Hypermodern naked bodies
This "hypermodern" painting by Cornelis Cornelisz. van Haarlem, which depicts the moment Zeus and the Olympians defeat the Titans and cast them into the underworld, is "a classic example of what is called Haarlem Mannerism".
This is one of those paintings that needs only a moment to capture your complete attention. The use of color, the layered composition, and the powerful expressions on each visible face all communicate a moment of epic climax. And then there's the meticulously depicted nudity, which was apparently new for the time.
There are also a few faces and compositional choices that, maybe only to my less refined contemporary eye, are at least a little bit funny.
More:
- Throughout history, painters have reused figures in specific poses across multiple paintings, sometimes because they had symbolic meaning but often because they were made using models and were therefore reliable. In middle of Fall of the Titans is a figure almost exactly like the one Cornelis Cornelisz used in another painitng depicting the fall of Icarus.
Van Cleef & Arpels’ move into literature is part of luxury’s latest cultural shift
By Milena Lazazzera. Wallpaper.
"If luxury once sought credibility through visual art, today it’s moving into more layered cultural territory, and literature, with its associations of introspection as well as female empowerment – cue the many women-led book clubs, from Oprah Winfrey’s to Dua Lipa’s – offers rich ground."
I'm torn.
On the one hand, this reads like a press release about a cynical play for luxury market share. On the other hand, this is, theoretically, the kind of multimedia, cross-generation cultural exchange I think leads to really interesting work.
Given the size of the project, and the number of people involved, it could certainly be both, depending on who you ask.
VIDEO: The Slime Could Change the World
"The idea that a maize plant could make it's own nitrogen sounded like science fiction to virtually everyone we talked to."
It would be tempting to add this to the long list of innovations that would be world-changing if they were realized, like plastic eating bugs or fusion power plants–except this plant is already being successfully crossbred with encouraging results.