The Terrain Gallery
of the Aesthetic Realism Foundation
THE TERRAIN is the first gallery to show the inextricable relation between the technique of art and people’s lives. Since its opening in 1955 in New York City, it has presented exhibitions of contemporary paintings, prints, drawings, and photographs, with comment based on Aesthetic Realism, the philosophy founded by Eli Siegel, and on his historic Fifteen Questions, Is Beauty the Making One of Opposites? * Among the artists exhibiting have been Will Barnet, Robert Blackburn, William Clutz, Lois Dodd, William King, Andre Kertesz, Chaim Koppelman, Dorothy Koppelman, Peter Passuntino, Stephen Poleskie, Elfi Schuselka, Richard Sloat, George O. Stadnik. *See also en Español and in Italiano.
— CURRENT EXHIBITION —
Five Artists—& the Opposites
GALLERY HOURS: WED, FRI, SAT 1-5 PM
We’re proud to present work by five artists—some figurative and some abstract, each uniquely individual. Yet, with all their difference, their power as art is explained by this landmark principle by Eli Siegel, founder of the philosophy Aesthetic Realism:
All beauty is a making one of opposites, and the making one
of opposites is what we are going after in ourselves.
People throughout the centuries have hoped to understand what beauty is and why art matters. That hope has been met at last. more
— ARTISTS—
CHAIM KOPPELMAN / ELFI SCHUSELKA
FRANCINE HERNANDEZ
JAMES JUTHSTROM / DOROTHY KOPPELMAN
Online Classes in the Visual Arts & Film—
“If It Moves, It Can Move You”: Opposites in the Cinema
- Jul 15: The Films of Kirk Douglas: A Study in Intensity & Ease Learn more.
The Visual Arts & the Opposites
- Jul 26: Joint Art & Anthropology Class – Can Animals Tell Us about Ourselves? Learn more.
Eli Siegel on Aesthetic Realism & the Visual Arts:
- Art as Composition, Art as Criticism, Art as Happiness—& more, Aesthetic Realism Art Essays by Eli Siegel.
- Beauty—& Jackson Pollock, Too – 1955 essay by Eli Siegel reprinted in Sotheby catalog Nov. 11, 2015.
- “The World of Art” Interview of Eli Siegel, speaking on Aesthetic Realism: WKCR-FM Columbia University Radio.
- How Aesthetic Realism Sees Art – TRO #2063 begins serializing this lecture by Eli Siegel; Ellen Reiss, Aesthetic Realism Chair of Education, writes on the Terrain Gallery.
- The Opposites Theory by Eli Siegel, a major work on all the arts serialized in TROs #1686 – 1700.
In the News:
THE CHAIM & DOROTHY KOPPELMAN FOUNDATION, established to exhibit and preserve the works of these two major 20th-century American artists, has launched a major website containing works by printmaker Chaim Koppelman (1920-2009) and painter and founding director of the Terrain Gallery, Dorothy Koppelman (1920-2017). It presents, too, some of their powerful, profoundly thrilling writings on art, arising from their study of the philosophy Aesthetic Realism with the great American poet and critic Eli Siegel. read more
Aesthetic Realism Art Criticism:
Gian Lorenzo Bernini
Bernini; or, Art & Life—What Do They Have to Do with Each Other? by Anthony Romeo, AIA. “Warmth and coolness, so central in the life and work of Bernini, bring up ethical questions which are crucial in every person’s life.
Art Answers the Questions of Your Life
Aesthetic Realism Shows How Art Answers the Questions of Your Life by Dorothy Koppelman & Carrie Wilson at International Society for Education Through Art (InSEA) World Congress, Columbia University, NYC.