Omnium

Thursday, May 28, 2009

The Kiss

Give me, my love, that billing kiss
I taught you one delicious night
When, turning epicures in bliss,
We tried inventions of delight.'

Thomas Moore

And thus ends my little homage to Thomas Moore on the occasion of his 230th birthday. I wonder though, why he did not choose as title 'The Meeting of the Tongues'.

The Meeting of the Waters

There is not in the wide world a valley so sweet
As that vale in whose bosom the bright waters meet;
Oh! the last rays of feeling and life must depart,
Ere the bloom of that valley shall fade from my heart.

'Twas that friends, the beloved of my bosom, were near,
Who made every dear scene of enchantment more dear,
And who felt how the best charms of nature improve,
When we see them reflected from looks that we love.

Sweet vale of Avoca! how calm could I rest
in thy bosom of shade, with the friends I love best,
Where the storms that we feel in this cold world should cease,
And our hearts, like thy waters, be mingled in peace.

Thomas Moore *28th May 1779

Wednesday, May 27, 2009

For each beginning bears a special magic*

I did not know what exactly Chris was thinking of when he told me of his idea to let some of my photos accompany (great) poets reading their own poems. However: I got curious - like I always am when visiting my philosopher's blog.

Well, and so it comes that God-free Morals and Omnium together are starting what - who knows? - might become a project.
Will it be interesting for our readers, friends and those who might stumble upon our blogs? Hopefully. And if not? Well, in this case we may comfort ourselves with what Arnold Schoenberg once stated:

If it is art it is not for all
and if it is for all
it is no art.

So take your choice. And let us know. :) Here's for a beginning ...

* :) with thanks to Hermann Hesse for writing one of my favourite poems.

Sunday, May 24, 2009

Abraham Kuyper Neglected Titan ...

... is the latest article at Westminster Wisdom.

Why would I mention this?

Well, I think it could be particularly interesting for my Dutch readers to read this and his previous articles (and comment upon), and - it's an opportunity to commend Gracchi's blog especially to cineasts and those who are interested in history / politics.

Ah, and did I mention Livi? :)

Saturday, May 23, 2009

Luo Pin - an Eccentric's Visions

Walking a Crane in a Bamboo Grove

Undated
From 'Figures and Landscapes, after Poems by Jin Nong'
Album of twelve leaves, ink and colour on paper, 24.3 x 30.7 cm
Palace Museum, Beijing

The Museum Rietberg Zürich, in collaboration with the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, [til 12 July 2009; sj] presents an exhibition dedicated to the Chinese painter Luo Pin (1733–1799). In China, Luo Pin is renowned as one of the most original artists of his time. He was seen as an expert in the supernatural, a man who saw and painted ghosts. [...].

Drunken Zhong Kui
Dated 1762
Hanging scroll, ink and color on paper, 57.0 x 39.0 cm
Palace Museum, Beijing

Some of his contemporaries described Luo Pin as a virtuous scholar, a pious Buddhist, caring husband and devoted father; others saw him as a wayward eccentric and a charming partygoer. His multifaceted personality is also reflected in his versatility as an artist. This is the very first time that such a large selection of Luo Pin’s greatest works has been shown in the West. Among the highlights of the exhibition are a number of masterpieces loaned by the Palace Museum in Beijing and the Shanghai Museum.

Luo Ping was born in 1733 in the city of Yangzhou, a flourishing cultural and commercial centre. His literary and artistic talents brought him attention at an early age and attracted the interest of Jin Nong* (1687–1763), one of the leading figures in Yangzhou bohemia, who accepted the 23-year-old Luo as his student. Until Jin’s death, the two men maintained an unusually close friendship, unique in the history of Chinese art. Both Jin and Luo were among the Eight Eccentrics of Yangzhou, a loose group of individualistic painters who revolutionised Chinese art.

Full article here.

The Sword Terrace (detail)
Dated 1794
Hanging scroll, ink and color on paper, 100.3 x 27.4 cm
Palace Museum, Beijing

More photos here.

* Gallery of Jin Nong

Friday, May 22, 2009

Good reason to write a novel

I condemn slavery, I banish poverty,
I teach the ignorant, I treat
disease, I lighten the night,
I hate hatred.*

Victor Hugo (26 February 1802 - 22 May 1885)

*That is what I am, and that is why I have written Les Misérables.

Related:
More Strong than Time

Wednesday, May 20, 2009

Gap is widening

Well, actually it's no news that the gap between rich and poor is widening. Those who have eyes to read, ears to hear and a tiny bit capacity for remembering will know that this 'metapher' in 25 years has become a set phrase, being repeated every now and then.
In so far it's one of those 'news' of which I think with Thoreau a ready wit might have written it a twelve months or twelve years beforehand with sufficient accuracy.

Anyway, for those few on this planet who still consider Germany a land where milk and honey flows.

A new study by a German welfare organization shows that the gap between rich and poor is widening in the country, with the east and northwest lagging clearly behind the south.
Full article here.