Art Studio Elbe - Verband freischaffender Künstler.

Author - Brian Hawkeswood.                                                               " Scrollen Sie nach unten, um den Text auf Deutsch zu lesen.” Introduction Over four decades of teaching art, I’ve watched an idea be misrepresented, trivialised, and siloed—creativity. Repeatedly, I witnessed colleagues—well-meaning but profoundly misinformed—reduce creativity to an aesthetic afterthought, a colourful embellishment tacked onto otherwise rigid learning: “Don’t forget to colour it in—be creative!” they would urge students. Such moments, minor on the surface, revealed a deep structural misunderstanding about what creativity actually is and what role it should play in education. This essay is a response to that misunderstanding, and a plea for the restoration of creativity as a central human capacity—not owned by the arts, but exp...

Author - Brian Hawkeswood Baroque architecture emerged in late 16th-century Italy and flourished throughout the 17th and 18th centuries across Europe and beyond. More than just a stylistic shift, the Baroque represented a profound transformation in the cultural and spiritual climate of early modern Europe. It was a theatrical, expressive, and dynamic form of architecture—part propaganda of the Counter-Reformation, part manifestation of absolutist power, and part response to a new emotional and psychological awareness in art and design. I. Precursors to the Baroque: The Renaissance and Mannerism The foundations of Baroque architecture lie in the High Renaissance, particularly in the architectural innovations of the early 16th century. Renaissance architecture, rooted in Classical Roman principles, emphasized harmony, proportion, symmetry, and clear geometry. Its champions—Filippo Brunelleschi, Leon Battista Alberti, and Donato Bramante—recovered Vitruvian ideals, applying them in a r...