Down a deeply rutted dirt road, far from Russia’s centers of power and wealth, sits a small compound behind twelve-foot-high brick walls. People in the nearest village, several miles away, have heard rumors that an odd man lives there, a monk perhaps. But no one has seen him or knows anything . . . . Continue Reading »
We desperately need more artists like William Kurelek to expose the carnage beneath the surface of our society, and to begin a conversation on why it must end. Continue Reading »
As humanists sought the truth by mastering ancient languages, and reformers by printing the Gospels in vernacular ones, Holbein pursued the truth by recording his subjects—both Protestants and Catholics—in honest, startling detail. Continue Reading »
Van Gogh didn’t reject the supernatural, but naturalized it. What terror there is in his paintings is the sublime terror evoked by the uncanny beauty of what Scripture identifies as the glory of God. Continue Reading »
The Art Gallery of Ontario (AGO) is open again. One has to book an entry time so that the museum can control the (tiny) crowds during the time of the virus. It’s hardly a fight to get in. Architecturally redone not so long ago with a steady but meditative touch by Frank Gehry, the AGO houses small . . . . Continue Reading »
“I shall search for a garden where I can retire, and renew my spirit during this time filled with divorces, plagues, epidemics, and those other tribulations with which our present moment is so troubled.” So begins one of the more remarkable sixteenth-century treatises, “The True Recipe” . . . . Continue Reading »
Artemisia: Light and Shadow, a one-act, one-person play at the Flea Theater in Tribeca, portrays the life of the seventeenth-century Baroque painter Artemisia Gentileschi. Continue Reading »
First Things is pleased to announce the opening of ‘The Jordanian Woman (Die Frau ohne Schatten)’, an exhibition of paintings by Jörg Madlener. A private student of Otto Dix, Jörg Madlener has remained faithful throughout his long career to his original fascination for the human face. His latest series, ‘The Jordanian Woman (Die Frau ohne Schatten)’ is the fruit of the artist’s years in the Middle-East, an experience which led him to touch the human drama behind the political conflicts. Continue Reading »