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Category Archives: art
Confessions of a Librarian’s Daughter
I can’t stand when people watch a movie before they read the book. There. I said it. Even back in fourth grade when a film adaptation of Jeff Kinney’s renowned Diary of a Wimpy Kid hit theaters, I was appalled by my young cohort watching in awe from front row seats, so mindless of the […] Continue reading
Posted in art, Atwood, dystopia, Fiction, Films, hulu, Margaret Atwood, Science Fiction, SF, sf movies, The Handmaid's Tale
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Blake’s Encryption
To understand Blakes message, “Israel delivered from Egypt is Art delivered from Nature & Imitation,” one must take into considerations Reynolds perspective on the matter. Reynolds believes that “a mere copier of nature can never produce anything great… instead of endeavoring to amuse mankind with the minute neatness of his imitations, he must endeavor to […] Continue reading
Posted in art, Blake's philosophy of art (9/4), politics, Religion, Sir Joshua Reynolds, William Blake, William Blake's reception
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God’s (Innocent) Kids Aren’t Alright
My arrangement of the plates from William Blake’s Songs of Innocence aimed at recounting the observations and reflections of an omniscient narrator/onlooker. Through the my selections I formed a narrative that questions the effectiveness of religious faith as a form of personal and social governance. The poems I chose were “Holy Thursday,” “The Chimney Sweep,” and “On […] Continue reading
Posted in art, Holy Thursday, Innocence, Eden, and Childhood (9/11), On Anothers Sorrow, Poetic Genius, Religion, religious skepticism, Songs of Innocence, the chimney sweeper, William Blake
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Simple and Simply unsimple
William Blake’s rather unlighted and scornful attitude towards Reynold’s definition of a poetic genius is simply simple yet unsimple. According to Blak being a poetic Genuis, are those who are enlighted by the sciences and art with a take of their inspired, and individual originality. In other words, it is not that of which Reynold […] Continue reading
Posted in art, Blake's philosophy of art (9/4), Capitalism, duality, evil, good, Poetic Genius, Religion
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Life Imitates Life
In “The Discourses of Art,” Sir Joshua Reynold writes, “a mere copier of nature can never produce anything great,” also adding that “instead of endeavoring to amuse mankind with the minute neatness of his imitations, he must endeavor to improve by the grandeur of his ideas” (41-42). His take on art reflects his strong ideology […] Continue reading
Posted in art, Blake, Blake's philosophy of art (9/4), divinity, Imitation, life, Sir Joshua Reynolds
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Poetic Genius: The Artistic Exodus
William Blake’s inscription in “The Laocoon” is used to differentiate his liberating definition of art from Sir Joshua Reynolds. The analogy is a biblical reference to when the Israelites escaped their servitude to the Egyptians. Blake uses this context to call attention to the artificiality of the Nature that Reynolds views as the principle that […] Continue reading
Posted in art, Blake's philosophy of art (9/4), Poetic Genius, Sir Joshua Reynolds, William Blake, William Blake's reception
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The Necessity of God in Our Being
In the “Discourses on Art” by Sir Joshua Reynolds, he describes the process the Artist must experience to aspire the Ideal Beauty and its purpose. The Painter must examine the forms in nature continuously, until the artist has an idea of the central form. After comprehending the central form, the Painter must understand a variety […] Continue reading
Posted in art, Blake's philosophy of art (9/4), Sir Joshua Reynolds, William Blake
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A-priori or A-posteriori Knowledge; Where Does Art Belong?
In Reynold’s “Discourse on Art” he reflects that “a mere copier of nature can never produce any thing great” and in addition to this, “instead of endeavouring to amuse mankind with the minute neatness of his imitations, he must endeavour to improve by the grandeur of his ideas” (41-42). Whereas the notion of the graffiti […] Continue reading
Posted in a priori, a-posteriori, art, Blake's Philosophy of Art, Blake's philosophy of art (9/4), knowledge, Religion
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Truths and Ideals
In Sir Joshua Reynold’s analysis in his work “The Discourses of Art,” he proposes that “a mere copier of nature can never produce anything great,” implying that a true artistic genius must “[captivate] the imagination” through their own accord only (41-42). The graffiti inscribed on William Blake’s “The Lacoon” echoes his own stance on the […] Continue reading
Posted in art, Blake's philosophy of art (9/4), ideals, politics, Religion, Sir Joshua Reynolds, truth, William Blake
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Art and Religion: Inspiration IS God
Christopher Ingle This piece is not easy to interpret. On one hand we have Blake who believes strongly in God, so much so that he believes that God is art, or at least that is how I interpreted it. Blake writes about his disdain of Reynold’s work. Reynold tells us that art is not based […] Continue reading
Posted in art, Blake's philosophy of art (9/4), God, Inspiration
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