Projeção (photos by Raquel Santana)
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fine art,
photographer,
photography
Richard Westall, The Sword of Damocles (Painting, 1812)
Dionysius, who had seized power in the city of Syracuse, overheard the young man Damocles envying his good fortune. "Very well," said the ruler. "If you think my position is so enviable, you may change places with me for a day."
As Damocles sat feasting in the palace, he happened to glance upward and was horrified to see a sharp sword hanging above him by a single thread. "Are you surprised?" said Dionysius. "I came to power by violence, and I have many enemies. Every day that I rule this city, my life is in as much danger as yours is at this moment."
If you are familiar with allusions to the "sword of Damocles," you may know that to feel that the sword of Damocles is hanging over you is to have a sense of anxiety, of impending doom.
As Damocles sat feasting in the palace, he happened to glance upward and was horrified to see a sharp sword hanging above him by a single thread. "Are you surprised?" said Dionysius. "I came to power by violence, and I have many enemies. Every day that I rule this city, my life is in as much danger as yours is at this moment."
If you are familiar with allusions to the "sword of Damocles," you may know that to feel that the sword of Damocles is hanging over you is to have a sense of anxiety, of impending doom.
The reference is to a story recounted by the Roman writer Cicero in the first century B.C. Damocles was a courtier in Syracuse during the reign of a powerful tyrant named Dionysius. Tired of hearing his young courtier go on and on about how wonderful the life of a ruler must be, Dionysius decided to teach Damocles a lesson. Damocles was treated to a lavish banquet in which he was to experience what it really felt like to be a ruler. In the midst of the festivities, he noticed a sword suspended overhead by a single horsehair. Damocles' resulting anxiety was similar to the worries and responsibilities that go along with the pleasures of a ruler's position. With a better understanding of Dionysius' life, Damocles became more content with his own role as an attendant to the ruler.
In 1811 the English Neoclassical artist Richard Westall painted the first of two versions representing this ancient story for an English collector named Richard Payne Knight. The 1811 version was exhibited at the Royal Academy, where it attracted the attention of another wealthy patron of the arts, Thomas Hope. Hope commissioned a larger version of the Damocles painting from Westall. It is this larger version from 1812 that hangs in the nineteenth-century gallery of the Ackland Art Museum.
The Sword of Damocles is typical of the Neoclassical style. It was painted in the same year that Lord Elgin brought the marble sculptures from the Parthenon in Athens to England, and there was enthusiastic interest in the classical world. Thomas Hope himself had an extensive collection of classical vases and statuary, some of which Westall included in his painting to make the setting seem more authentic. Several costumes and hairstyles were also derived from works in Hope's collection. Beside the choice of an ancient narrative and classical setting, Damocles shows rather the static, stage-like composition characteristic of much Neoclassical painting. The didactic element is also central to Neoclassical concerns. These artists intended to instruct and improve their viewers, and Westall's carefully contrived presentation of Damocles' story was meant to teach his early nineteenth century contemporaries the same lesson that the foolish young courtier needed so many centuries earlier. [source]
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Nikola Tamindzic (photography)
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fine art,
photographer,
photography
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Born in 1973 and based in New York City, Nikola Tamindzic established his reputation when he started shooting nightlife reportage for Nick Denton's notorious Gawker in 2004. The photo galleries fused Gawker's irreverent editorial vision with Tamindzic's photographic talents to present the faces of the time in a less mediated way. Today, he lives and takes pictures in the Lower East Side, and his distinctive style has breathed much needed life into the somewhat jaded genre of nightlife photography.
The history of "Afghan Girl" (the photo of Steve McCurry)
Kurdistan (photos)
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orientalism,
photography,
world
Israel takes control of more West Bank land (photo and politics)
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photography,
politics,
world
(peace!!!) image from here
Israel has taken control of a large chunk of land near a prominent West Bank settlement, paving the way for the possible construction of 2,500 settlement homes, officials said Monday, in a new challenge to Mideast peacemaking.Read more...
Successive Israeli governments have broken promises to the United States to halt settlement expansion, defined by Washington as an obstacle to peace. Ongoing expansion is likely to create friction not only with the Palestinians, but with President Barack Obama, whose Mideast envoy, George Mitchell, has long pushed for a settlement freeze. Obama has said he'd get involved quickly in Mideast peace efforts.[complete text]
Raphael - The School of Athens (painting)
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historical photos,
history,
painting,
world
The Academy, by Raphael
Read more...A legendary hero in Greek mythology, Akademos (originally Hekademos) or, less correctly, Academus was linked to the archaic name for the site of Plato's Academy, the Hekademeia, outside the walls of Athens. By classical times the name of the place had evolved into the Akademeia and was explained by linking it to an eponymous Athenian hero, a legendary "Akademos," at least as early as the beginning of the 6th century BC. The site was sacred to Athena and other immortals; it had sheltered religious cult since the Bronze Age, which was perhaps associated with the hero-gods, the Dioskouroi (Castor and Polydeukes), for the hero Akademos associated with the site was credited with revealing to the Divine Twins where Theseus had hidden Helen of Troy. [source]
Stephen Perry (Photography)
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model,
photographer,
photography,
portrait
I took up photography after travelling the far east with my Yashica F1. Being on my own with a camera in such a varied world recording the people and places was so fantastic that I was convinced that photography would be my life.Read more...
Prestes Maia, by Tatiana Cardeal
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photographer,
photography,
politics,
world
Read more...Prestes Maia, was considered the largest vertical occupation in Latin America. The building was an old textile factory abandoned more than 20 years ago, and the owners owe millions in taxes to the municipal government. Some 2,000 people were living there, members of the Downtown Homeless Movement.
I've been documenting some fragments of their social changes since june, 2005. It's a bit of the history of São Paulo's society, where I was born. The building, it's people, their constant fear of loosing everything, some smiles, the fight.
As one said:
"What supports this building it's not the building in itself, but this people".
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