#romanticism

#romanticism

"Spirit is Life. It flows thru the death of me endlessly like a river unafraid of becoming the sea." -Gregory Corso ST. LOUIS - At 2,340 miles, the "mighty" Mississippi River borders no fewer than eight American states. Missouri is among them, where the city of St. Louis has been the site of both tenacious (and pugnacious) expansionist gusto and, in the wake of midcentury de-industrialization, precipitous decline.

If you close your eyes and picture an artistic genius, chances are that the portrait will be framed by a Romantic ideal that took shape 200 years ago: an artist dedicated solely to his (almost always his) muse and transgressive appetites, breaking his era's rules both moral and artistic, remaking society with his art. But this vision of genius is a poor fit for many great artists, and it tends to obscure what makes them and their work special.