DING
In traditional Chinese culture, the proper appreciation of an artwork is expressed with the phrase du hua, or "to read a painting." There is a literal interpretation of this; from right to left, these artworks become visual, narrative poems, with unfolding detail telling aesthetic and plotted stories. In Qu Ding’s Summer Mountains, we can see figures, dwarfed by the scale and majesty of their landscape, moving across the work on a pilgrimage to a mountainous retreat. These figures are not obvious at a first look, they only appear when we practice the art of reading the works, exercising a skill of deep looking. And in this, the more metaphorical interpretation of du hug becomes clear; to truly read a painting is not just to see the details deeply but to see past them, through the outer appearance of the subject and into its inner essence.
DAVID
Socrates chose death over renouncing his beliefs. More than that, he used his imminent demise to teach his followers — he did not shy away or cower, he faced death calmly and it became his final lesson. In 18th Century France, at the height of the Enlightenment, he was a heroic figure for this steadfast commitment to truth and learning. A commitment never more clear then as he faces his death sentence by poison hemlock with dignity, rationality and self-control. Commissioned by a wealthy French scholar, David worked for more than 5 years on the piece, consulting hellenistic and classical historians, studying ancient Roman funerary scenes and reading obsessively to create a work that served as both an allegory for the present and an accurate depiction of the past. While Socrates embodied Enlightenment thought, only 2 years later the French Revolution began and the painting took on another meaning. To proudly die for your beliefs, to strive for truth, righteousness and the betterment of man and accept whatever fate may come from doing so — The Death of Socrates was shown publicly 4 years after its debut and became a symbol of the revolution just as it had become one of the Enlightenment before. David shows that resisting authority is a beautiful, noble thing.
RENOIR
Renoir could hardly hold a paintbrush in 1910. Rheumatoid arthritis had rendered his body feeble and the exacting brushstrokes of his youth impossible. Retreating to the French countryside he refused to give up. Instead, in his final years, he developed an entirely new artistic style fitting to the requirements of his ailing body. In his last self portraits, the canvas became a mirror to the soul of the artist, a celebration of the past and a defiant statement of life in the face of increasingly clear mortality. Renoir represented the end of an artistic journey of portraiture that started with Reubens nearly 400 years earlier. He was the last of his kind, a painter steeped in tradition, embrassing tentatively the Impressionist present he found himself in. In this self-portrait, Renoir immortalizes not just himself, but the essence of artistic endeavor—a testament to the enduring dialogue between creator and creation, between past and future, and between the mortal and the immortal.
Chris Gabriel May 4, 2024
Strength depicts a woman with power over a lion. She has overcome this extremely dangerous beast by means of influence and control, though each deck posits a very different form of control…
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Irà Sheptûn May 2, 2024
If you want to make an apple pie from scratch, you must first invent the universe…
Saturday 4th May 2024
Today, the moon moves into the constellation of Pisces and coincides with the planet Neptune in the cosmic theatre, momentarily hiding it from Earth. This interruption may affect the qualities of intuition, traditionally associated with Neptune, who in Greek mythology was the governor of the mystical realm. With the moon in the water sign of Pisces, let's remember to ensure that our seedlings are sufficiently watered, especially our leafy vegetables, as the season continues to unfold.