It is too often the case that the line separating the domain of the thing we call “matter” and “spirit” is far too firmly drawn in the sand, resulting in a schismed sense of reality- or “two opposing realities” having no commensurability to one another. But are these two worlds truly as disconnected as some…
Tag: Aesthetical Education
Tragedy, Dialogue, and Politics: Applying Tragedy’s Therapy to Russian Relations with the West
By Professor Nicolai N. Petro When we refer to something as a tragedy, we typically mean that something bad has happened over which we have no control. It is precisely our powerlessness to change these circumstances that we deem “tragic.” For the ancient Greeks, however, tragedy is something that human beings create by virtue of…
Vicarious Explorations into Genius: Hymn to Intellectual Beauty Analyzed
It has become commonplace to assert that artistic beauty is relative existing only in the eye of the beholder. This abused statement has become almost a parody in our modern age, as everything becomes art, and everything- regardless of its ugliness becomes raised to a pedestal of beauty. This loss of any principled standards of…
The Art of Political Freedom Part II: Alexander von Humboldt and the Hudson River School
In this RTF Lecture, Matt Ehret introduces the second lecture of his two-part series on the topic of classical painting with a focus on the political fight to establish a new type of nation on the earth premised upon the belief that each individual is sovereign. This political ideal requires of course an integration of…
The Art of Political Freedom Part I: Thomas Cole’s Course of Empire and the Rise of the Hudson River School
In this first of a two-part lecture series, RTF director Matt Ehret delivers a presentation on Thomas Cole’s Course of Empire and broader political struggles over the soul of the early republic and humanity more broadly during the 19th century. You will be introduced to the aesthetical movement of painting that aspired to achieve the…
How Classical Painting Liberates us from the Shackles of the Senses
An exploration of Schiller’s Aesthetics as it pertains to political revolutions past and future By Matthew Ehret This article is based on a RTF lecture given on Feb. 11, 2019 in Montreal Canada. German poet Friedrich Schiller (1759-1805) wrote his twenty six Letters on the Aesthetical Education of Man in 1794 in order to address…
To What Purpose are We Drawn to Tragedy: A Study of Shakespeare’s Hamlet
In this lecture, Cynthia Chung discusses whether there is a purpose to tragedy beyond merely being tragic and whether this was the intention of Shakespeare’s Hamlet. Along with a study of the play, two performances are compared and juxtaposed to determine what Shakespeare intended for his audience. Featured Cover Image: “Hamlet’s Vision” by Pedro Americo
RTF Cinema Picks
Everyone loves a good story. The problem is that storytelling, like any branch of art, can sometimes be a double edged sword that can make us either better or worse. The factors that determine the power of art to do either improve or deteriorate an audience are many, acting simultaneously on the mind, body and…
Norman Rockwell & the Rediscovery of America’s Moral Compass
By Matthew Ehret A great poet once said that you can judge a nation by how it honors (or fails to honor) its artists. In many ways, the soul of a nation is entirely shaped by the artists which that society has produced. This makes perfectly good sense, as an artist is able to portray…
Is a Harmony of Cultures Possible? Part I
By Cynthia Chung [This is a transcript of an RTF lecture I delivered in January 2023.] For those who are not aware of who is Gotthold Lessing, I will speak of him as a person and his contribution to German culture later on, but he is considered the father of German classical literature. And “Nathan…