Architecture is an art form that is heavily inspired by theory -- the production of pieces so monumental and visible is understandably self-conscious. Some architects, however, transcend impersonal theory and create from their own history, spirit, and pleasure. Carlo Scarpa was such a visionary; he c

Bright, Charming, Dramatic, Layered

When Naguib Mahfouz serialized his novel 'The Children of Gebelawi' in Arab-language newspapers, the fundamentalist Muslim group al-Jihad promptly put a bounty on his head. Thirty years later, in 1994, the Nobel Prize-winner was stabbed in the neck outside his Cairo home. Though he lived to tell the

Dramatic, Epic, Intense, Modernist literature, Mythic

When explaining the physical sensations of her movement, Mary Wigman seemed to describe an intimate duet in which the surrounding space was her partner. Space for Wigman was animate, actively molding and defining her movments. She described the way air pressed down on her limbs to create gestures, an

Dramatic, Ecstatic, Intense, Physical force

Emboldening classical ballet, the Dance Theater of Harlem takes up the old and gives it an articulate, contemporary spin. The group sharpens the edge of the familiar with a bit of bombast, but always with impeccable classical precision. Arthur Mitchell founded the DTH in 1969, inspired to create

Classical, Clean, Composed, Dramatic, Innovations since balanchine, Pioneering