Apr 5, 2012

0 notes
“Isaak Brodsky,” Ilya Repin, 1913.

“Isaak Brodsky,” Ilya Repin, 1913.

Apr 5, 2012

0 notes

Ludwig van Beethoven’s Piano Sonata No. 23 in F Minor, Op. 57 (colloquially known as the Appassionata), 1804-1806.

Mar 20, 2012

0 notes
I know of nothing better than [Beethoven’s] Appassionata and could listen to it every day. What astonishing, superhuman music! It always makes me proud, perhaps naively so, to think that people can work such miracles! […] But I can’t listen to music very often, it affects my nerves. I want to say sweet, silly things and pat the heads of people who, living in a filthy hell, can create such beauty. One can’t pat anyone on the head nowadays, they might bite your hand off. They ought to be beaten on the head, beaten mercilessly, although ideally we are against doing any violence to people. Hm-what a hellishly difficult job!
Maxim Gorky, 1924, quoting Lenin in a eulogy.

(Source: marxists.org)

Feb 24, 2012

0 notes
[Flash 9 is required to listen to audio.]

Rick Moses, “John Frum America,” 1978.  John Frum is the central figure of a cargo cult on the island of Tanna in Vanuatu.

Feb 20, 2012

0 notes
George Grosz, “Großstadt,” [“Metropolis”], 1917.

George Grosz, “Großstadt,” [“Metropolis”], 1917.

Feb 20, 2012

0 notes
No one ever hates without a cause — […] And I’ll tell you something else. A minority has its own kind of aggression. It absolutely dares the majority to attack it. It hates the majority — not without a cause, I grant you. It even hates the other minorities — because all minorities are in competition; each one proclaims that its sufferings are the worst and its wrongs are the blackest. And the more they all hate, and the more they’re all persecuted, the nastier they become! Do you think it makes people nasty to be loved? You know it doesn’t! Then why should it make them nice to be loathed? While you’re being persecuted, you hate what’s happening to you, you hate the people who are making it happen; you’re in a world of hate. Why, you wouldn’t recognize love if you met it! You’d suspect love! You’d think there was something behind it — some motive — some trick —
Christopher Isherwood, A Single Man, 1964.  It’s been a while since I read a novel.
Feb 2, 2012

0 notes
Have we reached the end? Has Science turned its last page on them? May there not be methods of using explosive energy incomparably more intense than anything heretofore discovered? Might not a bomb no bigger than an orange be found to possess a secret power to destroy a whole block of buildings—nay to concentrate the force of a thousand tons of cordite and blast a township at a stroke? Could not explosives even of the existing type be guided automatically in flying machines by wireless or other rays, without a human pilot, in ceaseless procession on a hostile city, arsenal, camp, or dockyard?
Winston Churchill, “Shall We All Commit Suicide?,” an essay, 1924.  

(Source: Wired)

Jan 21, 2012

0 notes
Thomas Cole, “The Subsiding of the Waters of the Deluge,” 1829, Smithsonian American Art Museum.

Thomas Cole, “The Subsiding of the Waters of the Deluge,” 1829, Smithsonian American Art Museum.

Jan 20, 2012

0 notes

Nur eine Waffe taugt: -
die Wunde schliesst
der Speer nur, der sie schlug.

Only one weapon is suitable: -
Only the spear which caused
The wound can heal it.

Richard Wagner, “Parsifal,” 1882.
Jan 17, 2012

0 notes
Conrad Felixmüller, “Portrait of Raoul Hausmann,” circa 1920.

Conrad Felixmüller, “Portrait of Raoul Hausmann,” circa 1920.

Jan 17, 2012

0 notes
August Sander, “Portrait of the Dadaist Raoul Hausmann,” circa 1920.  

August Sander, “Portrait of the Dadaist Raoul Hausmann,” circa 1920.  

Jan 14, 2012

0 notes
Dec 18, 2011

0 notes
Cave painting depicting aurochs (ancient bulls) from the Lascaux caves, circa 17,000 BC.

Cave painting depicting aurochs (ancient bulls) from the Lascaux caves, circa 17,000 BC.

Dec 18, 2011

0 notes
Pablo Picasso, “Bull,” plates I-XI, 1945-1946.

Pablo Picasso, “Bull,” plates I-XI, 1945-1946.

Nov 25, 2011

70 notes
artandopinion:

Herbert von Reyl-Hanisch, “Persecution,” 1932.

artandopinion:

Herbert von Reyl-Hanisch, “Persecution,” 1932.

Navigate
« To the past Page 1 of 18
About
I am a law student living in Chicago. I use this Tumblr to reflect on interesting images and sayings. Subscribe via RSS.