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The Nude in Western Art: Part Three

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In Part One we saw nude sculpture by Michelangelo .  In Part Two we saw a sculpted Renoir nude.  But the master of nude sculpture in my opinion was Auguste Rodin , who was a contemporary of Renoir.  Rodin is the father of modern sculpture .  His work is exquisite as Jennifer and I got to witness at the National Gallery of Art last summer .  There are many Rodin nudes and there are many Rodin sketches of an erotic nature .  This post mostly features Rodin nudes collected in my Art Authority app. The Age of Bronze .  1876.  This was a controversial work at that time.  Not for being a nude but for artistic reasons.  Rodin was bucking art tradition in his work and the orthodox did not care for him. St. John the Baptist Preaching .  1878-1880.  You are unlikely to see this subject depicted in this way anywhere else in art. Perhaps inspired by Michelangelo's David. The Thinker .  Rodin cast many of these after his initial sculpture was completed in 1880.  The casts run th

The Nude in Western Art: Part Two

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Pierre-Auguste Renoir painted about 1800 works during his lifetime.  I don’t know the exact number but probably around 150 of them were various kinds of nudes.  He is referred to by at least one art historian as “ the painter of women " and the feminine form (nude or otherwise) represented a significant portion of his work.   He actually drifted more toward painting nudes later in his life.  Particularly in the final three decades of his life, Renoir seemed to surround himself with female “bathers” .  How splendid to be in his old age surrounded by femininity in often sensuously playful banter and contemplative repose! Things could be worse, right? Many of his nudes with life-sized on huge canvases. But whether the paintings were large or small Renoir captured a sensual and distinctively feminine character in these fascinating master works.   As I said in Part One of this series, I do not find the vast majority of these paintings to be erotic. More often than not, Renoir’s ta

Pono Will Save the Sound of Music

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The Pono portable music player.  This one is signed by Neil. We had one of the great sound experiences of our life.  I mean it was just absolutely amazing.  And you could feel, you know, what kind of an impact it could make in terms of addressing so many of the problems that exist in today's record industry. The sound is absolutely amazing and we were transformed by listening in this fashion, it was fabulous. -   Mo Ostin , Chairman Emeritus, Warner Brothers Records That's the best sound I have ever heard in a car in my life. As a matter of fact, it might be the best sound I've ever heard. - David Crosby  That music made me feel good.  Much better than I've felt in a long time listening to music. - Norah Jones This gives it to you as good as you can get it. - Tom Petty It blew me away.  It was like being in a recording studio.  It was like you were listening to Bob Dylan and you could hear him playing harmonica right next to you.  You could hear the

The Nude in Western Art: Part One

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During some gathering in the not so distant past Brian and I discussed the relationship between physical attraction and symmetry.  Brian seemed to adhere to some Platonic Idea that certain angles and shapes and forms are inherently more appealing than others.  He is an architect so he should know such things.  I can certainly relate.  I wrote about St. Augustine's view of Beauty awhile back.  Nevertheless Beauty is in the eye of the beholder.  Beauty is not absolute, but there is evidence that many appreciations of Beauty can be reduced to symmetry ; it is just when you get down to the parts of things, there seems to be a wide variation in appreciated symmetry. My interest in art is well-known on this blog.  Art is humankind's most inspired expression. Religion and science and technology are of greater karmic force perhaps but the expert manifestation of human creativity tops every human articulation, in my opinion.   Arthur Schopenhauer called "music, philosophy,