The Arts
Archived items are listed in reverse order of publication date.
Lunch Break by Quent Cordair
Atlas Shrugged and Ayn Rand's Morality of Egoism (accessible for free)
Provides a myth-busting introduction to the Objectivist ethics. (Does not contain spoilers about the novel.)
Painter Bryan Larsen on His Artwork and Ideas
Mr. Larsen discusses his work, how he became a painter, who and what inspires him, and why his subjects always look so purposeful. Includes ten high-resolution images of his paintings.
The Avengers • Directed by Joss Whedon
Act of Valor • Directed by Mike McCoy and Scott Waugh
Objectivism vs. Kantianism in The Fountainhead
Examines these opposing philosophies in the story, characters, and theme of Ayn Rand’s great novel.
Eames: The Architect and the Painter, directed by Jason Cohn and Bill Jersey
An Interview with Still-Life Painter Linda Mann
Ms. Mann discusses how she became an artist, her favorite painters, her own works and techniques, and the respective roles of the conscious mind and the subconscious in the process of painting.
Sanctum Sanctorum: The National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C.
Discusses the collections and virtues of the NGA, compares it to other museums in America, and concludes that the NGA is the fairest of all.
The Help, directed by Tate Taylor
An Interview with Sculptor Sandra J. Shaw
My Lucky Life In and Out of Show Business: A Memoir by Dick Van Dyke
His Dark Materials Trilogy by Philip Pullman
Atlas Shrugged’s Long Journey to the Silver Screen
Provides a concise history of the efforts to adapt Atlas for the screen.
An Interview with Atlas Shrugged Movie Producer Harmon Kaslow
Discusses the film, how it came together, choice of screenwriter and director, casting, score, and distribution.
Economics in Atlas Shrugged
Shows how the novel brilliantly dramatizes the essential principles of this science along with the fallacies involved in denying those principles.
Atlas Shrugged: Part I, directed by Paul Johansson (accessible for free)
The King’s Speech, directed by Tom Hooper
Repotting Harry Potter: A Professor’s Book-by-Book Guide for the Serious Re-Reader, by James W. Thomas
A Review of the Korean Television Series Dae Jang Geum (accessible for free)
Reviews the Korean television series Dae Jang Geum, whose “breathtaking cinematography, beautiful costumes, mouthwatering food, and rich soundtrack integrate with [a] profound story to create a superlative work of art.”
Essays on Ayn Rand’s Atlas Shrugged, edited by Robert Mayhew
The Sparrowhawk Series, by Edward Cline
Fred Astaire, by Joseph Epstein
Ayn Rand’s Atlas Shrugged and the World Today (accessible for free)
An Interview with Yaron Brook
Explains why, more than fifty years ago, Rand was able to project the kinds of crises we are seeing today.
Doubt vs. Certainty
Casts certainty on why the movie Doubt is leaving viewers wondering whether they can know anything for sure.
Caspar David Friedrich and Visual Romanticism
Examines four paintings by Friedrich (plus one by Theodor Kittelsen), analyzes them by means of a new concept Mr. Boeckmann calls design-theme, and integrates them under the concept of “visual romanticism,” thus going a distance toward objectively defining that school. (The article is accompanied by five color images of the paintings discussed.)
The Exalted Heroism of Alistair MacLean's Novels
Surveys MacLean’s major works (including The Guns of Navarone and Where Eagles Dare); indicates their value to readers who love men of intelligence, ability, and courage; and incites a keyboard stampede to Amazon.com for the used copies of MacLean’s books, which are tragically out of print.
Transfiguring the Novel: The Literary Revolution in Atlas Shrugged
Celebrates the fiftieth anniversary of Ayn Rand's magnum opus (which was published on October 10, 1957) by examining key aspects of the book's artistic elements. Focusing on Rand's dramatization of the plot-theme, her use of literary techniques, and the nature and significance of key figures in the story, Bernstein shows how Rand employed such elements to tap the full potential of this supremely conceptual art form and thus to create a thoroughly integrated novel.
How to Analyze and Appreciate Paintings
Provides a step-by-step method for viewing, assessing, and enjoying this rich visual medium. The article is accompanied by fifteen images of the paintings discussed, some of which are a feast, others of which are a foil. (As always larger images of the paintings can be viewed at our website.)
Mr. Jekyll and Dr. House:
The Reason-Emotion Split as Manifested in House, M.D.
Examines the popular television series House, M.D., zeros in on its main flaw—acceptance of the reason-emotion dichotomy and all that it entails—and shows why this potentially excellent show is tragically mixed.
19th-Century French Painting and Philosophy
Examines the relationship between art and fundamental philosophic ideas by considering the Kantian notion that man cannot know reality by means of reason—a notion that became increasingly prevalent over the course of the 1800s—in connection with the works and words of 19th-century French painters and art critics, who, correspondingly, became increasingly hostile to reason over the same period. The article is accompanied by fifty-eight color images of the paintings discussed, which range from the sublime to the grotesque.
Getting More Enjoyment from Art You Love
Examines two equestrian sculptures—George Washington, by Henry Kirke Brown, and the Cid, by Anna Hyatt Huntington—and demonstrates a method by which to approach such works in order to reap the most enjoyment from them.
