Nightmare (c. 1940) by Rockwell Kent.
Happy Halloween. May all your horrors be cosmic ones.
• “At that time, I was into a lot of esoteric philosophical stuff, and he was very hungry to learn about that. I gave him a list of obscure books, which he sent his girlfriend out to buy from Atlantis Bookshop in Museum Street.” Bill Nelson talking about working with David Sylvian in the 1980s. This minor detail makes the Kabbalistic/alchemical appearance of Russell Mills cover art for Gone To Earth seem less of a coincidence.
• Coming soon from Strange Attractor: Light From The North: Aleksandra Ionowa – Mediumistic and Visionary Artist, edited by Nina Kokkinen & Vivienne Roberts.
• At Little White Lies: Ryan Finnigan on the macabre convergence of FW Murnau’s art and life.
One reason to defend the dilettante, then, is for lexicological justice. The term has been unfairly burdened with an overly negative connotation. It wasn’t always this way. From the Baroque-era Italian dilettante, the term originally referred to someone who pursues an interest, particularly an artistic one, for the sake of pleasure, or “delight”. Even as the term evolved, it stayed largely neutral, distinguishing enthusiasts from professionals in a given practice. The pejorative connotation familiar to us today is more recent, shaped by what I’ll call a “deficiency” model, in which amateurism is viewed negatively as a lack of something: skill, seriousness, focus, expertise. This is the meaning ascribed by cultural gatekeepers like Theodor Adorno, who in 1929 dismissed the dilettante as one “unable to establish any standards”.
Jay Miller writes in praise of the dilettante
• At Public Domain Review: Wonderful Weather: Floods and Foreboding in 17th-Century Britain.
• MuGlobe: an interactive guide to the local music available via streaming services worldwide.
• Mix of the week: A guest mix by Solypsis for The Invisible College.
• At the BFI: Kelly Robinson chooses 10 great witch films.
• New music: Land Of Ice And Fog by Jeff Greinke.
• Andy Stott’s favourite albums.
• RIP Patrick Stewart.
• Nightmare (1938) by Artie Shaw And His Orchestra | Mysterious Semblance At The Strand Of Nightmares (1974) by Tangerine Dream | Nightmare (2015) by Rachel Mason