Aesthetic Realism: A New Understanding of Art and Life / Lynette Abel

Here, I'm happy to 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 articles written 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.

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Published on the Aesthetic Realism
Foundation's Online Library is:

                              Definitions, and Comment:

                           Being a Description of the World

                                             By Eli Siegel

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With the 60th anniversary of the Beatles arrival in the USA,
I'm proud to feature this paper on their great, iconic song,
"I Saw Her Standing There."

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(TRO) What Value Isin Art and Life

    The Right of Aesthetic Realism to Be Known (TRO) is published
       biweekly.
The current issue #2144 begins to serialize this remark-
       able lecture given by Eli Siegel in 1970 titled Hazlitt Tells of
Criticism.
       This issue is "magnificent about its subject--"
editor Ellen Reiss
      
writes,
"literary criticism, art criticism--and magnificent about life."

                            Read more

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Things of note

See this wonderful website of English Educator & Aesthetic Real-ism Associate, Leila Rosena 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 moreincluding great distress and anger about events in our nation and the world. Read more
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    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.
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Chaim & Dorothy Koppelman Foundation

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.

See it here.

 Aesthetic Realism Theatre Company

From "Rock 'n' Roll, the Opposites, & Our Greatest Hopes—A Celebration!" and Other Musical and Educational Events

Kevin Fennellone 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 paper by Michael Palmer, retired sportswriter, Aesthetic Realism associate, and my husband, titled "When Is a Fight Beautiful?, or George Bellows' Dempsey & Firpo." He first presented it at the Aesthetic Realism Foundation, and you can see it on video here.

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Selected Reports of Lectures Given by Eli Siegel

     "Freedom Is with Imagination" by Paul Abel

    "Instinct and Mme de Sevigne

    "People Leave Each Other in Poetry"

    "Freedom and Order in Poetry" 

    "It Is, As It's Elsewhere

    The Miracle at Verdun, a play by Hans Chlumberg, discussed
    by Eli Siegel


     "Words Are Everywhere: Comedy and Tragedy Are Two of These" 

    "Presence and Absence: A Consideration of the Arts and Sciences"
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Aesthetic Realism Seminars

Ornament for L. Abel The Fight between Boredom and Awareness in a Woman's Mind
     Discusses the life & work of Frances Perkins, Secretary
of Labor
    
in FDR's administration.
        
Page 1 Page 2 Page 3 

Ornament for L. Abel What's the Biggest Thing Women Need to Know about Power?
     Discusses the 19th century novel, Emma by Jane Austen 

      
Page 1 Page 2 Page 3 

Ornament for L. Abel What's More Important: to Appreciate Rightly or Be Praised?
     Discusses the film The Sound of Music

      
Page 1 Page 2 Page 3 

Ornament for L. Abel Beauty and the Beast; or, the Ethics of a Fairy Tale   

Ornament for L. Abel Despite Achievement & Praise—Why Can a Woman Feel Empty?
     Discuss
es portions of Anne of Green Gables by L.M. Montgomery 
      
Page 1 Page 2 Page 3 

Ornament for L. Abel Kindness is Criticism  Includes commentary on Jane Addams 

Ornament for L. Abel The Inability to Appreciate—What Does it Come From? Discusses
     the short story "The Garden Party" by Katherine Mansfield
 

      
Page 1 Page 2 Page 3 

Ornament for L. Abel A Woman's Dissatisfaction: Can It Be Beautiful?
     Commentary on the character Beatrice from William Makepeace

     Thackeray's Henry Esmond   
Page 1 Page 2 Page 3 

Ornament for L. Abel  In Trying to Be Important, What Mistakes Do People Make?
      Discusses aspects of the novel Framley Parsonage,
by
      Anthony Trollope
 
Page 1 Page 2 Page 3 

Ornament for L. Abel  Woman's Determination: What Makes It Right or Wrong?
       
Page 1 Page 2 | Page 3 

Ornament for L. Abel  Why Are Women Disappointed--& Do They Ever Want to Be?
  
  With some comment on the 1913 novel Pollyanna by Eleanor
     H. Porter
 
Page 1 Page 2 Page 3

Ornament for L. Abel  The Intimate & Wide in the Beatles' "I Saw Her Standing There"

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.




Special Presentations of Aesthetic Realism

"Power & Grace in Music, with a Note on Sincerity" from a
Music: Aesthetic Realism
presentation of October 26, 1975
given by
Paul Abel 
 
Page 1 Page 2

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 Quartet Verdi's Rigoletto, I believe, adds importantly to its beauty and value. --Editor


Other Aesthetic Realism Resources

The Aesthetic Realism Teaching Method 
Aesthetic Realism Foundation
Aesthetic Realism Facebook

The Aesthetic Realism Theatre Company
Eli Siegel, founder of Aesthetic Realism: A Biography
Friends of Aesthetic Realism—Countering the Lies
Michael Palmer, writer on life and sports

The Aesthetic Realism Online Library
Lynette Abel, on Sargent's Madame X
Reverend Wayne Plumstead's Blog: The World Now—& You
Len Bernstein, Photography Education
The Terrain Gallery / Aesthetic Realism Foundation
Aesthetic Realism: A New Perspective for Anthropology & Sociology
Alice Bernstein, writer, Aesthetic Realism Associate
Ellen Reiss, Aesthetic Realism Chair of Education
About Eli Siegel
Eli Siegel's 'Is Beauty the Making One of Opposites?'
Self and World: An Explanation of Aesthetic Realism
Anne Fielding, Actor, Director of the Aesthetic Realism Theatre Co.
Ruth Oron, Essayist, Aesthetic Realism Associate
Nancy Huntting, Aesthetic Realism Consultant
Kevin Fennell, writer, singer with the Aesthetic Realism Theatre Co.
Leila Rosen, HS English Educator, Aesthetic Realism Associate
Alan Shapiro, jazz musician, Aesthetic Realism Associate
Lynette Abel's presentation of "Sargent's Madame X; or, Assertion & Retreat in Woman" on YouTube
Amy and Louis Dienes, Photography
Chaim and Dorothy Koppelman, artists
Donita Ellison, Art Educator, Aesthetic Realism Associate
Edward Green, composer, musicologist, Aesthetic Realism Associate

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