Thomas Jefferson’s 275th Celebration
Posted: April 16, 2018 Filed under: Education, History, Mediasphere, Think Tank | Tags: Bill of Rights, Declaration of Independence, Francis Bacon, Isaac Newton, John Locke, Liberalism, Self Government, Tacitus, Thomas Jefferson, US Constitution, Virginia Leave a commentStudying Jefferson should be a guiding star.
Jamie Gass and Will Fitzhugh write: “Students of reading, writing, and common arithmetick . . . Graecian, Roman, English, and American history . . .,” Thomas Jefferson advised that democratic education “should be… able to guard the sacred deposit of the rights and liberties of their fellow citizens.”
Mid-April marks the 275th anniversary of Jefferson’s birthday. Given his world-changing achievements, this milestone is worthy of recognizing – and of being taught in our public schools. His contributions to the American civilization are incalculable; he was a revolutionary, statesman, diplomat, man-of-letters, scientist, architect, and apostle of liberty.
Rather than forcing a titan like Jefferson to conform to our era’s often Lilliputian-style narcissism, we should study history by entering the past with imagination and humility.
In drafting the Declaration of Independence, the most elegant and universally quoted political document in history, Jefferson displayed his greatest talents. He powerfully combined literary language and self-evident truths to shape the legal and political future of the United States.
The first member of his family to attend college, Jefferson loved books and classical learning. He could read six languages, including ancient Greek and Latin, while his 18th-century education taught him timeless principles.
Jefferson’s trinity of great thinkers – Francis Bacon, Isaac Newton, and John Locke – embodied what’s been called the Enlightenment’s “science of freedom.”
But his favorite writer was the ancient Roman historian Tacitus – a brilliant chronicler of warped, tyrannical emperors. Jefferson’s liberal-arts-centric education instilled in him a vigilance for liberty, which made him ever wary of threats to his republican experiment in ordered self-government.
Legal scholar David Mayer effectively summarized Jefferson’s strict federalism: “constitutions primarily [served] as devices by which governmental power would be limited and checked, to prevent its abuse through encroachments on individual rights…” Jefferson despised the corruptions of kings, standing armies, banks, and cities, which he identified with the Roman and British empires. Read the rest of this entry »
This Picasso Painting Just Set a World Record for Art at Auction: $179 Million
Posted: May 11, 2015 Filed under: Art & Culture | Tags: Alberto Giacometti, Auction, Christie's, Francis Bacon, Henri Matisse, Le Rêve (painting), Lucian Freud, New York, Pablo Picasso, The Women of Algiers 1 CommentA Picasso painting became the most expensive work of art ever sold at auction on Monday, going for more than $179 million.
Christie’s said “Women of Algiers (Version O)” sold for $179,365,000. That figure, which the Associated Press reports to include the auction house’s premium, surpasses a Francis Bacon work called “Three Studies of Lucian Freud” that held the top spot, also selling at Christie’s for $142.4 million in 2013.
Picasso painted the work as part of a 15-painting series…(read more)
[TIME]
Francis Bacon Work Could Fetch $80M
Posted: May 13, 2014 Filed under: Art & Culture, Mediasphere | Tags: Andy Warhol, Associated Press, Christie, Francis Bacon, Jean-Michel Basquiat, John Edwards, Lucian Freud 1 Comment
Three Studies For A Portrait Of John Edwards by Francis Bacon, which is expected to fetch around 80 million US dollars. Photo: Dominic Lipinski/PA
NEW YORK (AP) — A triptych by Francis Bacon of his longtime companion is poised to sell for about $80 million at Christie’s as the spring art auction season revs up with sales of postwar and contemporary works.
A provocative image by Andy Warhol of the 1963 Birmingham, Alabama, race riots and a seminal painting by Jean-Michel Basquiat of a regal warrior figure are among other big-ticket items coming up for sale Tuesday evening.

Andy Warhol’s 1964 Race Riot, in four parts painted with acrylic and silkscreen ink on linen. (AP Photo/Christie’s)
Bacon’s “Three Studies for a Portrait of John Edwards” was executed in 1984 and comes on the market a year after Christie’s sold his 1969 “Three Studies of Lucian Freud” for $142.4 million, setting a world record for the most expensive artwork ever sold at auction. Read the rest of this entry »