LEGENDS OF HISTORY: An Educational Multi- Media Historical Art exhibit exploring the history of War and Civilization

in the Western World through an outline of history in word paintings and visual art by Howard David Johnson... 

Spanning the Centuries from Ancient Sparta to World War Two:

In the beginning men wandered lawless in the wilderness following herds and harvesting wild plants. When man began to keep animals and cultivate crops he created settlements. Tribal disputes were resolved by ceremonial conflict until the Greeks invented the decisive and deadly engagements we know today as war.

And now... War and Civilization: The Legends of History

"Return with your shield or on it" was every Spartan Mother's wartime farewell to her son.

Not even a Spartan Mother could forgive cowardice...

... the heavy shield made flight impossible ...

     Legendary in the annals of history are the Spartan Warriors of Ancient Greece. Fearless defenders of liberty, they followed a strict military way of life. In 480 B.C. three hundred of them under King Leonidas stood alone at the end against the enormous Persian army under the tyrannical King Xerxes who was sweeping southward into Greece. The 300 Spartans fought to the death against these impossible odds in the narrow mountain pass at Thermopylae (Gates of Fire ). The Persians took shocking casualties. Their narrow lines of wicker shields and short javelins were no match for the highly disciplined Spartan lines with their large bronze shields and long spears who slaughtered the Sea of Persians wave after wave.

        It was only after a betrayal of a secret path and the 700 Greek allies were ordered home to warn Greece that the 300 Spartans were finally overcome. Although the Spartans contributed little to the artistic and intellectual development of Greece, without them, ironically, Democracy and Freedom would have been wiped out in their infancy...

   Earlier Spartan legends: Helen of Troy ( circa 1194 B.C. ) was often called "the face that launched a thousand ships" and "the most beautiful woman who ever lived". The Trojan War resulted when Paris, the prince of Troy carried her off during the reign of her husband the Spartan King Menelaus. Here Helen has just seen the sea lights of her husband's enormous amphibious invasion fleet on the horizon. To recover Helen, the Acheans under Agamemnon, brother of Menelaus lay ferocious siege to Troy to no avail for ten years until Hector was killed by Achilles and he by Paris. At last a wooden horse was contrived. Odysseus had masterminded a strategy to break the stalemate...The Trojan Horse...

   In whose hollow interior many elite Achean Warriors hid themselves... Leaving Their Giant Gift outside the city and withdrawing their army and fleet to Tenedos, feigning to have raised the seige. The Trojans conveyed the wooden horse into the city. Later that night the Greeks stole out and opened the gates, and Troy was taken. The Spartan King Menelaus recovered Helen and  forgave her. She was thought for ages to be merely a part of mythology - partly because of lack of evidence and partly because of the colorful portrayal of Olympian pagan religion as a reality in Homer's  immortal Epic Poem "The Iliad" -  prejudiced the scientific and academic communities - until archaeologists excavated Troy.

Now, it is one of the Legends of History as well...  

Herodotus and Thucydides, like ancient pagan writers generally, accepted the Trojan War as historical, but criticized what they politely called "epic statements" in detail. Traditional genealogies, collated by Hecataeus of Miletus and others , enabled   Eratosthenes to date the fall of Troy to 1194 B.C. This is consistent with  the Roman scholar Pliny the elder and Egyptian records from Rameses' time as well.

       Even earlier great western civilizations included the Egyptians and Babylonians. The ancient city of Babylon ( today's Iraq ) ruled the world in it's day just as Rome did in hers. Called "The Cradle of Civilization" it was the birthplace of our modern courts and justice system based upon the legendary "Code of Hammurabi" and boasted as it's showpiece one of the seven wonders of the ancient world; The Hanging Gardens of Babylon built by Legendary King Nebucadnezzar ( 605-562 B.C.) for his wife. Of the original Seven Wonders of the Ancient World, only The Great Pyramids in Egypt still stand today. Built by The Pharaoh Cheops, ( 2900-2877 B.C.) The Great Pyramids are the costliest monuments any man has ever built to himself, and their construction methods remain a mystery to this day.

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Alexander the Great (356-323 B.C.) conquered what was then the known world. "When Alexander saw the breadth of his kingdom he wept, for there were no more new worlds to conquer." Although he built the city of Alexandria with it's legendary lighthouse, he was not a great builder or statesman like other notables of history. The real creator of this Legend of History is his father, Phillip of Macedonia. Just as a great playright does not bask in the limelight, but the actors, so it was with Phillip and his son Alexander the Great.

Phillip conceived and planned everything, building the army and beginning the Persian expedition before his death. For a time the whole world, from the Adriatic to the Indus, was under one ruler; realizing the dreams of his father.  He and 90 of his generals and friends married Persian brides. This was called the marriage of Europe and Asia. At 31, he had been in possession of the Persian empire for six years and wore the robes and tiara of a Persian monarch. He broke with Greek tradition by shaving his face, becoming notoriously violent, vain, and egotistical in his last days. His career marks an epoch in human history and he remains a controversial figure to this day.

  A WORLD IN TRANSITION

 World Governing Empires of the West: After the Babylonians, the Medeo-Persians, and the Greeks came the Romans. The Carthaginians gave them some competition in the Punic Wars. Hannibal's war Elephants came as quite a surprise after unexpectedly crossing the Alps, but the Romans quickly learned to counter them by letting them pass and stabbing their soft hind quarters with their spears from behind to bring them down.

"Pax Romana"or "Roman Peace"; history's longest period without war, 200 years, came at the price of freedom and was imposed by Roman weapons of war. The North African Carthaginians were completely wiped out down to the last babe in arms by the Roman Army for their defiance of Roman Authority bringing an end to The Punic Wars. ( 264-146 B.C.) Historians refer to this genocidal use of overwhelming force against helpless civilians as a "Carthaginian Peace".

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CAESAR AND CHRIST

Gaius Julius Caesar ( 100-44 B.C.) General & Dictator of Rome,  was born in Rome on July 13, 100 BC to Gaius Julius Caesar & Aurelia. He was the only son & had two sisters, both named Julia, called respectively Julia Minor & Julia Major . Romans, like Cicero spelled his name: "CAIVS IVLIVS CAESAR"

Contrary to popular myths Caesar did not come from a very rich or influential family.  Caesar's father died at Pisa while on military duty in 85/84 BC. At this time little Julius is tutored by Alexandrian educated grammarian and rhetorican Marcus Antonius Gnipho. In 77 BC Caesar enters politics in the conventional way, as a lawyer. In 74 BC, using treasure he captured from pirates, Caesar raised an army and defeated Mithridates VI, who had invaded Roman territory. After this service he returned to study at Rhodes. In Rome Caesar is elected Military Tribune by the people. In 61 BC Caesar served as  governor in Spain. In 59 BC Julius Caesar at 40 entered office as Consul of the republic of Rome. Caesar now solidified his alliance with Pompey by marrying his daughter Julia to him persuading Pompey to give him legions for her. Caesar had achieved much by age 42, doing more than many men twice his age. He understood that his times required more than just political and oratory skill to attain his goals. The conquest and eventual assimilation of Gaul secured more money and a considerable military reputation for him. Also the map and history of Europe would be forever changed.

It began Romanic & Germanic differences in culture & nationalism that existed between Gaul (France) & Germania (Germany) for 2039 years leading to countless wars & atrocities. The Celtic Warriors were a ferocious adversaries, madly fond of war, but we must not glorify Caesar's Gallic conquest too much, the Roman policy was basically genocide! Gaul was starved & pillaged to bare soil.  We must add to Caesar's epitaph that he was one of history's greatest killers. In 48 BC King Ptolemy XIII of Egypt assassinated Pompey & presented his head to Caesar. Infuriated, the Roman Consul Gaius Julius Caesar arrived with 4000 men at Alexandria Egypt and took over. In 44 BC On the day of an ancient festival, Caesar sat on his gilded chair, dressed in a purple robe like the old kings of Rome had worn & a golden wreath. Its  clear Caesar was comfortable appearing in Public as Dictator Perpetuus, the next best thing to being king. His relationship with Cleopatra, queen of Egypt did not help. He was assassinated on the Ides of march by the Senators in the Senate chambers. The reasons for his assassination are debated over to this very day. Caesar later also claimed to be descendant of Rome's fourth King Ancus Marcius and the Goddess Venus.

Cleopatra, ( 69-30 B.C.) descended from Ptolomey, one of Alexander the great's generals, she was heralded as the greatest of all beauties and is arguably the most legendary femme fatale in all the annals of history in competition with the beauteous Helen of Troy. At the age of seventeen, she became Queen of Egypt ruling jointly with her younger brother Ptolemey V by marriage, according to the ancient Egyptian custom of the Pharaohs.
After he betrayed her and stripped her of all power and authority, she withdrew to Syria, and prepared to recover her rights by force of arms. Her opportunity came when Julius Caesar followed Pompey into Egypt. The personal fascinations of Cleopatra induced Caesar to undertake a war on her behalf, in which Ptolemey lost his life. She regained her throne through a marriage to her younger brother whom she rid herself of with poison. She lived openly as Caesar's mistress until his assassination in Rome. Their association had been terribly unpopular, and she became aware of her unpopularity and returned to Egypt.      Subsequently Cleopatra became ally and mistress to Mark Antony (Antonius ). Enter Gaius Julius Caesar Octavian ( 63 B.C.- 14 A.D.) who was the adopted son of Julius Caesar. He declared war on the star crossed lovers and defeated them at Actium. After a secret conference, she accepted the victor's proposal that she  poison Antony, her lover, and "for Egypt" she set out to seduce this newest Roman Commander, Octavian...
She lured Antony to a mausoleum where he committed suicide himself in the mistaken idea she had already done so. Octavian refused to yield to the charms of Cleopatra, who, according to tradition, put an end to her own life by applying an asp to her bosom. Octavian went on to realize their unfulfilled ambitions and became Caesar Augustus, the first Emperor of Rome and founder of the Imperial Roman Government.

THE REIGN OF INTOLERANCE:

    In all history, nothing can compare with Rome. Possibly the Biggest lie in history was that Rome fell. I contend that Rome never fell. The economic capitol of Rome shifted east for a while to avoid the Visigoths. She merely traded her eagles for crosses and went right on with her conquering and murdering ways in the name of the GOD of LOVE.

Zenobia, Queen of Palmyra (circa 278 A.D.) is one of the grandest & most underrated heroines of antiquity! She come from a long line of fabulous Syrian & Abyssinian queens, including the Legendary Queen of Sheba. She adored & emulated Cleopatra & ironically met a similar fate. Assyrian records speak of Arab warrior queens like Zabibi, who revolted but was finally subdued in 738 B.C. Here she is at the end of her career, her city in flames, betrayed by the Romans she had served faithfully all her life . Queen Zenobia of Palmyra,  born Septima Bath-shabbi, consort of Odaenathus, the Dux Orientus succeeded his throne as his widow & on behalf of her son, the lawful successor. She ruled with very capable hands and was determined to surpass his excellence and make Palmyra mistress of the Roman Empire in the east.  She was a scholar in her own right and was instructed in the sciences by the celebrated Longinus. Besides her native tongue, she spoke the Latin, Greek, Coptic and Syrian languages. She patronized learned men and herself formed an epitome of Egyptian history.  The Talmud speaks of her goodness to rabbis. She was a conqueror and commanded a fine army, protecting the Roman flank from the Persians and subduing Egypt. In spite of her loyalty and capable leadership Zenobia was betrayed when the new emperor Aurelius took the throne because of gender prejudice.  Zenobia then stood up to the tyranny of the Romans in the grandest heroic fashion. She led her troops into Phoenicia and Palestine, conquered the land to the borders of Egypt and defeated the world-governing Roman army. Personally leading her troops into battle on horseback was an important ingredient for Zenobia's success. A woman's presence in battle is inspiring (like a mythical goddess) common among early Arabs, in a pre-Islamic tradition; called the Lady of Victory. Her hair flowing and her body partly exposed, this Lady of Victory appealed both to valor and passion. In addition to this, the fact that every man that met her fell in love with her due to her beauty and charm makes her even more fascinating.  Life of Aurelian, by Vopiscus in Augustae Historiae Scriptores (translated into English by Bernard in 1740) VISIT POD PUBLISHING FOR BEAUTIFUL POSTER SIZE REPRINTS  AND A VARIETY OF PAYMENT OPTIONS, SIZES, PAPERS, AND PRICES

The LEGENDS of HISTORY; Act Two:

The AGE of Faith

The knowledge and technology of the ancient world was lost as the west sank into the Dark Ages. The sword of Islam was unsheathed and the Arab Conquest began by sweeping into Europe. ( 705- 715 A.D.) 

The Crusades ( 1095 - 1291 A.D.) were the culminating act of the medieval drama, and perhaps the most picturesque event in the history of Europe and the Near East. 

The failure of the Crusades caused doubt as to the divine origin and support of the Roman Church. The Inquisition took it's earliest form around 1023 A.D. to deal with various kinds of heresies and made the Age of Faith complete. Persecution of Jews, Muslims, and Pagans was especially relentless during these centuries. Dante - 'The Divine Comedy' ( 1318 A.D.) with his 'Inferno' - a terrifying vision of Hell - was the most influential writer and philosopher of the times. 

  The Roman Church's unspeakable crimes committed in the name of GOD during this era are among the most horrific abuses of power in the legends of history...   

      The Medieval Romans felt any criticism of the Catholic Church was an attack on GOD himself; the contumacious heretic could only be viewed as an agent of Satan, sent to undo the work of Christ; and any man or government that tolerated heresy was serving Lucifer.

       Of course It was a death penalty for over a thousand years to be caught reading a Bible in vernacular or without a priest. Jesus Christ's blistering rebuke of the Harlot Church and commands for GOD's faithful to leave it in The Holy Bible, the Book of Revelation - chapters 2, 3, and especially Chapter 18 were covered up with deadly force. Ancient Roman taxation evolved into tithes and the Church's greed led to the Protestant Reformation (1517- 64 A.D.) which brought sweeping reforms to all the Christian Churches.

     Note: Only around the turn of the 21st century did the Pope help overcome this medieval stigma by publicly denouncing and apologizing for these centuries of  murderous atrocities and embracing Christ's fundamental teachings of forgiveness, tolerance, and love. John Paul II has brought renewed honor to the Papacy by providing real spiritual leadership to the Modern Catholic Church and working tirelessly for peace throughout the world.

THE REBIRTH OF LEARNING:

The boundary between "medieval" and "modern" is always advancing and our age of coal and oil and sooty slums may some day be accounted as medieval by an era of cleaner power and more gracious life.

       Following the Dark Ages came the Renaissance, Reformation, Rousseau and Revolution! In Italy under the Borges we had warfare, terror, bloodshed - and that produced Michaelangelo, Leonardo Da Vinci, and the Renaissance. In Switzerland we had five hundred years of peace and brotherly love... and what did that produce? The Cuckoo Clock.

       The American Revolution took it's force from economic realities like taxation and trade, and the legendary framers of it's Constitution and authors of it's Declaration of Independence, Washington, Franklin, and Jefferson had been molded to free thought by the philosophes.

    One of the outstanding Legends of History is George Washington, the first American President.

   When George Washington was offered unlimited power he said: " We have had enough of kings." If he had given in to greed and lust for power, many of us would not have the freedoms we enjoy today...

      After French philosophers seeded revolution in America in the first place, the success of the American Revolution inspired the French Revolution and the subsequent Reign of Terror. Out of them came one of the greatest legends of all history - Napoleon Bonaparte

         He was a great general who was also a dictator very fond of Ancient Rome. He emulated Julius Caesar on the battlefield and off and realized many of Caesar's ambitions.

    Napoleon's time was the Zenith of the Era of the Gentleman's War, the heyday of the professional soldier. Professional Armies had not waged war against helpless civilians since the time of the Ancient Romans.

He was both the most hated and best loved man of his day. Legendary both for brilliant victories and agonizing defeats. Hero, Villain, Statesman, Traitor... Napoleon Bonaparte was all these things and more.

Remember the Alamo!" was the battle cry of the Texas Revolution that struck fear into the hearts of the army of General Santa Anna at the battle of San Jacinto. Santa Anna liked to be called "the Napoleon of the west".

The Alamo was a military defeat that turned out to be a political victory for the Texans.  It  took 13 days and enormous casualties for Santa Anna to take the Alamo mission. The stubborn defenders of the Alamo held them off long enough for General Sam Houston to build the army of the Texas Revolution.

Many Hispanic freedom fighters such as Juan N. Seguin - first mayor of San Antonio - the famous scout who went out to get help from Sam Houston - took their stand as legendary Defenders of liberty against tyranny alongside their famous Anglo-Saxon companeros inside the walls of the Alamo.

-The American Thermopylae.

THE FRIGHTFUL COST OF WAR:

     War costs money...trillions of dollars. War takes human lives...millions of them! War makes children old, breaks parent's hearts, kills morale. War destroys cities, art treasures, civilization! The first world war alone cost thirty million lives and 4 trillion dollars when adjusted to modern U.S. dollars. With the money at the time we could have built a three bedroom two bath house furnished with fine hardwood furniture on five acres of quality land for every family in The United States, Canada, Australia, England, Scotland, Wales, Ireland, France, Belgium, Germany and Russia. There would have been enough left to build and stock a first class library and a proper university in every town of twenty- thousand people or more.

      Think of it...Out of the balance we could have paid the salaries for life of 125,000 teachers and 125,000 nurses. The remaining balance could have bought 1919 Belgium and France and everything in them.

      Instead, the power of industry with it's new war machines made attacking factories and their civilian personnel essential. Technology forced us back into barbarism and the journey to total war was complete.

   Blitzkrieg! Even after all the horrors of World War One mankind still did not learn it's lesson... In Nazi Germany Intolerance was rising again in the spirit and pattern of Imperial Rome...

The world hoped appeasement would work...

but the Fascist Imperialists just grew stronger and stronger -until they were confident enough to strike!

The Panzer Grenadiers were an elite Nazi German fighting unit of World War Two that was often mistaken for the Gestapo because of the skull and crossbones they both wore on their collars ...The soldiers above are actual German World War II veterans painted from extant photographs. Note the distinctive rose pink piping on the epaulets and the tank commander's black beret and tunic. The Battle of Russia depicted to the right with Panzer Grenadiers in war torn Stalingrad were the largest land battles in human history and their casualties reflect it. 

     Legendary in the annals of war are the B-17 Flying Fortresses and B-24 Liberators of World War II. The battles between them and the German Luftwaffe were the most epic and ferocious air battles ever. Famous for bringing their boys home with tails shot off, engines aflame and missing wings, the skies over Europe were  black with planes in 1943 & 1944 in the most massive bombing raids in human history. In spite of this Incredible durability one in three did not return from Germany...the fighting was so tough...

       World War Two brought us history's only Nuclear War. No One had to teach me to grieve for three million allied casualties in World War Two or the coming of Atomic War and it's terror to Japan and therefore the world.

         My Mother taught me to grieve for the six million Jews who were killed in World War Two...Then my Father, an American WWII veteran taught me to also grieve for thirteen million Germans, twenty million Russians and an incalculable number of Asians...

THE BIRTH OF THE ATOMIC AGE

THE AGE OF ATOMIC TERROR?

The War on Terror: No rest for the weary? The end of the cold war has not spared the world from atomic terror. The proliferation of nuclear weapons to so many nations, some so murderously intolerant and fond of war that a situation potentially worse and far more volatile than the cold war has emerged in the 21st century.

   Things to Come? Can we look for a nuclear war in the middle east when the Tigris and Euphrates rivers dry up? Legends of atomic Armageddon in the middle east come to mind once again... but that has nothing to do with history... or does it? Visit 'Things to Come' below for a chilling look at prophecies describing upcoming Atomic Warfare in the middle east and the effects of Nuclear Weapons with amazing accuracy and detail.

British WWII Prime Minister Winston Churchill asked the age old question;

"Is mankind doomed to never learn from it's mistakes?"

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    Thank you for visiting "The Outline of History" multi- media educational art gallery...

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For Art Prints, More Art Gallery Links and Essays on History and Art and Technology by the artist scroll down...

Bonus Section:

Personal Opinion Essays on History and Art by the artist.

HOW DO WE SORT OUT HISTORY AND MYTHOLOGY?

A Legends of History essay by the artist

        Did you know the real life Robin Hood ( before the legend was Christianized ) actually fought the ancient Romans during the reign of Emperor Claudius and was really a Celtic Warrior named Caracticus? Consider 20th century American President Theodore Roosevelt. He lives in history because of his heroic charge up San Juan hill with his legendary roughriders. When this story was printed in William Randolph Hearst's newspapers it catapulted him to fame and ushered him into the White House as a glorious American War Hero. Everyone has seen the paintings and statues of Teddy Roosevelt and his roughriders dressed in khaki, mounted on horseback and charging fearlessly forward waving their swords. In reality, it was a group of Heroic African American Buffalo Soldiers who took San Juan Hill in spite of their heavy casualties. They did not wear khaki. They were not mounted on horseback, but were foot soldiers in the same dark blue uniforms of the U.S. cavalry as worn during the Indian Wars. Roosevelt's group actually took a nearby Hill against light resistance but Hearst said that would not sell newspapers so he created an American Myth. So as we see, here is something taught to children in schools as history is just not true at all, but yet, this myth shaped the true history of the world in  the 20th century and beyond.

            If Teddy Roosevelt had not been elected president, neither would his nephew, Franklin Delano Roosevelt, who provided very real and crucial leadership during the Great Depression and the Second World War. Neither would Theodore Roosevelt have built the Panama Canal or established the conservation of our natural resources. So here we see Modern Myth not only influencing, but creating History. In reality, I perceive Theodore Roosevelt was a much greater president than history gives him credit for. Although it is true his kindness created the "Teddy Bear",he really was also fit and trim, vigorous and active, and a very tough president in his foreign policies. He was instrumental in America's emergence as a world power. It is also true that he came from the upper upper class - old money in New York with a background of great wealth and limitless luxury and chose to be an outdoorsman, a cowboy, and soldier. When he was given office, he embraced the concept of being a good Shepherd , of seeking justice for all Americans - for this he was called a" traitor to his class".

         Actually, he is the savior of his class. In my estimation, it is President Theodore Roosevelt who is most responsible for the end of the then imminent threat of communist revolution or takeover in America. Throughout the early 20th century Socialist Revolutions were sweeping across the globe. Conditions for the workers in America were appalling. Child Labor, dangerous working conditions, ungodly long hours, degradation, and shockingly low pay. When Karl Marx wrote his "Communist Manifesto" he never dreamed of an affluent MIDDLE class. A middle class that is comfortable and savoring, life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness is not going to rise up in murderous anger and "Storm the Bastile". What Global Communism could not contend with was America's happy and prosperous middle class. Theodore Roosevelt practically invented America's affluent middle class and eliminated the threat of Communist revolution in America.  Although he was well loved, he was also hated and caught tremendous heat from the wealthy elite for sharing a small portion of their wealth with the common man. He saved them from a Second American Revolution by customizing capitalism to a kinder, gentler form than the horrors of the late 19th century. Like General Winfield Scott, who won The American Civil War before it started, he defeated his foes with an idea. If the Robber Barons had had their way, their greed could well have caused America to fall to communism. Today, we have a new generation of robber barons but no Teddy to stand up for the little guys. I feel the true history about American President Theodore Roosevelt is more amazing than the myth, but they are interwoven and inseparable, without the one, we would not have the other. He was both a glorious and a tragic figure. As a leader and as a man I believe he is badly underestimated. It was only when his beloved son, nicknamed "Quinnykins" died fighting in World War One that he finally saw through all the myths and glamour to see the awful truth about war face on. He never got over his guilt for glorifying war to his son. We could all learn a lot from his experiences.

        War costs money...trillions of dollars. War takes human lives...millions of them! War makes children old, breaks parent's hearts, kills morale. War destroys cities, art treasures, civilization! The first world war alone cost thirty million lives and 4 trillion dollars when adjusted to the buying power of modern U.S. dollars. With the money at the time we could have built a three bedroom two bath house furnished with fine hardwood furniture on five acres of quality land for every family in The United States, Canada, Australia, England, Scotland, Wales, Ireland, France, Belgium, Germany and Russia. There would have been enough left to build and stock a first class library and a proper university in every town of 20,000 people or more. Out of the balance we could pay the salaries for life of 125,000 teachers and 125,000 nurses. The remaining balance could have bought 1919 Belgium and France and everything in them.

           I see History as an endless waltz. Three beats over and over. War, Peace, and Revolution. Three beats over and over in an endless cycle of death, destruction, and regeneration. An Endless Waltz... and those who do not learn the lessons of history are doomed to dance this deadly waltz and pay this Frightful price for War. As modern technology such as jet aircraft and thermonuclear missiles make the world smaller & more dangerous everyday, tolerating each other's racial, social, & religious differences & living together in peace has now become key to the continued survival of mankind through the 21st century...

~H D Johnson 2003

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Soft Pastels, Acrylics, and Colored Pencils combined

     Snobbism in the arts is nothing new. Some people will tell you that oils are the only valid medium for realistic paintings. That Colored Pencil, Digital, and other Realistic Painting and Drawing Media are not valid  for "real" art. Young artists, Don't let them bother you. Their forerunners used to condemn Pastels before they gained acceptance and called them "crayons" when Johann Alexander Thiele (1685-1752) invented them.  Mercilessly disrespectful art critics of the time could not stop the Experimentalists no matter how viciously they attacked and derided them. "Crayon-painting" as it was called in England was practiced early on by persecuted pioneers in Switzerland and many other nations. What a debt we owe to these master artists who refused to knuckle under to the pressure of those short-sighted critics during those historic and experimental times. It took until 1870 with the founding of the "Societe` Des Pastellistes" in France that respect came  at last to these heroic & immortal visual artists.

        In England the liberation of the Pastellists from slight regard and undeserved disrespect came with the first exhibition of "The Pastel Society" at the Grosvenor Gallery in 1880. Pastel Painters like Mary Cassat and others from America and other nations forever silenced  the snobs with their masterworks and gained recognition at long last for Thiele's invention as a valid art medium. I am persuaded that history will repeat itself.  Like Pastels, I believe these wonderful new colored pencils and even Digital Realistic Art Media will one day receive the recognition they deserve as powerful mediums of artistic expression just as pastel paintings did. What is your definition of art? Have you thought about it?

Mine is: "anything that makes you feel or think."

     Consider dancing... it can be a little skip in the step or rise to the level of the incomparable Russian Ballet. Did you know that just the materials alone for a single oil painting cost up to a thousand dollars these days? Did you know that they are toxic? Even paying the artist less than minimum wage no one but the super rich can afford them anymore. Something's got to give. Realistic paintings in oil have been highly prized for centuries and the appeal and following of realistic art is undiminished to this day. Oil paintings featuring Abstract Art and Realistic Art are generally the most treasured form of all the visual art media and with good reason. But snobbish art critics  favoring abstract art have declared  that realistic paintings, or illustrations are not art for a century. With so many representationalist  paintings by so many immortal master artists hanging in the Louvre, the Hermitage, and the British Museum and others I think the disrespect for realistic illustrators that dominated the 20th century is academically ridiculous as well as vain and intolerant, insisting theirs is the only valid opinion. What is your definition of Art? I believe almost any form of human expression can be raised to the level of "high art" especially  visual art and Realistic illustration...

      By my own definition of art, which is: "anything that makes you feel or think" most abstract paintings are not "real art"to me personally, because abstract paintings usually neither make me feel or think,  generally focusing obsessively on technique and avoiding any coherent content. I usually draw a complete blank mentally and emotionally when I look at them. In 1979 the Houston Metropolitan Museum of Art displayed a triptych of 3 giant paintings they paid fifty thousand dollars for-  three blank white canvasses entitled "untitled". Then there was "The incredible new artistic Genius" with an I.Q. of 62 ...Congo the chimpanzee with his gala New York art exhibition...an elaborate prank played on the Snobbish American Art critics about a generation ago by research scientists in the field of primatology. Imagine how upset they were when he created one of his "ingenious masterpieces" right before their eyes.

( My Source for this is the Time Life Science Library volume entitled "The Primates". )

      Art education has been almost completely removed from American Schools as a result of generations of this kind of  fabulous nonsense contributing to America's cultural illiteracy crisis. Now, the works of Leonardo Da Vinci, Michaelangelo, and other notables are being removed from school libraries.  After generations of this, most American college graduates today cannot name even one living visual artist, abstract or realistic.

There is no way that mandating more math, requiring more reading, or scheduling more science will replace what we have lost as a culture.    

What is your definition of Art?

~HDJ

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But how does this new Digital Art media fit in with formal definitions of Art?

       Art ( noun ) [ Middle English, from Old French, from Latin ars (stem art-). ] 1. Human effort to imitate, supplement, alter, or counteract the work of nature. 2. The conscious production or arrangement of sounds, colors, forms, movements, or other elements in a manner that affects the sense of beauty; specifically, the production of the beautiful in a graphic or plastic medium. 3. The product of these activities; human works of beauty, collectively. 4. High quality of conception or execution, as found in works of beauty; aesthetic value. 5. Any field or category of art, such as painting, music, ballet, or literature. 6. A non-scientific branch of learning; one of the liberal arts. 7. a. A system of principles and methods employed in the performances of a set of activities: the art of building. b. A trade or craft that applies such a system of principles and methods: pursuing the baker's art. 8. A specific skill in adept performance, conceived as requiring the exercise of intuitive faculties that cannot be learned solely by study: the art of writing letters. 9. a. Usually plural.  Artful devices; stratagems; tricks. b. Artfulness; contrivance; cunning. 10. In printing: Illustrative material as distinguished from text.

~ The American Heritage College Dictionary of the English Language

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