Category: Europe

Benjamin Britten’s “War Requiem”

“My subject is War, and the pity of War.  The Poetry is in the pity…All a poet can do today is warn.”  These words by Wilfred Owen are inscribed on the title page of British composer Benjamin Britten’s “War Requiem.”  Britten combined the Latin text of the Requiem Mass with nine poems of the World… Read more »

Mamuka Kapanadze

When war broke out between Russia and the Republic of Georgia in 2008 people steeped in the Orthodox Christian traditions were on both sides.  In the Orthodox tradition icons have played a major role in their spirituality and their church architecture, even with an “iconostasis,” a wall of these paintings of Christ and various saints,… Read more »

Pablo Picasso (1881-1973)

Without a doubt Pablo Picasso was the most influential artist of the 20th Century, spanning many eras of art and shaping many different schools and styles. He was one of the founders of Cubism, though he ranged into many other styles in the various periods of his artistic production. Picasso produced over 20,000 different pieces… Read more »

ADAM CURLE (1916-2006)

“What’s peace?…It recognizes one humanity in which all lives are precious and worthy to be loved and given help towards fulfillment.” In 1970 the Nigerian army overwhelmed the army of the Biafran rebels, forcing a surrender and ending a 3-year long civil war that left half a million people dead. Many feared a bloodbath following… Read more »

BANKSY

“Think outside the box, collapse the box, and take a sharp knife to it.” My artist son, Jon, have me a coffee table art book of Banksy’s graffiti.  It was riveting–but am I supposed to relish such vandalism?  What I saw disturbed me because Banksy so often speaks truth with alarming clarity and delightful humor,… Read more »