Culture Critic / is on Nostr

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Last Notes

2024-08-31 16:00:26

Why are there thousands of paintings of Jesus but none of Muhammad?
The answer is one relatively simple idea.
But it changed art forever... (thread) 🧵
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/GWUOj58WUAEmjw4.jpg

2024-07-08 19:28:57

What inspired human beings to build places like this?
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/GR_RQiPX0AAcz5e.jpg

2024-05-10 12:39:43

The most uplifting architectural revival happening today is in Budapest.
The city is reclaiming its identity after decades of communist rule.
Here's what's going on... (thread) 🧵
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/GNNlBLHXoAAF7Tc.jpg

2024-05-02 16:59:24

America was supposed to be Art Deco.
Here's how an age of optimism sparked a golden age of design.
And why it's coming back... (thread) 🧵
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/GMlo2dPXIAA4rYM.jpg

2024-04-06 18:23:30

Was modern art a CIA psy-op?
This is what the Cold War did to American art... (thread) 🧵
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/GKgEv66W4AA0DX9.jpg

2024-03-27 18:56:18

Why did America destroy its own cities?
A thread... 🧵
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/GJsro55XoAAg9l8.jpg

2024-03-20 19:14:52

Reminder that Americans once fought a revolution because the British slightly raised taxes on their breakfast tea.
(What happened to that fighting spirit?)
A thread on the 6 drinks that shaped civilization — from beer to soda... 🧵
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/GJH-8IUXkAA-AcA.jpg

2024-01-23 20:05:24

How does art like this make you feel?
https://video.twimg.com/ext_tw_video/1749884812624576512/pu/vid/avc1/720x1280/_sY3ned4UsGg1q1G.mp4?tag=12

2024-01-23 20:05:24

How does art like this make you feel?
https://video.twimg.com/ext_tw_video/1749884812624576512/pu/vid/avc1/720x1280/_sY3ned4UsGg1q1G.mp4?tag=12

2023-10-24 20:50:08

The lights show at the Notre-Dame de Reims is spectacularly beautiful.
Reims Cathedral is where kings of France once went to be crowned - the cathedral has hosted 33 coronations in its history.
In 498, Clovis King of the Franks was baptized at Reims, making him the West's first Catholic sovereign.
https://video.twimg.com/ext_tw_video/1716915622888845312/pu/vid/avc1/698x1080/9IpXMwkIP2J2dVd-.mp4?tag=14

2023-10-18 18:31:00

Reminder that this was sculpted by a 26-year-old.
What's your excuse?
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/F8uv2sHWMAA3cR2.jpg

2023-10-16 22:10:11

German poet Heinrich Heine was once asked why men no longer build cathedrals. He replied:
“People in those old times had convictions; we moderns only have opinions. And it needs more than a mere opinion to erect a Gothic cathedral.”
Cologne Cathedral took 632 years to complete. Does modern man have the necessary conviction to build something like this today?
https://video.twimg.com/ext_tw_video/1714040330775937025/pu/vid/avc1/576x1024/OlTndKwBTTq28k0U.mp4?tag=12

2023-10-16 19:53:55

Imagine being able to make stone translucent.
Giovanni Strazza possessed that extraordinarily rare artistic skill. His bust of the Virgin Mary, "The Veiled Virgin", executed in flawless Carrara marble, is one of the most impressive feats by any sculptor in history.
Strazza's "wet drapery" technique continued the legacy of other Italian sculptors like Giuseppe Sanmartino, who produced mind-bending veils from marble a century earlier - the famous "Veiled Christ" is a canonical example.
The tradition also dates back to much earlier sculptors well-known for carving intricate folds, in particular Renaissance artists like Michelangelo and ancient masters from Greece's Hellenistic era.
But in the mid-19th century, Strazza took the technique to its extreme. The subtle layered effect he achieved allows the viewer to easily discern Mary's facial features from the delicate veil, and at the same time creates the illusion of total weightlessness.
How he created something so soft and fluid from solid stone, using only basic hand tools, is a mystery.
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/F8lfL6hXgAAVKTE.jpg