Archive for October, 2013

One of the greatest joys of the Internet, besides captioned pictures of cute animals, and YouTube adding millions more options to funny video shows previously only available on television, is the fact that there is an overwhelming amount of information on here. It’s not a bad thing – in fact, it’s great!

We may be on the verge of another Renaissance, and the Internet is the new printing press! Never before has there been a time in history that offered the ease at which one can learn new knowledge, gain mastery of a skill, and create, distribute, and discover great art and artists. Just look at websites like Etsy.com and deviantART.com for creative craftsmanship and unique art as a small but important example.

With Etsy and deviantART,  you can find artisanal projects, forged from the hands of modern day masters, who have spent countless hours in workshops,  garages, and studios, slaving away to bring a thought, a feeling, a memory to life. Tell me that’s not done in true Renaissance fashion – and I don’t mean cod pieces and tunics! Minstrels no longer have to wonder, scholars no longer need hide away in monasteries or foreign universities. Websites like PureVolume.com and Facebook.com offer a whole new outlet for musicians. Want to learn more about a subject, or maybe learn something new entirely? Sites like OpenCulture.com offer free courses from some of the best colleges in the world.

So indeed the question must be asked: Will the Internet lead to a Modern Renaissance? Ladies and gentlemen, I think it’s already here! What do you think?

Some of the most wonderful works of art were produced during the Renaissance, but most of us haven’t had the memorable experience of seeing them in person. Seeing a work of art in a book or online isn’t without its merits. After all, a picture speaks a thousand words! But there’s something incomparably special about seeing a piece up close; about taking it in from every angle, realizing that it is truly real.

The first time I visited an art museum, it was the realness that struck me most. Of course I knew that all those paintings I’d seen in textbooks and online were physically out there somewhere. But when you stand before one of them in the flesh, they’re more real than they’ve ever been. You can imagine the artist more fully as a person, picturing them with paintbrush in hand. You can better understand what made this work of art special enough to find its way into books to begin with, because you too will want the whole world to know about it! That’s the beauty of art in real life, whether you’re looking at the paintings of Titian or pieces hanging in a café down the street from a local artist.

One of the best things about a great deal of art is that it can travel. If you want to see the Eiffel Tower you’re going to have to go to Paris; if you want to kiss the Blarney Stone, you’ll be needing to head to Ireland. But you might not have to travel the world to take in your favorite art – it might just come to a city near you! Here are a few places some Renaissance art can be found right now or in the near future. Hopefully one of them will be close by…

Botticelli’s Venus – University of Hong Kong Museum and Art Gallery
Through December 15, 2013

Face to Face: Flanders, Florence and Renaissance Painting – Huntington Library, Art Collections and Botanical Gardens, San Marino, CA
Through January 13, 2014

Imperial Augsburg: Renaissance Prints and Drawings, 1474-1540 – Blanton Museum of Art at The University of Texas at Austin
Through January 5, 2014

The Georgia Museum of Art at the University of Georgia – The Material of Culture: Renaissance Medals and Textiles from the Ulrich A. Middeldorf Collection
October 26, 2013 – January 12, 2014

Seeing the Monumental in the Minute: German Renaissance Prints in the Age of Dürer – The Gallery of the College of Staten Island/CUNY
Through November 9, 2013