Of all places, I received the following from my insurance agent at Allstate. I thought this was a particularly interesting message in the midst of thinking about beauty. It’s all around us, constantly. We just have to stop to notice it: “A man sat at a metro station in Washington DC and played the… Continue reading Noticing Beauty
Category: Beauty
Review: Umberto Eco On Ugliness
As a followup to Umberto Eco’s History of Beauty, I have also created a presentation on his “On Ugliness” for my course. Surprisingly, I found the images and related passages about ugliness much more interesting than the ones about beauty. As Eco himself notes, the topic of ugliness is one that is written about much… Continue reading Review: Umberto Eco On Ugliness
Changing Perceptions of Beauty
The Guardian recently posted a commentary on new work being displayed by Anna Utopia Giordano. The Guardian commentary declares that art’s great nudes have gone skinny. I chose this as a follow-up t the last post where we looked at the history of beauty, because I think it’s an interesting example of how our concepts… Continue reading Changing Perceptions of Beauty
Umberto Eco’s History of Beauty
An important piece of preparing for my upcoming aesthetic’s course is Eco claims to take a look at beauty historically with no preconceived notions. As far as that task goes, it’s a huge success, and I was personally introduced to a wide variety of artistic styles with which I wasn’t previously familiar. The biggest weakness is that… Continue reading Umberto Eco’s History of Beauty