The teenaged Rodin applied for admission to the École des Beaux-Arts. But: “Rodin, who competed for the first time at seventeen, failed to gain admission — not once but three times within eighteen months. The humiliation of these rebuffs was scarcely lessened by the fact that the examiners acknowledged his gift for drawing but rejected […]
Art school reject: Auguste Rodin Read More »
(Reprising this post on my favorite biography.) I finished Anthony Holden’s Tchaikovsky (Random House, 1995), an outstandingly well-written account of the great composer’s life. Here is an indication of the young Pyotr’s aptitude for music: “Tchaikovsky’s parents entertained a Polish pianist of their acquaintance, who naturally gave an evening concert for the thin line of
Anthony Holden’s Tchaikovsky Read More »
An Artist’s View: Michael Newberry on Key Works of Art in History Michael Newberry, is an avant-garde figurative painter, writer and teacher promoting evolutionary flourishing through his work. He does this through advances in color theory, body language, symbolism, and composition. Michael is the author of two books released in 2021: Evolution Through Art and Newberry
Jan Vermeer | “Girl with a Red Hat” (1667) [Newberry on Great Art series] Read More »
An Artist’s View: Michael Newberry on Key Works of Art in History Michael Newberry, is an avant-garde figurative painter, writer and teacher promoting evolutionary flourishing through his work. He does this through advances in color theory, body language, symbolism, and composition. Michael is the author of two books released in 2021: Evolution Through Art and Newberry
Jan Vermeer | “Girl with a Pearl Earring” (1665) [Newberry on Great Art series] Read More »
Anton Chekhov is a great writer, in large part because he follows ruthlessly a principle of selectivity named after him: “Chekhov’s gun” is principle of writing that says that every element in a narrative must be essential and irreplaceable, and anything that is neither must be eliminated. But I don’t like reading Chekhov. I read
Chekhov’s artistic choices (and the artist as a god) Read More »
An Artist’s View: Michael Newberry on Key Works of Art in History Michael Newberry is a California-based artist who has exhibited across Europe and North America. He is the author of books on color theory, philosophy of art, modernism and postmodernism in art, and art history. We invited him into our studio for this series
Raphael Sanzio | “School of Athens” (1509) | Newberry on Great Art series Read More »
Reprising this post from reading Murakami’s Hard-Boiled Wonderland and the End of the World. A character comments: “Everyone must have one thing that they can excel at. It’s just a matter of drawing it out, isn’t it? But school doesn’t know how to draw it out. It crushes the gift. It’s no wonder most people
Haruki Murakami on standard education and Russian novelists Read More »
An Artist’s View: Michael Newberry on Key Works of Art in History Michael Newberry is a California-based artist who has exhibited across Europe and North America. He is the author of books on color theory, philosophy of art, modernism and postmodernism in art, and art history. We invited him into our studio for this series
“Birth of Venus” by Sandro Botticelli, 1482 [Newberry on Great Art series] Read More »