The Aesthetic Realism Foundation is very grateful for the support received from those who attended our Holiday Gala Benefit.
It was a great success! The funds raised are essential for the many courses and classes taught here and for the outreach workshops and events the Aesthetic Realism Foundation provides throughout the metropolitan area and beyond.
To learn more about our educational programs—click here.
Aesthetic Realism Consultations: In consultations, a person’s individual life questions are understood and explained, through the principles of Aesthetic Realism....more
Architect Anthony Romeo has written an important letter about what’s happening at the Aesthetic Realism Foundation and about the value of Aesthetic Realism. He says—
"At this crucial time in history, people are looking for something. There is a desperate need for knowledge that can show clearly, convincingly, that we take care of ourselves by being just to people different from us—by seeing value in the world, not manipulating, exploiting, making less of it. This education is Aesthetic Realism…." Read more
Saturday evening public presentations feature dramatic readings of some of the lectures on literature, ethics, history, and art given by Eli Siegel, and talks by artists and scholars on this new way of seeing all the arts and sciences.
Saturday, May 18, 8:00 PM
Music, Life, Money—& Reality's Opposites
Aesthetic Realism & Frank Norris's The Pit Speaking of this novel about a marriage and dealings on the Chicago Board of Trade in the 1890s, Eli Siegel said:
"Norris was interested in the inward goings on of a person. Yet there was the very big desire in him, too, to embrace whole mountain ranges, to take in a whole continent.
He felt, ‘There are many people who want to produce things, and many people who want to use them. Why does there have to be all this suffering?’”
What Do You Owe Another Person?A reenactment of an Aesthetic Realism Lesson
"Do you think you can be happy without wanting people to be stronger?" —Eli Siegel
Why Is the Scale Beautiful? by composer Edward Green
“To venture out and to be secure are opposites, and in the musical scale they are sheerly the same thing.”
Here is part 8 of the 1972 lecture we are serializing. The Known and Unknown Are Kind in Poetry, by Eli Siegel, is very much about two tremendous questions critics have tried to answer for centuries: What is art? and Why does art matter? Aesthetic Realism answers these questions—truly and greatly.
Aesthetic Realism also explains that the way of seeing which makes for art, and the purpose in us which enables us to be affected by art, are completely opposed to another way of seeing we have: contempt. Contempt is the getting an “addition to self through the lessening of something else.” It is the ugliest, stupidest, most hurtful thing in every person. Yet people have mistakenly felt that this ability to look down on the outside world made them clever, secure, and even creative.
I’m going to comment on an article that appeared on April 15 in the New York Times. What it’s about can seem so different from the content of Mr. Siegel’s lecture. After all, the article is about babies, infants, while Mr. Siegel, discussing an essay on the poet Milton, speaks about how a great author sees. more
On the first Thursday of every month the Aesthetic Realism Consultants and Associates present public seminars. Representative subjects include: “Real Communication in Marriage—How Can We Have It?”; “What's the Difference between Wowing People & Liking Yourself?”; “Kindness: Is It Strong ?”; “The Aesthetic Realism Teaching Method Succeeds: Knowledge Wins, Prejudice Loses!”
Thursday, June 6, 6:30 PM
Being Important—What Does It Mean,
& What Mistakes Do We Make about It?
Pioneering dramatic and musical presentations take place at the Foundation, and elsewhere as part of the Foundation’s Outreach Program. These productions—a new dramatic form with performance and comment—include “Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream; or, Earthy Whirl,” by Eli Siegel; “Rock ‘n’ Roll, the Opposites, & Our Greatest Hopes!”; “Ibsen, Bach, & What Interferes with Love”‘ and more.
Sunday, June 23, 2:30 PM
The Aesthetic Realism Theatre Company presents—
Evil Seen Beautifully! or,
Voltaire's Candide
A dramatic production of Eli Siegel's great 1951 lecture
There's nothing people need more at this time than an accurate, courageous, lively, and beautiful way to see the relation of good and evil! That's what this presentation is about—and has.
In 1951 Eli Siegel, founder of Aesthetic Realism, lectured on Voltaire's very funny 1759 novel. He said:
"Candide, though written in the middle of the polite 18th century, is one of the giddiest, speediest works that ever lived. And it's beauty is its speed. It is a poetic, musical composition, with evil presented clearly in a tireless sort of dance."
Realismo Estético
The purpose of the not-for-profit Aesthetic Realism Foundation
