among them a historian who had won a MacArthur prize. We’d all been to an art opening, and, over dinner, a painter among us was holding forth on the work we’d seen. “As you know,” he said, bringing in ...

This is the final article in “The Postmodern Temper,” a series which examined the contemporary state of various artistic fields. Publication is made possible with support from the “New Works” Program ...

How did I miss this before today? Well, thanks to the sublime Maria Popova and her site Brain Pickings, I am now among the millions of folks who have encountered the equally sublime Vi Hart on YouTube ...

In the 20th century, composers thought about different approaches to tonality and harmony. A number of movements developed their own harmonic languages: As well as creating extreme dissonances, some ...