The island of Capri seen from the inclines of Mount Vesuvius (picture: D. Alexander)
There are two things we do not show our trainees however we should: to see and to pay attention. They are virtues– and skills– that go to least as important as composing and speaking. Some would suggest that they are a lot more important. Pierre Bonnard, the wonderful post-Impressionist painter, stated that “lots of people look, yet couple of see”. Exactly how really real! It is one thing to obtain a visual impact and rather one more to translate it.
For those people who remain in London, an excellent exercise is to catch the no. 9 bus at Aldwych, go upstairs (it is a double-decker) and traveling at least regarding Knightsbridge, otherwise completely to Hammersmith. Try it and seek out: on the structures of London there is a riches of information that is hard, and often impossible, to see from ground level. There is an astonishing selection of statuary and decoration. It belongs to the language of style with the ages, and its vocabulary is very rich indeed.
It is estimated that, thanks to digital media, we enter call with as much as 70, 000 photos a day. Most of them are seen only fleetingly and few of them convey their full message to us. These days it is difficult not to be blasé concerning images. Comparison that with the circumstance in past ages, when individuals would certainly take a trip long distances to watch and wonder over a solitary picture. In Florence in 1504, when Michelangelo Buonarroti finished his statue of David, he had it carried into Piazza della Signoria and left before the municipal government, Palazzo Vecchio. People came from everywhere to attach the Renaissance equivalent of ‘Post-It’ notes to the pedestal to reveal what they thought of the work (Forcellino 2009, p.60 In spite of the tremendous outpouring of imagination in Florence in that period, individuals were not overfilled with images. They had time to consider up and talk about each one.
Spending many hours each day staring at a tv we run the risk of struggling with visual illiteracy. Under the continuous bombardment of images, focus covers easily decrease. Much more does not indicate far better. Who now has time to obtain the abilities to analyze images? Who now checks out, as an example, On Development and Form , or The Story of Art , or The 4 Books of Design
To listen to a recording of Artur Rubinstein (1887 – 1982 playing Robert Schumann’s Carnaval is to experience the perfect balance in between accuracy and expression, for Rubinstein was one of the best pianists ever before. It requires extreme self-discipline to obtain that experience: absolute liberty from diversion, also taking a breath, serenity, perfectly maintained attentiveness. Only then does Rubinstein’s magic job its full marvels. None of these high qualities is encouraged by electronic media; without a doubt, quite the reverse.
We who work or study in universities have one great goal: to analyze the human condition and connect our searchings for. This is the acquisition of wisdom, which the OED specifies, succinctly, as “strength of judgement”. Hence, necessarily wisdom is the reverse of superficiality. It follows that the high quality of the output– common wisdom– is a feature of the high quality of the input, the experience and analysis of understanding. Sustaining this are the impressions we receive as we live our lives, study and job.
Such is the cacophony of modern-day life that it might well be true that there is greater merit in paying attention than in talking. It is never ever far too late to learn to see and hear, to analyze space, form, audio and nuance. Nevertheless, we go to seminars to talk, not to pay attention. We touch away at the keyboard to write, not to read. This is perhaps not shocking considered that the quantity of product available to us to soak up is just frustrating. The Information Technology Age is obviously still very young and it remains to be seen how mankind will manage it and reach some kind of settlement. But as we make our worried progress via the ICT change, it is time to return to the old skills and develop our capability to comprehend the many languages of the aesthetic and audible globe around us.
Recommendations
Forcellino, Antonio 2009 Michelangelo: A Tormented Life Polity Press, Cambridge UK, 344 pp.
Gombrich, Sir Ernst Hans Josef 1950 The Story of Art Phaidon Press, London, 688 pp.
Palladio, Andrea 2000 The Four Books of Style ( I quattro libri dell’architettura ,1570 Dover Press, New York, 110 pp.
Thompson, D’Arcy Wentworth 1942 On Growth and Type (2 nd version). Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 1116 pp.
Rubinstein, Artur, 2016 Schumann: Carnaval, Op. 9 & Fantasiestücke, Op. 12 RCA, New York City (CD).