Built Environment
The Economics of Enough – Is ‘Listening’ the new Black?
Culturally, and in so many other ways innovative and tracking technology has ensured that we are all now connected, whether we like it or not. While we all have to look to our own countries first, it is blatantly obvious that economic recovery in the next few years hinges on a real dialogue taking place between all nations, which includes planning for action if people and our cultures and societies are to achieve real outcomes.
What Is Art Deco – Does it Celebrate Life as Art?
Art Deco was about integrating contemporary living with art, and turning life into art, against those consciously working for the undoing of art and its purpose was enjoyment.
Franklin & Jefferson – Founding The Architecture of Freedom
The 18th century neoclassical movement in Europe and England admired the forms of ancient Greece and Rome. In America they became an important aspect of the architecture of freedom
A Profusion of Flowers in Art and Life, Blooming Beautifully
It can be safely assumed and perhaps agreed by a majority of people that there is an innate quality about the presence of flowers in any room that brings about a sense of celebration, pleasurable associations and highlights an occasion. They express a broad range of feelings, stimulate the senses with their scent and provide subtle messages for those literate in the language of flowers.
Bikini Girls – Splitting the Atom on Sicily in a Roman Villa
Perhaps the best known mosaics of the ancient Roman world are images of girls wearing an ancient version of a bikini and so they have been nicknamed ‘bikini girls’.
The Conservatory, Crystal Palaces and the Climate Revolution
Today with the natural world under threat and in many places rapidly disappearing, the role of the conservatory and greenhouse has become more important than ever before. It is not so much any more about conserving individual plants, which have been transplanted from their native habitat, but rather the conservation of nature itself.
British Design 1948 – 2012 – Austerity to Awesome @ V & A
Awesome, was the reaction on twitter when viewing British Design 1948 – 2012 Innovation in the Modern Age, which is now running until August at the V & A London
Napoleon: Revolution to Empire @ NGV – A Winter Masterpiece
Napoleon – destiny power and passion – the legend comes alive in the Melbourne Winter Masterpieces Exhibition 2012 at the NGV (National Gallery Victoria). The show Napoleon: Revolution to Empire is sure to engage all observers, who will more than likely be completely overwhelmed at the magnificence and quality of the over 500 art works and objet d’art featured.
Profound Happiness, Beauty and Bonsai – Garden Art in Japan
Twentieth century designs of Dutch landscape architect Mien Ruys combined clarity of concept with richness of detail, particularly in the planting. The objective was to bring about a profound happiness that can never be surpassed by an accumulation of wealth and power. In this way the garden art of Japan devotee can approach his or her ultimate destiny calmly and with great dignity, glorying in the beauty and majesty of the creation and creator.
Queensland – A State of Great Optimism & Crucible for Change
The first Mayor at Brisbane guided a community of free men in a city yet to be made. In just 150 short years their vision has been exceeded many times. The change they encouraged others to embrace has been constant as well as socially progressive and today Brisbane is the capital of Queensland, which is a state of great optimism and a dynamic crucible for change.
Monet’s Garden – Impressions of the Master Artist @ New York
The exhibition Monet’s Garden in The New York Botanical Garden from May 19 to October 21 2012 is sure to be a treat for all seasons, ravishing the senses and providing a fabulous feast for the soul.
Abydos & Herculaneum – Helping Us to Understand Antiquity
Professor David O’Connor and Professor Andrew Wallace-Hadrill have spent a great deal of time excavating and conserving the sites of Abydos in Egypt and Herculaneum in Italy respectively. Both continue to yield spectacular discoveries invaluable to classical historians and the world at large.
The Mistress and the Consort – Paying the Wages of Beauty
Jeanne Becu managed to make Louis XV forget his sorrows and, the fact that he was sixty. By all accounts she displayed genuine compassion and affection for the melancholy old man so haunted by death. Even the discovery she was not married did not dissuade the King arranging a fraudulent marriage that would make her the very infamous Comtesse du Barry. Marie Antoinette as wife and consort of his successor Louis XVI was painted several times by the artist Marie Élisabeth Louise Vigee Le Brun (1755-1842). Woman of complexity and contradictions, the Queen and the Consort lived during a time of society scandal and political turmoil.
Alleluia Apollo, Vitruvius, Palladio, Mozart and Jenkins
Changes in the economic order and the social structure of society brought into favour in England and Europe during the second half of the eighteenth century a new style in architecture, literature and the arts. Today it has become more generally known as neoclassicism. Its tenets were based on the considerable legacy of the remains and ruins of the societies of ancient Greece and Rome. This sophisticated style of grace by and large, favoured simplicity of form over complexity. It had a taste for structural clarity and it is this emphasis that worked its way into the world of music, taking it forward towards a style in which melody was preferred.
Thomas Hope – Recycling in a Grand Manner, Surrey to Sydney
Four panels inlaid with brass by George Bullock on a cabinet at Martyn Cook Antiques Sydney, come from a pair of doors at Thomas Hope’s house Deepdene in Surrey
Walking a Labyrinth – Chartres Cathedral to Centennial Park
A labyrinth is an ancient symbol relating to wholeness, with powerful patterns within a sphere that merge the sublime and beautiful where heaven and earth meet.
Asides
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