#hero – @nickkahler on Tumblr

Hitler liked to say that the purpose of his building was to transmit his time and its spirit to posterity. Ultimately, all that remained to remind men of the great epochs of history was their monumental architecture, he would philosophize ... Today, for example, Mussolini could point to the building of the Roman Empire as symbolizing the heroic spirit of Rome. Thus he could fire his nation with the idea of a modern empire. Our architectural works should also speak to the conscience of a future Germany centuries from now.

Albert Speer, “On Hitler,” c. 1970

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Gustave Moreau, The Hydra, c. 1870

#gustave moreau #hydra #mythology #man #snake #wilderness #nude #hero #heroic #odysseus #odyssey #path #satan #sunset #romanticism

nickkahler

We don't have the architectural genius anymore. We're not in that type of period. We're not in what the English would call an heroic period. There's no great Le Corbusier, Mies, and Wright. Nobody would dispute that. Nobody would dispute that at the time, in the 1930s and 1920s. We granted these people that status as you would Michelangelo and Brunelleschi.

Philip Johnson, “American Architecture Now,” c. 1983

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Guido Reni, Atalanta and Hippomenes, 1612 (via classics)

#guido reni #art #painting #nude #hero #myth #mythology #atalanta #hippomenes #antiquity

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Sing, goddess, the anger of Peleus’ son Achilleus and its devastation, which put pains thousandfold upon the Achaians, hurled in their multitudes to the house of Hades strong souls of heroes, but gave their bodies to be the delicate feasting of dogs, of all birds, and the will of Zeus was accomplished since that time when first there stood in division of conflict Atreus’ son the lord of men and brilliant Achilleus.

Richmond Lattimore vs. Homer, The Iliad, c. 800 BCE / 1951 (via secret)

#richmond lattimore #homer #iliad #sing #goddess #rage #anger #achilles #peleus #devastation #pain #house #hades #body #hero #zeus #bird #division #conflict #epic #myth #mythology #lit #literature

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Itzhak Danziger, Nimrod, 1939

There is not enough historical fantasy about the man that built, or tried to build, the Tower of Babel.

#itzhak danziger #nimrod #sculpture #tower of babel #babel #history #myth #mythology #nimrud #nude #hero #language #bird #favorite

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Barbara Kruger, Untitled (We don’t need another hero), 1987 (via annjones)

#barbara kruger #untitled #hero #children #muscles #muscle #strength #diagram #type #typeface #typography #red #need #art #graphic design

nickkahler

Edward Snowden was the first to sound the alarm, and that alone makes him a hero. Snowden truly shook a power and exposed it, and that's really amazing for a superpower that thought it wasn't accountable to anyone.

Ai Weiwei, "Interview with Spiegel," 2014

#ai weiwei #interview #quote #spiegel #edward snowden #alarm #hero #power #amazing #superpower #anyone #accountability #government

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rosswolfe

www.flickr.com

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Postcard of the Urals to the Front Statue, Magnitogorsk, Russia, 1980 (via scot)

#☭#magnitogorsk #russia #ural #mountains #sword #statue #hero #star #postcard #ussr #monument

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archiveofaffinities

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Isamu Noguchi, Monument to Heroes, 1943 (via archiveofaffinities)

#isamu noguchi #architecture #monument #hero #sculpture #model #black and white #art

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Manfred Pernice’s clumsy wood and cement sculptures deal with the idea of obsolescence of both monuments and ideologies. Exploring the particularly sensitive territory of divided Germany, Pernice acts as an archaeologist excavating urban space to unearth sites of contention. His sculptures often resemble pedestals with no statues, as if to imply that each new historical cycle will impose new heroes and symbols.

Massimiliano Gioni, “Ask the Dust” from Unmonumental, 2007

nickkahler

The scale of many of the sculptures collected here suggests a more intimate relationship with the art object. It is a profoundly modest, radically anti-heroic art that can even take on parodistic overtones. Adopting the weapons of the grotesque, many artists dethrone any sense of authority, literally defacing the formulas of traditional sculpture, such as the pedestal, the bust or the standing figure.

Massimiliano Gioni, “Ask the Dust” from Unmonumental, 2007

#massimiliano gioni #dust #unmonumental #parody #anti-heroic #art #hero #radical #weapon #grotesque #artist #authority #formula #sculpture #intimate #relationship #object #art object #pedestal #bust #figure

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In imitating the exemplary acts of a god or of a mythical hero, or simply by recounting their adventures, the man of an archaic society detaches himself from profane time and magically re-enters the Great Time, the sacred time.

Mircea Eliade, "On the Eternal Return," c. 1960

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The great tradition of Western art has been and should continue to be, not merely representational work but the idealization of the human form, the glorification of both heroic individuals and the heroic possibilities of mankind.

Pierce Rice, "On Art," (via flair)

#art #pierce rice #western art #representational #hero #mankind #glorification #glory #man #ideal #form #human being #humanity #tradition

nickkahler

The Spirit of Antiquity--enshrined In sumptuous buildings, vocal in sweet song, In picture, speaking with heroic tongue, And with devout solemnities entwined-- Mounts to the seat of grace within the mind: Hence Forms that glide with swan-like ease along, Hence motions, even amid the vulgar throng, To an harmonious decency confined: As if the streets were consecrated ground, The city one vast temple, dedicate To mutual respect in thought and deed; To leisure, to forbearances sedate; To social cares from jarring passions freed; A deeper peace than that in deserts found!

William Wordsworth, Memorials of a Tour on the Continent, 1820