QUOTING...

 A r t h u r  S c h o p e n h a u e r (1788-1860)

 On the Study of Latin

"In learning a language, the chief difficulty consists in making acquaintance with every idea which it expresses, even though it should use words for which there is no exact equivalent in the mother tongue; and this often happens. In learning a new language a man has, as it were, to mark out in his mind the boundaries of quite new spheres of ideas, with the result those spheres of ideas arise where none were before. Thus he not only learns words, he gets ideas too. 

This is nowhere so much the case as in learning ancient languages, for the differences they present in their mode of expression as compared with modern languages is greater than can be found amongst modern languages as compared with one another. This is shown by the fact that in translating into Latin, recourse must be had to quite other turns of phrase than are used in the original. The thought that is to be translated has to be melted down and recast; in other words, it must be analyzed and then recomposed. It is just this process which makes the study of the ancient languages contribute so much to the education of the mind. 

It follows from this that a man's thought varies according to the language in which he speaks. His ideas undergo a fresh modification, a different shading, as it were, in the study of every new language. Hence an acquaintance with many languages is not only of much indirect advantage, but it is also a direct means of mental culture, in that it corrects and matures ideas by giving prominence to their many-sided nature and their different varieties of meaning, as also that it increases dexterity of thought; for in the process of learning many languages, ideas become more and more independent of words. The ancient languages effect this to a greater degree than the modern, in virtue of the difference to which I have alluded. 

From what I have said, it is obvious that to imitate the style of the ancients in their own language, which is so very much superior to ours in point of grammatical perfection, is the best way of preparing for a skillful and finished expression of thought in the mother-tongue. Nay, if a man wants to be a great writer, he must not omit to do this; just as, in the case of sculpture or painting, the student must educate himself by copying the great masterpieces of the past, before proceeding to original work. It is only by learning to write Latin that a man comes to treat diction as an art. The material in this art is language, which must therefore be handled with the greatest care and delicacy.

 The result of such study is that a writer will pay keen attention to the meaning and value of words, their order and connection, their grammatical forms. He will learn how to weigh them with precision, and so become an expert in the use of that precious instrument which is meant not only to express valuable thought, but to preserve it as well. Further, he will learn to feel respect for the language in which he writes and thus be saved from any attempt to remodel it by arbitrary and capricious treatment. Without this schooling, a man's writing may easily degenerate into mere chatter.

 To be entirely ignorant of the Latin language is like being in a fine country on a misty day. The horizon is extremely limited. Nothing can be seen clearly except that which is quite close; a few steps beyond, everything is buried in obscurity. But the Latinist has a wide view, embracing modern times, the Middle Age and Antiquity; and his mental horizon is still further enlarged if he studies Greek or even Sanscrit.

 If a man knows no Latin, he belongs to the vulgar, even though he be a great virtuoso on the electrical machine and have the base of hydrofluoric acid in his crucible.

 There is no better recreation for the mind than the study of the ancient classics. Take any one of them into your hand, be it only for half an hour, and you will feel yourself refreshed, relieved, purified, ennobled, strengthened; just as if you had quenched your thirst at some pure spring. Is this the effect of the old language and its perfect expression, or is it the greatness of the minds whose works remain unharmed and unweakened by the lapse of a thousand years? Perhaps both together. But this I know. If the threatened calamity should ever come, and the ancient languages cease to be taught, a new literature shall arise, of such barbarous, shallow and worthless stuff as never was seen before."

Post sobre 'La Danse'

http://www.cafecult.com.br/arte-la-danse-de-alessandra-barbierato/

"Nessa obra de grandes dimensões, a intenção é construir movimento, não para as figuras em si, mesmo porque muitas vezes o que se move é o fundo, mas sim para o olhar do observador. Esse, por sua vez, não apreende toda a informação pictórica de uma só vez, mas a constrói através de movimentos cinestésicos oculares, manipulados pelo jogo de manchas e pelos contrastes, e de maneira sinestésica, que é a relação subjetiva e espontânea dos sentidos de diferentes domínios.

A dança de La Danse ocorre em quem observa e não na representação das figuras. Para a dança acontecer, não basta a intenção embutida na pose, há de haver na configuração do plano um jogo de interesses para o olhar no nível sutil da matéria pictórica, que se embaralha, avança e retrocede, promove choques de valores, por mais que esses estejam impressos de maneira subliminar.

É o “estica-e-puxa” da mente do observador, tanto no nível de apreensão da imagem, quanto no nível de apreensão de valores, que torna a experiência de La Danse possível. E é a busca por esse espaço de tempo entre observação, construção da imagem no percepto e apreensão da obra em sua totalidade, que consiste o trabalho, cujo a principal meta é atrelar à experiência do observador o tempo enquanto fator determinante para a experiência da arte bidimensional, na busca pela quarta dimensão: o movimento."

ENGLISH

"In this large painting the intention is to build movement, not for the figures themselves even because what seems to move sometimes is the background, but for the observer's eyes. One may not apprehend all the pictoric information at once, but build it through a continuous kinesthetic eye movement manipulated by the contrasting strokes, in a synesthetic way, meaning the subjective and spontaneous relation between different domains.

The dance occurs in the individual's brain and not in the bidimensonal figure's representation. For the dance to happen it's not enough the intention imbued in the figure's pose or posture, but there has to be in the configuration of the visual forces a play of interests for the eyes in the subtil means of the pictorial material. This, in its turn, scrambles up and draws back and forth contrasting values allthough those may be expressed subliminally.

It is this kind of mental stretch and retract movement, either on the level of the imagetic apprehension or evaluation apprehension, that makes the dance in La Danse possible. The persuit in this work consists in creating this quotient of time between the observation, the (re)construction of the image in the brain and apprehension of the picture as a whole. The brain MOVES through a quotient of TIME trying to configure the pictorial SPACE, while it does so it brings forth and experiments some sort of internal 4th dimension."

Going Classic

On the second layer

This is a detail of my own just-for-fun Bouguereau- Young girl Defending Hersenf Against Eros (1880). It is only on it's second layer: still a long way to go...

Detalhe de uma pequena releitura de Bouguereau, Jovem Se Defendendo de Eros (1880), ainda na segunda camada: muito chão pela frente