Tag Archives: image

Antoni Gaudí and His Sagrada Família

Posted on December 17, 2023 by Symbol Reader

Before the 30-year-old Antoni Gaudí designed the Nativity Facade of the Sagrada Família, he underwent a strict twenty-day fast that left him emaciated. The full name of the Basilica is the Expiatory Temple of the Holy Family. Its foundation stone … Continue reading →

Posted in Antoni Gaudi | Tagged Antoni Gaudi, archetypes, architecture, Art Nouveau, basilica, Casa Battlo, Catalonia, Catholic art, Catholicism, image, Modernism, nature, organic architecture, Protestant art, Protestantism, sacred art, Sagrada Familia, scripture, symbolism, symbols, temple, word | 10 Comments

Between Hermes and Mnemosyne: Jung and Warburg

Posted on July 16, 2022 by Symbol Reader

In the part of Homeric Hymn to Hermes, in which Hermes and Apollo exchange gifts, Hermes sings about the origins of the gods: “And the first of the gods that he commemorated with his song was Mnemosyne, Mother of Muses, … Continue reading →

Posted in Aby Warburg | Tagged Aby Warburg, archetypes, C.G. Jung, Hermes, image, Kerenyi, Mnemosyne, Mnemosyne Atlas, psyche, Soul, symbolism, symbols | Leave a comment

Drawing with Light: on Photography

Posted on May 16, 2015 by Symbol Reader

It is easy to romanticize the dawn of photography (literally “drawing with light”). I am not pretending I understand the technical intricacies of the entire process but I am drawn to the alchemical feel and terminology of the first photographic … Continue reading →

Posted in Photography | Tagged acheiropoietos, archetypes, art, Barthes, camera obscura, Charles Baudeleaire, daguerrotype, darkness, history of photography, image, light, narcissism, photography, shroud of Turin, Sontag, St Veronica, symbolism, symbols | 18 Comments

The Art of Sight

Posted on March 29, 2014 by Symbol Reader

Jan Brueghel the Elder and Peter Paul Rubens, “Allegory of Sight” “We are all visionaries, and what we see is our soul in things,” wrote Henri Amiel in his journal. The psyche presents itself most directly through images. The world … Continue reading →