I've been not feeling very well, so I haven't had the presence of mind to do this yet, but I wanted to see if there was any interest for the idea.

 Whether novice or aspiring pro, we are Catholics, which means we care whether what we do is right in the sight of God, or whether it is proper or not. I hope (as soon as I get well, and provided other circuмstances don't intervene) to start posting some seriously thought provoking tidbits on the topic of art.

The nature of the discussions and articles I hope to put here will, I hope, cover all sorts of topics concerning art... but particularly art itself, ethics and morality in art, and the like.

Finally, I hope to perhaps post a couple topics in the general forums somewhere to get people thinking about the arts. Look around us... let's face it, they're lacking!

I hope I will find that there are people who would enjoy these kinds of discussions or posts. In gleeful anticipation of the recovery of my brain, I have already found a rather delightful tidbit courtesy of St. Thomas Aquinas... and am looking for others to add to my existent arsenal of my favorite topic.

Who's interested?  :smile:

Whether novice or aspiring pro, we are Catholics, which means we care whether what we do is right in the sight of God, or whether it is proper or not.

It may have been Chesterton who said that art in the service of the Faith is not excused for its purpose. If it's not good, it's just simply not good.

The line-drawn 'logo-art' of the Roman Protestant, for example, I find to be annoying, and not very artistic. But you can find echoes of that going back decades.

It's a separate question from - what is art? The answer to that is - what school are you from? Be true to, as it were.

And a Catholic must even go beyond that superficial critique, and understand what it true, even what is holy. He or she must be self-aware as to their 'school', and not be bound by that as some standard.

So book on Catholic Art might indeed show appreciation of more than Tissot in his religious art, or Hoffman in the same, or the Italian greats, etc. And opera, supposedly the high art, might come in for more criticism than one might imagine, even ballet.

But it's a broad topic. And I'm sure one would have to address various sub-topics as they are mentioned.

That cat. It's funny, you see 'that cat' in other works, too, close to Judas. Maybe it was an homage - some say - to one particular work which they all studied?

Indeed.  By reading your sentence I'm not sure you noticed I point that out further in the thread and provide some examples.