When Raphael died suddenly in 1520 at the age of just 37, Rome fell into mourning. His funeral at the Pantheon drew crowds of artists, courtiers, and clergy, all stunned by the loss of a painter whose genius had seemed inexhaustible. According to Vasari, Raphael’s death left “the art of painting bereft of light.” EvenContinue reading “Raphael: The Harmony of the Renaissance”
Category Archives: Aesthetics
Chapter 7: It’s My Party
The weekend before I leave, I have a send-off party.Everyone is having the time of their lives. Mabel and Bingham. The country club kids. My friends from school.Miss Mary invites the boy’s family too, and they show up in full force, parents, his grandmother, who’s always around and lives with them most of the time,Continue reading “Chapter 7: It’s My Party “
Buster Keaton: The Silent Stone Face
In the pantheon of cinema’s pioneers, Buster Keaton occupies a place both singular and paradoxical. He was called “The Great Stone Face,” a comic genius who rarely smiled on screen. His films, made in the silent era of the 1920s, were symphonies of precision: breathtaking stunts, elaborate set pieces, narratives that balanced absurdity with inevitability.Continue reading “Buster Keaton: The Silent Stone Face”
Chapter 6: I’ll Remember You
I don’t start school at Miss Porter’s until the end of summer, and thankfully we’re only in the beginning.I want to imprint on the boy as much as I can before I go. I can’t imagine a future without him. It’s impossible. After I tell him I’m leaving, it turns into a push and pull.Continue reading “Chapter 6: I’ll Remember You “
Cady Noland
Encounters America Laid Bare Cady Noland made some of the most disturbing art of the late twentieth century from beer cans, shopping carts, silkscreened celebrity mugshots, and the hardware of American violence. Then she stopped. She has barely spoken since. The silence is part of the work. By Bergotte There is a work by CadyContinue reading “Cady Noland”
The Swedish Invasion: How Hollywood Fell for Its Nordic Queens
Hollywood in the 1930s and 40s was a factory of dreams, but some of its brightest stars carried with them an accent, a mystery, and a sensibility from far across the Atlantic. They were Swedish, and to American audiences they seemed to embody a northern light: cool, sophisticated, and possessed of a beauty that wasContinue reading “The Swedish Invasion: How Hollywood Fell for Its Nordic Queens”
Chapter 5: It Wouldn’t Be the Same Without You
We’ve finished our exams for the year, and we’re ready for high school. I have something to tell the boy, and I know he won’t like it one bit. It’s about where I’ll be heading after the summer holidays. I keep putting it off, distracting myself by soaking up the magic of spring, rushing aroundContinue reading “Chapter 5: It Wouldn’t Be the Same Without You “
The Eameses: Designers of the American Century
In the light-filled hills above the Pacific, a glass-and-steel house stands as a manifesto. Inside, shelves of books and folk art mingle with modernist chairs in plywood and fiberglass. It is not simply a home, but a vision: how design could be democratic, playful, rigorous, and alive. This is the world of Charles and RayContinue reading “The Eameses: Designers of the American Century”
Chapter 4: Young Dreams
It’s January in 1949, and the boy is celebrating his fourteenth birthday.He turns up at my house mid-afternoon, carrying a book of cartoons, a gift from his parents he’s eager to show me. I am sitting behind the big desk in the downstairs office, the one adjacent to the library. It used to be GrandpaContinue reading “Chapter 4: Young Dreams “
Chapter 3: The Fifth Horsewoman of the Apocalypse
I find the boy looking downcast outside the main building. “What’s wrong?” I ask, hurrying over to console him with a hug. He’s stiff as a board and trembling, so I squeeze him tighter.Leaning back to face him, I ask, “what’s the matter?” “Don’t worry about it.” He hangs his head in shame. I passContinue reading “Chapter 3: The Fifth Horsewoman of the Apocalypse “
My World of Interiors 