Mormonism and the arts

[_Daniel Peterson]

I think that most of Dürer's paintings were secular.

http://www.google.com/search?q=Albrecht ... 97&bih=784

Despite Scratch, your taste in art seems pretty good, so far!

If I said that 2+2=4, Scratch would dispute it and would somehow manage to attribute a sinister motivation to me for having said it.

[Guest]

http://www.google.com/search?q=Albrecht ... 97&bih=784

I went to your image page of Dürer's paintings. Still looks pretty secular to me. A few praying hands and a few religious images (no doubt to make a buck in that era). The rest are mostly portraits (and self portraits, a few bugs thrown in for balance). I'm really not trying to argue your point. How about some more recent artists that I really like.

Diego Rivera: http://www.google.com/search?tbm=isch&hl=en&source=hp&biw=1120&bih=578&q=diego+rivera&gbv=2&oq=diego+&aq=0&aqi=g10&aql=undefined&gs_sm=c&gs_upl=3056l5077l0l6l6l0l1l1l0l215l692l1.3.1l5

The brilliance of his simplicity. I tend to like neo-impressionists.

Going back a bit, Vincent Van Gogh: http://www.google.com/search?rlz=1C1GGGE_enUS356US409&q=Vincent+Van+Gogh&um=1&ie=UTF-8&tbm=isch&source=og&sa=N&hl=en&tab=wi&biw=1120&bih=578

He was a little crazy, but his canvases moved when you looked at them. Almost like the painting was alive. This is what I mean (my own view) when I talk about art. Not what you paint, but how you paint.

[_Hoops]

John Milton.
Albrecht Dürer.
And, in music, Johann Sebastian Bach.
Just three examples -- of the many that could be given -- but three remarkably great ones.
Don't sell Protestantism short.

You're right, of course.

However, I was coming from a more recent perspective where the divide in faith expression (of which art is a vital component) in recent years - say in the last 100 years - is more profound.

[_Daniel Peterson]

I went to your image page of Dürer's paintings. Still looks pretty secular to me. A few praying hands and a few religious images (no doubt to make a buck in that era).

I'm not sure that they're that easily dismissed. His images of the four horsemen of the Apocalypse, etc., are pretty powerful things. Every artist needed to sell his work, or to gain a patron, in order to survive. But that doesn't convince me that their motives were merely secular.

Diego Rivera: http://www.google.com/search?tbm=isch&hl=en&source=hp&biw=1120&bih=578&q=diego+rivera&gbv=2&oq=diego+&aq=0&aqi=g10&aql=undefined&gs_sm=c&gs_upl=3056l5077l0l6l6l0l1l1l0l215l692l1.3.1l5

The brilliance of his simplicity.

I've always liked Diego Rivera, from when I first visited Mexico City back when I was seventeen. I saw his murals at the University, etc.

His politics were repulsive, but his art is great.

(You do realize -- don't you? -- that, to the extent that you and I share tastes in art, you're discrediting yourself as saccharine, vanilla, conformist, unadventurous, middle-brow, and conventional?)

I tend to like neo-impressionists.

My wife and I are very fond of all forms of Impressionism. She spent time in Paris as a student, and . . . well, the Impressionists are a big deal in our house.

Going back a bit, Vincent Van Gogh: http://www.google.com/search?rlz=1C1GGGE_enUS356US409&q=Vincent+Van+Gogh&um=1&ie=UTF-8&tbm=isch&source=og&sa=N&hl=en&tab=wi&biw=1120&bih=578

He was a little crazy, but his canvases moved when you looked at them. Almost like the painting was alive. This is what I mean (my own view) when I talk about art. Not what you paint, but how you paint.

Another favorite.

I feel sorry for you. You've just forfeited any and all claim to being taken seriously as a connoisseur of art.

However, I was coming from a more recent perspective where the divide in faith expression (of which art is a vital component) in recent years - say in the last 100 years - is more profound.

I would tend to agree with that, sadly.

[_Lucretia MacEvil]

When I was an English major at BYU in the late 60's, one of my professors told us she was writing the "great American novel" and it's title was The Jawbone of the Ass. I found this in Amazon and think it is probably her book (unfortunately, I don't recall her name, only the title stuck with me over the years).

http://www.amazon.com/JAWBONE-ASS-Glena ... 951&sr=1-1

Another thing about my BYU education, I never heard of sexual symbology until after I graduated. Just saying. Make of it what you will.

One more thing: the required health class for freshman. The text was written by the same prof who taught my class. It included a one page chapter on sex. It was blacked out.

[_Quasimodo]

I've always liked Diego Rivera, from when I first visited Mexico City back when I was seventeen. I saw his murals at the University, etc.

His politics were repulsive, but his art is great.

(You do realize -- don't you? -- that, to the extent that you and I share tastes in art, you're discrediting yourself as saccharine, vanilla, conformist, unadventurous, middle-brow, and conventional?)

I feel sorry for you. You've just forfeited any and all claim to being taken seriously as a connoisseur of art.

You could have warned me in a PM that you were going to agree with me. That would have given me a chance to go back and edit my posts.

As it stands, I'm on record, on this board, with agreeing with the "evil" Dr. Peterson. Soon, they will be calling me an apologist (I've been called much worse in my time).

Thanks, so much, for your kind replies! We didn't really touch on the "Mormon" aspect of art. Maybe we still can.

[_MsJack]

And let's face it: the thought of you playing Grand Theft Auto 3 could have scored you some serious hipster credibility. I'm a little disappointed to learn that this never happened. I mean, think about it: Dr. Peterson, navigating a tank through the streets of Liberty City? Now that is an image that even I could treasure.

All it would have meant was that Dan has good taste in video games, because GTA: III was awesome. I really don't think the GTA games that came after it were as good, though Vice City was admirable. Saints Row 2 beat them all.

[_Doctor Scratch]

And let's face it: the thought of you playing Grand Theft Auto 3 could have scored you some serious hipster credibility. I'm a little disappointed to learn that this never happened. I mean, think about it: Dr. Peterson, navigating a tank through the streets of Liberty City? Now that is an image that even I could treasure.

All it would have meant was that Dan has good taste in video games, because GTA: III was awesome. I really don't think the GTA games that came after it were as good, though Vice City was admirable. Saints Row 2 beat them all.

I guess he's too much of a stodgy, grimly humorless philistine to understand. What a pity!

[_Doctor CamNC4Me]

When I think of you, I'm glad I have a shredder.

Hello Dr. Peterson,

I sympathize with you. Mr. Simon also Internet stalked me, and posted that information to the Internet on his blog. He even posted a picture of my wife.

It is, indeed, very unsettling.

V/R
Dr. Cameron

[_zeezrom]

I'm a little nervous now about what people might be able to find out about my personal family life online. I believe a line was crossed on this thread.