Art In The Masses

"In art there is only one thing that counts; the thing you can't explain." - Georges Braque

Welcome to Art In The Masses, a literary journal consisting of various articles, philosophies, and prose, either revolving around or composed of art:

that which is known as the highest form of hope.

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Aquinas’s Defense of Antigone’s Kreon

“Oh, it is hard to give in! But it is worse to risk everything for stubborn pride.” In this paper, I will defend King Kreon’s decree in Sophocles’s Antigone using principles derived from Aquinas’s natural law theory. According to Aquinas, law is an exercise of public personage by a sovereign who cares for all people of his state. As an instance of divergence from positive and divine law particular to a case of treachery, Kreon’s law was protective of natural law’s end towar

Emerson Sayde

Dec 26, 20254 min read

Au Fait Response to Romanticism and "Tragic Beauty"

“To send light into the darkness of men’s hearts – such is the duty of the artist.” ~Schumman Perceptions come in stages, and there are intricate timelines that accompany emotional resonance; all the art ever asks of you is patience. As we study and consume works of art, we ought to carefully uphold this procedure of patience so as to avoid diminishing some of its most primitive and enigmatic aspects. When we take viewership and engage with forms of media and portraiture, th

Emerson Sayde

Nov 9, 20255 min read

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The Allegory of Virtue, Love Defending Virtue Against Ignorance and Prejudice

Jacopo Ligozzi

c. 1580 - 1585

Clothing torn to shreds as virtue struggles to maintain uprightness in a corrupt world; love not as the saving grace, but the barrier. Originally commissioned by the Medici family in the 16th century, the 11 foot Mannerist piece found its way into the Uffizi Gallery in Rome by donation of Jean-Luc Baroni.

This is a storytelling of utter defense. Virtue, depicted by a powerful female figure often bare-breasted and armored, is protected by the winged figure Cupid, portraying Love. The base human flaws they fight are embodied by horned, human-like creatures, those not terribly indistinguishable from the natural form itself.

The vices tug at her gown, knock out her legs, leave her defenseless in perplexity and torment, but the confusion she endures dissipates as she turns her eyes to skyline, and the help she finds in Cupid is stronger. Moral clarity prevails. Divine wisdom triumphs.