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In addition to hifi and music-related content, I also share more personal stuff and stories and I thought I’d share a bit of recent post for TM Patrons where I talk about Ten Favorite Works of Art.
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Enjoy the taste!
Ten Favorite Works of Art
As a preface to talking about my own work, I thought it might be interesting to share some of my favorites.
I’ve ordered these picks in my own chronological order, from the earliest works that influenced me on up.
“Studies of the Heads of Two Warriors” Leonardo da Vinci (c. 1505)
Back in 7th grade we got a new art teacher, Mrs D., who was the first to nurture my interest in art and drawing. During class, she would give me books of old master drawings to copy and I remember the feelings I had while copying this very Leonardo, mostly how I became completely absorbed in the process, in the image in front of me, and the slowly appearing drawing from my own hand. This stillness and quiet is something that remains an important part of the process to this day. A kind of meditation.
“The Race Track (Death on a Pale Horse)” Albert Pinkham Ryder (c. 1896–1908)
Among the surviving paintings of American artist Albert Pinkham Ryder (1847–1917), “The Race Track” is the first one I saw in reproduction in another of the books shared by Mrs D. and it’s one I have yet to see in person (it lives in the Cleveland Museum of Art). I remember staring at this work for hours and days, falling deep into its many mysteries. I tried to make a drawing of it but learned, early on, that some works cannot be copied.
Back in 2021, my wife and I went to the Whaling Museum in New Bedford, MA, where Ryder was born, to see a small but wonderful show of his works which I wrote about for TM.
