Category Archives: Books and Culture

Fascism, modernism paired

Posted on April 21, 2016 by David Brussat

Mother’s milk flowing from her gentle soul, a good friend expressed at lunch yesterday her dismay at the fascist tendencies of modernist architect Philip Johnson. She is no fan of his buildings (there are two in Providence), but she was … Continue reading →

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Kley: Trials of the pedestrian

Posted on April 16, 2016 by David Brussat

This sketch, called “The Train,” by Heinrich Kley was probably etched in about 1910 to judge by the auto, by the fashionable attire of the alligator, or by the era in which Kley was publishing his more curious work. The … Continue reading →

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Skandalkonzert vindicated?

Posted on April 13, 2016 by David Brussat

A post on the website Artlark, “Skandalkonzert: The Battle for Modernism,” describes a riot that had classical concertgoers in Vienna battling amongst themselves in the pits and with the musicians and the even the composers. Pieces by Schonberg, Weber and … Continue reading →

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I’ll second that emotion!

Posted on April 12, 2016 by David Brussat

The collection of parents who wait for their kids’ school bus every morning and afternoon at our corner on Hope Street testifies to the greatness of the Vartan Gregorian Elementary School in Fox Point. This afternoon the line “I’ll second … Continue reading →

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The periodic table of fonts

Posted on April 8, 2016 by David Brussat

Here, from a stable of tables courtesy of the Kuriositas website of oddities, is a periodic table of typefaces. This periodic table comes last in “Fun and Interesting Periodic Table Spin-Offs,” courtesy of the Save Best for Last Dept. A … Continue reading →

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Ross Award laureates, 2016

Posted on April 6, 2016 by David Brussat

This year’s winners of the Arthur Ross Awards have been announced by their sponsor, the Institute of Classical Architecture & Art. The institute is the leading organization in the United States fostering classical and traditional architecture and its allied arts: … Continue reading →

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Fallen Rome, fallen moderns

Posted on March 8, 2016 by David Brussat

Passages from Stephen Greenblatt’s The Swerve: How the World Became Modern evoke a Rome in the 15th century fallen from its imperial glory: The population of Rome, a small fragment of what it had once been, lived in detached settlements, … Continue reading →

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Roots of the classical revival

Posted on March 5, 2016 by David Brussat

Here’s a passage from The Swerve, a 2011 book by Stephen Greenblatt on how the discovery of the lost poem “On the Nature of Things” by Lucretius helped spark the Renaissance. The passage has to do with handwriting, not architecture, … Continue reading →

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Renovating Castle Lyndon

Posted on February 23, 2016 by David Brussat

Here is a set of passages from William Makepeace Thackeray’s Barry Lyndon, which I am reading for the first time after seeing the movie, directed by Stanley Kubrick in a sort of cinematic slo-mo. The novel is an extended exercise … Continue reading →

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“Orchestrate a Renaissance”

Posted on February 15, 2016 by David Brussat

Composing a comeback for classical music and classical architecture is the twin purpose, or so it seems, of the Future Symphony Institute, founded in Baltimore by Andrew Balio, the principal trumpet of that city’s symphony orchestra. Its latest project is … Continue reading →

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