Thanks for sharing your thoughts, Christa.
Ray Rasmussen, Professor Emeritus, University of Alberta
p.s. if you have more images of Twombly's collection, please share them. I'm not likely to be in Philadelphia in the near future.
On 30-Jun-10, at 11:04 AM, Christa Walck wrote:
It is as interesting to read the comments as White's article, which after all is published in Orion, a journal of literature and arts, and is representative of its ethos. I subscribed for years but realized I looked at the lovely pictures but rarely read the articles, which were beautifully written but, well, they only made me thoughtful. I am already pretty thoughtful, sometimes bordering on torpor. I have constructed a life in a beautiful place, have the luxury of thinking beautiful thoughts, and give more of my energy to the local arts council and land trust than to the university during this sabbatical year. Oh wait, but I am not talking about beauty at these beautiful organizations - I am talking about getting organized, having a vision and a strategy, expanding their market beyond the faithful few, bringing beauty to the masses who are busily shopping for bargains at the local WalMart, so these lovely organizations don't close their doors come January or pay their staff even less of a non-living wage. And in my free time I read mostly novels, art books, design theory, trek to art museums, select conferences in beautiful places. I would like to spread the message of beauty - good old Aldo Leopold got it right when he made beauty part of his land ethic - but I need some of that barbaric thinking to do it.
It is not an either-or proposition. And those Romans? The Goths did not bring big box stores to Rome: Rome assimilated them. They aspired to being Roman. They became Roman. Sound familiar? It is curious that the final chapter of the Empire took place in Byzantium, now Istanbul, that the then-barbarian at the gates is today's barbarian at our gates, even though we are the inheritors of the so-called Barbaric Mind. Be careful what you historicize.
As for the Trojans, if you are near Philadelphia in your travels, take the time to visit its glorious art museum, and bypass the decadent nudes of late Renoir and head straight to Cy Twombly's Fifty Days at Iliam (see attached). It will give you something to think on.
C
Christa Walck, PhD
Professor of Organizational Behavior
Michigan Tech
1400 Townsend Drive
Houghton, MI 49931
cwalck@mtu.edu906 281 1442