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«Τέσσερα χρόνια αφότου εξαπέλυσε μια άνευ προηγουμένου επίθεση στη δημοκρατία και άφησε τον Λευκό Οίκο ντροπιασμένο, ο καταδικασμένος εγκληματίας και δύο φορές κατηγορούμενος πολιτικός θα επιστρέψει στην Ουάσιγκτον, D.C., ως ο 47ος πρόεδρος των Ηνωμένων Πολιτειών»(Vanity Fair, digital magazine)

Δευτέρα, Απριλίου 20, 2020

Μια διάλεξη -ύμνος στην Τέχνη του σπουδαίου τοπιογράφου Τόμας Κόουλ

"Gold can purchase food," Cole writes, but art provides the "serenest pleasures."

"Ο χρυσός μπορεί να αγοράσει φαγητό", γράφει ο Κόουλ, αλλά η Τέχνη παρέχει τις " πιο γαλήνιες απολαύσεις".

Thomas Cole, *View from Mount Holyoke, Northampton, Massachusetts, after a Thunderstorm—The Oxbow* (1836). Collection of the Metropolitan Museum of Art.

In 1845, three years before his death, the American painter Thomas Cole, who is widely regarded as the founder of the Hudson River School, wrote a lecture on the value of art as a public and moral good. Art, he wrote, “kindles the dead soul and raises it above the dullness of mere animal existence to intellectual acquirement.”
No record exists of Cole ever having delivered the talk. But his text, which has just been published by the Thomas Cole National Historic Site, makes a stirring case for the democratization of culture. “My earnest desire,” Cole writes, “is …that Art shall be exposed—free as air—to every Citizen, high or low, rich or poor.”
Below, read an excerpt from the closing pages of Cole’s Lecture on Art.

A portrait of Thomas Cole from around 1845. Courtesy Wiki Commons.

Τόμας Κόουλ - Βικιπαίδεια

For as Nature and Society are ever changing in mutation, so Art, changing but never lost, may shine in this land in exceeding beauty. And what shall prevent? The Ages past have bequeathed to us their inestimable treasures and deep esthetic lessons. Knowledge flows in; Science facilitates and makes us acquainted with the material of Art and it requires no prophetic Spirit to predict a day of Art brighter than man has ever yet seen. Let us endeavor then to lift up the prostrate standard of Art and make a stand against this headlong Utilitarianism which prevails. Let us try to convince our fellow Citizens that the pursuit of the beautiful is as essential to our well being as that of Gain. Gold can purchase food, raiment, property, but Taste is that Gentle and refined Spirit which bestows on life its serenest pleasures and most exquisite delights. Without Art Man would scarce be human; with it he rises above the brute and takes a diviner nature.
Scorn not to prize and praise the fostering hand
That found thee weeping, orphaned and alone
Lone on the verge of life’s most barren strand. [..........]