Category: Art

The Genius of Mozart

Over two hundred years since his death, Mozart is remembered as – among other things – the greatest child prodigy the world has ever seen. David Shenk writes: Standing above all other giftedness legends, of course, [is] that of the mystifying boy genius Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, alleged to be an instant master performer at age […]

Vermeer & his photo-realism

Related to CC201’s study of Rembrandt is the mysterious work of Johannes Vermeer, another painter of the Dutch Golden Age. His photo-realism has been a topic of debate – how did he achieve it? Vanity Fair offers some recent speculation. Here is a sample: Despite occasional speculation over the years that an optical device somehow enabled […]

Montaigne on Film

A Youtube channel named Montaigne On Film has caught our attention! Their videos take an abstract approach to Montaigne’s ideas, which are studied in CC201 this semester. Check them out below: How our emotions discharge against false objects when lacking real ones Our emotions get carried away beyond us On sadness

Salvador Dali: Illustrations of Montaigne’s Essays, Alice in Wonderland and the Zodiac

When we think of great artists, unless we are expert scholars of them, we tend to think of their most popular masterpiece(s). The name Van Gogh brings to mind Starry Night, while Da Vinci makes one immediately think of the Mona Lisa. For Salvador Dali it may very well be The Persistance of Memory, or […]

Rembrandt’s Lesser-Known Genius

We all know of Rembrandt’s great paintings, from Night Watch to The Anatomy Lesson of Dr Nicolaes Tulp, but the genius of this great Dutch artist did not stop when the paint brush did. Rembrandt also had a skill for print making and etching, a skill currently on display at the Museum of Fine Arts. […]

Exciting new game ‘Walden’

The Core is delighted to share that game designer Tracy Fullerton is developing a new game, Walden. Thoreau’s Walden is one of the key texts in CC202’s study of Enlightenment and Modernity, and the game simulates the experiment in living made by Henry David Thoreau at Walden Pond in 1845-47. Ms. Fullerton was kind enough to […]

Salvador Dali Show on View at Hillel

Relating to the Core’s study of the Old and New Testaments, is a fascinating series of lithographs from later in Salvador Dali’s career, titled Aliyah: The Rebirth of Israel, depicting the history of the Jewish people’s return to Israel. Here is an extract from BU Today’s article on the topic: While 250 copies of the Aliyahlithographs were […]

Alexander Graham Bell’s 1885 Voice Recordings

An intriguing find is a recording of Alexander Graham Bell’s voice at the Volta Laboratory, in 1885  – some of the oldest recorded words ever heard: Bell, who also happened to teach at Boston University, closes with the phrase: “In witness whereof — hear my voice, Alexander Graham Bell.” For more information, visit bit.ly/15ae9zL.

A Review of Christian Wiman’s Spiritual Autobiography

In his review of Christian Wiman’s spiritual autobiography, My Bright Abyss: Meditation of a Modern Believer, Jay Parini discusses Wiman’s emphasis on the importance of faith to a critic. Here is an extract: It strikes me that criticism—systemic reflection on texts, even on life itself—has lost its urgency during the past 30 years or more, […]

Salvador Dali: Dante’s Paradiso

Relating to CC102′s study of Dante’s Divine Comedy are illustrations made by Salvador Dali for Paradiso. Here is a sample: For the full set of images, visit bit.ly/16iqVvI. To view Dali’s illustrations for Inferno, visit bit.ly/10jHp1E, and for Purgatorio, visit bit.ly/17H3fQT.