Weltende

“Isaak Brodsky,” Ilya Repin, 1913.

Thu, 05 Apr 2012 14:30:09 -0500

“Isaak Brodsky,” Ilya Repin, 1913.

Ludwig van Beethoven’s Piano Sonata No. 23 in F Minor, Op....

Thu, 05 Apr 2012 14:19:01 -0500

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

"I know of nothing better than [Beethoven’s] Appassionata and could listen to it every day. ..."

Tue, 20 Mar 2012 10:57:00 -0500

““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.

Rick Moses, “John Frum America,” 1978. John Frum is...

Fri, 24 Feb 2012 19:52:00 -0600

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

George Grosz, “Großstadt,”...

Mon, 20 Feb 2012 11:34:28 -0600

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

"No one ever hates without a cause — […] And I’ll tell you something else. A..."

Mon, 20 Feb 2012 11:29:29 -0600

“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.

"Have we reached the end? Has Science turned its last page on them? May there not be methods of..."

Thu, 02 Feb 2012 08:52:38 -0600

“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.

Thomas Cole, “The Subsiding of the Waters of the...

Sat, 21 Jan 2012 17:28:03 -0600

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

"Nur eine Waffe taugt: - die Wunde schliesst der Speer nur, der sie schlug. Only one weapon is..."

Fri, 20 Jan 2012 20:07:52 -0600

“

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.

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

Tue, 17 Jan 2012 20:48:00 -0600

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

August Sander, “Portrait of the Dadaist Raoul...

Tue, 17 Jan 2012 20:46:38 -0600

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

Video

Sat, 14 Jan 2012 20:25:08 -0600

Cave painting depicting aurochs (ancient bulls) from the Lascaux...

Sun, 18 Dec 2011 15:13:31 -0600

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

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

Sun, 18 Dec 2011 15:02:58 -0600

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

artandopinion: Herbert von Reyl-Hanisch,...

Fri, 25 Nov 2011 21:15:21 -0600

artandopinion:

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

William S. Burroughs, “Thanksgiving Prayer,” 1986,...

Thu, 24 Nov 2011 11:37:33 -0600

William S. Burroughs, “Thanksgiving Prayer,” 1986, filmed by Gus van Sant.

David Hockney, “Peter [Schlesinger] Getting Out of...

Sun, 13 Nov 2011 19:49:17 -0600

David Hockney, “Peter [Schlesinger] Getting Out of Nick’s Pool,” 1966, Museum of Liverpool.

Lucian Freud with Zebra Head, circa 1943.

Sat, 20 Aug 2011 09:05:02 -0500

Lucian Freud with Zebra Head, circa 1943.

artandopinion: Stakhanov Workers 1937 Alexander Deineka

Sun, 14 Aug 2011 18:04:54 -0500

artandopinion:

Stakhanov Workers

1937

Alexander Deineka

A portrait of Hazel Fellows, an employee at the International...

Sun, 31 Jul 2011 18:16:00 -0500

A portrait of Hazel Fellows, an employee at the International Latex Corporation, sewing together one of the first spacesuits.