it’s that “weirdo” part that makes Clark “Doc” Savage dope! Can’t wait to sink my teeth into this one of a kind character. 

#ItsOfficial #WorldsFirstSuperhero #GeniusIntellect #PhysicalSpecimen #FnLoveableWeirdo #DocSavage”

So you have this “Doc Savage” character who has zero social graces and is like a child in a hero’s body. Isn’t that exactly like what is portrayed in the movie? Can we forget the kissing scene between Ruby Roundhouse; the Killer of Men, and Doc “Smolder” Bravestone?

Yeah. I want to forget it too. LOL.

Yeah. It’s a hoot.

Doc Savage is also a perfect role for Johnson as an actor. The character is not only an outlet for Johnson’s action hero bona fides, but also his comedic chops; raised by scientists, Savage has a world-class education but “no social skills,” as Johnson put it. A darling of action, fantasy and science fiction cinema, Johnson has been left wanting for a superhero role at a time when superhero movies are the genre of choice. And what better part could there be for a star of the Rock’s stature than what he himself has appropriately dubbed the #World’sFirstSuperhero?

-The Mary Sue

Anyways, I like to believe that the Doc Savage band of brothers has been reconstituted into the Jumanji characters.

Surprised how entertaining it was
19 December 2019 | by comps-784-38265See all my reviews

I took one look at the trailer and was certain it would be rubbish

Finally watched it on TV and was surprised that it's good solid family entertainment.

Not outstanding but a respectable 7 stars.

The Band of Brothers

Although Doc Savage appeared first and most often in prose novels, it’s fair to say that the character is best known by comic book fans. A brilliant scientist with super strength, Doc Savage was the blueprint for countless tropes that would become staples of superhero comics. The character has been eclipsed in the public memory by his pop cultural descendants, but Doc’s legacy is formidable. Time magazine called him not only “the natural father of Superman,” but of James Bond as well.

Not only was Doc known as “the Man of Bronze” and the owner of a “Fortress of Solitude” years before Superman’s debut, he also travelled the world in style and boasted an arsenal of high tech gadgets. That’s not even all of Savage’s most obvious contributions to pop culture: His entourage was even called “the Fabulous Five.”

Doc Savage had five companions that dedicated their lives, the same as Doc, to traveling around the world to do justice.

  • Lt. Colonel Andrew Blodgett Mayfair, who is better known as Monk to his friends. Monk is an industrial chemist.
  • Brigadier General Theodore Marley Brooks, Ham, is a lawyer, considered to be one of the best Harvard has ever turned out.
  • Colonel John Renwick, Renny, a construction engineer. He prided himself on his ability to knock down any door with his fists.
  • Major Thomas J. Roberts, Long Tom, the electrical wizard of the group.
  • William Harper Littlejohn, Johnny to his friends. He is an archaeologist and geologist of great renown.

These men made up the team of aides that Doc relied on throughout the series. Known as the “Fabulous Five” on the back cover of the Bantam Books editions, they were never called such in the actual series.

  • Doc’s cousin, Patricia Savage, introduced in the novel Brand of the Werewolf, frequently appeared in Doc Savage as well.

And no, these EXACT characters do not appear in the Jumanji movies. But aspects of their characters do.

Ah but enough of all that.

What does it matter, unless people enjoy the movie, and have a little escapist entertainment in the process, eh?

A Most Enjoyable Film Which Endlessly Pulls at the Corners of Your Face Her-Excellency7 April 2018

Who would have thought that the sequel to a much-loved classic would, in my opinion, turn into such a stand-alone powerhouse!?!

Jumanji Welcome to the Jungle, does just that. 

Not only is it a virtual non-stop ride of hilarity and laugh-out-loud moments, and it is, but the chemistry among the adult cast members is practically flawless and lends to the easy banter and overflowing, genius, COMEDIC DIALOGUE which just SHINES. Every look, every gesture, every note from The Rock, Kevin Hart and Jack Black are perfection in that at no time do you doubt they are who they are supposed to be. Karen Gillan is adorable and gorgeous at the same time. The obvious fun they are having, despite what I imagine to be uncomfortable filming locales, is palpable, and as an audience member, _if you allow yourself to be_, you WILL be swept up and transported by it.

So, why ANY low ratings?

While the first Jumanji was 'fun', underneath the fun, there were dark layers. There is none of that here and perhaps, this is where some of the disconnect from its detractors comes from. Unlike the original Jumanji, Jumanji Welcome to the Jungle is a fun, and funny, film throughout.

You're Going to Need a SEATBELT ThmellyAthole8 April 2018

I used to have an IMDB account when I was a teen - or at least thought I did, but couldn't log on. In any case, I think I've visited here maybe twice in the last five years. Today though, after just getting back from watching this with my almost-grown kids, I had to make an account just to leave this review.

To begin, I'll never understand people. I can't believe the negative reviews. How could anyone not have laughed like hell while watching this and still have a pulse? I didn't go in expecting much, but I came out with a smile on my face. The girl is hot, Jack Black "owns it", I've never been overly enthused about Kevin Hart, but he was fantastic. and The Rock just knocked it out of the park. 

I saw one review which reads: "not a wrestling fan ever so to see 'the rock' in movies, instantly puts me off!" Does anyone else want to vomit at the inanity, irony and ludicrousness of that statement? Then you have the user who out of 40+ titles he/she has reviewed in the past has only ever rated TWO above three stars. Seriously, if you don't enjoy films and find them so terrible, find a new hobby already. You've got one guy saying the shirt one of the kids wore was outdated. So, I'm guessing one can only wear clothing depicting the current year? Then you have the reviewers who maybe didn't understand the dialogue since they can barely communicate correctly themselves (such gems - I kid you not - as: 'averege'; 'what so ever'; 'family fair' (fare); 'are just wasn't'; 'due to it has'; 'all of there' {their); 'coz it is boring story'; 'no compare with'). Finally, you have the maybe half dozen reviewers who are so caught up in their bigotry that they can't relax and enjoy a film if it isn't whitewashed and who complain about the "Hollywood liberal agenda of diversity". Leave the politics at the door, man. In short, Jumanji Welcome to the Jungle was a fantastic hour or more of rip-riding fun and laughs.

Except for one very funny moment, Dwayne Johnson retires his wrestling persona for this film and instead, provides a smoldering and intense performance, riddled with good-natured hilarity as the lead in this film. Gillan was great in Doctor Who, and although I thought she was the weakest of both characters and actors in this film, she still held her own and looked fantastic doing so. She has one of those faces you can't help but love. Kevin Hart was fantastic as the diminutive valet and looking back, I think he was somehow involved in every funny moment in which I laughed the hardest. Finally, the master, the maestro (though I never really was a fan prior to this), Jack Black plays the teen beauty queen with 100% commitment and to perfection.

10/10 and definitely a film I will be purchasing right after I click "Submit". You can never have enough laughter in life, and Jumanji, Welcome to the Jungle delivers barrels-full.

Let’s talk a little about the characters in the old Doc Savage pulps.

Theodore Marley “Ham” Brooks

Theodore Marley “Ham” Brooks is an attorney and member of Doc Savage‘s Fabulous five.

Ham was considered one of the best-dressed men in the world, and as part of his attire, carried a sword cane whose blade is coated in a fast-acting anesthetic.

He first encountered Doc Savage while serving in the military, where he attained the rank of Brigadier General.

His nickname was acquired when Monk, in retaliation for his guardhouse incarceration, framed Brooks on a charge of stealing hams from the commissary. In the only case which Ham ever lost, he was convicted of stealing the hams. He acquired a pet ape which he named Chemistry.

In The Mystic Mullah he shows he is fluent in the Tibetan language.

Seriously, we don’t see anyone with these characteristics in either of the two Jumanji movies. But, we do see the aviator character who is looked upon as a knowledgeable resource for the game.

Jefferson “Seaplane” McDonough: Seaplane McGonough is a game character that plays a young pilot.

Alex Vreeke was the name of the human player who selected the avatar of Jefferson “Seaplane” McDonough and became trapped in the game for two decades. At the end of the movie, Alex is returned to his time and grows up to be an adult played by Colin Hanks.

All in all, it’s a fasinating twist of pulp fiction, Jumanji, and modern computer games.

The various plot lines are wide open. And this is very exciting.

No idea why it took me 2 years to watch it danielmanson23 November 2019

It's good. I had no idea what to expect in all honest. I am not huge fans of other movies by these actors, but this really worked. You could see the great chemistry between them all and it paid off.

What I liked: I enjoyed how it didn't dither about at the beginning and got right into the action. Jack Black especially was brilliant and hilarious! All the actors/actresses were great but Jack Black stood out. Good mix of action and comedy throughout. I was on the edge of my seat (metaphorically) wanting them to escape the game.

Let’s look at this next Doc Savage character…

Andrew Blodgett (Monk) Mayfair

Andrew Blodgett Mayfair, more commoly known as Monk Mayfair is among the principle members of the The Fabulous Five.

He received the name Monk because his long muscular arms and his low forehead make him resemble a monkey. Like several of Savage’s companions he served in the military, holding the rank of Lieutenant Colonel.

Monk currently works as an industrial chemist. He possesses incredible strength, rivaling Doc Savage and can effortlessly bend pennies between his fingers.

Monk personally trained his pet pig, Habeas Corpus, to help serve Doc on his missions.

Monk has a friendly rivalry with Ham, and the two often needle each other. A mutual affection has been shown between them, with one risking life to save the other.

In the Black, Black Witch he is capable of speaking flawless German without a trace of an accent.

He was played by Michael Miller in the film Doc Savage: The Man of Bronze

I will tell you that my personal opinion is that this role is Franklin “Mouse” Finbar. In the Jumanji movie he is one of the five selectable playable character in the video game version of “JUMANJI”.

In “Welcome to the Jungle”, he was the chosen avatar of Anthony “Fridge” Johnson.

In “The Next Level”, he was given to Milo Walker, instead of Fridge (who was forcefully given Shelly Oberon instead), but Finbar is later given back to Frdige.

Franklin “Mouse” Finbar.

Actually, there is a little bit of Monk in a number of characters.

But let’s not quibble with my nonsense. I’m just throwing out some thoughts that could be wildly wrong or (alternatively) right on track accurate.

 

John “Renny” Renwick

John “Renny” Renwick is a member of The Fabulous Five, Doc Savage’s main helpers and friends.

He is a Construction Engineer and a member of the military, holding the rank of Colonel.

Renny is notable for his gloomy personality and his physical stature. His fists are gigantic and he is known to like to punch his way through solid doors.

Thomas J. (Long Tom) Roberts

Thomas J. Roberts, or as hes more commonly referred, Long Tom Roberts, is one of Doc’s assistants and a member of “The Fabulous Five“.

In the 1975 movie, Doc Savage: The Man of Bronze, Long Tom is played by Paul Gleason.

The character is presented as an electrical engineer, holding the military rank of Major, and a pilot.

He and Doc Savage first met while he was serving in World War I. The explanation of his nickname is given as a result of an event during the war where he helped defend a small European village using an ancient cannon known as a “Long Tom“.

In The Man of Bronze he is described as “the physical weakling of the crowd, thin, not very tall, and with a none-too-healthy-appearing skin“.

Professor Sheldon “Shelly” Oberon is one of the five selectable playable character in the Video Game version of “JUMANJI”, that appears in “Welcome to the Jungle”, as the chosen avatar of Bethany Walker, and in “The Next Level” as the avatar of Anthony “Fridge” Johnson, but Bethany was later able to become Oberon again.

William Harper “Johnny” Littlejohn

William Harper “Johnny” Littlejohn is a member of The Fabulous Five, Doc Savage’s main helpers and friends.

Johnny is an archeologist and geologist, known for his exotic vocabulary with long words.

Johnny was initially blind of one eye, using a monocle that he kept even after going through corrective surgery that restored his vision. His military rank, if any, has never been revealed.

I cannot help but think that he was the inspiration for Professor Sheldon “Shelly” Oberon. 

Patricia Savage

She had a wealth of bronze hair–hair very closely akin in hue to that of Doc Savage.

She was tall; her form was molded along lines that left nothing to be desired. Her features were as perfect as though a magazine-cover artist had designed them.

She wore high-laced boots, breeches, and a serviceable gray shirt. from Brand of the Werewolf by Lester Dent writing as Kenneth Robeson.

Patricia “Pat” Savage, joins Doc Savage on many of his adventures beginning with her first appearance in “Brand of the Werewolf“. She is the daughter of Alex Savage, Doc’s uncle who lives in Canada.

Pat is described as being 18 years of age and shares many of Doc’s physical characteristics: bronze skin and hair, golden eyes. She also shares Doc’s sense of adventure, thus making her another of Doc’s companions.

Doc Savage makes attempts to restrain is young cousin in order to keep her out of harm’s way.

Pat typically carries a Pat’s SAA Revolver. It was handed down from her grandfather and is often carried in her purse.

Pat Savage appears in 39 Doc Savage adventures:

New Characters

It's all fun and games.

-Level up. Pjtaylor-96-1380448 December 2019

Even though its central concept seems ever-so-slightly more strained this time, ‘Jumanji: The Next Level (2019)’ is about as good as its predecessor. In fact, it’s sometimes even better.
Basically, the flick is just fun.
The crowd-pleasing body-swapping is amped up to eleven, shaking things up just enough so that they feel fresh. The main actors continue to properly impress in their chameleon-like roles, joined by a few extra treats that perform far better than you'd perhaps expect.

Indeed, these new players are probably its biggest asset; a couple of them thoroughly perforate the entire experience despite only having a rather small amount of screen-time.

The picture is often funny - though, never hilarious - and is oddly endearing, to boot. It isn't particularly deep or, even, memorable but it doesn't need to be. It's a good time at the movies; what more do you need?

Obviously some better theming and, perhaps, a tad of nuance wouldn't go amiss, but it's just not that kind of film really and that's perfectly fine. Even if it doesn't impact you as much as some of the year's best, it'll certainly make you smile and keep you entertained for a couple of hours.

Besides, its inciting incident is driven purely by character and it even manages to squeeze some genuine emotional connection, via a well-drawn dynamic between DeVito and Glover, into its otherwise otherworldly proceedings. Its acting is also deceptively simple but decidedly fantastic, fully immersing you in the idea that these major stars are actually four teenagers and two old men.

And nothing to take seriously.

But I do love the refreshing juxtaposition of the Jumanji franchise that Robin Williams stared in and started, along with the wonderful Doc Savage pulp fiction to create this 'new" and refreshingly vibrant world that is the perfect mixture of fun, laughs and adventure for the whole family.

If you all haven’t seen it yet, then please do so. It’s fun.

It’s great entertainment.

And at that, I’ll close.

This is a great movie to chill out with your friends and family. Drink some alcoholic beverages, have a good time. After the movie, you will all be in a good mood. It’s all great

And those are the best kind of movies.

Just a good old fashioned fun movie gluonpaul7 December 2019

There are not many franchises which have been renewed recently which I have actually thought turned out well. Most have been done badly but I have to say that Jumanji stands out as an exception.

This movie does not have a heavy deep story, doesnt try to be anything more than it is, this movie makes you laugh, keeps you entertained and ensures you leave the theater feeling happier than you went in.

It wont win oscars but it will win your heart, definitely a movie to go and enjoy at this time of year.

Oh and guess what?

And get ready because another movie is in the works; Jumanji 4. And this one will have some surprises.

  • One of the biggest twists in The Next Level involves the villain Jurgen the Brutal (Game of Thrones‘ Rory McCann), who’s revealed to have strengths and weaknesses much like the heroic avatars in the Jumanji video game. In a social media post from late last year, Johnson confirmed Jurgen is also a playable avatar and teased Jumanji 4 will reveal who’s been playing him in the real world.
  • Kasdan further alluded to the idea during his interview with Collider, saying he “would love to” reveal The Next Level’s hidden villain in the next installment.
  • In addition, The Next Level’s credits scene suggested Jumanji 4 will take place in the real world, much like the original Jumanji movie did. If so, it opens the door to all sorts of possibilities, not least of which is the Jumanji video game avatars and series’ young heroes meeting face to face.

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The End of the Beginning by Ray Bradbury (Full text)

Here’s a nice charming story. I guess it is a bit dated, but the hopefulness of the 1960’s shines through. Lovely.

THE END OF THE BEGINNING
Ray Bradbury

He stopped the lawn mower in the middie of the yard, because he felt that the
sun at just that moment had gone down and the stars come out. The fresh-cut
grass that had showered his face and body died soft!y away. Yes, the stars were
there, faint at first, but brightening in the clear desert sky. He heard the
porch screen door tap shut and felt his wife watching him as he watched the
night.
“Almost time,” she said.
He nodded; he did not have to check his watch. In the passing moments he felt
very old, then very young, very cold, then very warm, now this, now that.
Suddenly he was miles away. He was his own son talking steadily, moving briskly
to cover his pounding heart and the resurgent panics as he felt himself slip
into fresh uniform, check food supplies, oxygen flasks, pressure helmet,
space-suiting, and turn as every man on earth tonight turned, to gaze at the
swiftly filling sky.
Then, quickly, he was back, once more the father of the son, hands gripped to
the lawn-mower handle. His wife called, “Come sit on the porch.”
“I’ve got to keep busy!”
She came down the steps and across the lawn. “Don’t worry about Robert; he’ll be
all right.”
“But it’s all so new,” he heard himself say. “It’s never been done before. Think
of it – a manned rocket going up tonight to build the first space station. Good
lord, it can’t be done, it doesn’t exist, there’s no rocket, no proving ground,
no take-off time, no technicians. For that matter, I don’t even have a son named
Bob. The whole thing’s too much for me!”
“Then what are you doing out here, staring?”
He shook his head. “Well, late this morning, walking to the office, I heard
someone laugh out loud. It shocked me, so I froze in the middle of the street.
It was me, laughing! Why? Because finally I really knew what Bob was going to do tonight; at last I believed it. Holy is a word I never use, but that’s how I
felt stranded in all that traffic. Then, middle of the afternoon I caught myself
humming. You know the song. ‘A wheel in a wheel. Way in the middle of the air.’
I laughed again. The space station, of course, I thought. The big wheel with
hollow spokes where Bob’ll live six or eight months, then get along to the moon.

Walking home, I remembered more of the song. ‘Little wheel run by faith, Big
wheel run by the grace of God.’ I wanted to jump, yell, and flame-out myself!”
His wife touched his arm. “If we stay out here, let’s at least be comfortable.”
They placed two wicker rockers in the center of the lawn and sat quietly as the
stars dissolved out of darkness in pale crushings of rock salt strewn from
horizon to horizon.
“Why,” said his wife, at last, “it’s like waiting for the fireworks at Sisley
Field every year.”
“Bigger crowd tonight . . .”
“I keep thinking – a billion people watching the sky right now, their mouths all
open at the same time.”
They waited, feeling the earth move under their chairs.
“What time is it now?”
“Eleven minutes to eight.”
“You’re always right; there must be a clock in your head.”
“I can’t be wrong tonight. I’ll be able to tell you one second before they blast
off. Look! The ten-minute warning!”
On the western sky they saw four crimson flares open out, float shimmering down the wind above the desert, then sink silently to the extinguishing earth.
In the new darkness the husband and wife did not rock in their chairs.
After a while he said, “Eight minutes.” A pause. “Seven minutes.” What seemed a
much longer pause. “Six . . .”
His wife, her head back, studied the stars immediately above her and murmured,
“Why?” She closed her eyes. “Why the rockets, why tonight? Why all this? I’d
like to know.”
He examined her face, pale in the vast powdering light of the Milky Way. He felt
the stirring of an answer, but let his wife continue.
“I mean it’s not that old thing again, is it, when people asked why men climbed
Mt. Everest and they said, ‘Because it’s there’? I never understood. That was no
answer to me.”
Five minutes, he thought. Time ticking . . . his wrist watch . . . a wheel in a
wheel . . . little wheel run by . . . big wheel run by . . . way in the middle
of . . . four minutes! . . . The men snug in the rocket by now, the hive, the
control board flickering with light.
His lips moved.
“All I know is it’s really the end of the beginning. The Stone Age, Bronze Age,
Iron Age; from now on we’ll lump all those together under one big name for when we walked on Earth and heard the birds at morning and cried with envy. Maybe we’ll call it the Earth Age, or maybe the Age of Gravity. Millions of years we fought gravity. When we were amoebas and fish we struggled to get out of the sea without gravity crushing us. Once safe on the shore we fought to stand upright without gravity breaking our new invention, the spine, tried to walk without stumbling, run without falling. A billion years Gravity kept us home, mocked us with wind and clouds, cabbage moths and locusts. That’s what’s so god-awful big about tonight . . . it’s the end of old man Gravity and the age we’ll remember him by, for once and all. I don’t know where they’ll divide the ages, at the Persians, who dreamt of flying carpets, or the Chinese, who all unknowing
celebrated birthdays and New Years with strung ladyfingers and high skyrockets,
or some minute, some incredible second the next hour. But we’re in at the end of
a billion years trying, the end of something long and to us humans, anyway,
honorable.”
Three minutes . . . two minutes fifty-nine seconds . . . two minutes fifty-eight
seconds . . .
“But,” said his wife, “I still don’t know why.”
Two minutes, he thought. Ready? Ready? Ready? The far radio voice calling.
Ready! Ready! Ready! The quick, faint replies from the humming rocket. Check!
Check! Check!
Tonight, he thought, even if we fail with this first, we’ll send a second and a
third ship and move on out to all the planets and later, all the stars. We’ll
just keep going until the big words like immortal and forever take on meaning.
Big words, yes, that’s what we want. Continuity. Since our tongues first moved
in our mouths we’ve asked, What does it all mean? No other question made sense, with death breathing down our necks. But just let us settle in on ten thousand worlds spinning around ten thousand alien suns and the question will fade away. Man will be endless and infinite, even as space is endless and infinite. Man will go on, as space goes on, forever. Individuals will die as always, but our
history will reach as far as we’ll ever need to see into the future, and with
the knowledge of our survival for all time to come, we’ll know security and thus
the answer we’ve always searched for. Gifted with life, the least we can do is
preserve and pass on the gift to infinity. That’s a goal worth shooting for.
The wicker chairs whispered ever so softly on the grass.
One minute.
“One minute,” he said aloud.
“Oh!” His wife moved suddenly to seize his hands. “I hope that Bob . . .”
“He’ll be all right!”
“Oh, God, take care . . .”
Thirty seconds.
“Watch now.”
Fifteen, ten, five . . .
“Watch!”
Four, three, two, one.
“There! There! Oh, there, there!”

They both cried out. They both stood. The chairs toppled back, fell flat on the
lawn. The man and his wife swayed, their hands struggled to find each other,
grip, hold. They saw the brightening color in the sky and, ten seconds later,
the great uprising comet burn the air, put out the stars, and rush away in fire
flight to become another star in the returning profusion of the Milky Way. The
man and wife held each other as if they had stumbled on the rim of an incredible
cliff that faced an abyss so deep and dark there seemed no end to it. Staring
up, they heard themselves sobbing and crying. Only after a long time were they
able to speak.
“It got away, it did, didn’t it?”
“Yes . . .”
“It’s all right, isn’t it?”
“Yes . . . yes . . .”
“It didn’t fall back . . .?”
“No, no, it’s all right, Bob’s all right, it’s all right.”
They stood away from each other at last.
He touched his face with his hand and looked at his wet fingers. “I’ll be
damned,” he said, “I’ll be damned.”
They waited another five and then ten minutes until the darkness in their heads,
the retina, ached with a million specks of fiery salt. Then they had to close
their eyes.
“Well,” she said, “now let’s go in.”
He could not move. Only his hand reached a long way out by itself to find the
lawn-mower handle. He saw what his hand had done and said, “There’s just a
little more to do . . .”
“But you can’t see.”
“Well enough,” he said. “I must finish this. Then we’ll sit on the porch awhile
before we turn in.”
He helped her put the chairs on the porch and sat her down and then walked back out to put his hands on the guide bar of the lawn mower. The lawn mower. A wheel in a wheel. A simple machine which you held in your bands, which you sent on ahead with a rush and a clatter while you walked behind with your quiet
philosophy. Racket, followed by warm silence. Whirling wheel, then soft footfall
of thought.
I’m a billion years old, he told himself; I’m one minute old. I’m one inch, no,
ten thousand miles, tall. I look down and can’t see my feet they’re so far off
and gone away below.
He moved the lawn mower. The grass showering up fell softly around him; he
relished and savored it and felt that he was all mankind bathing at last in the
fresh waters of the fountain of youth.
Thus bathed, he remembered the song again about the wheels and the faith and the  grace of God being way up there in the middle of the sky where that single star, among a million motionless stars, dared to move and keep on moving.
Then he finished cutting the grass.

The End

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Some selected favorite artworks by William Adolphe Bouguereau with a slight detour towards the crazed religious Right in charge of the American government

This is going to be a (far too abbreviated) article about the great paintings of a man that the world has seemingly forgotten. Which is a shame. But it is also something else as well. For I am going to get really, and absolutely personal about art and what it means to me, and about the United States as well.

You see, and must understand, art is a creation that massages our emotions. If that art generates good thoughts, or treasured memories within us, it becomes priceless and valuable. But consider what would happen if somehow an evil person is able to take that treasured moment away from you. What then?

Thus this post.

The artist that we shall discuss is one of my all-time favorites. His name was William Adolphe Bouguereau, and I had the opportunity to see his works up front and close up in the Carnegie Mellon museum of art in Oakland, Pennsylvania (It’s an upscale suburb of Pittsburgh.)

And while he is no longer popular or appreciated in Art History class, his works and the emotions that they generate lives on through MM.

Carnegie Mellon museum of art in Oakland, Pennsylvania
Carnegie Mellon museum of art in Oakland, Pennsylvania

Indeed, he is not forgotten here.

Fundamentally, William Adolphe Bouguereau was a most amazing painter. And while his paintings inspire and astound, when you look at his works up close, you wonder just how in the world was he able to do what he did. Up close, everything just seems to be dabs and drabs of paint here and there.

You can well imagine him put a drop here, and then a drop there, and then somehow, by some miracle it all comes together in an amazing work of art.

He is considered to be a “French Academic Classical painter, teacher, frescoist and draftsman”. He died in 1905 after 432 amazing works of art.

To see a complete collection of his works you can visit the Art Renewal Center here. Prepare to be stunned and amazed. (Pssst. You can also order prints of his works there to put up in your house or favored spot. - Just a thought. Don't you know.)

What I really want to say about this is that beauty surrounds us everywhere.

And if you have an opportunity, take an afternoon with friends or family and visit an Art museum, and then have a nice lunch. Go out. Have fun. Enjoy life. And if by chance you ever get the chance to see any Academic Classic paintings, by all means go forth and enjoy.

Check out his amazing works.

Inside the art museum.
Having a fun time with the family inside the Carnegie Mellon art museum.

Sigh.

And now the sad part of the story.

I strongly love art for the emotions, the memories and the images that they represent to me on a very personal and visceral basis. While I have never been able to match the mastery of the oils as these Masters have, they have inspired me. And I have taken on my own efforts to pain figurative and allegorical works of my own design. And I like to think of myself as “pretty good”, I would only rate a “7” compared to the Master that is listed herein. Who is, in every way, a “10+”.

Up until my arrest (as part of my “retirement” from the MAJestic organization) I had a nice little studio. I had studios in Kittanning, and Erie Pennsylvania, and in Arkansas. My little studio in Arkansas occupied the garage. And so it was a “partial” studio. One side was bicycle storage, boxes, and a workbench. The other side was a canvas tarp covered floor, natural lighting via light-bulb and my massive painting easel.

The tale of how I was arrested, and how my life was dissembled step by methodical step is a very painful one for me. At that time, I had no idea that I would actually be “retired” as a MAJestic operator. I figured that I was somehow “special” and that my program participation would consist of a debriefing at a government office of some type. But, that did not happen.

I wasn’t important.

At least the (government) powers that be didn’t think that I was. And so, one day, out of the blue I was arrested. And I watched my life fall apart right before my eyes. I watched the entire force of an enormous and all-powerful government peel my life apart, layer by layer until I was raw, nude and helpless.

This story is still painful for me to relate.

Sorry you seem so butt-hurt about the IRS and the USA, etc. Obviously you have a seething rage and hatred for the USA for whatever (unexplained) reason . That’s OK. Stay in China and hate us all you want. Works for me.

-A quote from a jack-ass who was trolling me.

As it is indeed still very painful, I am not going to relate it at this time. But, (unfortunately) in order to know about one of my favorite artists, you will need to know a little bit about HOW I was arrested in Arkansas…

…and how it has affected my love of classical art.

Connecting art with sexual deviance

It’s simple, really.

I had a collection of books on art. many were on techniques, but others were these huge “coffee table” books that people would place on the living room coffee table for casual enjoyment. I had quite a collection of them. And most of my books were of the classics. All full of art by true and real masters.

And, on that fateful day when I was arrested in Arkansas, my large picture book of William Adolphe Bouguereau was used as evidence of my “satanic nature”, and “lust for little children“.

I well remember sitting on the lone chair in the middle of my empty living room…

All of my belongings except for my books, and a mysterious box full of CD ROMS were gone. My home was completely empty including the light bulbs and the light switch covers. Even the fake fireplace had the fake logs gone. As was the built-in microwave, and refrigerator.

On that fateful day, I had just gotten back from a three week trip to China. When I returned I discovered that my car was disabled with four flat tires, my power was turned off, and my home was completely empty except for two chairs, and a pile of books and a big (taped up) box displayed predominantly in the middle of the living room floor.

They raided me in full SWAT gear at 6am as I was leaving the house to go to work. Their black painted armored cars ran over my rose bushes, and two other squad cars blocked up the driveway to my house - a downscale McMansion in a nice section of Maumelle Arkansas.
Maumelle Arkansas house.
My house at the time looked a little something like this, only a tad bigger and my grass much much greener. LOL.

…I sat there, in that lone chair in the middle of the empty living room …

…while the detective in charge of the “investigation” grilled me on sexual matters and my interests. I’ll never forget her holding up my coffee table book of William Adolphe Bouguereau, and making points about all the nudes, the “Satanic nature of my interests” and why I was so fixated on “the dark side of history“.

It has wounded me terribly, and I still smart from their fucking smirks and ignorance. I know, I know…

…it’s Arkansas.

But still. It came as a surprise. You see. While I have read about these things happening, I never thought that it would happen to me.

And since (from now on and forever hence) I will always have those memories associated with certain artists and works of art, I will use that venue to provide the bitter-sweet love of art that I maintain after I was dissembled and “processed” by the jackasses in Arkansas.

I discuss this fact, and my experiences in this article.

Good ol’ boys decided my fate.

.

Let’s begin with one of my all-time favorite paintings…

Nymphes et Satyre

Four nymphs tease and play with a satyr by trying to pull him into a lake. One nymph waves behind to three other nymphs in the distance, perhaps beckoning them to come and play with the satyr as well. The satyr half heartedly tries to resist the nymph’s wiles, entranced by their beauty.

Nymphes et Satyre Nymphs and Satyr 260 x 180 cms | 102 1/4 x 70 3/4 ins Oil on canvas Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute Williamstown | United States

.

You don’t really need to know what nymphs are, or what satyrs are to appreciate this work. But knowing the story behind them adds a three-dimensional understanding of the art and what is being portrayed.

Nymphs are from Greek mythology. 

They are considered to be minor female deities, and have a duty to protect different elements of nature such as streams, mountains and meadows (pantheon). 

The male counterpart for a nymph is a satyr. A satyr is a creature also from Greek mythology having the torso and face of a man, ears and tail of a horse, and feet of a goat. They are known for being lustful and fertile creatures. 

I can’t help but respond that Bouguereau captures an incredible sense of motion in this piece.

One can feel the struggle for the satyr to keep his ground, and the nymphs’ joyous struggle to pull him in. You can just feel the easy going, caviler attitude and peace in the pastoral scene. You can hear the water nymph’s jovial joking and feel their tugging towards the placid pond.

It’s like puppies playing. Or like kittens running around. It’s like small boys and girls playing in the yard on a nice sunny blue-sky day. It’s like Fresca and orange soda, peanut butter sandwiches and very-berry Cool-Aide. It’s water out of a green water-hose on a hot summer day, climbing trees, and riding your banana-seat, high-handle-bars bike all around town.

Childhood in the 1960s.
When I look at this work of art, I am transported back to another time. It makes me forget my current life, and re-experience the feelings and emotions and sensations of another time and another place.

.

Why I love this picture is actually unknown. Somehow, and in some deep way it stirs my soul. But I really cannot vocalize what that special something is. It speaks to me in a deep visceral manner.

.

And that’s the way life is. Not everyone can appreciate how you might feel about a “thing”, or an “object”, or a “piece of art”, or a “bauble”. So you just don’t try.

Consider the Movie “The Object of Beauty“.

It’s pretty much a forgotten movie. Not well appreciated. Just something from the early 1990’s. But it makes a point about what art and beauty and appreciation is… all in terms of the early 1990’s – the decades of greed, swindles and anything / everything for a buck.

And that movie revolves around a small figurine statue. One that is worth money. But is coveted by the owners as a medium of exchange, but stolen by a housekeeper who appreciates it’s intangible beauty…

*sigh*

rare gem overlooked as much as statue                                  nuntukamen18 December 2004             
                              
It is difficult for  me to comprehend why there is only one viewer comment for this film, or  why it is rated under a six. 

If an excellent film is about  entertainment, intelligence, great acting and a terrific story with a  treasury of clever humor that expounds the deeper meaning of a good  relationship between a man and a woman over wealth and selfishly egotistical success, then this is a standout film that achieves a  richness of artistic accomplishment that very few films do. 

No one truly sees the beauty of the bronze statue except the lowly and weathered housekeeper, a financially struggling mute, unable to express the  profound feelings that are moving within her in words, but Rudi Davies  sure gets it across with her expression and eyes. 

I had to drive 30  miles to the Cedar Lee Theater, Cleveland's only real art house, during it's original release, but after the film was over I realized it would have been worthwhile if I would have had to walk...

...some films are just that special.
"The Object of Beauty"
The Object of Beauty

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But back to the painting…

When I was a young boy, I actually saw this painting. It sat there predominantly on the wall facing the stairs as you walked up and into the museum proper. My parents went it, and took the right at the top of the stairs and enters. But I didn’t.

And to be very truthful, I just stood there on the steps looking up at it in amazement. It was larger than life to me and spoke to me…

…though, as a boy, I didn’t understand the language.

This work of art is spellbinding.

.

Art and the appreciation of it is a personal matter. And today, art is used as a medium to funnel large amounts of money back and forth between oligarchy members without concern. It’s a method of banking. Not an object of beauty, desire or of significance.

Today, ah, no one cares

As an aside, the DA in Arkansas used my collection of books on art and artists as exhibits as to how terribly “evil” I was. I cannot remember the entire spiel that he gave to my attorney, because frankly, I was taken back at his ignorance and assault on my sensibilities. But a couple phrases stood out…

  • “...a painting depicting Satan surrounded by nude women…”
  • (my) “...obsession with female nudes…”

What is art and beautiful to one observer is evil and a threat to another. Do not make my mistake and think that everyone else can see beauty as you can, or who can understand things as you do, or who appreciates the world in different ways.

And when I was arrested, it was not for the possession of these works of art, or associated books. It was for two images on my laptop computer.

  • A Japanese comic that had a octopus having sex with a cat-like-person.
  • A photo that a doctor said was a girl under the age of 18 showing her genitals.

In Arkansas both images are considered “child pornography”. And each image had up to 40 years imprisonment. So I was facing 80 years.

Pretty fucking weird for a state that allowed people to get married to 16 year old girls. Was a “dry country” where you had to drive into Tennessee to buy alcohol. And where the Church in Down Town Little Rock was larger than the State Capital Building.

You know, I shared a cell in Arkansas at the ADC Brickey’s unit who got two years for killing a guy. I got five years for having two pictures. I just shake my head in perplexing exasperation.

But I digress.

I guess, at heart, I’m just a “hippie”, a “60’s child”.

1960s van.
Hippies in the 1960’s.

.

Can you imagine what America would have been like if the Bozos that run America today were in charge of America back in the 1960’s?

Shudder.

GOP lawmaker: God told me to remove rape exceptions from ...
https://deadstate.org/gop-lawmaker-god-told-me-to...

May 24, 2019 · Hill, who is an evangelical Christian, says that the initial exceptions were only there to ensure that the bill would pass. Even though it picked up 20 co-sponsors, it died without getting a hearing in any committee. Hill told the group in Pensacola that he plans to bring the bill back as God intended it, “without any exceptions.”

The point that I want to make is that the emotions that I now feel when I look at these great works of art are now polluted with the imagery of my memories when I dealt with the military police in Arkansas. And while my story seems to be unique, all of the rest of my MAJestic cell had similar stories. And yes, others now call me a real sick person for having those images on my computer. I get it. I understand.

And now, I live a life where I cannot enjoy art like I used to.

I’ll never forget the phrase “you can paint houses“.

And this gem; “no one wants to see paintings like this when all you need do is take a picture“.

And of course the standard narrative; “people like you need to be locked up and separated from society until your malfunction can be corrected“.

We must realize and recognize that there are others, often sick people, who are in positions of power and control and who can squash your life out like an insect. Sick people. Evil people. In positions of power.

Mike Pompeo

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Takes away from the beauty of that great painting, eh?

Yes.

That’s my point.

Pat Robertson says God told him Trump ‘is going to win ...
https://www.christianpost.com/news/pat-robertson...

Oct 21, 2020 · Christian Broadcasting Network chairman and televangelist Pat Robertson said Monday that he believes God told him President Donald Trump will be re-elected for a second term but great civil unrest will ensue. “I want to say without question, Trump is going to win the election,” Robertson said on “The 700 Club” Tuesday. “… The election that’s coming up in just a few weeks at which time, according to what I believe the Lord told …

Art is all about the emotions you have while looking at the artwork

I enjoy art because of the feelings and the thoughts and memories they generate.

But, you know…

Some people cannot emote.

They cannot feel emotions. They cannot “relate” to others they are unable to emote or understand how others feel. To them, they cannot see art as anything other than a “thing”, a commodity that you can trick others into buying. These people with this mental illness occupy a significant percentage of our society. Some say that it is even as high as 10%. But one thing is for certain, the ability to make money and accumulate fortunes are in the strong suit for these people.

Thus, in a nation that values money above all else, where capitalism reins supreme you will find these people in positions of power and control.

Key “Republican” members of Government during the Trump Administration.

.

The American leadership; the American Oligarchy are are… are… unable to emote. They are unable to experience emotions or understand the emotions of others.

Why?

What are these people’s problem?

Perhaps this video might provide some insight to how the rest of the world views America at this point in time. A point in time, mind you, where the government does not care about the citizens. It only cares of about keeping them down, subservient, and compliant, while they run amok in their crazy delusions and obscene objectives.

Uh…

And one more thing, you will never see this kind of information on any of the Alt-Right, Alt-Left or Mainstream American media. They would rather die than face the truth.

America as viewed by the rest of the world.

Keep that thought in mind. A thought that says that the craziest and most evil people thrive within the American capitalist “democracy” as it exists today. And the most evil, the most selfish, and the most manipulative are able to rise to extreme levels of power and control within the American environment.

Ah.

It’s upsetting.

But let’s move one and look at some more Art. Let’s consider the fact that unlike the products that are churned out of America today, these works endure. They persist and they are established as a stable foundation for what the human species represents. Let’s look at some more of the great works by William Adolphe Bouguereau.

La Vierge aux Anges

Here we have a trio of angels playing music for baby Jesus and the Virgin Mother Mary. I love this picture, and it evokes in me the feelings of love caring, compassion and peace.

This painting can be seen elsewhere on the internet. It is embraced by religious websites and in the websites devoted to greeting and gift cards. I have even seen (I believe) this work reproduced on pictures, post cards, and such things as plates and clocks. A simple image search on Google will help you all find the great diversity of the for-profit avenues that people have used with this work.

The Virgin with Angels
The Virgin with Angels

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Usually, Mary is depicted in blue and white, which I haven’t a clue as to why. And the angels tend to be in shades of white, which is also something that I have no idea about either. Never the less, this is a beautiful painting and very calming.

The Virgin with Angels is a 1900 painting by William-Adolphe Bouguereau. The painting media is oil on canvas, and it measures 185 × 285 cm (72.8 × 112.2 in). It’s a large painting at 6 feet by 9 feet. I imagine that when he painted this, he intended to show the love of the Mother Mary with the baby Jesus and the beauty and support of the surrounding angels. I cannot imagine what he would think that this image was being used on plates and cheap products at Walmart to support a for-profit motive.

When my home was raided they said nothing about this picture. Except maybe a quick pause before they turned the page. It’s hard to find something fundamentally wrong with angels playing violins and other musical instruments. So they just glossed over this painting and went on to the next one..

It’s lovely. Don’t you agree?

Petites Maraudeuses

But they did stop at this painting in the book.

This is a typical work of his. His works that depict children and the life of play are great themes and I well remember some homes of both uncles and aunties that had these kinds of works in their living rooms. (Of course, with a “Great Supper” painting in the kitchen or dining room.)

It is so calming…

It is titled “Little Thieves”. And while the detective and the police didn’t stop to read the captions or text inside the coffee table book, they used the artwork to grill me and goad me to admit to something ignorant and evil.

Petites Maraudeuses

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I once worked with a fellow engineer in Boston. He was a plastics engineer from Pakistan. He saw that I had a miniature reproduction (of this painting) in my office and fell in love with the painting. He used to come into my office and we would chat. But he would always look up at the painting with this kind of far-away look in his eyes. It meant something to him. But his pride was such that he would never admit to it.

So I gave it to him when I was sacked by the company (Laid Off). When I gave it to him he was surprised and he wondered why I did so, and that yes (of course) he would accept it. He said that he secretly loved the painting. He said that it reminded him of his boyhood home. In Pakistan.

Lovely.

The techniques of Bouguereau

You have to admit that this artist had mastered his technique. Is there anything for us to learn?

From the Art Renewal Center

To fully appreciate the art of  Bouguereau  one must profess a deep respect for the discipline of drawing and the  craft of traditional picture-making; one must likewise submit to the  mystery of illusion as one of painting's most characteristic and sublime  powers. Bouguereau's vast repertory of playful and poetic images cannot  help but appeal to those who are fascinated with nature's appearances  and with the celebration of human sentiment frankly and unabashedly  expressed.         
                                           
But it remains to understand, given Bouguereau's in many  ways unique style, exactly what the artist was trying to represent.  Although Bouguereau has been classified by many writers as a Realist  painter, because of the apparent photographic nature of his illusions,  the painter otherwise has little in common with other artists belonging  to the Realist movement. Bouguereau himself regarded his tastes as  eclectic, and his work indeed exhibits characteristics peculiar to  Neo-Classicism, Romanticism, and Impressionism, as well as to Realism.  

Within these categories, the painter is perhaps best understood as a  Romantic Realist, but one would also be quite justified in this case in  devising an entirely new school of painting and labeling him the first,  the quintessential Photo-Idealist. The designation is apt in that,  although Bouguereau actively collected photographs and tempered his  observations of nature with a keen awareness of the qualities of light  inherent in the photographic image, he almost never worked from  photographs.1  

The rare exceptions are a few portraits, usually of posthumous  subjects, which are readily identifiable as photographic derivatives as  they exhibit an uncharacteristic flatness and pose.         
                      
Bouguereau and his fellow academicians practiced a method of  painting that had been developed and refined over the centuries in  order to bring to vivid life imagined scenes from history, literature,  and fantasy. The process of acquisition of the skills necessary to  produce a first-rate academic painting was a long and laborious one. 

...

             
The idealizations of Bouguereau's imaginary universe, which  have delighted some critics, have incurred the wrath of others. Although  some of the latter have loudly lamented the over-romanticized image of  the French peasant presented by the painter, few of them have bothered  to contemplate the heroic attention required to sustain such a vision of  perfection in a less than perfect age. Moreover, as Bouguereau's  contemporary Emile Bayard observed:         
                                   
It is good to note, in any case, that dirt and rags are not  exclusive to the underprivileged and that indigence is not always  clothed the same way. 4         
                      
A similar charge often leveled at Bouguereau is that his art  bears little or no relationship to the realities of political,  industrial, and urban life in nineteenth-century France. 

But if  Bouguereau's art ignores in its content the pressing issues of the day,  it may very well be because the artist, though well aware of them,  nevertheless prompts us to lift our eyes from the ground and focus upon  the lures of distant Arcadia; when misery is afoot, to exalt the more  pleasant possibilities of la vie champetre is not artistic falsehood.         
                      
If one pronounces Bouguereau to have been out of step with  his time, what must one then conclude about the many, many critics and  collectors and viewers who supported him and others of a similar  artistic persuasion? Could he really have achieved such prominence and  financial success by going against the grain of the "realities" of the  nineteenth century? 

Exactly what are those realities and exactly what  attitude was a visual artist obligated to take toward them? If the  accomplishments of Bouguereau are poorly understood today, that may have  something to do with the shifting of aesthetic expectations over time.  

As for Bouguereau's public, it was a public raised on  Raphael , a public that had not yet been conditioned to prefer abstract ideas to  the palpable images that give them utterance, a public that insisted  upon an obvious narrative content and that saw in Bouguereau someone  opposed to the trends it regarded as inimical to art. 

It may very well  be that a determining factor in Bouguereau's success as a painter, apart  from his talent, was that he allied himself to that sizeable,  conservative, and revisionist element of French Roman Catholicism which,  under the aegis of such men as Louis Veuillot , popular theologian and publisher of L'Univers, refused to yield to the attacks on traditional ideals that were current at the time. 

The craft of picture-making as practiced by Bouguereau basically followed the principles of academic theory as codified by the seventeenth-century aesthetician Roger de Piles.

The code embodied the fundamental idea whereby a painting could be judged logically and objectively by its conformity to ideals established for its divisible parts, which were determined to be: composition, drawing, color harmony, and expression.

The method Bouguereau used to execute his important paintings provided ample opportunity for the study and resolution of problems that might arise in each of these areas.

The separate steps leading to the genesis of a painting were:

  • Croquis and tracings
  • Oil sketch and/or grisaille study
  • Highly finished drawings for all the figures in the composition, as well as drapery studies and foliage studies
  • Detailed studies in oil for heads, hands, animals, etc.
  • Cartoon; and, only then
  • the finished painting.

Evidently Bouguereau was constantly making croquis or “thumb nail sketches.” Often these preliminary studies were done during meetings at the Institut or in the evenings after supper.

For the most part they were scribbled from the artist’s memory or imagination, others were sketched directly from nature.

These drawings, hitherto unknown to the public, constitute a very important element of Bouguereau’s work. For one thing, they yield a wealth of information about the artist’s method.

They also show in many cases how a particular composition evolved. Executed either in pencil or ink, they served as a means of determining the grandes lignes, the important linear flows and arabesques, within the entire composition and within individual figure groups as well. They were often refined by means of successive tracings.

The oil sketches, grisailles, and compositional studies in vine charcoal served as means for determining appropriate color harmonies and for the “spotting” of lights and darks.

Like the croquis, these were usually executed from imagination and yielded a fairly abstract pattern of colors and greys upon which the artist would later superimpose his observations from nature.

The figure drawings represented the first important contact with nature in the evolution of the work. Among the considerations of the artist at this point were anatomy, pose, foreshortening, perspective, proportion and, to some degree, modeling. Although Bouguereau was reputed to have the best models in Paris, some of them were not always the most cooperative; as one observer noted:

Bouguereau's Italian model-women are instructed to bring their infant offspring, their tiny sisters and brothers, and the progeny of their highly prolific quarter. 

Once in the studio, the little human frogs are undressed and allowed to roll around on the floor, to play, to quarrel, and to wail in lamentation. 

They dirty up the room a great deal — they bring in a great deal of dirt that they do not make. They are neither savory nor aristocratic nor angelic, these brats from the embryo-land of Virgil. 

But out of them the artist makes his capital. Sketchbook in hand, he records their movements as they tumble on the floor; he draws the curves and turns of their aldermanic bodies, and he counts the creases of fat on their plump thighs as Audobon counted the scales on the legs of his humming-birds. 7

At times Bouguereau was obliged to use sculptural sources. J. Carroll Beckwith wrote:

Entering Bouguereau's studio one morning, before he had come up from his breakfast, I was studying with interest a large canvas half completed, representing a group of laughing children with a donkey [see cat. no. 72]. 

A gaudily attired Italian woman was endeavoring to pacify a curly-headed cherub, the model for the morning, who was ruthlessly rubbing his dirty fingers over some exquisite pencil drawings which lay on the floor at the foot of the easel. 

I rescued the drawings, while the mother apologetically explained to me in Neapolitan French that M. Bouguereau spoiled all of her children so that she could do nothing with them at home or elsewhere. 

The drawings were beautiful reproductions of the Laughing Faun in the sculpture gallery of the Louvre. 

As Bouguereau entered the room, he began a series of frolics with the youngster which quite verified the words of the mother. [When be stopped] at last to set his palette, I asked him when he had made the drawings. "Oh, you see, that mauvais sujet is so wicked", said he, pointing to the curly-headed urchin turning somersaults on the floor, "that I can use him for nothing but color and was obliged to spend nearly all of yesterday afternoon at the Louvre, making these notes for the form. 8

If a particular figure was to be clothed, Bouguereau would also make drapery studies by posing a mannequin in place of the model and experimenting with the folds of cloth until a disposition was found that enhanced the underlying forms.

Sometimes, especially for small or single-figure paintings, Bouguereau drew the model already draped.

Most of the figure drawings were executed in pencil or charcoal (or a combination of the two) and were often heightened with white. The support for them is usually a heavyweight toned paper of medium grain; such a background allowed Bouguereau to dispense with the problem of rendering troublesome halftones which, in any event, were more easily and accurately realized in the painted studies.

To read more about his techniques, please go HERE. It goes into great detail and goes into the various mixes he used. Great stuff for certain.

Can you imagine trying to do this today? Man oh man, you’d be locked up for-ever.

Alma Parens L’âme parentale

Wow. Oh wow. This is an allegorical painting with a ton-load of meaning. It means “The Motherland”.

Of course, the folk in Arkansas found this work “disgusting“, “abhorrent to normal sensibilities” and further evidence of my “sick nature” and “outrageously dangerous desires”.

Sigh.

And yeah, I get it.

You all don’t want to hear what the nit-wits think in Arkansas. But you are gonna hear about it here. You can leave if you don’t like to face reality. The last four years in Washington was populated with these exact kind of people. And no, I am not going to “let by-gones be by-gones”

It’s a uni-party. There are no Republicans nor Democrats. There is just the 10% of psychopaths that run the nation, and the rest of us being treated like cattle in the process.

Is this too “salty” for ya?

The Motherland

.

I know that I am supposed to accept the fact that anything even remotely suggestive of children or sex is a threat to my very existence as I am now branded with the scarlet letter of being a “Sex Offender”. And I know that somehow, having those two images on my computer; the cartoon and the photo of the chick without clothes on created “victims”. I cannot reconcile how the image of a mother tending to her brood is in any way representative of the horrors so massively promoted in American media. You have to be a moron to connect the two…

…but, you know, have you looked at America today?

Know who you are dealing with, and recognize that these people still are in various positions in government today. Look at this jackass. Look at this pencil neck.

Tom Cotton (R-AR) is in a position of power to tell you how to live your life.

.

Hey, check out the kinds of bills that he was working on in 2020. Keep in mind this one very important point. Which of his sponsored bills actually helps and supports normal, working people inside his district in Arkansas. Yeah. go over the list.

Which ones?

Go over the list. Where during 2020 has he sponsored any legislation to help his citizens aside from the emergency related to Coronavirus? Instead it seems like he’s got a real problem with sex, China, and making sure that the Untied States government is protected against the citizenry.

  • Colors in RED are all about China. Yeah, he most certainly has a real “hard on” about China.
  • Colors in Blue are all about sexual exploitation of children.
  • Colors in PURPLE are all about making the government immune from protests and legal actions by the citizenry.
  • Colors in GOLD are for dealing with the Coronavirus.
S.5016: A bill to combat forced organ harvesting and trafficking in persons for purposes of the removal of organs, and for other purposes.
S.4998: Child Support Works Act of 2020
S.4978: Israel CENTCOM Reclassification Act
S.RES.794: A resolution urging the European Parliament to exempt certain technologies used to detect child sexual exploitation from European Union ePrivacy directive.
S.4965: Public Servant Protection Act of 2020
S.4843: Chinese Communist Party Influence Transparency Act
S.RES.751: A resolution expressing support for the designation of October 23, 2020, as a national day of remembrance of the tragic terrorist bombing of the United States Marine Corps barracks in Beirut, Lebanon, in 1983.
S.4768: AIM Act
S.4661: A bill to authorize the President to posthumously award the Medal of Honor to Alwyn C. Cashe for acts of valor during Operation Iraqi Freedom.
S.4648: A bill to amend the Controlled Substances Act to list isotonitazene as a schedule I controlled substance.
S.4631: Hong Kong Refugee Protection Act
S.4609: China Trade Relations Act of 2020
S.4553: Support Peaceful Protest Act
S.4551: Rioting Restitution Act
S.4550: No Catch-and-Release for Rioters Act
S.4483: Campus Free Speech Restoration Act
S.4445: Protect Our Prosecutors and Judges Act of 2020
S.4292: Saving American History Act of 2020
S.4130: American Foundries Act of 2020
S.4105: Washington-Grant Historic Preservation Act
S.4056: Restore Integrity of Special Prosecutors Act
S.3968: Better Community Policing Recognition Act
S.RES.613: A resolution calling for justice for George Floyd and opposing calls to defund the police.
S.3920: SECURE CAMPUS Act of 2020
S.3796: No Bailouts for Illegal Aliens Act
S.3662: Holding the Chinese Communist Party Accountable for Infecting Americans Act of 2020
S.3641: A bill to designate the area between the intersections of International Drive, Northwest and Van Ness Street, Northwest and International Drive, Northwest and International Place, Northwest in Washington, District of Columbia, as “Li Wenliang Plaza”, and
S.3661: Danger Pay for U.S. Marshals Act
S.3635: Protecting Our Pharmaceutical Supply Chain from China Act of 2020
S.3600: Li Wenliang Global Public Health Accountability Act of 2020
S.3537: Protecting Our Pharmaceutical Supply Chain from China Act of 2020
S.3522: Coronavirus TANF Expansion Act
S.3524: Coronavirus Credit Expansion Act
S.3523: Coronavirus Unemployment Insurance Expansion Act
S.3521: Coronavirus Economic Stimulus Act
S.3469: NETWORKS Act
S.3386: Protecting America From Foreign Investors Compromised by the Chinese Communist Party Act of 2020
S.3342: Zero Tolerance for Deceptive Fentanyl Trafficking Act
S.3322: Prevention of Deceptive or Child-Targeted Advertising in Violation of the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act
S.RES.497: A resolution commemorating the life of Dr. Li Wenliang and calling for transparency and cooperation from the Government of the People’s Republic of China and the Communist Party of China.
S.3153: A bill to prohibit the sharing of United States intelligence with countries that permit the operation of Huawei fifth generation telecommunications technology within their borders.

He’s typical.

Do you really think he cares about people? Do you think that he cares about families? Do you think that he cares about anything other than money and hate?

Well… apparently God disagrees with me…

Evangelical Pastor Claims God Says, 'I'm Not Happy About ...
https://www.newsweek.com/evangelical-pastor-claims...

Nov 05, 2020 · Evangelical Pastor Claims God Says, 'I'm Not Happy About What You're Doing to My Man' Trump in Election. By Jason Lemon On 11/5/20 at 6:49 PM EST. U.S. Evangelicals Evangelical Christians Donald ...

These people… those that take the role in government… end up becoming a tool. They end up turning into something else. Something bad. And they allow terrible things to happen, because “they are just doing their job”...

Flagellation de Notre Seigneur Jesus Christ

The Flagellation of Christ, 1880 is one of Bouguereau's masterpieces, and today hangs at the Baptistery of La Rochelle Cathedral, France. Christ, tied to a column, limply hangs, his feet dragging on the ground and head hung back, he submits to his fate.

-Flagellation de Notre Seigneur Jesus Christ
The Flagellation of Christ
The Flagellation of Christ, 1880 is  one of Bouguereau's masterpieces, and today hangs at the Baptistery of  La Rochelle Cathedral, France. Christ, tied to a column, limply hangs,  his feet dragging on the ground and head hung back, he submits to his  fate. 

Two men stand in mid swing with their whipping ropes, with a third  kneeling to the lower right fastening birch branches for the next stage  of the torture. Unlike the two men who are whipping or the forth man  standing behind with birch branches in the ready, the kneeling man tying  the branches appears to show some remorse for his actions as his hand  muscles loosen slightly with the pull of the string. 

The viewer can feel  the pain of Christ's torment, though his eyes are vacant of expression  as if his soul is in another place. The crowd surrounding this event is  filled with curious spectators. 

To the left, a young boy shelters his  eyes from the horrid sight by turning his back and pressing himself  against his mother. To the right, just above Christ's head, a baby looks  down at him sympathetically while hoisted up on his father's shoulders.  

Through the crowd, a bearded man looks directly at the viewer, thereby  pulling the audience into the scene as if they are too part of the  crowd. It is possible that this bearded man with furrowed brow is a self  portrait, so both Bouguereau and the viewer are witnessing this scene.  

This life size capa d'opera is every bit as magnificent as any religious  works done by Raphael, Caravaggio, or Velasquez. The harmonious  interplay of drawing, paint handling, composition, perspective and  emotional thrust are second to none in their expressive power.

-by Kara Lysandra Ross

Excerpt from the article: William Bouguereau and his Religious Works                         

And you know, the detective in charge of the entire raid and my case had some very piercing things to say about this work of art. And I have never forgotten her words…

“…this preoccupation with torture, young children, and nudes point to a serious mental illness that needs to be eradicated from our treasured citizenry…”

Yeah.

So you want to know what it was like for me being arrested and “investigated” in Arkansas…? Look at who the fuck is running that place, controlling the minds of the people there, and who are accumulating riches beyond compare. Look at them. For they ARE America.

Hard Right Religious Extremism and Law-Making makes for a dangerous situation.
Televangelist Pat Robertson says God told him Trump will ...
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-8862797

Oct 21, 2020 · A televangelist has claimed that God told him President Donald Trump will win the upcoming election but that five years later an asteroid will hit …

Yah!

Beware of asteroids you all.

It’s all coo-coo!

When I joined MAJestic, I was instructed that I would be in it for life, but that I was forbidden to have children during my active engagements. I agreed, not realizing what that meant. I was also told that I would be alone, with no support and that I would not ever be rich or famous as that was a danger to the organization.

Maybe I was stupid for taking on this role? But I gave up so very much for this, and then to have myself retired like I was, and then have these jokers prance around in Washington DC like they do really upsets me.

I think that this exposure to what the American government is has taught me quite a bit as to what America has become; what it is, and where it is going. Unlike most Americans who read about this, or who read about that. I’ve experienced it first hand. Up front and viscerally. Don’t get all that caught up on what the media promotes. It’s all lies. Pay attending to the first-hand reports by others who’s veracity you can trust.

Cut out the bullshit.

Coocoo nest 1
Americans mostly resemble the inmates in a mental asylum. And the American leadership is just as messed up and corrupted to a degree that is nearly unfathomable.

.

Anyways, art, like music is really meaningful to me. I remember an old black and white movies from the 1940s or 1950s where there is this guy in prison who paints. It’s his only love. It’s his only hobby. Then one day the warden visits him and see that the painter painted the warden. Not good. Not bad. But realistic. But the warden responded by taking away his ability to paint. And thus destroyed his only and sole source of happiness…

This theme was repeated in the movie “One flew over the Cuckoos nest”. Where as soon as one of the inmates showed any inkling or ability to resist the shackles that were around his legs, the powers that be made sure to destroy him beyond repair.

Coocoo nest 2
Americans mostly resemble the inmates in a mental asylum. And the American leadership is just as messed up and corrupted to a degree that is nearly unfathomable.

.

Le Repos

In the ADC in Arkansas we were not permitted to have any fruit. None. And one inmate who was in there for a long, long time told me that he missed bananas. He said that he could picture them. He could smell them. He could remember peeling them. But that he hadn’t held or tasted a banana in over twenty years…

… yet when I look at these paintings I see a window to a time that is long gone. A quieter time, a more peaceful time, and a time where you could only commit a crime if there was a victim. There was no such things as a victimless crime, and that the fifth amendment guaranteed that I could confront my accuser in court. Not have that entire fail-safe ignored by a plea bargain.

These paintings and this art carries me away…

I just love these relaxed paintings. Maybe this kind of life will return back to America. What do you think?

Rest.

.

This image represents my ideal.

Looking at the boys’ trousers makes me want to buy a new set of oils and brushes. I really want to paint those folds and shaded legs.

La Charité

Another lovely painting.

And yes. Yet another example of how “evil and disgusting” that I am for even suggesting that it is beautiful.

La Charité

.

Yes, you know these people “talk with God” personally. And they know what evil is, and that they are the representation of what is good in the world and that which must be destroyed.

Don’t you know.

Look at this great representation of “good”…

“I had a very close talk with Jesus Christ this morning and he told me…”
Trump Will Start the End of the World, Claim Evangelicals ...
https://www.newsweek.com/trump-will-bring-about...

"For his evangelical supporters, there's a sense that Trump's unlikely election to the presidency proves that he has been chosen by God," Young told Newsweek. "He shouldn't have won the election ...

Entre la richesse et l’amour

This is an age-old issue. When a young lass can choose the life before her. While it is shown as extremes in age and wealth, the story persists. How can a woman in her blossoming years decide her future life? the translation of this painting is “Between wealth and Love”. And it speaks volumes. Don’t you think?

Between wealth and love

.

My favorite part of this painting is the young lass’s hands. That’s just pure art.

Le Saintes Femmes au Tombeau

Le Saintes Femmes au Tombeau, 1890, translated to The Holy Women at the Tomb, depicts the three Marys, Mary the Mother of James, Mary Magdalene and Mary of Cleophas, at the tomb of the resurrection. The viewer, compositionally, is placed in a prostrated position and looking up first notices the expressions of bewilderment on the central Mary's face before looking past the three women and into the tomb.

-Le Saintes Femmes au Tombeau
Le Saintes Femmes au Tombeau painting.
Le Saintes Femmes au Tombeau

Compassion!

Compassion painting.
Compassion!
Donated by Bouguereau's descendents to the Musée D'Orsay, Paris, France, 2009 

When one looks at The Compassion,  1897, at first glance the viewer may interpret this painting be simply a  depiction of Christ on the Cross, with perhaps another saint, or  victim. 

A depiction not too different from thousands of other paintings  of the subject; but in fact, the subject of this painting is not simply  the event, but the conversion to Christianity through the compassion for  the sacrifice Jesus made. The man with his head on Jesus' chest is a  representation of every man and mankind as a whole. 

The man in the  painting shows the same empathy and bearing his own symbolic cross, has  found his way to Jesus and his own redemption. Many Christians wear  crosses around their necks to represent the same conviction, that they  too have been sacrificed with Christ. 

In the bible, when Jesus fell on  his way to Calvary, a man from the crowd, Simon of Cyrene, went to Jesus  and carried the cross for him, which was the inspiration for this  widely accepted symbol. 

The blood of Christ falls onto his hands,  reiterating the blood sacrifice that was made for his benefit. On top of  the cross a letter is posted which reads "Jesus of Nazareth, King of  the Jews" in three languages, Greek, Latin, and Aramaic. Although in  many depictions, Christ is crucified at the top of a mountain,  Bouguereau chooses to depict the savior on a barren wasteland, symbolic  of the man"s spiritual life before finding his way to Christ. 

Bouguereau  chose to keep this painting, which shows the importance his religion  played in his own life, and it remained in his studio until its recent  donation to the Musèe D'Orsay, Paris, France.

-by Kara Lysandra Ross

Excerpt from the article: William Bouguereau and his Religious Works

Berceuse

The painting, “Berceuse” is a delightful example of Bouguereau’s more domestic works. It shows a mother sitting in a rural landscape rocking her baby’s cradle as she works at spinning thread.

The title of the painting, “Berceuse” suggests that she is also singing a lullaby to her sleeping child at whom her calm, loving gaze is directed. The composition is strongly reminiscent of a Madonna and Child and the painting as a whole is beautifully executed.

Berceuse

.

We can see from this painting that Bouguereau was a master of traditional academic painting and why he had wide appeal, in France and abroad, during his lifetime.

His approach to art, was however, heavily criticized by the rising impressionist painters, many of whom found much of their work rejected by the Salon. Instead they embraced more modern types and works of art. And we all know where that ended up…

White Dog
Georges Seurat/white-dog

.

After his death his reputation fell steeply and his paintings were no longer admired but were seen as vacuous or overly sentimental. It is only in recent decades that his work has begun to be re-evaluated and his paintings, such as “Berceuse” appreciated once more for the skill, artistry and dedication that Bourguereau brought to his work.

The Proposal

What kind of proposal is it? Marriage?

Hardly.

Some kind of plan being hatched… curious. Very curious.

The motif of a young man at a window, wooing a woman at her spinning wheel, and the vaguely sixteenth-century German costumes and setting, led writers to associate this painting with the tragic story of Faust and Marguerite.

Johann Georg Faust was said to be an alchemist, astrologer, and magician who lived during the Renaissance period in Germany.
 
He was an aging scholar, but at the end of his life, he fell out of  love with his previously devoted scholastic endeavors in the  accumulation of human knowledge. He is said to have made a contract with  the devil, selling his soul to enjoy and partake in reckless earthly  pleasures. The one who lured Faust away from his scholarly endeavors was  said to be Méphistophélès, a malevolent devil.
 
The story of Faust has served as inspiration for numerous literary,  artistic, cinematographic and musical works throughout the ages. Even  the mere term ‘Faust’ has been used to refer to ambitious people who are  willing to exchange moral values for strength and success in certain  fields. 
 
La Damnation de Faust – Tragic destiny
 
‘La Damnation de Faust’ is often interpreted to describe a tragic  destiny resulting from a false wish, a trope that still holds relevance  in contemporary society.
 
In the classic play, Faust is presented as an aging scholar in  desperation. He has spent his whole life in search of wisdom just to  find that at the end of it all, he has gained nothing. Youth, happiness,  and achievement have all slipped away from him. Even the search for  wisdom can no longer inspire him. To set him free from sorrow and  depression, he decides to seek death. 

In a singular moment, the resounding sound of a church bell and hymn remind him of his youth, of the time when he still held faith in religion. But that fleeting moment does not last long before the appearance of Méphistophélès, a malevolent devil, is seen before him. Faust, desperate and depressed almost at the point of suicide, accepts the devil’s offer of returning to him his youth, knowledge, and the fulfillment of all of his deepest desires. In return, he must, however, follow the devil and fall under his command. 

Seemingly, the vague and fleeting religious memory Faust experienced  moments before the appearance of the devil was not enough to revive in  him a strong faith in religion, in a God that he once had.|
 
Naturally, Faust now has all that he was craving, yet, there was no way for him to know where the journey ahead would lead him.
 
After Méphistophélès fulfills his side of the bargain he encourages  Faust to seduce Marguerite, an innocent girl whom Faust had an  unrequited love for, and then abandon her, alone and pregnant. 
Faust and Marguerite in the Garden, by James Tissot (1861). (Wikimedia Commons/Public domain)
Faust and Marguerite in the Garden, by James Tissot (1861). (Wikimedia Commons/Public domain)
Her life falls into ruin and, so, in an effort to save his lover, Faust agrees to relinquish his soul to devil Méphistophélès. With this decision, he gives the devil every reason and ability to drag him to hell. Which he does, tragically and immediately. Perhaps his final destiny was predetermined from the very moment he accepted the offer of the devil Méphistophélès. 

It is a tale that resembles the story of Adam and Eve in the Garden  of Eden. The devil Méphistophélès plays a role not dissimilar to the  role of the serpent that tempted Eve to take a bite of the apple. Once  Adam and Eve succumbed to the serpent to eat the forbidden fruit, it was  determined that they would be expelled from the Garden of Eden.
 
In the case of Faust, he yields to lust and worldly desires and  culminates in hell. It is the inevitable fate for the one that chooses  to go against good and side with evil.
 
The story of Faust: An awakening bell
 
In the contemporary era of the robust development of science and  technology, in most cases, science and knowledge play a positive role in  society, but at times, it can assume a negative role, as well.  Especially when the scholars and scientists ignore moral and humanistic  values, and put their fame and interest on top, they would disregard any  adverse impact that their work might impose on humanity.
 
Don’t we catch the image of Faust in communist philosophers, in  surgeons involved in live organ harvesting from Falun Gong practitioners  and in the development of nuclear warfare, to name a few?
 
No matter what excuse they can make, the undermining effect on human society that they exert is irrefutable.
 
In this aspect, the story of Faust can still prove its relevance to  today’s society and serve as the awakening bell for those who choose to  go down that path.

-La Damnation de Faust

The seduction of the innocent heroine by the wicked Faust was a popular pictorial subject in the nineteenth century, inspired by Goethe’s dramatic poem and its operatic staging by Charles Gounod.

Regardless of the lovers’ identities, the lushly painted, romantic scene would have appealed to Bouguereau’s well-heeled clientele.

Admiration Maternelle – Le Bain

'M. Bouguereau is a true artist, one of the most accomplished in Paris.'

-Edmond About, 1866
Admiration Maternelle - Le Bain
Admiration Maternelle – Le Bain

.

Beginning in 1865, Bouguereau became interested in themes of mothers and children and he began a series of paintings devoted to this subject matter. These classically-informed images were greatly influenced by his travels throughout Italy in the 1850s.

Trekking from Naples all the way to Venice over a two year period, Bouguereau was frequently confronted by religious imagery, and he was particularly impressed with the works of Raphael.

Raphael
A painting by Raphael.

These images of mothers and children may have been further reinforced by the birth of the artist’s fourth child in 1868, a son named Adolphe Paul. It was also in this year that the artist moved his family into the house on rue Notre-Dame-des-Champs, with its large studio on the top floor of the house.

Admiration maternelle – le bain, most likely painted in the artist’s studio in 1869, depicts a young Roman mother holding her naked baby on her lap. The baby clasps an orange before him, while his older sister looks on adoringly, her hands folded together as if in prayer.

These three figures, clearly a secularized interpretation of a Holy Family or Madonna and Child with St. John, are bathed in a clear warm light which illuminates the freshly washed hair of the baby, creating a halo around his head and enhancing the association with the Christ Child.

The bowl and washcloth occupy the immediate center of the composition, bringing to mind the chalice and cloth of the Liturgy of the Eucharist. The room behind the figural group is softened by the shadows of the recesses of the interior, thereby heightening the importance of the figural group.

.

There is a photograph in the Goupil Museum in Bordeaux and in Bouguereau’s own collection of what appears to be this work (Ross and Bartoli, 1869/02) without the linen towel and basin, a different bench and a slightly different background. 

It is possible that the initial purchaser of the painting asked for the changes to be made, as was the case with La Bohémienne, which also had two different backgrounds.

Admiration maternelle was in the collection of George Small of Baltimore by 1879, and remained in the Small family until 1984. George Small was the President of the Ashland Iron Company and a director of the Northern Central Railroad and the Baltimore and Potomac Railroad. He amassed a fortune, but he and his wife had no children, so the painting passed to his brother’s family upon his death in 1891.

Admiration Maternelle

He does capture the moment perfectly. Doesn’t he?

Maternal Admiration

.

I love his work. I really do.

Conclusions

The artist was master of his medium and in control of his life in that time, and at that place…

In a corner of the garden measuring some two hundred square feet, he arranged his outdoor studio; and in the orangery he set up his interior studio. At six in the morning, rain or shine, drizzle or wind, escorted by his three dogs and a servant, he sets out for a two-hour walk through the fields or along the seashore. Once home, he has a cup of tea and settles down to work. At eleven, the family gathers for lunch; at one, he resumes work with his model and continues until six in the evening, with a few short breaks.
 
Then the painter picks up his rustic cane and his soft-felt hat and leaves, a cigarette between his lips, like any ordinary bourgeois, for a walk around the harbor, to watch the sun set on the sea.
 
When the town clocks chime seven, he goes back home for dinner; and at ten, it is curfew time. At dawn on Sundays, the master and his wife climb into a carriage to meet a childhood friend, an architect in a neighboring village, for an outing in the countryside or, during hunting season, to take a few pot shots, in his own words, "at hypothetical quails or the occasional rabbit."

When I look at these beautiful art works I still have stirrings of emotions. But that is now tainted with memories of the experiences that I had in Arkansas.

Memories that came into being by the actions of the government there; a government that employed people from both political parties… working in unison for their own self-worth and future fortunes. Greedy fucks. Ignorant of the true realities and consequences of their actions and their activities.

You take something that I enjoyed and you poison it with bad memories. It’s that the very fundamental nature of PTSD?

Memories that were and still are painful.

In fact, I often wonder if this was it’s intended purpose, by a some gleeful evil psychopaths to forever alter my love of art and to convert it and change it into something substantially different.

Into a ugly and foul thing…

Much like the premise in the movie A Clockwork Orange.

A controversial and offensive masterpiece.                                  tyson-hunsaker31 January 2017             
                              
Anyone looking to  watch A Clockwork Orange might be wanting to revisit some of Stanley  Kubrik's work and might be interested in studying this film. Those who  have already seen this film tend to already have strong opinions  regarding this dark sci-fi movie but for me, I approached this film  recently to obtain an opinion for myself and study one of the great  masters of cinema. 

The fact that this film was regarded as one  of the most controversial films ever made (rightfully so) sparked  genuine curiosity to give this flick a full viewing and while I have  large issues with the film, the experience as a whole was both  satisfying and a learning experience. 

This story centers on  "Alex" our main protagonist and his gang of hoodlums set in a not so  distant, dystopian Great Britain. The beginning portion unfolds Alex's  dark and twisted soul as we watch him and his gang fight, rape, and  kill. 

When he's eventually caught, he undergoes controversial  "treatment" to be cured of his dark soul.

I first appreciated the  inmate concepts of this story and the type of questions the story  attempted to raise to the audience. Furthermore, much of the  psychological ideologies surrounding freedom, choice, good vs evil, and  selfishness were extremely thought-provoking. It had a way of making me  feel self-exploratory despite the character's complete inability to  relate with (hopefully) any viewer. 

Performances were top notch;  especially from the lead: Malcom McDowell. His performance felt so  authentic there's never a single moment that feels fake or forced with  his dark character. As always, Stanley Kubrick directs the hell out of  this. His commanding and authoritative shooting style is apparent in  every frame of the picture and he does a wonderful job at sucking the  viewer into this terrible world to the point of enthrallment. 

While  all these positives make for a great movie-going experience and when  Kubrick is at the director's helm not much can go wrong, the film's  biggest downfall is indeed its controversy. Disturbing subject matter in  this piece is indeed vital to the essence of the story but taking off  the gloves when it comes to fighting, rape, and killing (especially the  rape) make this so incredibly disturbing that it's difficult to muscle  through. 

I found that A Clockwork Orange was not only offense because of  its disturbing content, it was personally offensive in so many ways.  Frankly, these extremely rare and offensive movie experiences are not  quite the reason I enjoy films in the first place; stories can still be  thought-provoking while not morally offend and damage the viewer  internally. In addition, a viewer looking to study the work of Stanley  Kubrick can still experience some of cinema's greatest and transcendent  experiences without feeling like their conscience has blackened.

It's  understandable that not everyone feels this way; just as stated before,  opinions about this film are all across the board. As time has passed  however, A Clockwork Orange has stood out has one of Kubrick's finest  and has been adored by die-hard fans so much its fan base has grown over  the years. 

The best advice to give is to see it for yourself.  Much like all other Kubrick films, relying on anyone's opinion won't  help one bit. Seeing it and deciding for yourself is the best course of  action. That being said, despite it's strong artistic merit, I wouldn't  recommend seeing it simply because of the morally offensive and  sickening content that most don't appreciate. Overall, it's been the  hardest one to review in a long time because it's not a simple: see it  or don't see it. There's much more to this picture than that. If you do  decide to see it though, be warned and well prepared. If not, that's  probably just fine too.

There is nothing different from my “reprogramming” by the Arkansas government, and what happened to Alex in the movie “A Clockwork Orange”.

A clockwork orange.

.

Perhaps China is correct in preventing their nation any kind of access by these evil, evil people. People who have no compassion. People who cannot see beauty and purpose. People who look good, and say the right things, but are corrupted, and evil to their fundamental core.

Evil people.

In positions of extreme power…

…in a dying military empire.

Are inherently dangerous.

Six of the thirty that have been sanctioned by China in January 2021.

.

Back in Rome

All this reminds me of the behaviors of the government of Rome when it was at the height of decay and corruption. Consider their idea for a “half time show” in the Arena…

The enormous arena was empty, save for the seesaws and the dozens of  condemned criminals who sat naked upon them, hands tied behind their  backs. Unfamiliar with the recently invented contraptions known as petaurua,  the men tested the seesaws uneasily. One criminal would push off the  ground and suddenly find himself 15 feet in the air while his partner on  the other side of the seesaw descended swiftly to the ground. How strange. 

In  the stands, tens of thousands of Roman citizens waited with half-bored  curiosity to see what would happen next and whether it would be  interesting enough to keep them in their seats until the next part of  the "big show" began. 

With a flourish, trapdoors in the floor of the arena were opened,  and lions, bears, wild boars and leopards rushed into the arena. The  starved animals bounded toward the terrified criminals, who attempted to  leap away from the beasts' snapping jaws. But as one helpless man flung  himself upward and out of harm's way, his partner on the other side of  the seesaw was sent crashing down into the seething mass of claws, teeth  and fur. 

The crowd of Romans began to laugh at the dark antics before them.  Soon, they were clapping and yelling, placing bets on which criminal  would die first, which one would last longest and which one would  ultimately be chosen by the largest lion, who was still prowling the  outskirts of the arena's pure white sand. [See Photos of the Combat Sports Played in Ancient Rome]

And with that, another "halftime show" of damnatio ad bestias  succeeded in serving its purpose: to keep the jaded Roman population  glued to their seats, to the delight of the event's scheming organizer. 

The Roman Games were the Super Bowl Sundays of their time. They gave their ever-changing sponsors and organizers (known as editors)  an enormously powerful platform to promote their views and philosophies  to the widest spectrum of Romans. All of Rome came to the Games: rich  and poor, men and women, children and the noble elite alike. They were  all eager to witness the unique spectacles each new game promised its  audience.

To the editors, the Games represented power,  money and opportunity. Politicians and aspiring noblemen spent  unthinkable sums on the Games they sponsored in the hopes of swaying  public opinion in their favor, courting votes, and/or disposing of any  person or warring faction they wanted out of the way. 

The more  extreme and fantastic the spectacles, the more popular the Games with  the general public, and the more popular the Games, the more influence  the editor could have. Because the Games could make or break the reputation of their organizers, editors planned every last detail meticulously. 

Thanks to films like "Ben-Hur" and "Gladiator," the two most popular elements of the Roman Games are well known even to this day: the chariot races and the gladiator fights.  Other elements of the Roman Games have also translated into modern  times without much change: theatrical plays put on by costumed actors,  concerts with trained musicians, and parades of much-cared-for exotic  animals from the city's private zoos. 

But much less discussed,  and indeed largely forgotten, is the spectacle that kept the Roman  audiences in their seats through the sweltering midafternoon heat: the  blood-spattered halftime show known as damnatio ad bestias — literally "condemnation by beasts" — orchestrated by men known as the bestiarii.

Super Bowl 242 B.C: How the Games Became So Brutal

The  cultural juggernaut known as the Roman Games began in 242 B.C., when  two sons decided to celebrate their father's life by ordering slaves to  battle each other to the death at his funeral. This new variation of  ancient munera (a tribute to the dead) struck a chord within  the developing republic. Soon, other members of the wealthy classes  began to incorporate this type of slave fighting into their own munera. The practice evolved over time — with new formats, rules, specialized weapons, etc. — until the Roman Games as we now know them were born. 

In  189 B.C., a consul named M. Fulvius Nobilior decided to do something  different. In addition to the gladiator duels that had become common, he  introduced an animal act that would see humans fight both lions and  panthers to the death. Big-game hunting was not a part of Roman culture;  Romans only attacked large animals to protect themselves, their  families or their crops. 

Nobilior realized that the spectacle of animals  fighting humans would add a cheap and unique flourish to this fantastic  new pastime. Nobilior aimed to make an impression, and he succeeded. [Photos: Gladiators of the Roman Empire]
With  the birth of the first "animal program," an uneasy milestone was  achieved in the evolution of the Roman Games: the point at which a human  being faced a snarling pack of starved beasts, and every laughing  spectator in the crowd chanted for the big cats to win, the point at  which the republic's obligation to make a man's death a fair or  honorable one began to be outweighed by the entertainment value of watching him die.

Twenty-two years later, in 167 B.C., Aemlilus Paullus would give Rome its first damnatio ad bestias when  he rounded up army deserters and had them crushed, one by one, under  the heavy feet of elephants. "The act was done publicly," historian  Alison Futrell noted in her book "Blood in the Arena," "a harsh object lesson for those challenging Roman authority."

The  "satisfaction and relief" Romans would feel watching someone considered  lower than themselves be thrown to the beasts would become, as  historian Garrett G. Fagan noted in his book "The Lure of the Arena,"  a "central … facet of the experience [of the Roman Games. … a feeling  of shared empowerment and validation … " In those moments, Rome began  the transition into the self-indulgent decadence that would come to  define all that we associate with the great society's demise.

The Role of Julius Caesar
General Julius  Caesar proved to be the first true maestro of the Games. He understood  how these events could be manipulated to inspire fear, loyalty and  patriotism, and began to stage the Games in new and ingenious ways. For  example, Caesar was the first to arrange fights between recently  captured armies, gaining firsthand knowledge of the fighting techniques  used by these conquered people and providing him with powerful insights  to aid future Roman conquests, all the while demonstrating the  republic's own superiority to the roaring crowd of Romans. After all,  what other city was powerful enough to command foreign armies to fight  each other to the death, solely for their viewing pleasure? 

Caesar  used exotic animals from newly conquered territories to educate Romans  about the empire's expansion. In one of his games, "Animals for Show and Pleasure in Ancient Rome"  author George Jennison notes that Caesar orchestrated "a hunt of four  hundred lions, fights between elephants and infantry … [and] bull  fighting by mounted Thessalians." Later, the first-ever giraffes seen in  Rome arrived — a gift to Caesar himself from a love-struck Cleopatra.

To execute his very specific visions, Caesar relied heavily on the bestiarii —  men who were paid to house, manage, breed, train and sometimes fight  the bizarre menagerie of animals collected for the Games. 

Managing and training this ever-changing influx of beasts was not an easy task for the bestiarii.  Wild animals are born with a natural hesitancy, and without training,  they would usually cower and hide when forced into the arena's center.  For example, it is not a natural instinct for a lion to attack and eat a human being,  let alone to do so in front of a crowd of 100,000 screaming Roman men,  women and children! And yet, in Rome's ever-more-violent culture,  disappointing an editor would spell certain death for the low-ranking bestiarii. 

To avoid being executed themselves, bestiarii  met the challenge. They developed detailed training regimens to ensure  their animals would act as requested, feeding arena-born animals a diet  compromised solely of human flesh, breeding their best animals, and  allowing their weaker and smaller stock to be killed in the arena. Bestiarii  even went so far as to instruct condemned men and women on how to  behave in the ring to guarantee a quick death for themselves — and a  better show. The bestiarii could leave nothing to chance. 

As their reputations grew, bestiarii were given the power to independently devise new and even more audacious spectacles for the ludi meridiani (midday executions). And by the time the Roman Games had grown popular enough to fill 250,000-seat arenas, the work of the bestiarii had become a twisted art form. 

As  the Roman Empire grew, so did the ambition and arrogance of its  leaders. And the more arrogant, egotistic and unhinged the leader in  power, the more spectacular the Games would become. Who better than the bestiarii to aid these despots in taking their version of the Roman Games to new, ever-more grotesque heights? 

Caligula Amplified the Cruelty
Animal spectacles became bigger, more elaborate, and more flamboyantly cruel.
 Damnatio ad bestias became the preferred method of executing criminals and enemies alike. So important where the bestiarii's  contribution, that when butcher meat became prohibitively expensive,  Emperor Caligula ordered that all of Rome's prisoners "be devoured" by  the bestiarii's packs of starving animals. In his masterwork De  Vita Caesarum, Roman historian Gaius Suetonius Tranquillus (b. 69 A.D.)  tells of how Caligula sentenced the men to death "without examining the  charges" to see if death was a fitting punishment, but rather by  "merely taking his place in the middle of a colonnade, he bade them be  led away 'from baldhead to baldhead,'"(It should also be noted that  Caligula used the funds originally earmarked for feeding the animals and  the prisoners to construct temples he was building in his own honor!)

To meet this ever-growing pressure to keep the Roman crowds happy and engaged by bloodshed, bestiarii  were forced to consistently invent new ways to kill.
 They devised  elaborate contraptions and platforms to give prisoners the illusion they  could save themselves — only to have the structures collapse at the  worst possible moments, dropping the condemned into a waiting pack of  starved animals. Prisoners were tied to boxes, lashed to stakes, wheeled  out on dollies and nailed to crosses, and then, prior to the animals'  release, the action was paused so that bets could be made in the crowd  about which of the helpless men would be devoured first. 

Perhaps most popular — as well as the most difficult to pull off — were the re-creations of death scenes from famous myths and legends. A single bestiarius might spend months training an eagle in the art of removing a thrashing man's organs (a la the myth of Prometheus).

The halftime show of damnatio ad bestias  became so notorious that it was common for prisoners to attempt suicide  to avoid facing the horrors they knew awaited them. Roman philosopher  and statesmen Seneca recorded a story of a German prisoner who, rather than be killed in a bestiarius'  show, killed himself by forcing a communally used prison lavatory  sponge down his throat. One prisoner who refused to walk into the arena  was placed on a cart and wheeled in; the prisoner thrust his own head  between the spokes of its wheels, preferring to break his own neck than  to face whatever horrors the bestiarius had planned for him.

It is in this era that Rome saw the rise of its most famous bestiarius, Carpophorus, "The King of the Beasts." 

The Rise of a Beast Master
Carpophorus was  celebrated not only for training the animals that were set upon the  enemies, criminals and Christians of Rome, but also for famously taking  to the center of the arena to battle the most fearsome creatures  himself.

He triumphed in one match that pitted him against a bear,  a lion and a leopard, all of which were released to attack him at once.  Another time, he killed 20 separate animals in one battle, using only  his bare hands as weapons. His power over animals was so unmatched that the poet Martial wrote odes to Carpophorus.

"If  the ages of old, Caesar, in which a barbarous earth brought forth wild  monsters, had produced Carpophorus," he wrote in his best known work,  Epigrams. "Marathon would not have feared her bull, nor leafy Nemea her  lion, nor Arcadians the boar of Maenalus. When he armed his hands, the  Hydra would have met a single death; one stroke of his would have  sufficed for the entire Chimaera. He could yoke the fire-bearing bulls  without the Colchian; he could conquer both the beasts of Pasiphae. If  the ancient tale of the sea monster were recalled, he would release  Hesione and Andromeda single-handed. Let the glory of Hercules'  achievement be numbered: it is more to have subdued twice ten wild  beasts at one time."

To have his work compared so fawningly to  battles with some of Rome’s most notorious mythological beast sheds some  light on the astounding work Carpophorus was doing within the arena,  but he gained fame as well for his animal work behind the scenes.  Perhaps most shockingly, it was said that he was among the few bestiarii  who could command animals to rape human beings, including bulls,  zebras, stallions, wild boars and giraffes, among others. This  crowd-pleasing trick allowed his editors to create ludi meridiani  that could not only combine sex and death but also claim to be honoring  the god Jupiter. After all, in Roman mythology, Jupiter took many  animal forms to have his way with human women. 

Historians still  debate how common of an occurrence public bestiality was at the Roman  Games — and especially whether forced bestiality was used as a form of  execution — but poets and artists of the time wrote and painted about  the spectacle with a shocked awe. 

"Believe that Pasiphae coupled  with the Dictaean bull!" Martial wrote. "We've seen it! The Ancient Myth  has been confirmed! Hoary antiquity, Caesar, should not marvel at  itself: whatever Fame sings of, the arena presents to you."

The 'Gladiator' Commodus
The Roman Games and the work of the bestiarii  may have reached their apex during the reign of Emperor Commodus, which  began in 180 AD. By that time, the relationship between the emperors  and the Senate had disintegrated to a point of near-complete  dysfunction. The wealthy, powerful and spoiled emperors began acting out  in such debauched and deluded ways that even the working class "plebs"  of Rome were unnerved. But even in this heightened environment, Commodus  served as an extreme.

Having little interest in running the  empire, he left most of the day-to-day decisions to a prefect, while  Commodus himself indulged in living a very public life of debauchery.  His harem contained 300 girls and 300 boys (some of whom it was said had  so bewitched the emperor as he passed them on the street that he felt  compelled to order their kidnapping). But if there was one thing that  commanded Commodus' obsession above all else, it was the Roman Games. He  didn't just want to put on the greatest Games in the history of Rome;  he wanted to be the star of them, too. 

Commodus began to fight as a gladiator. Sometimes, he arrived dressed in lion pelts, to evoke Roman hero Hercules; other times, he entered the ring absolutely naked  to fight his opponents. To ensure a victory, Commodus only fought  amputees and wounded soldiers (all of whom were given only flimsy wooden  weapons to defend themselves). In one dramatic case recorded in  Scriptores Historiae Augustae, Commodus ordered that all people missing  their feet be gathered from the Roman streets and be brought to the  arena, where he commanded that they be tethered together in the rough  shape of a human body. Commodus then entered the arena's center ring,  and clubbed the entire group to death, before announcing proudly that he  had killed a giant. 

But being a gladiator wasn't enough for him.  Commodus wanted to rule the halftime show as well, so he set about  creating a spectacle that would feature him as a great bestiarius.  He not only killed numerous animals — including lions, elephants,  ostriches and giraffes, among others, all of which had to be tethered or  injured to ensure the emperor's success — but also killed bestiarii  whom he felt were rivals (including Julius Alexander, a bestiarius who  had grown beloved in Rome for his ability to kill an untethered lion  with a javelin from horseback). Commodus once made all of Rome sit and  watch in the blazing midday sun as he killed 100 bears in a row — and  then made the city pay him 1 millions esterces (ancient Roman coins) for the (unsolicited) favor.

By the time Commodus demanded the city of Rome be renamed Colonia Commodiana ("City of Commodus") — Scriptores Historiae Augustae,  noted that not only did the Senate "pass this resolution, but … at the  same time [gave] Commodus the name Hercules, and [called] him a god" — a  conspiracy was already afoot to kill the mad leader. A motley crew of  assassins — including his court chamberlain, Commodus' favorite  concubine, and "an athlete called Narcissus, who was employed as  Commodus' wrestling partner" — joined forces to kill him and end his  unhinged reign. His death was supposed to restore balance and  rationality to Rome — but it didn't. By then, Rome was broken — bloody,  chaotic and unable to stop its death spiral. 

In an ultimate irony, reformers who stood up to oppose the culture's  violent and debauched disorder were often punished by death at the hands  of the bestiarii, their deaths cheered on by the very same Romans whom they were trying to protect and save from destruction. 

The Death of the Games and the Rise of Christianity
As  the Roman Empire declined, so did the size, scope and brutality of its  Games. However, it seems fitting that one of the most powerful seeds of  the empire's downfall could be found within its ultimate sign of  contempt and power — the halftime show of damnatio ad bestias.
 
Early Christians were among the most popular victims in ludi meridiani.  The emperors who condemned these men, women and children to public  death by beasts did so with the obvious hope that the spectacle would be  so horrifying and humiliating that it would discourage any other Romans  from converting to Christianity.

Little did they realize that the tales of brave Christians facing certain death with grace, power and humility  made them some of the earliest martyr stories. Nor could they have  imagined that these oft-repeated narratives would then serve as  invaluable tools to drive more people toward the Christian faith for  centuries to come. 

In the end, who could have ever imagined that  these near-forgotten "halftime shows" might prove to have a more lasting  impact on the world than the gladiators and chariot races that had  overshadowed the bestiarii for their entire existence?

Read more from Aptowicz in her Expert Voices essay, "Surgery in a Time Before Anesthesia."

The argument about the comparisons between ancient Rome and America today is that the horrific tortures and debauchery just does not occur in America today.

I beg to differ.

I argue that the horrors committed by the national leadership and the techniques of manipulation of the people may have changed form, but they have not been eliminated. Rather, they exist in other ways, other means, and using other technology.

America today

Ah it’s time to return back to a simpler time when people like these would never ever get an opportunity to go anywhere next to the levers of power. A simpler time when people lived life in absolute freedom and never knew fear, 24-7 surveillance, and did not fear their government. A time much as was portrayed in the classical art venues.

And these evil men; these evil people? What got them there to the positions of power and absolute corruption that they currently enjoy?

A corrupt “democratic” process. That is what.

What ever happens in the United States, and no matter what changes will be implemented, any kind of democratic institution of any kind will revert to this exact same game-plan. Nothing will change. The founders of the Untied States were absolutely correct. A democracy turns into a corrupt oligarchy and unless countered, evolves into a dangerous military empire. And the citizens… well… they devolve into frightened sheep, ready for dinner.

Oh, and what happened to my own personal paintings?

You might want to know what happened to all my art that I created, my painting supplies, my painting easel, and my paints. You might want to know what happened to my loves, my dreams and my passions…

While I was incarcerated, my father handled my belongings. He held a yard sale and sold the painting for a $1 each. One man decided to buy them all up. He said that he really liked them, and they was going to use the paintings (all were oil on wood panel) to “wallpaper” his walls with. So …

… I well remember the beaming pride that my father had when he handed me a check for some $350 odd dollars. Not realizing that the materials alone were worth ten times that amount.

…and my other belongings…

The remaining belongings were put on the sidewalk and hauled away as trash. My books were collected and given to a friend to watch over. Who later suddenly dies, and his sister sold all of them in bulk to a used book seller.

He saved one suitcase and some articles of clothing, some things that were truly “WTF did he save this for”, and the screws (?) to my massive king-sized solid hardwood bed, that he simply threw away. (I paid over $3500 for that thick massive bed back in 1998. It was totally and completely awesome!) Everything else was destroyed, lost or sold off for pennies on the dollar.

My cars… he gave them away.

  • My Toyota Celica was driven to the dealership. He handed them the keys. Said I was in prison and didn’t want the car any longer.
  • My Cadillac Deville. was discovered with sliced tires, a engine (and transmission) filled with sugar and totally gummed up and useless. (It was towed away to a junk yard.)
  • My Ford T-Bird was left in the airport. I asked my father to get the car for me. I was in prison and was unable to get it out of the lot. But it was too much of a hassle. So he called the parking lot owner and told them “the situation”. Instead of being understanding they responded with “Sex Offender! Tough shit! That car is mine now!” and classified it as abandoned and started the necessary legal paperwork to claim it as their own.

His response to me was “you can go get new ones when you get out of prison.”

With what, Dad? My good looks and a spit shine? Not even McDonald’s would hire me.

But things do have a way of turning around.

Just today I read an interesting article;

The last four years of non-stop HATE CHINA! propaganda is ending. And those people who drove that narrative and forced the complete “fire hose” of disinformation, lies, distortions and insults are not only being axed and sent out the door, but they are being applauded by the working folk as they leave too. Good riddance…

One VOA journalist said Pack's resignation triggered "sighs of relief and cheers" among employees. She called Pack's resignation "a first step toward a return to normalcy."

Do you want more?

I have more posts in my Art Index here…

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From then to now; how my unrelenting sequence of prayer & affirmation campaigns changed my life.

Oh boy! Buckle up!

One of my friends, in casual conversation, asked me (while talking about prayer campaigns and affirmations) what all the changes were like, for me, after over four decades of prayer / affirmation campaigns.

And I read what she asked of me, and I’ll tell you truthfully, I just leaned back in my chair and stared dumb-founded at the screen. Oh, yes. Things have really changed. They really, really, REALLY have changed. I just never really thought about it that way.

But… yeah.

And yeah…

It’s complicated.

Our experiences change us. My role in MAJestic changed me. My relationships with others changed me. The culture sand society changed me, and all kinds of influences shaped my life. And if you take one such influence out, I would be a completely different person.

Life changes you.

And, I’ll tell you what, four decades of life is gonna change you.

It’s one thing to live life, and sway in the wind, guideless and directionless. Like some clothing hung on a clothes line to dry. But it’s another thing to pilot an ocean steamer, blind in the dark, dark night trying to make it to paradise.

Since I left the Navy, and entered MAJestic, my entire life has been that of directed prayer / thought / affirmations and intention.

In fact, what I am trying to say is that without the prayer / affirmation campaigns I would not have had so many changes. Without my role in MAJestic, I wouldn’t have been exposed to so many things, ideas and changes. And all things taken together as a whole, I have to admit… life, and experiences are all intertwined with affirmation campaigns.

Do. Not. Assume.

That.

I. Would. Be.

What. I. Am. Today.

Without. Prayer. Campaigns.

Don’t make that assumption. It’s a foolish and stupid assumption. I attribute my material wealth, the quality and quantity of life, and my experiences are all a direct result of my personal prayer affirmations that I have conducted for over four decades.

My current life, and lifestyle is the direct result of my prayer affirmation campaigns.

For Starters

Let’s begin with answering the question.

What changes do I have in my life right now, compared to the life that I had in the 1980's?

Well, since I started the affirmation campaigns in the late 1980’s. We will begin there. Let’s use the starting point where it’s a few years after my calibration and training at China Lake NWC outside of Ridgecrest, California.

At that time, I had left the Navy and MAJestic told me to “make a living and live life”, and so I found work in an automotive electronics company in central Indiana.

So we will use that as the initial baseline. We will refer to that period of time, say middle to late 1980’s as the comparison subject. And on the other end, we will compare it to my life, right now today.

The differences are stark. And i have never really thought about things in that way. So it kind of took me back a little.

So thinking about all this, I ended up pausing. Contemplating.

At which point, I made this little picture…

.

Indeed, you just cannot assume that every single office dweeb that working in the monstrosity work environments of the 1980’s are now big powerful bosses. You just cannot say that this is what happens, that everyone follows a career and that they naturally rise up. It’s been my personal experience that I was the outlier.

My co-workers from those days pretty much “bailed out” of that environment after maybe four or five job layoffs. Many are now retired or wrapping up their own (much smaller) self-employed businesses, or are running consultancies, or teaching. Very, very few are as “successful” as I am.

As if “success” is a universally understood concept.

Everyone is different, and life has a way of grabbing you “by the balls” and give you “a few knocks in the head”, in order to “straighten you out”. And as a result, you end up changing. You become a different person.

I like to think that many of my former co-workers are doing well. They are certainly doing and living life different than I am. But one man’s ideal, might be another man’s nightmare.

Who’s to say that my life is “better” than theirs are?

You cannot.

Instead, you have to judge “success” on the basis of the individual. AND STOP COMPARING yourself to others. Instead, we will compare myself to myself. And if we do that, we can see the relationship that time, and intention has over my own personal life. And that, my friends, might be illustrative… and I hope… inspiring.

You should be able to see things…

You should be able to see that my overall attitude is quite different. The feelings of helplessness compared to the feelings of raw power that I hold today are beyond compare. But it is more than that. Much more.

There used to be a song (in the 1970’s), and while I have long since forgotten the name of the song and who sang it, the lyrics went something like this…

"Life is what you make it...
...if you can take it...
...you don't have to break it...
...life is what you make it."

Well…

Is my life “better” than it was four decades ago in the 1980’s working in the States? Am I living a fantastic life? How does my life compare now? Can it be attributed to intention prayer campaigns, or to something else? Like coincidence?

First off, let’s see if my life can be judged as a “success” compared to what it was four decades ago. But, we have a problem. What actually is “success”?

Judging by money and wealth

If you judge a man, or anyone, or me (even) by the amount of money that I have then I would be classified as a failure. I have restructured my life so that I do not have any money, nor savings accounts, nor credit accounts, nor any tangible means to equate personal value with my monetary wealth.

  • No bank accounts.
  • No legal ownership papers in my name.
  • No “paper trail” of employment.
  • No credit rating.

An investigator would find me a very boring subject. I don’t have anything. And that includes money. So under these terms, I would be classified as an abject failure. This is absolute, in those specific terms.

Of course, Heh heh, what do you all think an ex-spook would look like? You think that we would be on the grid, and monitored like some kind of common criminal, felon or hoodlum. 

Judging by number of children

Some people view success as the ability to father the most children as possible during their lifetime.

I have met many ethnic youth in America, and some SA’s that feel this way. They talk about their “baby mama” and how they have 12, 14, or 16 of them. This single unemployed African American man impregnating 16 women, but not being a father to any children. Some people define that as success.

I don’t.

But if you did, then the king of this effort would be Genghis Khan.

And yet again, I would be considered a failure by those lofty standards. There’s a very precious few metallic-babies walking round in this world today. And I for one, think of this as a good thing. I’m not a mass-production baby-making factory. Don’t you know.

I do not have a long train of children crying for their daddy, or a a zillion courts demanding the garnishment of my pay checks.

I think that it is a good thing, but other people might not consider this a “successful” life.

Judging by appearance

Some people, most especially those in the 20’s judge others by appearance. If you are attractive, or cart around an attractive wife (or two) on your arm, and drive a nice expensive car, and wear the most stylish and trendy clothes, you are considered to be successful.

I know how it works.

And then you have a kid, and your priorities change. Or you get locked into a career, and things change further. Or, that you start having obligations, and your children need braces, school books and they want a pony. Oh, it is amazing how these criteria change so rapidly.

Yah. Well, but these criteria I too would still be considered a failure.

I dress fine, and wear nice comfortable clothing, but I don’t own or drive a Ferrari. In fact, my days of driving a care are pretty much sunsetted. Let others deal with the headaches, and the hassles. Just take me where I need to be, and be done with it, Sir.

Truthfully, I happen to like being driven around by my driver, and I really don’t care what people think about the car that I am riding in. As long as it is big and roomy and fits my personality, I am fine with it. I like the door being opened for me, and the driver and my aides buckling me in. I like it when they say “you can take a nap, sir, it’s going to be a couple of hours”. And I like it when we arrive at the destination and they stand outside ready for my calling.

Now, it's true that a Maybach is certainly something that I would enjoy riding in, but the price tag is not something that I believe is worthy of consideration.

Yet, to others, judging by this kind of criteria, I do not appear to be a very successful and wealthy businessman. I don’t have fine expensive sports cars to flaunt and to rev up the engines with.

Judging by physical attribute

Many, many people judge others by their appearances. And while I just covered the appearance of wealthy people, here, we can talk about physical beauty and their attractiveness towards the opposite sex.

Physical appearance.

For women it might be big boobs, Big hair, Big ass, or long legs, long silky hair, clear complexion, or a naturally curvy backside. And, for men it might be a big dick, a full set of hair, impressive pecks or something else… like a enormous wallet.

All this is silly.

By these criteria, I’m just so-so. I am average. Pretty much.

A big cock.
Here’s a guy proudly showing his big cock for the whole world to see and be amazed by.

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Now, truthfully, if I were to improve my appearance it would be to slim down my waist some, clean up some of my wrinkles and thicken my hair a tad. There are a precious few people who are completely satisfied with their appearances, and there are entire product segments that capitalize on this fact.

I wouldn’t touch my penis. It’s big enough, thank you. I want to be comfortable with myself. And when I am, I am naturally happy and light, and I radiate.

This is real and true attractiveness.

I strongly believe that if you take care of your body. Fill it with fine delicious food, smile and laugh a lot and ignore the sad, doom and gloom others that surround us, that you will do fine. Just be clean, and if that means taking three showers a day, then do it. A happy, scrubbed clean, cheerful person who is open and friendly is amazingly attractive to a wide range of people.

But, you know…

Since there are so many things that are desirous of improvement, you could also say that I am pretty much a failure in those areas. I am not the most handsome man in the world. I’m just an older man. And I pretty much live that role.

Judging by experience

Ah. Now this is something that I am proud to say that I am worthy of judgement. Few people have experienced the wide ranging and comprehensive diversity of experiences that I have had. Very few. Perhaps Sebastian has.

And there is so much more open to experience…!

And I argue that this is a good thing. As the more experiences that you have, the more quantum associations you make. And thus the more quantum bonds and entanglements, the more you grow.

Ah…

But it doesn’t make for “good television” or movies. Don’t you know.

So what’s the deal?

Indeed. So what is “the deal”?

Well, you are not in competition with anyone. So there is no need to be or become “the best”.

What you want is a suitable, and comfortable life that fits YOUR personality, not that which is provided to you via the American media.

And. That. Is. It.

  • Do not use the media as a yardstick for success.
  • Your goal should be to be the best you as possible, and live the life that you deem fit.

You need to find out what you like, and the kind of life that holds meaning for you, and then you need to set your prayer campaign in motion to obtain those goals and objectives. And for me, I am very sad to say, that this understanding and realization did not occur immediately. It developed over time.

Ugh. And what you see now is not the pristine result of four decades of planning and implementation, but rather the result of a back and forth, mish mash, of attempts and direction-seeking prayer / affirmation campaigns trying to discern the best fit lifestyle for myself to adopt.

But, all in all, I think that I’m pretty darn close.

Let’s look at the changes the affirmation campaigns have brought about.

Well, right off the bat, you have seen the differences in my work / career. It’s pretty dramatic, I’ll tell you what. I studied to become an astronaut, trained as a Naval Aviator, worked as an engineer, lived as a hobo, toiled in prison, and now am a Boss out of necessity.

Life can have many twists and turns, don’t you think?

Living Environment

Let’s start with the house and living environment.

Back in the late 1980’s, I was working as an engineer inside a massive electronics corporation, owned by GM, and modeled after the work environments in Silicon Valley. They constructed these facilities in the middle of nowhere; Kokomo, Indian and all the top tier of management snagged up all the housing. I ended up living in a mobile home in a flat (former) soybean field.

Think of a mobile home on the tundra wastes in Alaska. That is what it was like. Though in the Spring and Fall, it was pretty lovely.

Today, I live in a big house off the beach. I can watch the people walk their dogs and play on the beach from my living room window, and my neighborhood is nice, and friendly.

So you might want to say that in comparison, it is sort of like this… (I will not use actual pictures of my personal life in this post. I do hope that you all understand.)

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Yeah, it’s a bit of a change.

Do you all think that it is luck? Or that I somehow managed to eventually save my way to my current lifestyle though scrimping and saving, or through the stock market, or a “big break”? Eh?

Let’s compare companions

Oh. Now, none of these pictures that I am using is of MM’s personal life. I don’t have any pictures of my life in the 1980’s, and I sure as Hell aren’t gonna provide pictures of my current home and personal shit.

But, for the most part the pictures are accurate and are designed to give the proper IMPRESSION of the changes that I have personally experienced as a result of my life and four decades of affirmation and prayer campaigns.

And now, let’s talk about my wife; my companion.

You know, the BIGGEST influence in your happiness, your success in life, and you ability to be happy is your spouse. It’s true and I do believe it.

To understand the differences between then and now, you need to understand the ladies that I was with. And while today, my current wife is beautiful, stacked, tough as nails, but sweet as a kitten, and a strong powerful mother, my wife from the 1980’s was almost the exact opposite.

At that time, in the 1980’s my wife ( a lovely and attractive lass when I married her ) was just starting to lose her mind. Literally, not figuratively. She had an inherited mental illness known as Schizophrenia. It’s a pretty horrible illness, and at that time it was just starting to manifest, and it hit her hard. Really, really hard.

She was incapable of normal life, and started to behave very strangely. She started to hear “messages” in the radio and the television. She started to obsess about events that took place when she was seven years old, and she started performing all sorts of odd and crazy rituals. Her mannerisms changed. Her actions changed. The way she spoke changed, and her interactions with others began a near immediate down-hill side. She was impossible to take around anyone.

And so for personal tranquility, we stayed at home most of the time.

Schizophrenia is a serious brain disorder that distorts the way a person thinks, acts, expresses emotions, perceives reality, and relates to others. People with schizophrenia -- the most chronic and disabling of the major mental illnesses -- often have problems functioning in society, at work, at school, and in relationships. Schizophrenia can leave its sufferer frightened and withdrawn. It is a life-long disease that cannot be cured but can be controlled with proper treatment.
Schizophrenia is a serious brain disorder that distorts the way a person thinks, acts, expresses emotions, perceives reality, and relates to others. People with schizophrenia — the most chronic and disabling of the major mental illnesses — often have problems functioning in society, at work, at school, and in relationships. Schizophrenia can leave its sufferer frightened and withdrawn. It is a life-long disease that cannot be cured but can be controlled with proper treatment.

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At that time, she started to get counseling, and the doctors prescribed some medication for her to take.

The medicine worked, but ended up causing certain side effects. One of which was that she gained an enormous amount of weight, became very lethargic, and would just spend the entire day sitting around doing absolutely nothing. Then out of the blue, she would become enraged and passionate. And it was absolutely maddening.

After an entire night of dealing with this madness, I would have to drag myself to work and deal with a true-to-life scene from the movie “Office Space”. It was horrible, and absolutely not enjoyable.

  • Nightime = caretaker for a mentally ill person.
  • Daytime = Worker drone right out of the “Office Space” movie.

When I would return home, I would need to clean up her messes (she would destroy things, break things, and became completely incapable of normal activity. Like throwing the chicken bones from KTC on the living room rug when she was through eating, or never taking a shower or brushing her teeth.), then I would make dinner for both of us, and try to act as her counselor to help her sort out her near-constant distress and emotional turmoil.

Times change…

We divorced, she managed to control her illness somewhat, and last I heard she was doing fine.

And me, today I am happily married to a beautiful Chinese gal, and she is normal and healthy and wholly functional. Praise the Lord!

You know, the BIGGEST influence in your happiness, your success in life, and you ability to be happy is your spouse. It's true and I do believe it.

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Time changes everything.

Where I am today is a direct result of my prayer affirmations. Listen to me. I tell you this two times. Where my life is today is the direct result of my various prayer affirmation campaigns.

Let’s compare automobiles

This is pretty easy, but it didn’t work out as planned. But it all manifested when I started to concentrate on the end result of my desire. Not so much on the details. And as a result, an amazing thing happened…

Today I do not drive.

I have contemplated buying a car, and it is on the family table as a discussion item, but we have held back. There are numerous reasons for that, but mostly its that the local public and private transportation avenues are so well established and cheap where we live in China, there just isn’t a serious need to get a car. Though, it would be nice to have one to go outside of the community, and we are contemplating it as a future option. But right now, nah.

Instead, right now, I employ private drivers. I have them on retainer that stand by for me and drive me here and there (as a chauffeur). When I am elsewhere on travel, and not with my driver, I will if necessary, use DD or ShaoJiu which are Chinese equivalents of Uber.

Back in the day, of course, I had my own car. And at that particular point of time in my life, I drove a distressed Mazda RX-7. It was a good little car, but every month I was out in the cold or the heat trying to fix one thing or the other. A few years later, I bought a brand new car to replace it and my life changed accordingly. But right now we are talking about then compared to now, and it looked a little something like this…

Let’s compare meals

You can really see the differences in what I ate then, compared to what I eat now. Back then I ate a lot of simple foods that were cheap and easy to prepare. Much of our budget went into paying medical bills, as my wife at that time was very prone to call 9-11 and have an ambulance take her to the hospital because “she didn’t feel right”.

Breakfasts were mostly cereals with milk, and a drive through coffee and breakfast sandwich. Lunches were a drive through burger meal. I would often mix it up between McDonald’s, Burger King, and Wendy’s.) And dinners were either spaghetti, hamburgers, hotdogs, a tuna salad, a can of Campbell’s tomato (or chicken noodle) soup or chicken wings. Simple and plain, easy to make, American meals. Often the sides would come from a can. Canned corn. Canned peas. Canned beans. Canned spinach. We would eat salads. But fruit were pretty rare in our household. We would buy bananas maybe once a month.

Like I said, my wife was sick. I did all the cooking, and I was exhausted after dealing with my career and work. Only to come home to a house that looked like an army of five year olds played in it, and an out-of-control wife that was raging about something or another that she watched on television.

Today, things are quite different.

I tend to eat really well.

My wife does all the cooking, and every meal is planned and cooked by her. We go out numerous times during the week for a much more extensive meal which tends to be steaks, seafood, or specialty Chinese dishes.

And of course, there are always exceptions. There are days where I need to get something outside, or make up something myself. It's called "reality".

Today, my typical breakfast is usually a bean porridge, rice congiee, toasted Italian baguette, eggs and sausage and, of course coffee. Lunch tends to be the biggest meal of the day and it is a multi-dish affair with meats and vegetables. Dinner (supper) is slightly smaller. The difference is that I have a few beers during lunches, and my wine or VSOP at dinner.

When I am on travel, of course, I eat like a real King.

Let’s compare weekend recreation

This is also a big change, and again, doesn’t look like anything that I could have ever planned for. Back in the 1980’s my weekends were so damn predictable. We would go out for a breakfast in a diner, the highlight of the weekend might be a hike in a state forest, and I would spend most of the weekend tending to the things around the house. I would mow the grass, repair things, like the porches or windows, and of course, fix the perpetually broken car.

Today, I have a very relaxed lifestyle. We go out, walk a lot and enjoy nature. We eat really well. It might be boring to others, but lazing by the beach and chilling with a glass of wine in my hand is what I like to do.

This is not instragram

No it isn’t. This is real life.

But if I show you the pictures of my real life, it will just look “normal” and “everyday”. My life doesn’t look anywhere near as exciting and glamorous as Hollywood and social media makes out an “ideal” life to be.

Do not compare yourself to the images that you find on line.

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I could have easily enough pulled off some amazing photos from the internet, pointed at them and said “this is me, and this Lamborghini is my car, and this beautiful instragram beauty is my wife”. But I didn’t.

Do not ever be under the impression that I have an “ideal ” life (what ever the fuck that means).

I have plusses and minuses in my life, just like every other person in this world. Just like you (the reader) does. And yes, just like you, there are things that I want to change, and things that I want to improve upon. And yes, I do maintain active affirmation / prayer campaigns. And yes, I have just finished one a few days ago.

And yeah, I do get it. What I have presented as my life looks just fantastic. Well, that is because I am using stock images and selected pictures off the internet. I tried to carefully select the ones closest in appearance and general “feeling” that represents the point that I am trying to make…

But, let’s be real. OK?

As in… REAL.

My life might not be what you, the reader might desire. It is what fits me. And I am sure that there are elements in my life that you would find undesirable. Please do not compare yourself to others, and certainly do not compare yourself to me. It’s like comparing apples to green-beans.

The reality is a little bit (not that much, though) different.

So, for instance the picture of a delicious steak does not mean that every single meal that I eat has steak. It means that I eat quite well, all things considered. I eat a lot of fresh food, and far more sea food than I did when I lived in the States. And while I might of had 80% of my day to day meals as fast food, today, it is much less than 1%.

I eat well.

But it is difficult to quantify directly… I eat delicious, and healthy and tasty food in nice eating establishments, or cooked at home with a degree of special care and love. It is not a mass produced GMO-laden artificial-food-product dished out to drone-workers in a corporate grind-mill.

I eat well.

The real deal; Metallicman and family having "paper fish" at a restaurant. The fish is cooked in a paper wrap with all sorts of spices and tasty vegetables. It is so very super delicious! So yes, I eat far better now than then, but it's not always steaks, don't you know.
The real deal; Metallicman and family having “paper fish” at a restaurant. The fish is cooked in a paper wrap with all sorts of spices and tasty vegetables. It is so very super delicious! So yes, I eat far better now than then, but it’s not always steaks, don’t you know.

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And you know that chick that I use to represent my wife, is not my actual wife, but (you know) she actually is a pretty darn good approximation. Asian, big smile, attractive, stacked, nice long hair, great personality, happy. She’s fine for me, and yeah she had a lot of suitors. But she ‘chose” me. Good and bad.

Here’s a more realistic picture of her, not showing anything, with our youngest. Looks so plain, un-glamorous, and so very uninspiring. Right? Real life is not all glamor. It is… real.

Don't compare yourself to others.
Mrs. Metallicman with our metallic baby in front of our old house on the bay. It’s not instragram. It’s real life. And the point of all this is NOT to compare yourself to what you THINK others live their lives. You need to compare it to yourself based on your prior experiences.

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And the picture of the guy holding the wine glass and relaxing. That isn’t me, and that isn’t my glass of wine. (I tend to fill the glass up to 80% full, not the “oh so dainty” one fourth glass full.) Nor is the guy pushing the lawn mower. In fact, in the 1980’s I had a used lawn mower that continually broke down all the time, and I was constantly playing around with it.

And that guy holding open the door for me to get in is actually a stock image off the internet. Though they really do open the doors and close them for me in actual life when I get into the automobile.

And the picture of the boss isn’t me, but gosh darn it, it could well be. My reality is not that far off from what is depicted. Let me tell youse guys that for certain. I am a BOSS. And I portray that image and that feeling. I don’t wear a tie, and if my customers can’t handle that fact, well… too bad.

And that image of me as a beta cluck worker drone in corporate cubicle-ville in the 1980’s could very much have been me.

So you can see that my life has it’s plusses and minuses.

And it is about tradeoffs.

For instance, I love living near the ocean in a laid back area, with friendly folk around. But living on the beach in the tropics is quite different from living in a mountain top, with swirling snow while you are all cozy and snuggled inside of a toasty cabin.

It’s about trade-offs.

To live on the beach in the tropics means that I will not be able to experience the cabin in the snow squall. Tradeoffs.

it’s all about tradeoffs and what matters to you personally.

Life is about tradeoffs.

Conclusion

It is all good and bad, and areas that need improvement, but all accounts much better than what it was forty years ago, and it wasn’t by accident either. I worked and toiled and controlled my mental processes to make it all happen.

So…

If that is what I can do, what about you?

You have something that I didn’t have. You have guidance, direction and skills on how to conduct prayer campaigns. I had to learn as a consequence of my MAJestic role, and a lot of it was forced trial and forced error. And now you can greatly improve your life to an extent that would amaze. So make it be.

Do you all want some more?

You can see more in my writings about Prayer and Affirmation campaigns here…

Articles & Links

You’ll not find any big banners or popups here talking about cookies and privacy notices. There are no ads on this site (aside from the hosting ads – a necessary evil). Functionally and fundamentally, I just don’t make money off of this blog. It is NOT monetized. Finally, I don’t track you because I just don’t care to.

To go to the MAIN Index;

Master Index

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Some selected favorite artworks by James Jacques Joseph Tissot

James Jacques Joseh Tissot was a painter of realistic scenes in allegorical settings. His and his style is considered to be “French Victorian Neoclassical artist”. Ah, whatever it is called, I would really love to have a reprint of one of his works in all it’s large glorious full-size spectacular substance.

To see a full view of all of his 237 artworks, please visit his profile on the Art Renewal Center.

These are some of my favorite works of his. Please allow the images to load. It’s worth it.

The Thames

He loved to paint sea and naval scenes regarding people and relationships. When you look at his work, doesn’t it take you away to another time and another place?

The man is sporting the fashion at the time with white slacks with cuff or rolled up trousers. Those shoes are prevalent throughout Tissot’s painting career. They were really popular in the day. He also wears a thick wool jacket and the beard with bushy mustache.

I wonder what he is thinking.

What about the ladies? What do you suppose is on their minds, if anything?

The Widower

A life alone without your wife. Caring for a young daughter. It is hard now, and it was hard back then. You can see the burdens of life on his shoulders. You can tell the pleasant joys of the child totally oblivious to the burdens of her father…

He looks at the beauty of the flower. What do you suppose is on his mind?

Hide and Seek

Oh, the furniture is different. The outfits are dated. And the news is via newspaper instead of social media on a smart hone. But this scene can be replicated anywhere in the world today. Be it China, or the USA. Be it Russia or Africa. It’s a story about domestic life and the carefree joys of children at play.

In the Sunshine

A family gathers in their backyard. You can see the rich colors and fabrics of that time period. The infant is under a colorful parasol to keep out of the sun, while the rest lie on the bearskin rug that covers the grass.

The mother to the left is wearing black. That means that she is in morning. Her husband is dead, maybe recently. No one is crying, but all are subdued. It’s almost like they are waiting for something…

Young Women Looking at Japanese Objects

I suppose that this is pre-Tic Tok. Young unmarried girls out for the afternoon doing some “window shopping”. They are looking at Japanese and Oriental objects for sale in a store. Personally, I find the outfit that the girl in red is wearing alluring. It’s a red velvet dress with a nice frilly bow in the back. They really had some cool and fun fashion back then.

Portsmouth Dockyard

I wonder what is going on here. Is that some interest I see in the eyes of the fair lass to the left? And what do you think that the man is thinking? What about the girl to the right. As the boat slowly and peacefully passes through the bay, I wonder what emotions grow and blossom on that short trip?

The Fireplace

From a technical point of view, the detail in this painting is exceptional. Look at the dress, and the shimmering reflections on the highlights.

I do love the period dresses and styles.

There used to be a KTV in Shenzhen where the women would wear these big elaborate fancy dresses like this. Oh, my God! They were so alluring. One would get in front and lead you while one girl on the left and one on the right would lead you arm in arm to the KTV room for your private party.

I wonder what the little pug is thinking…

The Captain and the Mate

Two couples on the boat. This is a farewell dinner. The ship will probably set off tomorrow morning. The emotions about what this means are on the faces of all involved. Though each one has different ideas and visions of what it is like.

It’s the night before loved ones leave.

Certainly you have all experienced this.

Look at the Captains face, and the the face of the woman in white.

The Bunch of Lilacs

I am stunned by the technical expertise on this work. Painting shades of white are difficult in itself, but the depth of shadowing and composition is just amazing. And look at the reflections on the floor. My God!

I think that the right kind of clothes enhances a person’s personal beauty and attractiveness. It is said that a man in a Tuxedo will increase his attractiveness to a woman by 20 points. I can say the same thing about clothing on a woman. You don’t need to show skin, or wear tight clothes to be attractive. It is what is not shown, and only hinted at that entices…

The Gallery of H.M.S. ‘Calcutta’ (Portsmouth)

But it is a wonderful work showing two young ladies on board a boat enjoying the view with a sailor trying to get their attention. Perhaps in the hope that he can win their affections. Oh, but we know that. The girls are laying it coy. With the one on the right hiding her face behind a hand fan.

The other girl has some pretty complex emotions, don’t you think? I wonder what she thinks of the young sailor and whether she wants him to leave or stay?

The Ball on Shipboard

Another technical masterpiece.

This picture can take you away to another time and another place. It’s a place where shipboard romances are made, relationships are forged and strengthened, and where memories; treasured memories are made.

Again, note the gents shoes, and the straw hat. Notice that most of the women are wearing white for a nice Sunday outing in the great afternoon. While down below the people are laughing, dancing and being merry. It’s the human condition.

The Prodigal Son in Modern Life: The Fatted Calf

The prodigal son, or lost son, was an abuser of grace. Grace is most often defined as unmerited or unearned favor. He had a loving father, a good home, provision, a future, and an inheritance, but he traded it all in for temporal pleasures.

-Who Was the Prodigal Son? The Meaning of this Parable

Here, the Prodigal son returns. He has made a life for himself and has come back to make amends with his father. While in no way as wealthy, he is part of a crew. Notice the impressions on the faces of everyone else at the table. Their disapproval is thick and present.

He approaches him humbly and with respect…

The Prodigal Son in Modern Life: The Return

Here, the Prodigal Son returns. Only his father was correct, and he asks for forgiveness and compassion. He returns wearing torn clothing, and without shoes. Life has not been good to him. It appears that he has lived a life as a beggar.

Look at the emotions on the faces of the couple in the background. Look at what is going on to the far left of the painting.

A Winter’s Walk

I find this painting extremely sexy. Look at that expression of calm confidence and strength. This is a woman who is in control of her life; a strong proud woman. She’s not just beautiful. She’s handsome.

The Hammock

Again, for the final image in this post we look at another great painting. Notice the picture composition, the balance of colors and the precision in the details on the leaves and the hammock. If this picture were to hand over my fireplace, it would certainly be a centerpiece of discussion, as well as set the mood for the entire household.

Do you want more?

I have more posts in my Art Index here…

ART

Articles & Links

You’ll not find any big banners or popups here talking about cookies and privacy notices. There are no ads on this site (aside from the hosting ads – a necessary evil). Functionally and fundamentally, I just don’t make money off of this blog. It is NOT monetized. Finally, I don’t track you because I just don’t care to.

To go to the MAIN Index;

Master Index

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  • You can start reading the articles by going HERE.
  • You can visit the Index Page HERE to explore by article subject.
  • You can also ask the author some questions. You can go HERE .
  • You can find out more about the author HERE.
  • If you have concerns or complaints, you can go HERE.
  • If you want to make a donation, you can go HERE.

Please kindly help me out in this effort. There is a lot of effort that goes into this disclosure. I could use all the financial support that anyone could provide. Thank you very much.

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The new realism art movement, or why realism in art is important to the future of humanity.

One of my all-time favorite websites is The Art Renewal Center. For there, you can go to the museum and see thousands of beautiful, and stunning, works of art by masters at the craft. No, I’m not talking about a photograph of dog piss on a cross in a jar, either. I am talking about art that stirs the emotions and causes you to stop dead in your tracks and stare at the work for hours.

Art is a reflection of what it means to be a human.

As the world unravels away from the old and enters a new state of being, we need to remember that it is our human-ness that will become the “valuable commodity” that will bring the world together. This “human-ness” encompasses many, many things.

  • Passion.
  • Kindness.
  • Strength of character.
  • Helpfulness.
  • Compassion.

Here, in this post, I want to talk about art, but what art really is and what it represents. For real art is an expression of our human-ness. While progressive, modern reconstructive art is an expression of the exact opposite.

Art, real expressive art, moves the soul.

Realistic art is expressive and moves the soul.
Realistic art is expressive and moves the soul.
Excerpt from ARC Chairman Fred Ross's 2002 speech at the Salmagundi Club:

In October 1977, I walked into the Clark Museum to see their thirty Renoirs, and after leaving the Renoir galleries walked out into a major hall, at the end of which was a painting that grabbed me body and soul. It was a life-size painting of four water nymphs playfully dragging a mythological satyr into a lake against his will. 

Frozen in place, gawking with my mouth agape, cold chills careening up and down my spine, I was virtually gripped as if by a spell that had been cast. 

It was so alive, so beautiful and so compelling. Finally, after about fifteen or twenty minutes of soaking up wave after wave of artistic and spiritual ecstasy, I started to take back control of my consciousness .... my mind started racing with unanswered questions. 

My first thought was "I haven't felt this way about a work of art since I stood before Michelangelo's David. 

Then I thought, "This must be one of the greatest old master paintings every produced. But no name or country or time would come to mind. Italian High Renaissance, 17th Century Dutch, Carravaggio, Fragonard, Ingres, Prudhon ... back further perhaps ... Raphael, Botticelli, Leonardo, no! no! NO! Not one of those names or times felt anything like what I was looking at.

Then I approached the painting more closely, and saw the name mispronouncing it as Bouguereau at the bottom, and the date 1873 -- 1873?

How was that possible?

I'd learned that the greatest artists at that time were, Manet, Corot, Courbet, and Renoir ... that the techniques and greatness of the old master's had died out, and that nobody knew how to do anything remotely this great by the 1870's.

Years of undergraduate courses and another sixty credits post graduate in art, and I had never heard that name. Who was he? Was he important? How could he not be important? Anyone who could have done this must surely be deserving of the highest accolades in the art world. 

Then I asked the guard if they had any more works by him, and he asked somebody else, and I was led to a second work of a single female nude, seated by the water holding her knees. It was one of the finest nudes I had ever seen.
        
In somewhat of a state of shock from this experience, I decided that I must find out if this artist ever comes up for sale at the largest auction house in New York, Parke Bernet who was years later bought out by Sotheby's. Was he deemed important enough to be sold at auction? 

My only experiences collecting up to then at auction was to purchase a few etchings by old master's: Rembrandt, Durer, Breughel and Goya. But they were very famous names.

I was at the Clark on Sunday October 2nd 1977, I stopped in at Sotheby's that Tuesday October 4th, and as fate would have it, there were three Bouguereau paintings being offered for sale that coming Friday. 

I purchased one called Les Enfants Endormis, of two babies asleep in each other's arms. The hands of fate certainly seemed involved, for later I learned that these were the first Bouguereaus to come up for sale in the last eighteen months, and another was not to appear on the auction block until twelve months later. 

So the timing could not have been any more precise for fortuitous. I remember too, there was an energy of excitement in the air, and I somehow knew that I would never again be able to purchase works by these artists at these prices. But I didn't know which ones to buy.

And I still didn't know who he was. During the next few weeks I started researching Bouguereau and the entire period as much as I could using any free time I had.
        
But almost immediately, I discovered that he had won the Grand Prix de Rome in 1851 at the age of twenty-six, and after winning nearly every accolade and award imaginable for an artist of his time, ultimately become the President of the Academy, Head of the Salon, President of the Legion of Honor. 

He was in fact, considered the greatest French artist of his time, and Paris was the center of art world. 

All this made me feel very good about my instincts, and that I had intuitively identified as being one of the worlds' greatest artists somebody who had generally been considered as such by most of the world during the final decades of the 19th century.

It was sometime in the early 1960’s and I was with my parents visiting museums and other cultural structures. As my family went inside the museum, I stayed in the lobby. I stood on the steps and spend a timeless period staring at this enormous picture of a Satyr being pulled into a pool of water by water nymphs.

My father chucked.

He said “You like that picture, don’t you?”

I don’t remember what I said back, but I do remember that I did not want to leave the museum. I didn’t even look at the Renoirs, except for a sculpture or two in the courtyard. None of them appealed to me. All that mattered to me was the image of the satyr and the nymphs.

It haunted me during the drive home and all afternoon.

I never forgot that image…

Nymphes et Satyre Nymphs and Satyr 260 x 180 cms | 102 1/4 x 70 3/4 ins Oil on canvas Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute Williamstown | United States

Four nymphs tease and play with a satyr by trying to pull him into a lake. One nymph waves behind to three other nymphs in the distance, perhaps beckoning them to come and play with the satyr as well. The satyr half-heartedly tries to resist the nymph’s wiles, entranced by their beauty.
As an aside, consider this interesting article in the New York Times, published April 7, 2000, by KATIE HAFNER:

Lenn D. Lowry, the director of the Museum of Modern Art [let me repeat 'the director of the Museum of Modern Art'], has a vivid memory of the first time he was profoundly moved by a work of art. At age 7, during a visit to the Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute in Williamstown, Mass., he was separated from his parents.

"While wandering in search of them, he came upon a huge painting, Nymphs and Satyr, by William Bouguereau. His parents found him a half-hour later, still staring at the 6-by-8-foot painting. 'I just remember being completely transfixed by it,' said Mr. Lowry, who is now 45.

"The experience helped Mr. Lowry believe in the transformative power of art and what he calls the 'unique encounters that occur when one is fortunate to confront directly an extraordinary object.' Mr. Lowry, as well as other museum directors, wants to broaden the opportunity for such transforming moments by providing encounters with virtual art, viewed on a computer screen and brought to the art-viewing public via the World Wide Web.

Nymphs are from Greek mythology. They are considered to be minor female deities, and have a duty to protect different elements of nature such as streams, mountains and meadows (pantheon). The male counterpart for a nymph is a satyr. A satyr is a creature also from Greek mythology having the torso and face of a man, ears and tail of a horse, and feet of a goat. They are known for being lustful and fertile creatures.

Bouguereau captures an incredible sense of motion in this piece. One can feel the struggle for the satyr to keep his ground, and the nymphs’ joyous struggle to pull him in. The three-dimensional rendering of form and movement is reminiscent of some of Bernini’s most famous works at the Palace Borghesi in Rome, such as Pluto and Proserpine, and Apollo and Daphne.

The following is the stunning philosophy statement from the founder of the website. It is reproduced herein in it’s entirety. Please give it a read.

The Philosophy of ARC

Why Realism?

by Fred Ross

Introduction

Fine art at its best has the power to move one to tears, or grab your sensibilities and rivet you in the moment with an overwhelming sense of beauty and excitement. People often report the sensation of cold chills going up and down their spine. It may be the rare work that accomplishes this, but for those who have had this experience, many have credited it as the stimulus that set them on a personal lifetime quest; whether as an artist, collector or art historian. Other human activities can create a similar experience, whether in poetry, literature, dance, theatre, or music, but it is the experience of beauty in fine art and beauty and its relationship to fine art that is the focus of this essay.

If you are reading this, in all probability you are one of the millions of art lovers who in the 21st Century are disillusioned with the Modernist paradigm which for more than a century has been the dominant way the concept of art has been taught and presented in nearly all institutions of higher learning throughout the world.

If you are like us, it seems more than a little self-evident to you that works of art have infinitely more to say and communicate if they portray the real world, or use figures and objects from the real world even when portraying fantasies and dreams. You experience such “realist” works as infinitely more successful than any Modernist works.

The success of Modernism seems like a form of mass insanity, a nightmarish anomaly from which we pray the art world will finally soon awake.

For most of the 20th century, people who felt as we do, found themselves attracted to fine art in most if not all cases from having been to museums and fallen in love with a number of works of art created in the 15th through 19th centuries.

Fine art took skill, talent, and an eye for not only beauty, but he human condition; the highs and lows of the human experience.
Fine art took skill, talent, and an eye for not only beauty but the human condition; the highs and lows of the human experience.

You may have wanted to become an artist yourself and were channeled by advisors into fine art courses taught in the art departments of colleges and Universities where you were promptly told that your instincts were all wrong.

That such works had a place in their time, but that modernist works were far superior. What followed was an attempt to change your attitudes and beliefs and to convince you that works, which commemorated the destructions of some aspect of what used to be traditional Realism were the only worthwhile artworks and concepts.

You were never told that these “educators” had never themselves learned any of those skills needed by all artists during prior centuries, and so were completely bereft of any of the experience, skills and knowledge for which you had assumed your tuition bills would be paying.

They made you believe that they all could draw and paint but had chosen to abandon those skills due to some great epiphany.

Jackson Pollak splatter painting.
Jackson Pollak splatter painting.

If you were true to yourself and your feelings and beliefs, you probably left that “art” department and considered doing something else with your life. Many of you went into commercial art. Others became art historians, but most found other fields entirely. A rare few of you searched out and found one of a handful of ateliers who actually still taught the methods of the old masters. To the best of our knowledge there were 7 such ateliers in 1980 and all of them were taught by students of Pietro Annigoni or Ives Gammell 1. Both atelier masters could trace their training seamlessly to the 19th century and beyond.

By 2002 when the Art Renewal Center decided to add to their website a section of ARC Approved® Ateliers schools the number of such schools had grown to 14 with each having between 5 and 15 students. We added a map of the world where it became very easy to identify all the schools and to find the nearest one to any local. Within a few months the numbers of students able to find these schools started to grow geometrically, and today, just 14 years later, there are over 100 schools teaching the atelier style training and thousands of students.2

So, what do all these students and educators see that Modernists do not? And why is it that most educated people who are not part of the art world seem to also prefer traditional realism?3

The purpose of this essay

It is the purpose of this essay to answer that question in the clearest most direct way possible. It is also to help establish for artists and the consumers of art, a set of criteria by which they can judge works of art. Where they can understand their own preferences. And if needed, to arm them with the facts, concepts and information to deal with the modernists, educators and apologists who are constantly attacking and denigrating the skills and subjects which enable fine art.

The skills like with literature, poetry and theatre that enable us to communicate our shared humanity.

We will accomplish this by delineating a simple way to understand and define what fine art is. We will also look in particular at the aesthetic foundation of fine art as it evolved during the 19th Century. As well as the Modernist juggernaut which almost lead to its complete suppression during most of the 20th Century.

The future belongs to a sane, calm and productive humanity. A humanity that is in touch with it's role in the universe. Elements of this humanity will become evident in the works of humanity.
The future belongs to a sane, calm and productive humanity. A humanity that is in touch with it’s role in the universe. Elements of this humanity will become evident in the works of humanity.

The following information also advances criteria by which to view artists and movements, and help to determine why some works of art are experienced as beautiful and successful and why others seems to fall flat or are even boring. It will hopefully also satisfy the needs of practicing artists to determine what type of art and subjects they wish to explore and which skills and techniques they will need to learn and practice in order to accomplish this.

As in all education, individuals should ultimately decide for themselves what makes sense and what is nonsense or babble.

Beauty and Fine Art Versus Craft

To determine a cohesive theory on fine art (or aesthetics) we need to answer this question: 

What Makes Something Beautiful Or Aesthetically Successful?

The purpose of fine art is to create beauty in the broader sense4, or to create works of art that are experienced as beautiful. Therefore, it would seem that the definition of fine art itself is inextricably tied to successfully defining beauty in art as opposed to beauty in the natural world. There are generally recognized works of art that are experienced as beautiful by most people. In addition, people are motivated to surround themselves with objects of beauty and to create art as a life enriching and life-affirming experience.

In the fine arts there are two over riding kinds of beauty. There is beauty of form and there is beauty in thought, idea or subject matter, in essence its’ emotional, intellectual and spiritual thrust. What is the purpose or what are the feelings that the artist is attempting to capture or express? Then all the choices made of size, drawing, modeling, composition, color, design, perspective, etc., are all formal elements that make up the forms used by the artist to support and harmonize with the chosen emotional thrust. If the artist has chosen well and successfully marries idea and form, then it is possible for a great work of art to be created. Beauty in forms, minus any specific subject or idea, can and does exist in many objects created by human beings, but it is combining them with subjects and themes that makes a work fine art.5

Some examples of things that are beautiful that do not have a specific subject would be:

  • Persian rugs,
  • English silver,
  • porcelain,
  • Russian enamel, 
  • haute cuisine,
  • high couture,
  • furniture etc.

Beauty in such things is a different type of beauty and generally encompasses beauty of form without incorporating beauty of idea, subject or theme. It should be noted that there are many exceptions to this general rule. For example, the Gate of Paradise, the famous golden door of the Baptistery in Florence; spirituality, religious feelings of transcendence engendered by the architectural splendor achieved in great cathedrals temples or mosques.

Lorenzo GhibertiThe Gates of ParadiseGilded bronze, 1425–52
Individual reliefs: 31 1/4 x 31 1/4 inches (78.74 x 78.74 cm)
Duomo Museum, Florence
Lorenzo GhibertiThe Gates of ParadiseGilded bronze, 1425–52
Individual reliefs: 31 1/4 x 31 1/4 inches (78.74 x 78.74 cm)
Duomo Museum, Florence

So how are we to differentiate fine art from these other human activities and achievements? The single clear element of differentiation is that all of these other activities at their best are the product of highly skilled crafts people who are creating objects with varying levels of skill and complexity. These objects may be experienced as attractive, handsome or elegant, and are also usually functional in some way. In some cases, even functionality isn’t essential.

An example might be a finely knotted silk Persian or Indian rug, which may be hung on the wall as decoration instead of being walked upon; though it still may be useful to warm the room and perhaps improve the acoustics.

We will call these other creative, often important, sometimes essential instances of human creativity “craft”, fine craft, or finely crafted. So what makes “fine art” different from “fine craft”?

Fine craft produces objects that are functional, beautiful and well-constructed to last and to perform a needed or desired function and often to also delight the senses. It can even be demonstrated in things that don’t have a physical presence. If a mathematician solves a math problem in a way that is overly burdensome and complex his peers may feel that his proof lacks elegance.

But if another mathematician finds a much more direct solution which is clear and bypasses half the steps, using a new creative path to come to the same conclusion, his peers will praise the elegance and even aesthetic beauty of his solution. Depending on the field of endeavor the sense of aesthetics or beauty can and will vary based on specific aspects of the goals that are sought.

In each field there will be ways to determine beauty and elegance versus banality and ugliness, and while differences of motivation and taste would surely cause differences of opinion, most people who create or consume the output of each craft usually concur to a significant degree. But what is different about fine art? What does it seek to accomplish which makes it worthy of designating this art as fine art?

The term “state of the art” is a wonderful phrase and aids us in understanding this difference. Every other form of craft has evolved and developed over the course of human history and the best and most exceptional examples in each field are held up prototypically and called “state of the art”.

Of course that phrase is used in science, engineering, mathematical theories and computer programing and in all other technologies, many of which produce things of great value for humanity. It is a matter of opinion whether Fine art is superior to science or even crafts for that matter.

Regardless, it has a different purpose and fills a different human need. That need is in its ability to communicate and capture and express ideas about life and living which people care about after their basic biological needs are filled.

People need to share their lives and feelings with other people and this is done through communication which helps give meaning to our lives.

Most communication is in spoken and written language.

Fine art also communicates, which it does best when it successfully captures, depicts, and expresses our shared humanity: how we feel about ourselves, other people and the world around us. It may be seeking to capture an emotional state of mind like reverie, jealousy, joy, sadness, fear, etc., or it may attempt to tell a story like Ghiberti’s famous scenes from the Old Testament on the doors of the Baptistery in Piazza Duomo in Florence or Norman Rockwell’s Homecoming Marine.

Norman Rockwell (American, 1894-1978)
Homecoming Marine
Oil on canvas, 1945
46 x 42 inches (116.8 x 106.7 cm)
Norman Rockwell (American, 1894-1978)Homecoming Marine
Oil on canvas, 1945
46 x 42 inches (116.8 x 106.7 cm)

If someone with little skill attempts a work of fine art it will likely be unsuccessful or awkward and fail, but an attempt at fine art was still made as opposed to an attempt at fine craft. Failure to achieve doesn’t turn fine art into craft or vice versa.

All of the other crafts and sciences (other than pure research*) have a utilitarian purpose or a purely decorative purpose, but in fine art, human beings endeavor to look at themselves and others, to contemplate the nature of living as a human being, and to find ways of capturing, expressing and communicating with empathy, passion and compassion the road we all must take between birth and death. So, the purpose of fine art is similar in its goal to the purpose of poetry, fine literature or theatre.

Based on the above, I posit:

The visual fine arts of drawing, painting and sculpture are best understood as a language ... a visual language. 

Very much like spoken and written languages, it was developed and preserved as a means of communication. And very much like language it is successful if communication takes place and unsuccessful if it does not.

This simultaneously helps define the term “Fine Art.” So fine art is one important way that human beings can communicate.

This realization conversely poses the question:

Can it be fine art if it does not communicate or does not even attempt to do so?

Communication can only occur if the language of the speaker is understood by those who are listening. An absolute necessity for communication is that the language employed has vocabulary and grammar shared by speaker and listener or by writer and reader and therefore logically by painter and viewer.

The earliest forms of written languages used simple drawings of real objects to represent those objects as observed in Hieroglyphics and the earliest cave drawings. The origins of written language and the origins of fine art overlap in this nearly identical way. Without a common language there is no communication and no understanding, whether in writing, speaking or fine art.

All three have the uniquely human purpose of describing the world in which we live, and how we feel about every aspect of life and living.

As a language, fine art is like all of the hundreds of the spoken and written languages that are capable of expressing the enormous, limitless scope of human thoughts, ideas, beliefs, values and especially our feelings, passions, dreams, and fantasies; all the varied experiences and stories of humanity.

The vocabulary of fine art are the realistic images which we see everywhere throughout our lives. The grammar is made up of the rules and skills needed to successfully and believably render the images.6

Here are some of the rules of grammar which hold together the real objects or vocabulary of the visual language of fine art: finding contours; modeling; manipulating paint to create shadows and highlights with the use of glazing and scumbling which enhances the form through layers of pigment; use of selective focus; perspective; foreshortening; compositional balance; balancing warm and cool color; lost and found shapes and lines, etc.

Now ponder this self-evident truth:

Even our dreams and fantasies as well as all stories of fiction, which are not real, are expressed in our conscious and subconscious minds by using real images. 

Only real images are used in our fantasies and dreams ... none which look like modern art. 

Therefore, non-objective abstract painting does not reflect the subconscious mind. Dreams and fantasies do that and artwork can also do that; but only by using real images and assembling them in ways that feel like fantasies or dreams.

Compare these now to two artist who are considered amongst the greatest Abstract Expressionists: William De Kooning and Jackson Pollock.

William DeKooningWoman I1952/53Jackson PollockFull Fathom Five1947

What is being communicated in these two Modernist paintings and which method of working is more successful way to communicate, realism or abstract?

Universality

Furthermore, the vocabulary of traditional realism in fine art has something which makes it unique, in one important way … the language of traditional realism cuts across all those other languages and can be understood by all people everywhere on earth regardless of what language it is they speak or write. 

Thus Realism is a universal language that enables communication with all people, past ... present ... and future. 

Modernist and abstract art is not a language.

It’s the opposite of language because it represents the destruction of the language of fine art and is therefore the absence of language. The absence of language means the loss of communication; it takes away from mankind perhaps our most important characteristic … that which makes us human…the ability to communicate in great depth, detail and sophistication.

And in the case of fine art; 

The Modernist paradigm banished the only universal language that exists: realistic imagery, with the techniques and skills required to achieve it. This knowledge had grown, developed, and was carefully documented and preserved as it was passed down for centuries from masters to students.

The artist tries to express his or her feelings about life and to communicate with others through their art. The artist has found a constructive way to deal with the truth of human existence, the knowledge that we all die.

Instead of shaking their fist at eternity and being overcome by sadness, hate and depression, the artist “rages at the dying of the light” (to quote Dylan Thomas) seeking to overcome for themselves and their audience the basic loneliness of existence.

They strive not to be engulfed by despairing the brevity of life, or the absence of meaning that we face in the wake of the certainty of death and the certainty of loss.

This, together with the absence of meaning, is the central belief of Existential Nihilism. It’s no wonder then that Existentialism would espouse Modern art or that Modern artists would associate their work to Existentialism since the essence of fine art had always been to express things which people find as meaningful whether religious paintings of the early and High Renaissance or genre paintings of the 17th and 19th centuries.

Fine art finds meaning instead, by using the infinite creativity of the human soul, and the untapped brilliance within the human brain to find endless ways of communicating with each other about our difficult and differing journeys and odysseys that can and do occur through life.

We all are born helpless, utterly dependent, and profoundly ignorant about who we are and what lies ahead. We all yearn to be loved, to be understood, and we all need and want mentors.

We want them to be kind and patient and to teach us what we need to know about life and navigating society.

We want to be respected.

During adolescence, we invariably explore paths to happiness which can be dangerous and destructive. We all want to find work that inspires us and is fulfilling.

We want families and if we have children we want to be good parents and to offer better lives to them. We all must endure sickness and the eventual pain of death and witness those we love suffering.

Human beings all have universal and shared characteristics as well as an infinite variety of unique and different traits that constitute our differing personalities.

We all want and need love and companionship, warmth and friendship. We also have pride and are vulnerable to having our feeling hurt or to being ridiculed, or feeling envy or jealousy.

Sir Edwin Landseer (British 1802–1873)The Faithful HoundOil on canvas, 1830
26 x 35 2/5 inches (66 x 88.9 cm)
Tate Britain, London
Sir Edwin Landseer (British 1802–1873)The Faithful HoundOil on canvas, 1830
26 x 35 2/5 inches (66 x 88.9 cm)
Tate Britain, London

Fine art can deal with all or any of the seemingly endless arrays of feelings and experiences that benefit, excite, terrorize or plague humanity. This is the broader sense of the definition of “beauty” that we use in the aesthetics of fine art.

The artist is said to be successful, who can communicate some portion of human experience and do so with beauty, poetry and grace.

As with prose, poetry or theatre, there are subtle and nuanced ways to express ideas and feelings and to captivate and inspire one’s audience, or there are blatant, self-conscious, awkward, inane, childish attempts which fail as works of fine art, as well as en endless continuum of degrees of success or failure.

Often people ask how sad or negative subject matter can be beautiful.

The beauty is achieved by poetically communicating some aspect of the human condition with empathy so that the viewer/audience can relate to how it might feel to actually live through some unhappy or horrible experience. Or perhaps they have already lived through such an experience which evokes similar emotions.

The artist is telling a story that has strong meaning due to some aspect of their personal history.

The viewer says to themselves either consciously or subconsciously, “I know how you feel brother, or sister.”

Fine art helps people connect with one another and can even act as a pressure valve releasing tensions and can reduce the likelihood of conflict. Uncomfortable or unpleasant subjects may not be pretty but they can be very beautiful and we can learn from them.

Modern works with their indecipherable meanings can do the opposite: alienate and agitate us. Often Modernist works are praised for doing just that. Their stated goals are often to shock or insult.

Academically trained realist artists were accused of being elitist.

But what could be more elitist than saying “only we enlightened” can understand what Rothko, Warhol, De Kooning and Pollock were saying. If we don’t like it, they say: “You all are too ignorant, tasteless and clueless to get it.”

They call realist art simple and less sophisticated, because its meaning is too obvious and easy to understand.

In other words, if a work succeeds in the primary purpose for which it was created, human communication, that very success becomes the reason it is denigrated. The living realists of today as well as all realist artists of the past were expressing universal themes and reaching out to all people of all time.

We all have lives that include sadness and harsh realities; we all suffer loss and we all die. We all look to be comforted and we find comfort when communication takes place using the language of beauty, even when it deals with difficult material.

What is elitist? What could be elitist about that? Realist paintings of the past as well as those today are intended to bring humanity closer together. Nothing could be less true about all of the “isms” of Modernism.

Stanhope Forbes (British, 1857-1947)The Health of The BrideOil on canvas, 1889
60 x 78 3/4 inches (152.5 x 200 cm)
Tate Gallery, LondonWalter Langley (British, 1852-1922)MemoriesOil on canvas, 1906
109 x 133 cm
Ferens Art Gallery, Hull MuseumJules Giardet (French, 1856-1938)Soir du Bataille: Episode De La Bataille De Quiberon, Le 21 JuilletOil on canvas, 1795
581/2 x 933/4 inches (148.6 x 236.2 cm)

Let us once and for all put a spike through the heart of the Modernist argument that realism is trite, petty, inane, and devoid of meaning. For if that is true of technically skilled, Realism, then it would equally have to be true of all poetry and literature which also uses a vocabulary and structure which are recognizable by writer and reader, speaker, and listener; as it is too by painter and viewer alike.

In theatre the task at hand is whether the playwright, director and actors can enable the audience to “Suspend disbelief.” They endeavor to create a world in which the storyline of their play, or movie takes place. For this to work, the things that happen “the business” and the dialogue need to seamlessly work together in a manner that feels logical and believable. Even in magical realism, science fiction, and fantasy the goal is to make it all feel possible.

We all know that the movie or live show has been carefully written and orchestrated. Each word that is said, every movement the actors make, and each element of the set design, backdrops, and props that appear and are seen or used, have all been planned, usually down to the smallest detail.

The actors need to make it seem like they are saying their lines as if they were spontaneous responses to things that might be said in the situation or circumstance being portrayed. Indeed, some directors allow ad-libbing and extemporaneity from their actors to enhance believability.

But, careful planning is the underlying “truth” of what is going on.

For a theatrical performance to succeed as a work of art, it all must seem to be happening spontaneously as it would in real life. In that context, the writer can explore ideas about life that he or she chooses; whether it is about poverty caused by an indifferent or malevolent government or corporations, as seen in Grapes of Wrath, or the waste of life and the ennui and indolence that accompanies inherited wealth in The Great Gatsby, or the injustices and corrupt society and its effect on otherwise good people portrayed in Les Miserables.

All these books have been made into successful theatrical productions and films that can be said to have reached a level of fine art through the language of theater with its similar vocabulary and grammar of realism.

They have culminated in productions that suspend the audience’s dis-belief and they have each created their own unique forms of beauty.

In poetry, two good examples would be Omar Khayyam’s Rubaiyat, or Robert Frost’s Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening, both poems are about confronting death and characterize how to live one’s life, knowing that the grim reaper lies just over the horizon. These two poems use the language of words to deal with difficult subject matter in a beautiful way and all the images conjured are ones from our experiences in reality.

If the structure of the work of art is awkward or self-conscious, so that the details of how it is has been constructed is evident to the listener or viewer, the artist or author is thought to have failed. In theater, if the writing is fine, but the acting is terrible, then we might blame the actors or the director. But in every case you have the work of art constructed from elemental parts and assembled by the writer, director, composer, musician, actor, singer, dancer, painter or sculptor.

The importance in understanding this underlying process becomes very evident if we now look at the debate that has occurred between Modern art vs. Traditional art. The modernist artists who are credited with the origins of Modernism are celebrated for pointing directly at the underlying reality of what fine art is constructed from. Cézanne, Manet and Matisse we are told showed us the “truth” that a painting is really just colored paint applied to a flat canvas, paper or surface.

Henri MatisseSorrow of the KingGouache, paper, 1952
9' 7" x 12' 8" (292 x 386 cm)
Centre Georges Pompidou, Paris

Modernism claimed traditional art, as taught in the art academies throughout the 19th Century, was engaged in lying to the public, trying to make the flat canvas look three dimensional; trying to use drawing, modeling and perspective to create illusions of space; trying to make you believe that you are perhaps looking into a room where people are doing something or at a landscape outdoors, etc. … all deceptions and lies. The job of the artist then, during Modernism’s 20th century ascendancy, was to make painting have value by focusing on the one aspect of what a painting was that no other art form had, which was the flatness of the picture plane. Focusing on the formal, underlying, fundamental components of art, became more important than focusing on why art existed in the first place, which was to communicate ideas, feelings, values and beliefs and all human experience.

Art's purpose was to justify itself, which ironically pretty much cancelled out all of its purpose and value.

Here is a quote from Clement Greenburg that makes this point:

 Realistic, naturalistic art, had dissembled the medium, using art to conceal art; Modernism used art to call attention to art. The limitations that constitute the medium of painting, the flat surface, the shape of the support, the properties of the pigment — were treated by the Old Masters as negative factors that could be acknowledged only implicitly or indirectly. Under Modernism, these same limitations came to be regarded as positive factors, and were acknowledged openly. Manet's art became the first Modernist pictures by virtue of the frankness with which they declared the flat surfaces on which they were painted. The Impressionists, in Manet's wake, abjured underpainting and glazes, to leave the eye under no doubt as to the fact that the colors they used were made of paint that came from tubes or pots. Cézanne sacrificed verisimilitude, or correctness, in order to fit his drawings and designs more explicitly to the rectangular shape of the canvas.

It was the stressing of the ineluctable flatness of the surface that remained, however, more fundamental than anything else to the processes by which pictorial art criticized and defined itself under Modernism. For flatness alone was unique and exclusive to pictorial art. The enclosing shape of the picture was a limiting condition, or norm, that was shared with the art of the theater; color was a norm and a means shared not only with the theater, but also with sculpture. Because flatness was the only condition painting shared with no other art, Modernist painting oriented itself to flatness as it did to nothing else. 

-Clement Greenberg  , 19607

The truth was that there were no people, no landscape, no real objects to paint other than the concrete reality of the paint and the canvas. The artist, endlessly pointing directly to his underlying materials was the birth of Modern art.

Cézanne flattened the landscape, Matisse flattened our homes and families and the so called abstract artists after them, like De Kooning, Pollock and Rothko, put it all in a blender and threw it at us, thus making flat color design the end goal of the artist.

Expressing and communicating human emotions was not a worthy purpose for art, and so all human emotions were denigrated as petty sentimentality.

The equivalent of this system of thought applied to written languages would be to say that all writing is untruthful and finding the truth can only be discovered by pointing directly to the underlying materials and structure of written words.

All that is really there on the page are different shapes of straight or curved or squiggly lines. Since that is closer to the truth than placing meaning in those shapes and lines…than using them to make words and the words to form ideas … that too must be a lie and an unworthy purpose for the writer.

Therefore, to bring the analogy full circle … the best book would be one that demonstrates this “truth” with page after page of meaningless shapes and squiggles…thus showing us the modernist’s profound definition of truth. How many books and poems would be purchased and read in which all that could be found between the covers were meaningless shapes on every page? 

Modernism endows the meaningless with meaning. Each of us must decide for ourselves whether there is meaning to be found and if that meaning has great value.

Is it petty and banal to show romantic or familial love and caring? Or is it petty banality to spend one's career insisting that the only paintings that have value are those which demonstrates that they are flat, or to focus as have the post-modernists on endlessly claiming to show the degradation of life via the degradation of art?

What then is fine art?

And for that matter, what is fine literature, music, poetry, or theatre? In every case human beings use materials supplied by nature (the clay, colors and materials of the earth and the movements and sounds of life) and creatively combine or mold them into something else which is capable of communication and meaning.

It is that ability to communicate, whether subtle or blatant, complex or nuanced and modulated wherein the value of art lies and makes it worthy of the term “fine art”.

Throughout history, people have found one way after another of communicating their thoughts, ideas, beliefs, values and the entire range of their shared experiences of living.

When it comes to the visual arts, modernists like to say “why waste your time doing realism? It’s all been done already.”

That would be exactly like saying “Why waste your time writing anything? It’s all already been written. There is nothing left to say.”

Illustration

Illustration is often thought of as a lesser form of art. Often we hear people say something like: “That’s only an illustration, it’s not fine art.” However, given the clear description of what fine art is, that no longer makes any sense. All fine art is illustration. What is different is what is being illustrated and then how well it has been accomplished.

If you look at illustrations in young children’s books, often those illustrations are done quickly and the cost and time involved in creating them plays a big role when writer’s or publishers choose them.

However, there are illustrations for books and poems which have been created by some of the greatest of artists. Gustave Doré illustrated Dante’s Inferno and Edgar Allen Poe’s The Raven. Edmund Dulac illustrated Edward Fitzgerald’s translation of the Rubaiyat by Omar Khayyam, and Michelangelo painted the Sistine Chapel ceiling with illustrations inspired by the Bible. All of the early and High Renaissance artists illustrated scenes from the Old and New Testaments. 19th Century artists illustrated Shakespeare, poetry and myths and legends.

MichelangeloCeiling of the Sistine Chapel CeilingFresco, 1508-1512 Sistine Chapel, Vatican City, Italy

The attempt to pigeonhole images that tell a story as illustration which has been separated in many art schools as a lesser form of art is strictly a tactic to further entrench Modernist ideology.

Since all fine art is representational and since only realistic objects, figures and settings are capable of communication, one is drawn to the logical conclusion that all illustration belongs in the category of fine art. The differences are all qualitative: a difference in degree not a difference in kind.

Once we recognize that, we can see that variation in quality can be enormous and it may even be useful but problematic, to make an attempt to create categories along a continuum of some sort based on quality, purpose, and success or failure of the art and artist to communicate or illustrate what was intended.

There also can be qualitative differences in subjects and themes. Some themes are about more powerful emotions or moments during life that therefore have greater potential for achieving the beautiful. For example a painting illustrating wartime wives listening to a radio broadcast for the names of the men who were killed, has vastly more potential than a bowl of fruit or a painting of a can of soup.

Therefore, illustration and fine art are one and the same and all fine art illustrates something.

Gustave Doré (French, 1832-1883)Dante et Virgil dans le neuvieme cercle de l'enferOil on canvas, c.1860-c.1869
50 x 73 inches (127 x 185.5 cms)John William Waterhouse (British, 1849-1917)Lady of ShallottOil on canvas, 1888
Tate Gallery, LondonGabriel Joseph Marie Augustin Ferrier (French, 1847-1914)Chaperon Rouge, NDOil on canvas, 1906
58 3/4 x 35 inches (149.2 x 88.9 cm)
Tate Gallery, London

Originality

Let us talk now about modernism’s obsession with “being original”.

In any field of endeavor the idea “that it’s all been done before” places an impenetrable wall of hopelessness in front of any creative pursuit. Imagine becoming a doctor and not being required to learn what is already known?

Knowing doesn’t stop you from doing something new but it keeps you from wasting your time on searching for knowledge that already is known and readily available. It also decreases the chance of making very serious mistakes.

The refusal to learn from the past will inevitably prevent anything new from actually being discovered, as breakthroughs are always built on the discoveries of those who came before. In the arts, the fear of doing what has been done before places a ball and chain on your mind and on the joy of creativity, one of the greatest joys in life.

Only someone who has learned what is already known can strive to create fearlessly and will have any chance of actually creating something new. For invariably, humankind has a history of creative accomplishments going back thousands of years, so someone who is creative will surely stumble upon many things that have been thought of and done before in advance of achieving the truly original.

And if we are honest, the most favored subjects are as old as humanity itself and there are unlimited and original ways in which they can be expressed again and again.

Modernism in its need to banish anything seeming unoriginal, has banished all of the tools and skills with which original work was accomplished and then tells their artists without skills and without tools to go and create worthwhile works of fine art.

Since there is no meaningful language in their art, a thousand words are needed to imbue it with meaning. Actually the words have to be incredibly creative and shrewd to convince otherwise educated and intelligent people that something of value is present when little or nothing is there.

Modernists create art that is about art: “art about art,” whereas all the great art of the past was “art about life”.

A painting should no more attempt to make the viewer conscious of the paint and canvas than the writer should make the reader conscious of the ink or type of paper being used, or for that matter than the film maker should make the audience endlessly aware of the kind of cameras being used or that the movie is actually composed of a fast moving series of still images.

The resurgent realist artists whose ranks are rapidly expanding in the 21st century, consider their materials and skills as a vital means of communicating artistic subjects and ideas. Modernism banished the real world from the tools they could use. Of course, without the full vocabulary of the real world to draw and to draw from, the only way complex ideas could be presented to us by modernism is if people “in-the-know” explain to us what ideas were intended and then required us to believe it.

Pablo Picasso (Spanish, 1881-1973)Portrait of Dora MaarOil on board, 1939
60 x 45 cm
Museo National Centro de Arte Reina Sofia, MadridFranz Kline (American, 1910-1962)TurinOil on canvas, 1960
803/8 x 951/2 inches (204.14 x 242.57 cm)
The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, Kansas City

Franz Kline’s harsh slashing black lines on a white ground, we’re told, represents how harsh life is and Picasso’s distorted human forms are meant to represent how distorted society is and how psychologically malformed mankind has become.

Now, once we have been told that’s what he means and that’s what he’s doing, if we’re ready to be one of the savvy, then we can start to see it.

Perhaps accuracy is better served if we realize that we had better see it if we don’t want to suffer derision and ridicule by the ruling cognoscenti in today’s art world?

They say that modernism created a new way of seeing.

Or is this new way of seeing really just pointing out the painfully obvious. Even if we give them some benefit of the doubt that someone needed to point out that the canvas was flat, how many times does it need to be proved? After all, any three-year-old who is taken to a museum knows that the canvases are all flat.

How great then was it that Cézanne and Matisse spent the rest of their careers saying it over and over again?

Or perhaps we should not give them the benefit of the doubt? Did it really need to be said and did it really need to be then taken to the extreme of abstract expressionism? Which, by-the-way, is neither abstract nor expressive.

A blueprint is an “abstract” of the layout of a house or how the electrical system will be installed or it shows the footprint of the house in a carefully drawn representation of the piece of land it’s to be built upon.

The word “bottle” when spoken is an abstracted representation of the object that can hold liquids. The written word bottle is a further abstraction of the spoken word. A painting of a bottle is another abstraction of that object and the more it looks like a bottle the more accurate the abstraction becomes.

So the word “abstract” means the opposite of how it is used by Modern art and their apologists. Realist paintings are accurate abstractions of ideas, events and an endless number of other possible subjects.

Globs and dribbles of paint on a canvas are actually quite concrete. They are the end product: a glob, a smear or a dribble of specific size and shape which has no other meaning besides what it is and clearly is expressive of nothing at all.8

Is there any need in these abstract works to suspend disbelief? No, that would be a lie by their definition. Or is “belief” instead compelled, not by the acting, writing, drawing or painting, but instead by the intimidation of power and position?

Prestige Suggestion

Do students believe in this new inheritor of Western Art? Or does not believing in it threaten their grades and positions (and the wallets of those invested in such art.) It is amazing how the need to avow one’s belief repeatedly in something that was previously difficult or impossible to believe, will become increasingly easier when supported by figures of authority. A useful term for this phenomenon is “prestige suggestion.”

What Modernists have done has been to aid and abet the destruction of the only universal language by which artists can communicate our humanity to the rest of, well, … humanity. They then have built up a labyrinth of justifications and blocked all other viewpoints. If the history of what actually took place is not to be lost due to the transitory prejudice and taste of a single era, then we must question any practice that deliberately suppresses documented evidence.

Art history must not be reduced to little more than propaganda directed towards market enhancement for valuable collections passed down as wealth conserving stores of value.

Successful dealers, who derived great wealth by selling works created in hours instead of weeks, had little trouble lining up articulate, eloquent and persuasive masters of our language to build complex portrayals presented everywhere as brilliant analysis to justify what are really very uncomplicated, unsophisticated and simplistic works; creations which arguably should have and would have been rejected out-of-hand but for their ingenuous sophistry, expansive jargon and artfully cunning patois.

Any time people or brands or logos become the symbols of quality, value or expert authority, then other people when presented with those symbols will see quality, value or importance regardless of what is actually there.

For example, a wealthy consumer will see a purse with the name “Prada” or “Gucci” on it and will automatically assume value and quality.

Perhaps the price will be $5000 and if it’s on sale for $1200 they’ll believe they got a good deal and be proud to wear it or show it off to friends. Take the same bag without a label and try to sell it on a table on 42nd street with an $80 price tag and the same person may think it’s over priced and will try to talk the price down perhaps to $40, or not buy it at all.

The Prada name and the fact that it’s being sold in Bergdorf’s or Bloomingdale’s tends to give it the prestige and assumed value which has been suggested into the mind of the consumer.

Many years ago I took my son on a class tour they were giving at a General Motors assembly plant where we witnessed the assembly of a Chevrolet.

Then another identical car came down on the same production line and they placed a different grill and hood ornament on it and labeled it Oldsmobile. A third identical car came through and they put a still different grill on it with a label calling it a Cadillac. Nearly everything about it was the same, but the Cadillac brand was double the price of the Oldsmobile and the Olds was selling for a third more than the Chevy.9

There is a difference between value due to prestige suggestion and value due to intrinsic quality.

Surely, in the search to define beauty, we need to understand that difference. We should be able to see through prestige and determine when we are in the presence of the truly beautiful, versus a work that’s the greatest quality is the prestige attached to the name of the artist or the movement.

In this way a canvas with little intrinsic value that has the signature of De Kooning, Pollock, Rothko or Mondrian on it, are assigned high values because people with a PhD or the title of Professor or Museum Director next to their names have told us what to think about their worth.

Then, major dealers or auction houses have assigned estimates of millions of dollars to their work. Most people do not feel themselves knowledgeable enough to know what has or does not have value, when it comes to pocketbooks, Persian carpets, or wristwatches, and much less so with works of art. This is “prestige-suggestion”. Even if their instincts are to reject something, they keep silent lest they expose themselves to ridicule for being considered ignorant, tasteless or out-of-touch, succumbing to “social pressure”.

Art-Speak

There is a second very useful expression identified that aids us in understanding what has occurred and how Modernism, after gaining ascendance, has been able to maintain its position.

That term is called “Art-speak”. Art-speak is a contrived form of language, which uses self-consciously complex and convoluted combinations of words to impress, mesmerize and silence opposition.

“Art-speak” is generally used by people in positions of power and authority and in combination with “prestige suggestion” is ultimately employed to silence contrary instincts and ideas to prevent people from identifying honestly what has been paraded before them.10 

This is accomplished by brainwashing society through authority and confounding, with “art-speak”, the evidence of our senses about objects and ideas that otherwise any sane person would question.

The “authority” of high positions, and the “authority” of books and periodicals, and the “authority” of certificates of accreditation attached to the names of the chief proponents of modernism, which have all worked in combination to impress and humble those whose common sense would otherwise rise up in opposition.

Without a doubt they would clearly see this art for what it is, evident nonsense, if it’s supposed value had not emanated from the pretentious mouths and pens of those with such a preponderance of “authority” to back them up. Many students and even teachers have come forward to report how traditional realism has been virtually or actually banned from their art departments. They want to share their sufferings at the hands of Modernist educators, and ask what they can do.11

Banning of ideas and not permitting free and open debate has been a problem throughout history. Most often relating to religion or politics it rears up in other fields as well. For example, global warming is often taught as settled science with the suggestion that only fools would listen to arguments questioning it despite mountains of conflicting evidence. John Stuart Mill’s remarks on speech suppression are as alive and accurate today as they were two hundred years ago:

 Where there is a tacit convention that principles are not to be disputed; where the discussion of the greatest questions, which can occupy humanity, is considered to be closed, we cannot hope to find that generally high scale of mental activity, which has made some periods of history so remarkable. 

And:

 However unwillingly a person who has a strong opinion may admit the possibility that his opinion may be false, he ought to be moved by the consideration that however true it may be, if it is not fully, frequently, and fearlessly discussed, it will be held as a dead dogma, not a living truth. 
John Stuart Mill's essay "On Liberty"
from Great Political Thinkers by William Bernstein, p.569

Without a dynamic living network of experts teaching technical knowledge in drawing and painting, it will never be possible for college and university art departments to have students who are able to enrich the debate and the academic environment for all students by producing works of art that are capable of expressing complex, vital and spirited ideas.

To forbid these skills to be taught on campus in any real depth is as ridiculous as having a music department that refuses to teach the circle of fifths or only teaches three or four notes from which they insist all music must be composed. It is as absurd as having an English department in which all words that had recognizable meanings were forbidden and only writing without words or sentence structure would be admissible.

If there was nothing to be ashamed in their teaching methods and in their results, they would welcome the chance to confront the ideas that they should be well equipped to refute.

They have a solemn duty to maintain the integrity of thought made possible by what has been handed down to them by those artists, writers and thinkers before us, who established a vast, complex and rich system of training with which to teach and pass on a wealth of knowledge.

Deliberately preventing access to this information is crippling to the goals of education and a severe obstruction to insuring a society based on freedom of thought without which progress is impossible. Where is it more important to vouchsafe these principles than at our nation’s colleges and universities who are training the next generation of leaders? Even if they don’t agree, they have a duty to expose their students to responsible opposing views in all fields and disciplines.

While it is beyond the scope of this chapter to fully delineate the evidence and arguments on both sides of the Modernism vs. Realism schism in fine arts and aesthetics, for the purpose at hand, we are focusing on the realist position which in recent decades has had very few proponents, ceding nearly a century to an ascendant modernist leviathan. And that century has seen the greatest strides forward in every other field of human endeavor. If the proponents of realism are as correct as it seems, the art world is woefully behind our times and will need to do a lot of catching up.

Relativism

Modernist theory, as we’ve seen, looks to redefine the purpose of painting by means of:

  • Elevating the flatness of the canvas or the medium as the primary subject,
  • Explaining the transcendent value of their work with art-speak,
  • Maintaining their ascendant position with prestige suggestion.
Yet there is another underlying idea that propels the Modernist hegemony. Simply stated it's called "relativism" which is at the heart of Existentialist philosophy.

To this end, one hears employed several popular maxims. These sayings are then used for the purpose of contradicting the whole notion that one can actually define or describe either fine art or what is beautiful. The modernists then often rely on distorting the meanings generally ascribed to these expressions to help establish the value they then ascribe to modernist theory and the products created in their service, which are offered up as fine art.

  1. There is nothing good nor bad but thinking makes it so (William Shakespeare.
  2. Beauty is in the eye of the beholder.
  3. One man’s meat is another man’s poison

These sayings have all been used over and over when it comes to the concept of beauty and aesthetics.

When taken to the extreme in the visual arts the implication is that no matter what the object is, whether it is art or for that matter anything else, there is no way to gage good from bad, right from wrong, beautiful from ugly or elegant and graceful from ungainly and awkward.

All that matters is that nothing matters. Therefore there can be no judgment or assessment of quality. This concept makes aesthetics unimportant. If everything’s value is a matter of opinion, than why discuss it? Everyone is right; which is the same as saying nobody is wrong. It is clear that this cannot be true. So many throughout history have taken so much time in trying to define what is beautiful and to differentiate between good and bad aesthetics and perhaps even more important, between what is right and what is wrong; a dilemma that confronts us constantly every day of our lives.

Stated simply, in the visual arts as in all the other arts and in all other fields of human endeavor, it is necessary and important to be able to make judgments. Yes, to judge, and use words of judgment that has been deemed in many classrooms and philosophies as inappropriate. How could understanding goodness, beauty and truth be inappropriate? 

Behind the wish to ban judgment is “political correctness.” 

Political correctness worries that if one person is doing well than it must mean that someone else is doing poorly. If we celebrate accomplishment, we must then acknowledge failure; which means someone will feel badly or will feel inferior.

One common solution for this reality is to point out that different people are good or better at different things and worse at others. But no matter how much we don’t like it, the truth is that there are also some people who are good at nearly everything and others who are not good at nearly anything.

Fortunately, most people do have some talents that can be found. The upshot of trying to avoid and run from the truth (that there is good and bad, better and worse) is to force everyone to value and function in mediocrity.

There are few things more depressing than that. We’ve all heard of some schools banning grades and competitive activities like spelling bees and even some sports. How likely will their charges be made ready to compete in the outside world after graduation?

The way to help people who have special needs or who are born with less skills and talent should not be by limiting possibilities to succeed and achieve for those who have great talents and the work ethic to see them actualized. Brilliant achievements are unlikely to come from a society that refuses to recognize great works.

Political correctness is a bit of a tangent, but like Modernism it sees the world through relativist lenses. All three of the popular phrases listed above, are succinct ways of expressing a belief in “relativism.” There is no good and no bad; no up or down. All things are relative to circumstances and position and the ultimate expression of this philosophy, called “Existentialism” is that “There is no truth”, and if there is no truth there is no beauty nor goodness. There are no absolutes of any kind.

Of course the true believers in the absence of truth are always unable to explain the obvious paradox that the statement “There is no truth” is itself a statement of what they “firmly” believe to be the truth. It’s very similar to the paradox always discussed in logic courses which revolves around this avowal, “This statement is false” If it is true than it must be false and if it is false it must be true.

It’s a circular argument that goes nowhere fast.

Despite the frequency with which we hear this, it is also clear that nobody really believes that “there is no truth.” The simplest way to prove that someone does not believe it is to ask them if they would place themselves or their families in the middle of a major highway during rush hour. Would they bite into a light bulb or wear a shirt whose collar was made of razor blades or jump off the roof of a skyscraper?

It’s really just hubris to claim there is no truth when everyone every day in a thousand different ways all people demonstrate that they believe in the truth and that they believe that some things are good and other things are bad.

There may be categories of things for which people can have differing opinions as to their relative values or dangers, but there are many…very many things that people believe in absolutely.

The very fact that they are there telling you there is not truth proves they believe in many things including the fact that you are a different person from them and that they can communicate to you using a common language and that the words have recognizable meaning.

William Adolphe Bouguereau
432 artworks
French Academic Classical painter, teacher, frescoist and draftsman
Born 1825 – Died 1905

They believe that they can speak using their mouth and that people have ears and brains with which to interpret what they say.

They believe that the sounds they make when they speak can go through the air and they believe pretty much in what they see around them. I hesitate to now point out that those common phrases are somewhat true and have their use depending on what is being discussed.

For example, “beauty is in the eye of the beholder,” can be accurate in a circumstance where we are reviewing different things in the same category. To then say beauty or goodness is relative of one to the other will make sense. I prefer chocolate ice cream, my wife prefers coffee, and my daughter vanilla. 

But all people will prefer ice cream to arsenic. There is no relative benefit between those choices for human beings everywhere. It’s an absolute: arsenic is bad and ice cream is good.

Modern art seems to especially need these existential phrases as the raison d’etre for their “anything goes” mantra. However, if everything is art, than nothing is art. Relativism has led to “production” by some artists of things like blank canvases, empty rooms and piles of garbage, for which some of them have been celebrated as geniuses by Modernist art critics.

The Turner Prize recently was an empty room with the lights going on and off every five seconds. 12 Another year the award went to a pile of excrement. 13 

It’s hard to even have to say it.

Realist philosophy would pretty much deny the credentials of such critics a priori since they are rejecting all of the basic parameters of what constitutes fine art. If we think about it, relativist existential ideology is at the core of all Modern art, and these artists are celebrated for work that is seen to articulate the idea that there is no good nor bad, no truth and basically no beauty as well.

So I ask you how can a belief that there is nothing beautiful be the driving force to create beauty? 

All human sentiment, which is regularly belittled by calling it sentimentality, is rejected by existentialism. Another word that describes much of the philosophy of modern art is “nihilism” which believes there is no meaning in life. Their art is a continuous stream of celebrating the absence of value and thereby all of the preferences and desires of humanity.

The ultimate hypocrisy is that they then shower accolades, riches and fame, upon those whose art proves that nothing has value, paradoxically ascribing great value to it.

It was inevitable that intelligent people would eventually identify the duplicity of this central underlying contradiction.

Said another way, modernists ascribe great value to proving everything is worthless.

As I have shown, we can readily prove that nobody actually believes that nothing has any value. It’s patently false. If it is false that there are no truths, then there must be truth; there must be good and bad; there must be value and importance in human sentiments and feelings; there must be value in communication between people and the forms of communication, which document and preserve our shared humanity. Therefore, there must be value in all of the fine arts, and for our purpose today, there must be value in traditional realism.

I feel it’s important here to go back to “art speak” and “Prestige Suggestion” and show an example of how they sounds and work.

As discussed, Modernism, in order to buttress the value of what it produces, employs experts at “art-speak” who articulate and promote modernism by the use of complex esoteric verbiage, which project an aura of value and importance onto objects that are clearly bereft of any sophistication. Imagine reading a review by a food critic expounding on the virtues of Jell-O.

You are first told how this critic graduated the Culinary Institute with honors and travelled the world to learn about every kind of cuisine.

He writes for the New York Times and has a TV show on food with a big following. Then, after learning about his credentials, the first review you read by him is about Jell-O, which he praises as great American cuisine.

The Jell-O, he goes on to describe, is a perfectly nuanced colloidal melt-on-the-tongue stasis boiled to the moment of perfection when a moment less would tend it towards sineresis 14 and a few seconds longer would allow the jell to become too stiff, clearly showing true mastery of the chef’s use of vacuum pans and rare Bavarian rapid set pectin.

Clearly the chef who created this delicate sensation must have used a double boiler for modulation, with a deft control of vacuum reduction.

It’s all reminiscent of the finer aspects served by Wolfgang Puck or Gordon Ramsey. Surely a search of seven continents had produced the finest mix of simulated strawberry piquancy, capturing the eloquence of deep red Tudor and delicate Nova Scotia Wild straws.

Taking my tongue out of my cheek, how much experience and education does one need to reject such nonsense out-of-hand? It’s Jell-O you’re being shown, which to many has considerably more actual value than a canvas with paint flung at it.

Jean-Léon Gérôme
1824-1904
Orientalist painter, draftsman and sculptor
Pollice Verso
Thumbs Down

And yet, the art world is filled with far more flagrantly absurd objects praised in ways which might be described as a convoluted quandary wrapped in an enigma and embedded in a paradox. “Art speak” generally demonstrates far more creativity in the writers who write it than it does in the artists whose product they have, described, explained and justified.

Modern and postmodern works, absurd, nonsensical and mind-numbing, have taken control of the world’s formerly great art institutions. One can’t help but bring to mind echoes of infants playing with their own excrement. It seems, the simpler and more naïve the creation, the more sophisticated it’s purported to be.

Barnet Newman’s huge canvas, from what is considered the high point of Modernism (1950’s and 60’s), is called Black Fire 1. It sold for an incredible $84,000,000, this past June, 2014. Here’s what the auction house’s specialist said about it; clearly far more masterful at art-speak than Barnet Newman is at painting:

 Black Fire I is a sublime Abstract Expressionist masterpiece that perfectly captures Barnett Newman’s radically reductive and uncompromising aesthetic.

The Zen-like simplicity of Black Fire I embodies the spirituality, grandeur and solemnity that define all of Newman’s greatest works. Painted during a period of refrain after suffering the loss of his younger brother, Newman negotiated his emotions through the language of abstraction.

Continuing the dynamic tension between light and dark that was first established in the Stations of the Cross, the composition of Black Fire I exhibits a similar weighty sense of the absolute.

Through creating the Stations of the Cross, Newman had chosen to reject the allegorical distractions of color in order to create a pure, distilled emotional statement through the subtle nuances of spatial relationships and expressive brushwork alone.

Newman’s decision to place black pigment on raw canvas gave way to Black Fire I and it was this deliberation that allowed Newman to communicate, at the highest degree, the universal dualities of existence: light and darkness, creation and destruction, form and formlessness. 

Black Fire I holds an important place within Barnett Newman’s oeuvre, having resided in several distinguished American collections of modern art. It was featured in two important international group exhibitions shortly after it was created. 

It is nothing more than a canvas half beige and half black with another black line going through the beige portion.

Art history courses in nearly every university and college in the world are likely to have staff members ready to praise this canvas unabashedly, and thousands of students, many whose instincts tell them how absurd it is, have in recent decades had to shrink back fearful of the ridicule they’d receive if they gave voice to what they really thought.

Of course after a long series of courses, lectures and books filled with “prestige suggestion” and “art-speak” and without any exposure to responsible opposing viewpoints, many of them start to convince themselves of what is not there.

Before long black is white, up is down, and nothing is something.

Ultimately there is a kind of religious fervor associated to this system of thought. If Modern art is so great, if blank canvases and splattered colors have so much meaning, why do they need the most complex and sophisticated language to imbue meaning into them? Thomas Wolfe saw through this decades ago when he published his book, The Painted Word, in which he basically expresses the same idea, that Modernism relies on the most sophisticated and advanced kinds of language and ideas to justify objects which clearly have no intrinsic value.15

We’ve all heard that a picture is worth a thousand words. When we look at a Rembrandt , Michelangelo , Bouguereau or John Singer Sargent we are awed by the inherent beauty and we then consider what we are feeling and try to find the right words to describe it.

But with Modernist works by De Kooning, Pollock, Miro, Mondrian and dozens of others, clever critics, who are really just language manipulators, have built up ever more tortuous vagaries and conjured imaginings, layering their silver tongued alchemy, one sentence after another onto these “creations” which they proclaim as iconic, platinum and gold; when even lowly lead is missing. A new generation is now seeing blatant instead of brilliant; ingenuous not ingenious and sophistry not sophistication.

If the macro story of humanity and the micro story of individuals are sentimental and unworthy for artists, then what is a fitting purpose for modernist and post-modernist philosophy?

What is relevant? They will tell you: ‘form for its own sake” … “color for its own sake” … “Line or mass for their own sake.” That is art. There is nothing else that art should communicate or express. As if line, mass and color have wants and needs and an independent purpose of their own. They say they’re showing us how to see differently, but if we are true to ourselves, we all see what’s there and more-so what is not there. Clearly, “the Emperor has no clothes.”

To the Modernists these abstract or minimalist canvases are far more worthy of accolades of merit than recreating scenes from the real world, or from our fantasies, myths or legends; more profound than imagery which shows our hopes, dreams, and the most powerful moments in life.

Blank canvases, or empty rooms, or a mound of rocks are more “relevant” subject matter than the times during life that are most memorable, which describe and define our shared humanity. Simple shapes of color are preferred to subjects about people of color; strata of textured paper trumps showing the textured strata of life.

Dribbles of paint are more compelling than a child learning how to dribble a basketball. Piles of garbage are considered more sophisticated than showing the transition from self-conscious adolescent to self-assured adult; and a light blinking on and off in an empty room attracts journalistic praise, while the blinking passage of life and time are but worthless sentimentality.

These are the ignorant precepts of the prefects who hold our museums and college art departments in a hundred-year long grip of meaningless irrelevancies; boring us and our youth alike in a system where the highly skilled are scorned and the talented are passed over and disillusioned. The true artistic masters, until very recently, were dying off without a trained generation to protect, preserve and perpetuate that which had been preserved for so many centuries before.

Sir Hubert Von Herkomer (German/British, 1849-1914)On StrikeOil on canvas, 1891
89 3/4 x 49 3/4 inches (228 x 126.4 cm)
Collection of the Royal Academy of Arts
Sir Hubert Von Herkomer (German/British, 1849-1914)On StrikeOil on canvas, 1891
89 3/4 x 49 3/4 inches (228 x 126.4 cm)
Collection of the Royal Academy of Arts

Modernism shakes its fist at the realist artists of today and the academic artists of the 19th century, claiming that their focus on the development of skills leads to constraining true creativity. They heap adulation on any artist who is focused on throwing off one or another of the definitions and parameters of classical, academic art, all of which are viewed as restrictive and limiting. 

The sad irony is that Modernist ideology is far more restricting and limiting to creativity than any of the art and movements that came before it, or the new realist movement that has emerged today.

Artists have been virtually (if not actually) imprisoned; whether we are talking about the chained constraints of “conceptual art,” or the drudgery of “deconstruction,” the “shackles of shock”, being mired in “minimalism,” or the vapid, inane impoverishment of works described as “abstract”. All are chains which have been “forged link by link and yard by yard”, paying lip service to composition and design, having long ago abandoned all of the parameters of fine art; but especially the paramount need to harmonize great subjects and themes with drawing, modeling, perspective, color, tone, and the expert manipulation of paint. And what are these subjects and themes?

They are the ideas, values, beliefs and the endless range of human thought, feelings and experience.

19th Century Overview

In order to understand the need and search for beauty as indispensable to an artist’s compositions and choices of subjects, we need to see how that quest for beauty and the academic skills and techniques needed for artists to realize their creative ideas, were employed by the last generation of artists who believed in their critical importance: those of the late 19th Century. To state it another way: to comprehend how Modernism gained ascendancy for so long, we need to describe what the artists before them were actually painting and why. How did skill-based Humanist art fall into such decline?

Without any doubt, the art world of the past century has seen a relentless effort to malign and degrade the status and the reputations of the artists and their artwork produced during the Victorian era and its equivalents in Europe and America. Their success in doing this had been nearly total by the end of the Second World War and continued nearly unabated and unopposed until the 1980’s.

It continues in most ways to the present day. But, in the past thirty years it started to change, very slowly at first, but clearly picking up considerable momentum since the end of the millennium.

I tend to think of 1980 as the first beginning of this change in attitude, when the Metropolitan Museum took some of their finest academic paintings that had been in storage since World War I and hung them in the new Andre Meyer Wing announcing their decision to the world and suffering considerable editorial drubbing by famous critics in major newspapers.

Hilton Kramer of the NY Times led a widespread journalistic assault accusing the museum of taking corpses from their basement and excoriated them for daring to hang William Bouguereau and Jean-Léon Gérôme next to Goya and Manet .16

That was when voices who supported the Met’s actions started to be heard even though they had been trying to be for years before.

Over the past three decades, art historians have done a great deal of research and found an overwhelming preponderance of the evidence that shows that the modernist descriptions of this era are no more than misinformation and distortions fabricated in order to denigrate all of the traditional realist art produced between 1850 and 1920.

Amazingly, Emile Zola wrote a novel called The Masterpiece (L’Oeuvre): a fictional account of how Impressionist painters were mistreated by the official academic masters who ran the Paris Salons. This totally made-up account of what occurred was then used and written into most art history texts as if it had actually occurred.

For example, in his story The Salon de Refusé was formed due to a public outcry over the rejected impressionist artists when it actually was the brain child of Napoleon III who felt sorry for the mostly academic artists who walked out of the Salon lead by Meissonier who was famous for his precise cabinet and military paintings. To this day the heart of Modernist accounts of the art history between 1850 and World War I are based on this work of fiction.

The truth was very different.

Impressionism showed up in the Paris Salons nearly as soon as it appeared in the art world. They never suffered a tiny fraction of the suppression that realist artists actually have experienced in the 20th Century. Much of it has been conceived as retribution for what the Impressionists supposedly endured at the hands of realist academicians.

The only problem is that the original causal events never happened and even if they had, the current realist artists couldn’t possibly have had anything to do with it. The information presented here suggests far more profound and underlying core reasons why this should never have happened and why it needs to be reversed.

The suppressed truth about the fine art of the 19th century is that it was a time of explosive artistic activity unrivaled in all prior history. Thousands of properly trained artists pouring out of the great academies and master ateliers throughout the western world developed a myriad of new techniques and explored countless new subjects, styles and perspectives that had never been done before.

These new works covered nearly every aspect of human activity. They were the product of the expansion of freedom and democracy with a profound respect for life, for humanity and for individual human beings, including their minds, their souls and their boundless creative potential. They helped disseminate the growing view that every individual was valuable, that all people are born with equal inalienable rights; especially the rights to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.

The artists and the writers of the 19th century identified, codified, protected and perpetuated the great humanist values and momentous Age of Reason discoveries of the Enlightenment.

Relevance

The writers from that era, such as Honoré de Balzac, Victor Hugo, Mark Twain, and Charles Dickens, have been widely praised and celebrated, while the artists of the same period, communicating the same concepts and values … in stark contrast … have been mercilessly ridiculed and slandered.

Working together, their generation played a direct role in helping to free the slaves, in bringing into awareness the damage the industrial age was doing to the environment, in bringing public outrage to child labor and unsafe working conditions, and implementing the process that would lead to equal rights for women and their right to vote.

Their work laid the foundation for breaking up monopolies, protecting and assuring minority rights along with a nearly endless list of societal improvements. The modernists point to the fact that in the 19th century, these things needed to be changed, claiming it was a repressed society.

In truth, all these injustices had been going on for centuries and all of human history before. But the 19th century was the start of the evolution that transformed society into the modern era. It was a society emerging from repression and oppression. Their developing self-awareness led to implementing all the forms of freedom we now take for granted: and history rarely gives the artists any of the credit.

The writers of that time who described this period are today widely celebrated. The visual artists were addressing the same things as the writers and for this incalculably supreme accomplishment their recompense, has been for a century to dismiss their work, denigrate their technical skills, lie about the significance, meaning and importance of their subjects and to totally berate them and their achievements.

Why?

Because they didn’t lead the way to splattered paint, blank canvases or industrial size soup cans? They didn’t believe that proving the canvas is flat was the most important subject for fine art? Therefore they were all branded as “irrelevant”?

Here we have a primary concept used by modernists, “Relevance”. These widely beloved 19th century artists are not considered “relevant”, and if they are not relevant, certainly today’s realists are even less relevant. Only works and techniques that shed all the former definitions and parameters of fine art were considered “relevant”. Only those artists that lead the way to abstract expressionism were worthy and “relevant”. Nothing could be further from the truth!

As described above, the purpose of fine art is to communicate. It is successful if it explores the human experience, with poetry, beauty, and grace. If it is unskilled, awkward, and self-conscious, it fails.

Therefore, to say that the realistic movements of the 19th Century were irrelevant to their times or to the major path of the fine arts through the ages, is utterly wrong and incorrect. They were, in fact, at the pinnacle of five hundred years of growth and evolution of their chosen field and had an incalculable impact on the social reforms that were to follow them.

Even the symbolist movements of the 19th century was using modern concepts of psychology before the psychologists. 17 The modernists took art in a completely different direction.

It will be for future generations to determine if that new road was important and meaningful or a dead end in which future progress within their genre was impossible. There are those today who believe it can only be saved by finding a way back to the place where the detour started.

Some of the most significant events in human history were taking place between 1776 and 1914.

The academic artists of that time were not only “relevant” to the times, and relevant to the major thread of art history, but they were relevant to the evolution of art itself, which as a visual language communicating humanity’s knowledge and passions, was growing and expanding by leaps and bounds, breaking ever-new ground and pushing the proverbial envelope.

Their envelopes were however, filled with passion, reason, and exploring every region and element of life and living. Year after year, their work advanced in equal importance alongside the other arts and sciences.

These artists were working at what will surely be considered one of the most important crossroads in the whole of human history. Their art communicated the magnitude of their era in every way.

Does fine art still do that today after 100 years of contorting itself into the Modernist vision and limiting itself to Modernist constraints?

Art history has generally been accurate in its description of fine art from the early Renaissance until about 1840 (With the advent of photography).

For the most part, art historians have given the great and near great their due or at least reasonable notice. That was true until we get to the mid nineteenth century. From roughly 1848 onwards, all of the normal criteria for judging, describing, and chronicling the history of art have been unceremoniously abandoned by 20th century educators.

Almost all the art text books that have been used since the middle of the 20th century have rewritten the history of the 19th century to fit the needs and prejudices of the “modernist” art world; which sees all of art history through a “deconstructionist” lens that defines as important, valuable, and relevant, only those works which broke one or another of the rules and parameters by which works of art were formerly valued and appreciated.

Art history was seen as a long march from the “breakthroughs” of Impressionism, through a stream of different movements which led the way to abstraction, and was espoused with a strident religious fervor by the followers of this “new history” to be the greatest of all forms and styles of art.

Then, with a double-think out of George Orwell’s 1984 they separated the analysis of all previous eras, (pre-19th Century), into its own separate history. It is as though there is one art history with one set of parameters, and then a new art history that built itself on destroying 19 Century’s relevance by attacking the very parameters they still use to praise all other earlier centuries. Indeed, they have created a supremely illogical schism.

You can literally have art professors praising the anatomical perfection, the drawing and paint handling in Raphael or Botticelli , and then talk about the graceful harmonizing of subject and composition and the emotional power of a Madonna and Child by Fillippo Lippi with its brilliant coloration, or the drama and theatre achieved in Rembrandt’s Healing the Sick, and then with a double think that could have been written by the “Ministry of Truth” in George Orwell’s 1984 [which fabricated history] those same educators will rip into the petty sentimentality of the Victorian era and use the same criteria against artists like Sir Lawrence Alma-Tadema , John Everett Millais , or French artists like Jules Breton or William Bouguereau .

They criticize how overly perfect their anatomical handling is and how the very same kinds of sentiments and subject matter to these earlier periods are now viewed as sweet and maudlin, even though any truly objective viewing would have to see the work of the 19th century as equal or more successful when it came to harmonizing emotionally powerful subjects with the highest levels of skills and techniques. In fact, the 19th century was the pinnacle of artistic accomplishment.

The artists and writers of the late 19th Century, incorporated in their work a new heightened respect for human dignity. They saw democracy and capitalism as the political and economic systems that could best work together to enable people to live more freely the lives they wanted.

Without a system where it was possible to own private property with a form of government that protected people from the tyranny of despots or the tyranny of the majority it would not be possible to live free.

For many of these artists, their compositions were a reflection of their beliefs and how they lived. William Bouguereau , who was considered perhaps the greatest living artist in France during his life, is one of the best examples, since so many other artists emulated and adored his work and his contribution to his field.

He was accused of just working for his bourgeois and nouveau riche clients, but in truth he prided himself on being able to paint anything he wanted and the demand for his work was so great that most works were sold before the paint had barely started drying. He was a workaholic, painting 14 to 16 hours a day, producing over 20 paintings per year; most life-size and many multi-figured. He took a direct personal interest in his employees, his students and his colleagues and was widely known to help almost anyone who was in need who touched his life.

On more than a couple of occasions, he insured a livelihood to the widows of colleagues of his who had passed on with very little to leave their wives and children. He was much beloved and respected, especially by his students. Bouguereau also played a central role in opening up the Paris Salon and the French Academies to women artists. Starting in 1868, he along with Rudolph Julian , Jules Lefebvre , Gabriel Ferrier and Tony Robert-Fleury , all amongst France’s most successful and famous painters, at that time, started holding regular classes and critiques for women. By 1893 all major art schools in France had courses for women, even the much renowned Academie des Beaux Arts in Paris.

Bouguereau was born in 1825, after the great upheavals of the American and French Revolutions, two events which embody the breakthroughs of Enlightenment thought. Bouguereau and Victor Hugo were at the top of the list of the leading artists and writers of their day, whose work was to codify those advances.

They bridged the gap from centuries of societies ruled by kings and emperors, empowered by “divine right”, that led to a civilization made of men and laws whereby governments could only gain legitimacy from the consent of the governed: justice, equality under the law, elections by popular vote; protection of human rights; the obligation of government and society to identify, organize, and protect those rights; freedom of the press permitting and insuring popular disclosure, debate and resolution of countless injustices still embedded in recalcitrant institutions which were still run by aristocrats and bureaucrats who fought to hold on to their power. Let me quote from Alexis De Tocqueville’s Democracy in America, written in 1835-1840, where he states:

 The society of the modern world, which I have sought to delineate, and which I seek to judge, has but just come into existence. Time has not yet shaped it into perfect form: the great revolution by which it has been created is not yet over; and amid the occurrences of our time, it is almost impossible to discern what will pass away with the revolution itself, and what will survive its close.

The world which is rising into existence is still half encumbered by the remains of the world which is waning into decay; and amid the vast perplexity of human affairs, none can say how much of ancient institutions and former manners will remain, or how much will completely disappear. 

-De Tocqueville, Alexis. Democracy in America, opening of Chapter VIII  .

It was not at all certain what kind of world would evolve, but freedom and security were essential for the pursuit of happiness, for only a free and secure people can build a civilization in which culture and the arts could flourish. So it was the writers and artists of mankind’s “first” century of liberty and freedom, the 19th Century, that considered it their duty and responsibility to organize, to codify, to popularize and protect the values, laws, and democratized institutions of society which would insure the perpetuation of liberty; a way of life so recently come to the affairs of man. How they accomplished this would surely effect future generations perhaps for centuries. The Western world moved from a world filled with edicts of the “sovereign” to a world ruled by “sovereign states.” Terms like the “general will” and “social contract” and “government, of, by and for the people” were disseminated everywhere throughout the newly “free” world.

These revolutionary ideas were increasingly embedded in the educated classes, spreading rapidly to workers in the fields, and laborers in factories and shipyards, all of whom were to participate in the benefits of a newly free and democratic society as the 18th century origins led to 19th century codification and 20th Century implementation a process which still continues today. It started first narrowly, as with only land owners voting in the original US Constitution, and then ever more broadly until by the time the 20th century had finished dealing with two world wars, the great Depression and countless other horrors, we saw an evolution from an agricultural society to the industrialized and then the technologically advanced society of today.

So it is these core beliefs of the Enlightenment, its ideas values and concepts that are so crucial to understanding the context in which the artists of the 19th century lived. They were, in fact, addressing the very heart of Enlightenment thought.

Bouguereau painted young peasant girls with a solemn dignity and a hushed and reverential beauty. One of his works shows a strong but beautiful peasant girl holding a staff and looking at the viewer directly and unabashedly in the eye. She is standing her ground, so to speak.

In another major work, a life-size gypsy mother holds her daughter and both are standing on a mountaintop looking down at the viewer. Their gaze, too, is direct but welcoming. In this painting Bouguereau is elevating these gypsies by silhouetting them against a vast sky with a low horizon line like you might expect in a painting of the Madonna and child. We are looking up to them.

Their kind and welcoming expressions implies their acceptance of us; the viewer is asked to return this show of respect, which can only be properly echoed by our acceptance of them regardless of the lowly status of their birth.

The very truth and reality of their birth once a negative, now elevates them to the heavens… a status wherein all of humanity now resides.

In the 19th Century, all people doing any and all activities were considered worthy subjects and themes for the artists to address. Subjects included paintings of the poor and homeless, women thrown out in the cold by tyrannical husbands, or children toiling until late at night, enduring 16 hour work days.

There were scenes of marriage and children and family life; scenes of schools and courts and hospitals and industry, parks and mountains and countless other topics. For example, a popular theme was of a hypocritical clergy preaching to renounce worldly possessions from their opulent apartments filled with art, antiques and personal servants.

How revolutionary a theme this was for artists. When the French artists Vibert , Brunery and Crogaert satirized the clergy,18 and painted cardinals in sumptuous surroundings, playing cards with pretty young socialites, or hiring the services of a fortune teller, they were saying that the clergy was human and vulnerable to the same weaknesses and frailty of character as other people.

But beyond that, to spoof the clergy represented our newfound freedom of speech. A modernist professor once said to me “how inane and silly to show cardinals in silly poses like that.” His prejudice blinded him from even beginning to figure out what Vibert had done … what rules of conduct he had broken from the prior rulers of society.

We have been taught to elevate artists for breaking rules and conventions of perspective or for undermining realistic drawing, or daring not to follow prior precepts for creating art, but the academic artists who had been on the front lines of culture, helping all of us to win our freedoms and rights, were also helping to create a climate where it was even possible to consider breaking the rules of art; which by comparison is a weak and shallow accomplishment when compared to breaking the rules that lead to our freedom from oppression.

In previous centuries, an artist might have had his head cut off for spoofing cardinals in this way. When writers spoke of modern art and the modern era during the late 1800’s this is what they meant by modern. And indeed these artists were pushing the envelope and showing a gutsy willingness to openly degrade the immorality of aristocracy, clergy and corrupt politicians as well as the unjust laws. This was really “sticking your neck out.”

From exposing societal ills and portraying the value and equality of all people, it was but a half step away to explore the personal inner life of individuals and to value and elevate mankind’s hopes, fantasies, and dreams.

For academic artists and writers of the 19th Century, humanity was what counted, and everything that made us human; how we see ourselves and how we see the world.

Humanity was glorified and people of every type and shape, every nationality and color, every occupation and avocation, were represented in their work. We were what counted…we were what was important and we were the greatest of all subjects for the creative bounty of the top artistic minds on earth.

Everything about humanity became the new fodder for the unique forms of communication produced by the writers prose, the poet’s pentameter, and the painter’s pigments. Glorified we were, as thousands of artists produced millions of images, often new and original, and the best of the best of these were masterpieces of the highest order.

Returning then to Beauty and aesthetics

The experience of beauty in fine art also described as Aesthetic sensibilities is therefore inextricably bound to subject and themes about humanity; about life and living and documenting how we see the world and how we feel about life. 

It’s clear how this relates directly back to what fine art is all about and what things we as human beings consider beautiful and hold as sacred. Fine art like poetry, literature and theatre achieves beauty by capturing and memorializing those things we as human beings all share and hold dear.

Art is celebrated because it helps us celebrate the human experience. And the creations that communicate some aspect of our shared humanity with beauty, poetry, grace and a respect for human dignity are our greatest works of art.

Aesthetics in the fine arts is equally tied to the formal skill-based elements of drawing painting and sculpture listed earlier in this chapter. The subject and theme chosen by the artist must harmonize with all the other skill-based elements mentioned before and listed below.

Endless numbers of choices and decisions must be made by the artist and a vast array of problems arise and need to be solved during the creative process by always constantly keeping in mind, the subject, theme and the purpose that they have given themselves for each specific work of art.

Since we live in a 3-dimensional world, artists use objects from the real world as part of their visual vocabulary. The achievement of three-dimensional effects, then, increases the strength and success of artwork when using the visual language of realism. Some other factors, principles and parameters, which aid the highly skilled in their pursuit of beauty, are worth noting. Here is an incomplete list of elements for which decisions must be made or problems solved:

  • Subtle vs. obvious
  • Balance vs. unbalanced
  • Homogeneity of execution vs. disconnected, awkward and incongruent whether in shapes, forms, sizes, perspective, shadowing, light source, etc.
  • Integration of subject and form
  • Integration of subject and form
  • Selective focus often achieved through experienced blending of impressionist and academic techniques.
  • Accurate drawing skills as fundamental to painting
  1. Finding the correct contour lines
  2. Modeling them to create the illusion of three dimensional forms
  • Proportions
  • Foreshortening
  • Perspective
  • Lost and found edges or contours
  • Juxtaposing of positive and negative space
  • Glazing and scumbling
  • Brushwork studied color alternatives for creating shadows and highlights that go beyond strict modeling of light and dark.
  • Proper preparation of materials: choosing of panel or canvas; stretching the canvas treating the surface and preparing the ground.
  • Composition: from an infinite number of possibilities the artist must decide on placement of figures, what they are doing and what expressions should be on their faces, in their body language, and all other elements to include in order to best express the subject and enrich the image, theme or idea being attempted. Limiting those choices to avoid the work becoming too busy as too many objects can be distracting to the theme or idea being attempted.
  • Choice of clothing if figures are not to be naked along with which accessories.
  • Dramatic and powerful vs. soft and peaceful
  • Coloration choices and transitions
  • Light and atmosphere
  • Size of the work
  • Availability of models or other elements that will be needed for reference during the entire process.
  • Choice of medium: oils, acrylics, watercolor, pastels
  • Color palette and placement. Colors need to be mixed dynamically on the spot and countless decisions concerning colors and blending of color are made in real time while painting.

Modernism has mostly ignored most of these. A work of art that successfully harmonizes subject and theme with all of the elements of painting and drawing listed above is likely to be successful. A work will not be successful, which is inconsistent, awkward, incongruent, lacking in homogeneity, unbalanced, poorly composed, or any combination of many possibilities in which these elements do not harmonize choices which can sabotage and undermine an artist’s goals.

Modern art has eliminated nearly all of the above skills and qualities and made virtually every element formerly considered a virtue into a vice.

Conversely, the vices have become virtues. Can both forms of art exist side by side in college art departments and in our museums? Their goals and beliefs are diametrically opposite from each other.

Perhaps colleges and universities which are not prepared to support or suppress either one would be better advised to have different departments with different faculties.

Ultimately in a world where freedom prevails: freedom to think, to speak and to create whatever kind of art we want for reasons of our own choosing, it will fall to those who acquire art to decide which kinds of art they prefer to beautify their homes, their cities and their world.

People will decide which set of objects and beliefs they wish to elevate, protect and preserve as sacred memorials of their values, their lives and their culture that will pass down to their children and posterity.

My hope is that would-be artists and art historians, by understanding the underlying principles of aesthetic beauty will be in a more informed place from which to examine and decide for themselves between the principles, values and beliefs behind the Modernist paradigm, and those that underlie skill-based and subject-based traditional and contemporary Realism.

Traditional skill-based art in recent decades has had very few proponents, ceding nearly a century to an ascendant modernist leviathan. Ironically, that century has seen the greatest strides forward in every other field of human endeavor. If the proponents of realism are as correct as it seems, the art world is woefully behind our times and will need to do a lot of catching up.

The new Realism movement now has thousands of artists. 

That is a staggering turn-around from the handful who were working 30 years ago. 

There are many upscale art galleries in major cities throughout the world who concentrate on art with images from the real world. ARC Living Masters and Associate Living Masters have taken great strides forward in reclaiming our century's long heritage in Realist fine art. 

We are now seeing solid indications of the rich creativity developing at the heart of the 21st Century art world. 

The exhilaration and optimism that flows forward from here could not be more thrilling or more exciting. 

I can't wait to see the magic and beauty that is in store for us as these artists are inspired by an avalanche of original perspectives, innovative methods, and brilliant game-changing subject matter in a rapidly growing Realist movement… as artists share their ideas together seeding and cross pollenating a landslide of creative and innovative thinking that will lead us to ever more poetic, inspirational and beautiful artwork in the studios, salons and exhibitions in the years that lie ahead. 

Just half way through the second decade of the first century of this the third millennia, we are truly at the very beginning of a new era that celebrates the beauty and poetry of the human soul.

Fred Ross

Fred Ross

Founder and Chairman of the Art Renewal Center, Ross is the leading authority on William Bouguereau and co author of the recently published Catalogue Raisonné William Bouguereau: His Life and Works.

Further Reading

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ART

Articles & Links

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Master Index

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