Aesthetic Realism: A New Understanding of
Art and Life / Lynette Abel
Here I present
some of what I have learned from Aesthetic
Realism, the education founded in 1941
by Eli
Siegel, American philosopher, poet,
and scholar.
In articles, and in papers presented to the
public, I have written about personal and
national concerns, and their relation, based
on scientific principles that explain the
questions of all people. And here,
too, are important articleswritten
by friends and colleagues about issues
affecting America, and the world today.
I live in New York City and love
it here. When I was 23, I began to study the
education I write of on this website.
For instance, how a person is related to
everything else—and the place of art in
understanding this—is outlined in the
principle "The world, art, and self explain
each other: each is the aesthetic oneness of
opposites."
For more about this, see the Aesthetic
Realism Foundation Online Library and
biographical information about Eli Siegel. A current
schedule of semester classes given via video
conference can be found on the Foundation's
Calendar. And
information about how to audit particular
classes is available too.
It was the greatest pleasure and richest
life experience to have attended Aesthetic Realism classes
given by Mr. Siegel in the
years from 1973 to 1978. Included here are
selected reports I gave of some
of those classes of scholarly, humorous,
moving talks he gave on a wide diversity of
subjects—on literature, music, the social
sciences, national ethics, economics, the
human self, and so much more.
Today, my education continues in
professional classes taught each week by
Aesthetic Realism Chair of Education, Ellen Reiss, whom I
love and respect for her honesty,
scholarship, and great kindness.
The Right
of Aesthetic Realism to Be Known (TRO)
is published
biweekly. In the
current issue #2147
is the conclusion of this
great lecture
given in 1970 by Eli
Siegel, titled, Hazlitt Tells of Criticism.
"And lest anyone, seeing the title, should
think this talk
is about
literary criticism in some
remote-from-life way—" editor EllenReiss writes, "I assure you
that it is as much of you as
your
own
hopes are. It's alive with needed
knowledge for everyone."
See this wonderful website of
English Educator & Aesthetic
Real-ism Associate, Leila
Rosen—a
great resource of life and art.
In her introduction, she writes:
Aesthetic
Realism is education in
the largest sense. It teaches
people how we can see the
things that affect us every
day in a way we're proud of:
our feelings about other
people, work, love, education,
the arts, and end-lessly more—including
great distress and anger about
events in our nation and the
world. Read
more
_____________________________________
Here is a link to Aesthetic
Realism's Facebook
page, which has current
information about classes, art
essays, blogs,
and more.
And, I'm glad
to refer you to an article about
this important subject: "The
Fight in Women between Security
& Adventure—Is
There a Beautiful Solution?" by
Science Educator, and Aesthetic
Realism associate, Sally Ross. Read
it here.
_________________________________________________________________
This website, great in terms of
art and culture, contains
prints, paintings, and writings
of these important 20th century
artists, Chaim
& Dorothy Koppelman.
As I read what they wrote about
the Aesthetic
Realism of Eli
Siegel, I was stirred to
my depths by the honesty,
beauty, and originality of their
expression.
Kevin
Fennell—one
of the best rock 'n' roll writers
and critics today—
has written about Stevie Wonder's
great "Fingertips,
Part
II." It's such an exciting
paper, with musical examples
throughout. In it, Mr. Fennell
shows powerfully, through his
Aesthetic Realism education, how art
and life are in a dynamic,
inextricable relation. "Anyone
Who
Had a Heart" by Burt Bachrach
and Hal David, is sung by Carrie
Wilson. I'm proud to be one of
the backup singers, along with Meryl
Nietsch-Cooperman, & Ann
Richards.
It was a tremendous
experience to study and see how the
intimate and the wide are in the
Beatles' great song "I
Saw Her Standing There," originally presented as
part of an Aesthetic Realism Music
seminar.
To hear
"Carol of the Drum"
or "Little Drummer Boy" by Harry
Simeone, Katherine K. Davis, and
Henry Onorati, performed December
2011 by the Aesthetic Realism
Theatre Company as part of the
Special Event "The Beauty and
Urgency of Justice," click here.
A
wonderful seminar paper by my
colleague, Leila
Rosen, is on this
very important subject: What
in
a Woman Herself, Interferes with
Love? from an Aesthetic Realism
seminar, with a discussion of Neil
Simon's 1977 film The
Goodbye Girl.
I love this important essay,
The
Ordinary Doom, in which
Eli Siegel explains two large
matters: 1. Why people feel
unexpressed and, 2. Why people feel
not understood.
In 1946, Paul Abel began
his career as an airline pilot.
Several years later in 1949, Mr.
Abel received his Master's degree
in Music at Syracuse University,
where he was on the faculty and
taught voice. Then in 1969, he
began to study Aesthetic Realism
in New York City in classes with Eli
Siegel. In 1975 he taught
voice, using the Aesthetic
Realism point of view. This
is the point of view of the essay
presented here. What Mr. Abel sees
about the QuartetVerdi'sRigoletto, I believe, adds
importantly to its beauty and
value. --Editor
