Tag Archives: Culture

Xi a Chinese visionary?

Posted on October 21, 2014 by David Brussat

Far be it from me to agree with the head of the Chinese Communist Party on anything, but please excuse me for agreeing with Xi Jinping on one thing. Speaking to a literary symposium last week, the Chinese president said, … Continue reading →

Posted in Architecture, Art and design, Humor, Other countries | Tagged , , , , , , | 1 Comment

In defense of ‘starchitect’

Posted on September 20, 2014 by David Brussat

I rise to defend not the practice of starchitecture or the starchitects who perpetrate its follies on an innocent public. But the word starchitect has come under attack for the very reason that I like the word and use it … Continue reading →

Posted in Architects, Architecture | Tagged , , , , , | 1 Comment

Shooting WaterFire!

Posted on August 8, 2014 by David Brussat

Here are some shots of WaterFire, created and operated by artist Barnaby Evans of Providence. For readers unfamiliar with the phenomenon, the installation has played out on the city’s three intimate downtown rivers for, I think, 15 years now, every … Continue reading →

Posted in Architecture, Art and design, Development, Photography, Providence, Urbanism and planning | Tagged , , , , , | 8 Comments

World’s best sculpture

Posted on July 29, 2014 by David Brussat

No, the sculpture on display here is certainly not the best sculpture in the world, but it’s head and shoulders above most of what the artistic establishment considers the best – that is, twisted contortions of metal, symbols arrayed as … Continue reading →

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Column: The Dean and The Sportsman

Posted on April 10, 2014 by David Brussat

Word in 2012 that the Sportsman’s Inn, on Fountain Street in downtown Providence, half a block from The Journal, was to become a boutique hotel was not altogether welcome. The likelihood of a cheesy, hip-wannabe hotel with a gauche modernist … Continue reading →

Posted in Architecture, Art and design, Preservation, Providence, Urbanism and planning | Tagged , , , , , , , , | 2 Comments

More from “Wolf Hall”

Posted on April 8, 2014 by David Brussat

  Here’s another passage from Hilary Mantel’s Wolf Hall, the pageant of Anne Boleyn’s investiture as Henry VIII’s queen: And looking down on them, those other Londoners, those monsters who live in the air, the city’s uncounted population of stone … Continue reading →

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Is beauty conservative?

Posted on March 30, 2014 by David Brussat

No. Certainly not in the political sense. Beauty, by which I mean architectural beauty in traditional and classical design, is as alluring to liberals as it is to conservatives. Because political conservatives have been more skeptical of modern architecture and … Continue reading →

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Mr. Hublot’s urban future

Posted on March 10, 2014 by David Brussat

Here is Mr. Hublot, a short animated film that charmed me no end. The animator’s idea of a sort of tinpot gizmoid future of urban life will pull at your heartstrings. As for the quality of the future envisioned, well, … Continue reading →

Posted in Architecture, Art and design, Humor, Old Video, Urbanism and planning | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

Shocking! Le Corbusier nude!

Posted on March 1, 2014 by David Brussat

Pictured at left is founding modernist Le Corbusier in the nude, painting at the home of fellow modern architect Eileen Gray, in the south of France, a house she is said to have designed. (Though some say Corbusier actually designed … Continue reading →

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Vandalism at Corbu’s Ronchamp

Posted on January 25, 2014 by David Brussat

How could they tell? Seriously, the Chapel of Notre-Dame du Haut at Ronchamp, with its rough texture and swoopy lines, may be the least objectionable of Le Corbusier’s buildings. Although William J.R. Curtis has more respect for the chapel than … Continue reading →

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