Arts and Culture

"Like most people who make it in the art world, I bought a yacht to cruise the Med,” Banksy wrote on Instagram when introducing the  Louise Michel , a vessel tasked with a somewhat different mission than an arriviste party boat: picking up refugees from countries like Libya and Turkey lost at sea. Anyone who's followed Banksy's art career knows he possesses a well-developed instinct for catching and keeping public attention, and it has hardly deserted him in this venture. Why sponsor a refugee rescue boat, after all, when you can sponsor a bright pink feminist refugee rescue boat, emblazoned with a piece of original art? Despite having been named for the 19th-century feminist anarchist Louise Michel , the motor yacht's operations encompass an even wider variety of causes: The Guardian 's Lorenzo Tondo and Maurice Stierl quote "Lea Reisner, a nurse and head of mission for the first rescue operation," saying that the project is also "meant to...

Trauma is repetition, and the United States seems to inflict and suffer from the same deep wounds, repeatedly, unable to stop, like one of the ancient Biblical curses of which Bob Dylan was so fond. The Dylan of the early 1960s adopted the voice of a prophet, in various registers, to tell stories of judgment and generational curses, symbolic and historical, that have beset the country from its beginnings. The verses of “Blowin’ in the Wind,” from 1963’s The Freewheelin’ Bob Dylan , enact this repetition, both traumatic and hypnotic. In its dual refrains—“how many times...?" and "the answer is blowin’ in the wind” (ephemeral, impossible to grasp)—the song cycles between earnest Lamentations and the acute, world-weary resignation of Ecclesiastes. “This ambiguity is one reason for the song’s broad appeal,” as Peter Dreier writes at Dissent . Just three months after its release, when Dylan performed at the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom on August 28, 1963, “B...

From Rick Steves comes a thought-provoking documentary that revisits the rise of fascism in Europe, reminding us of how charismatic figures like Benito Mussolini and Adolf Hitler came to power by promising to create a better future for their frustrated, economically-depressed countries--a future that recaptured the glory of some mythologized past. Once in power, these fascist leaders replaced democracy with a cult of personality, steadily eroded democratic norms and truth, ratcheted up violence, and found scapegoats to victimize. They would lead their nations into war, and ultimately ruin, but not before creating a playbook for other charismatic autocrats who entice voters with simplistic solutions to complex problems. Originally aired on television, Steves has released the documentary on YouTube, hoping that 21st century citizens can "learn from the hard lessons of 20th-century Europe." The text accompanying his documentary reads as follows: In this one-hour specia...

When did you last hear live music? Granted, this isn't an ideal time to ask, what with the ongoing pandemic still canceling concerts the world over. But even before, no matter how enthusiastic a show-goer you considered yourself, your life of music consumption almost certainly leaned toward the recorded variety. This is just as John Philip Sousa feared. In 1906, when recorded music itself was still more or less a novelty, the composer of "The Stars and Stripes Forever" published an essay in  Appleton's Magazine  prophesying a world in which, thanks to "the multiplication of the various music-reproducing machines," humanity has lost its ability, feel, and appreciation for the art itself. "Heretofore, the whole course of music, from its first day to this, has been along the line of making it the expression of soul states," writes Sousa. "Now, in this the twentieth century, come these talking and playing machines, and offer again to reduce the...

The art of drawing is not the art of observing forms and objects alone, it is not mere mimicry of these objects; it is the art of knowing how far and wherein, and with what just limitations, those forms and objects can be reproduced in a picture, or in a decorative work. - Eugène Grasset, 1896 Flowers loomed large in Art Nouveau, from the voluptuous floral headpieces that crowned  Alphonse Mucha's female figures  to the  stained glass roses favored by architect Charles Rennie Mackintosh . Graphic designer  Eugène Grasset ’s 1897 book,  Plants and Their Application to Ornament,   vividly demonstrates the ways in which nature was distilled into popular decorative motifs at the end of the 19th-century.   Twenty-four flowering plants were selected for consideration, from humble specimens like dandelions and thistle to such Art Nouveau heavy hitters as  poppies  and  irises . Each flower is represented by a realistic botanical study,...

Ask an American film student to name the masterpieces of Russian cinema, and you will get a selection of Tarkovsky ( Solaris , Stalker , The Mirror ) and a soupcon of Eisenstein. And no doubt those are true, reverential classics. But what do Russians consider their best-loved films? That’s a completely different matter. This list from the Russian Film Hub presents 20 films rated by Kinopoisk , the country’s version of imdb.com--movies that hold a special place in their hearts, ones that have affected the culture, the ones that people can quote by heart. There’s not one Tarkovsky here at all. Better yet, all these films are available to watch on the Russian Film Hub site, and with English subtitles. (Most are YouTube embeds from the MosFilm channel , but not all). 1. Ivan Vasilyevich Changes His Profession 2. Operation Y and Shurik’s Other Adventures 3. The Diamond Arm 4. Only Old Men Are Going to Battle 5. Gentlemen of Fortune 6. The Dawns Here Are Quiet 7. Kidnapping...