Notebook

Notebook, 1993-

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A


The Akkadians -- "With the mythological scenes the subject is necessarily more complex and the gem-cutter [of the small cylindrical seals] has to build up his picture with greater detail, and that within the narrow limits of his cylinder; thus in the Etana legend, a goatherd driving his beasts out from the byre sets the scene, the eagle carries Etana up to heaven, his fellow-herdsman looks up in distress, shading his eyes, his two dogs sit and bay the moon, and while one man runs to tell the news we have a seated figure with a row of vases which perhaps signify the farm. The story, so fully told, [p. 85] occupies a space only four centimetres by seven, but every little figure is clear-cut agaisnt the plain ground. [c. 2380-2223 BC ]
[Woolley, Leonard. The Art of The Middle East, including Persia, Mesopotamia and Palestine. New York: Crown Publishers. 1961.]


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"Pictures are exhibited, dimensions are listed, signature and year of origin are noted; and now words stride forth . . . . introduction, biography, criticism . . . . leading the way out into the world, in the van of the canvases.

As it happens, however, the gates are barred and bolted as once upon a time, was the Quinta del Sordo [Goya's house, known as "The House of the Deaf Man."] . . . . Not a whisper penetrates from the outside . . . . Deaf to mere words, Goya goads his pilgrims, clochards, beggars across dark chasms . . . . A goat? . . . . ah, let it be a goat, then, if goat it be! What leaps to the eye is a demoniac black that purs in deepest despair over the palette, midst torrents of gray and white and ochre . . . .

The gates are barred and bolted, but inside an old man ships forth a witches' sabbath from out of the depths of his soul, as he cackles grimly . . . . Is it an indictment? Ah, no, bitter scorn that is the mesage!

These are scenarios of silent suffering . . . . of yearnings and rebellions . . . . of visions and dreams of color . . . . color . . . . color that screams from the palette in grief and desperation.

Words? What use are words?

Still, custom must have its due!

A bow to Jodengracht (Rembrandt's quarter of Amsterdam)

A bow to Quinta del Sordo!"

[ Mordecai Ardon - [1973]



Alvar Aalto [1898-1976] . . . . . Achaemenids . . . . . Achilles . . . . . Aegean Art . . . . . Aegisthus . . . . . Africans . . . . . Yaacov Agam [1972] . . . . . Agamemnon . . . . . Ajax the Locrian . . . . . Ajax the Telamonian . . . . . Oba Akenzua II . . . . . Josef Albers [1888-1976] . . . . . Leon Battista Alberti . . . . . Alcestis . . . . . Francesco Algarotti [1712-64] . . . . . Christopher Alexander . . . . . Alxenor of Naxos . . . . . American Indian Art [Mimbres] . . . . . Amphiaraos . . . . . Amphitrite . . . . . Anatolian Art . . . . . Ancients . . . . . Carl Andre . . . . . Maya Angelou . . . . . Anzu . . . . . Antigone . . . . . Aphrodite [Venus] . . . . . Karel Appel [1921- ] . . . . . Apollo . . . . . Guillaume Appollinaire . . . . . Aquinas . . . . . Arachne . . . . . Louis Aragon . . . . . Arman [1982] . . . . . Alexander Archipenko 1887-1964 . . . . . Architects . . . . . Mordecai Ardon . . . . . Ares . . . . . The Argonauts . . . . . Argus . . . . . Aristotle . . . . . Arman [1982] . . . . . Arnheim . . . . . Jean Arp [1886-1966] . . . . . Artemis [Diana] . . . . . Richard Artschwager . . . . . Aryans . . . . . Asclepios . . . . . Dore Ashton . . . . . Assyrian Art . . . . . Astronomers . . . . . Atalanta . . . . . Athena [Minerva] . . . . . Atlas . . . . . The Atomists . . . . . W. H. Auden . . . . . Frank Auerbach . . . . . Authors . . . . . Richard Avedon . . . . . Milton Avery . . . . . Kenjiro Azuma


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