Back!

I wanted to check back in briefly; I'm still alive, thankfully, and here's a new post. I want to tell you about Lithuanian painter Mikalojus Čiurlionis. The man was also a composer, and titled many of his paintings in rather music-flavored fashions (he's painted some Preludes, some Sonatas, some Fugues, for example). His intent was also precisely to make his art rather musical.

Anyway, one of his best-known works is Calm (or Tranquility), depending on who you ask, which is pictured above. It's inspired in large part by Isle of the Dead by Arnold Böcklin, the Swiss Symbolist painter, one of the versions of which follows. ("The time of Böcklin" is also referenced in Dramatic Symphony, a rather trippy work by Andrei Biely, which I'm currently reading. Clearly, Russians of this period had very consistent tastes, and one of those tastes was Symbolism.) (Another parenthetical: for the uninitiated, Symbolism is probably best approached through one of the French Symbolists, like Verlaine. The Russian Symbolist poets borrowed a lot from the French.)

Isn't that a glorious work? I really like how it treats light, and particularly how the interior of the isle rejects all of that light. I love objects that seem to radiate shadow as others might emit light.

That's it for a day or two, unfortunately, this is a busy week between work, fellowship applications, and quizbowl. I'm definitely going to make a point of updating frequently in the future (oh, how often that is said!) but I don't think I can maintain a daily schedule anymore.