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hank1 — Portrait of Ayn Rand
Published: 2008-04-20 15:55:11 +0000 UTC; Views: 6544; Favourites: 84; Downloads: 1
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Oils on panel14 x 12"
1999
My favorite author. There is no color photo of this. My reference is a B & W photo on the back of the book "The Early Ayn Rand". It's a photo of her as she looked just having arrived in the United States from the Soviet Union (she was born in Russia), never to return, as she loved the United States passionately even before she got the hell out of the Soviet Union. Drab dress with a little tear, the kind of dress her hear-to-for wealthy family was reduced to after the Soviets destroyed Russia, nationalizing her father's pharmacy. I imagined all the color, and that surely she would have found a way to put some color, a flower or something in that torn dress.
I don't imagine anyone would care about this painting unless they know her story. The greatest author and philosopher in history. Not a pretty woman, but she made a point of making herself attractive as she could during her great life.
By the way her book "Atlas Shrugged" is the "second most influential book for Americans today" after the Bible, according to a joint survey conducted by the Library of Congress and the Book of the Month Club.
My portrait is featured in the new book The Selfish Path to Romance. [link]
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Comments: 142
Wow, congratulations that it was featured in that book!
She was a great philosopher. I'm only starting to go deeper into her worldview, but I absolutely agree with the things I've read and heard so far. She was an intellectual giant - It's inspiring and I'm thrilled to read more of her!
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Her mind was one in many millenniums. She would put herself among the other two A's of the great intellects she admired--Aristotle and Aquinas. Thus, it was AAA: Aristotle, Aquinas and Ayn.
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A lovely picture, but are you aware that between December 1974 and her death in March 1982, Rand collected a total of $11,002 in monthly Social Security payments...
She's interesting, but the woman was quite the hypocrite.
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You have not read Ayn Rand.
Hypocrisy, and guilt, is properly leveled against who pretends knowledge he doesn't possess.
"Since there is no such thing as the right of some men to vote away the rights of others, and no such thing as the right of the government to seize the property of some men for the unearned benefit of others—the advocates and supporters of the welfare state are morally guilty of robbing their opponents, and the fact that the robbery is legalized makes it morally worse, not better. The victims do not have to add self-inflicted martyrdom to the injury done to them by others; they do not have to let the looters profit doubly, by letting them distribute the money exclusively to the parasites who clamored for it. Whenever the welfare-state laws offer them some small restitution, the victims should take it...
"The same moral principles and considerations apply to the issue of accepting social security, unemployment insurance or other payments of that kind. It is obvious, in such cases, that a man receives his own money which was taken from him by force, directly and specifically, without his consent, against his own choice. Those who advocated such laws are morally guilty, since they assumed the “right” to force employers and unwilling co-workers. But the victims, who opposed such laws, have a clear right to any refund of their own money—and they would not advance the cause of freedom if they left their money, unclaimed, for the benefit of the welfare-state administration."
“The Question of Scholarships,”
The Objectivist, June, 1966
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Just pointing out that she received benefits. Make of that what you will...
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No, you leveled an accusation against her of hypocrisy. Like a Christian always looking for contradictions. Contradictions don't exist, except in the mind of those who won't or can't (in the case of Christians, whose faith designates blind acceptance of a certain ideational content, acceptance induced by feeling in the absence of evidence or proof) use reason to resolve the contradiction. I gave you the proof.
"The alleged short-cut to knowledge, which is faith, is only a short-circuit destroying the mind."
--Ayn Rand, Atlas Shrugged
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Fine, not hypocrisy then, but considering the lengths to which her political supporters idealise her a libertarian goddess, hardly endearing to their world view...
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Give it up. You have not read the entire opus of Ayn Rand.
On December 10, 1961 Ayn Rand wrote to a fan. This is part of her reply. It’s on p. 592 Letters of Ayn Rand (HC)
I appreciate your interest in my novels, but I must point out to you that the things you say in your letter are in direct contradiction to my philosophy. [Miss Macken writes that she and her friends refer to AR as a god, whom they would follow blindly.]
My philosophy advocates reason, not faith; it requires men to think—to accept nothing without a full, rational, firsthand understanding and conviction—to claim nothing without factual evidence and logical proof. A blind follower is precisely what my philosophy condemns and what I reject. Objectivism is not a mystic cult.
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I never said I had, so accusing me of hypocrisy is rather pointless
Any idealising of a political, philosophical and historical figure is often pointless and largely emotive. The personality cult that Libertarians and 'fiscal conservatives' seem to have drawn up around Ayn Rand is just that.
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Oh, and I'll just leave this here -
"It wasn't daddy's money that bought you your head start in life. It wasn't the better schools, the better nutrition, the better neighborhoods. It wasn't the country you were born in, or the system of laws that protected and to this day protects you. It wasn't the various government agencies making sure you have licensed doctors, clean drinking water, or safety standards for vehicles.
No, my young privileged white boy, you did it all. You, and only you, are responsible for all your success. And anyone who isn't as well off just didn't work as hard. And the government can only take from a productive member of society like you to give to the leeches. And there should be no laws. And even though there are laws, they don't really apply to you, because you're special. Be as selfish as you want. It's all you.
And thus, a libertardian is born."
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Ayn Rand was not a Libertarian.
Q: Do you think Libertarians communicate the ideas of freedom and capitalism effectively? [Q&A following LP’s “Objective Communication,” Lecture 1, 1980]
AR: I don’t think plagiarists are effective. I’ve read nothing by a Libertarian (when I read them, in the early years) that wasn’t my ideas badly mishandled—i.e., had the teeth pulled out of them—with no credit given. I didn’t know whether I should be glad that no credit was given, or disgusted. I felt both. They are perhaps the worst political group today, because they can do the most harm to capitalism, by making it disreputable.
Q: Why don’t you approve of the Libertarians, thousands of whom are loyal readers of your works? [FHF: “The Age of Mediocrity,” 1981]
AR: Because Libertarians are a monstrous, disgusting bunch of people: they plagiarize my ideas when that fits their purpose, and they denounce me in a more vicious manner than any communist publication, when that fits their purpose. They are lower than any pragmatists, and what they hold against Objectivism is morality. They’d like to have an amoral political program.
Q: The Libertarians are providing intermediate steps toward your goals. Why don’t you support them? [Ibid., 1981]
AR: Please don’t tell me they’re pursuing my goals. I have not asked for, nor do I accept, the help of intellectual cranks. I want philosophically educated people: those who understand ideas, care about ideas, and spread the right ideas. That’s how my philosophy will spread, just as philosophy has throughout all history: by means of people who understand and teach it to others. Further, it should be clear that I do not endorse the filthy slogan, “The end justifies the means.” That was originated by the Jesuits, and accepted enthusiastically by Communists and Nazis. The end does not justify the means; you cannot achieve anything good by evil means. Finally, the Libertarians aren’t worthy of being the means to any end, let alone the end of spreading Objectivism.
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Glad to hear that. It doesn't stop those idiots invoking her, though...
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Correct. They are idiots.
I don't see that I accused you of hypocrisy. If so, please accept my apology. It is not my policy to attack the individual, only wrong ideas.
Thank you for a serious discussion.
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For sometime now I've been wondering how to express my thoughts, but nothing worthy comes to mind. An amazing portrait of an amazing woman. Before I had read her works i thought she was utterly ugly, but now i just can't make my mind to perceive her like that, the intellect, promise and thirst for life in her eyes shadows everything else. Great job and thank you for the opportunity to see a color representation of her
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Amazing work, beautifully rendered. Wow... This is breathtaking! Wonderful description, too.
...Again, wow!!
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Thank you very much.
This painting is on p. ix of the forthcoming book "Selfish Path to Romance: How to Love with Passion & Reason, Inspired by the Ideas of Ayn Rand" [link]
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Wow, that's really cool! Awesome for you!
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That is amazing, I like it a lot.
fav'd.
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I love your comment: "Ayn Rand taught me not to be afraid of being great." Thanks for a truly visual masterpiece of the heroine who gave me the strength and the moral code to love my life. Atlas Shrugged is my all-time favorite book. And your many paintings capture the pride of enjoying life at any age.
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Ayn Rand has inspired me to be more brave in seeking my dreams.
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I hear 'ya.
Ayn Rand taught me to not be afraid of being great.
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I'm really glad you did her portrait; not many people do because, like you said, she wasn't the prettiest lady in the world. You did a very convincing job of re-imagining the colors.
But I'm in the first 200 pages of Atlas Shrugged, after having a religious experience with The Fountainhead, but Atlas Shrugged I actually am finding to be a huge disappointment. Have you read her other books?
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Thank you for the compliment.
When I first read Atlas Shrugged in 1970 (I've read it at least 10 times since) I was all for James Taggart and the rest of the bad guys 200 pages into it. By mid-book I got it and the book made me what I am today. I've read, and re-read everything published by Ayn Rand. And there's a lot more than you can buy in a book store.
Enjoy living in the real world, not the world we live in today.
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Woah, you started off crazy! You were for James Taggart?! I'm glad Ayn Rand straightened you out! At the moment, I'm actually all about Francisco D'Anconia -- I think that's how his name goes. His explanation for taking on the shitty Mexico mines was the greatest thing in the book so far. But The Fountainhead, to me, was far better; I LOVED Roark (like you were supposed to) to death. And Wynand. Never really got Dominique. Yeah. I wanna be Roark.
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Francisco D'Anconia is the most complex figure in the book; the greatest character in literature.
My favorite from the start was Hank Reardon. And still is.
Roark is the penultimate individualist. Teaches independence in thought and action. Shows that morality is practical.
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Hank is a little too tragic for me. His whole thing with his wife is like "Why did you marry this lady?"
What is a penultimate individualist? The individualist-before-the-last?
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Hank. Read on.
I confused several ideas in my use of that term. Your an(-ime), Francisco/Roark and my own faulty memory. The definition before "penultimate" in The Oxford English Dictionary is "penultim, -ime" (-ime: your individualistic development in that style) in one of the early uses of that term: 1655 Fuller Ch. Hist. A second Race succeeded, derived from Norman Darcy the Penultim Lord in the last Pedigree (Francisco, the last in the line of the great D'Anconias/Roark with no living relatives) and as I say my own bad memory, knowing I'd seen the definition of penultim at some time in looking up "penultimate".
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Sounds like you should read Lemony Snicket's books.
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Why do you say that? I have read "The Bad Beginning" and surely at least the next one in the series. There's another series similar to Snicket's theme of children in a "situation" of sorts. I can't remember the author of this series. I've been in the basement looking for both and have found neither. I believe I enjoyed Snicket and found the other writer's too evil to continue.
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I say that because the second-to-last one is called "The Penultimate Peril." And yeah, I think there are several rip-off series that followed Snicket's. They even had similar cover art, but not by the same artist.
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MY, THIS IS THE SECOND MOST INFLUENCIAL WOMAN IN YOUR LIFE AND I CAN SEE YOU HAVE DONE HER A GREAT JUSTICE. I LOVE IT BECAUSE YOU CAN TELL THE ORIGINAL PICTURE HAD TO COME FROM THE 50'S, A TIME WHEN PHOTOS JUST HAD A DIFFERENT LOOK. I LOVE THE FACT YOU HAVE GIVEN HER RED HAIR, A BEAUTIFUL SHADE AT THAT. I LOVE THE WAY SHE HOLDS HER HEAD, AS IF SHE KNOWS WHERE SHE IS GOING. I LOVE THE TORN DRESS AND THE WONDERFUL PIN YOU HAVE CHOSEN TO OVERRIDE THAT TEAR (YOUR IDEA I PRESUME?). SHE REALLY HAD SOME BEAUTIFUL LARGE, DEEP SET EYES. THAT IS A LOT OF I LOVES, BUT THAT IS HOW I FEEL ABOUT THIS FAV. THANKS FOR GIVING IT TO US. L0L, T
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The original came from the 1920's. Yes, my idea for the flower in the tear in her drab dress. Her eyes were huge and saw the world I live in (I don't live in today's world.).
You're welcome, T. Always love to you.
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Thank you so much for painting Miss Rand as she is meant to be. Full of life, full of freedom.
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Thank you so much. I've read everything in print by Ayn Rand, several times over. I discovered her in 1969. And doesn't today's world mirror what she wrote starting some 80 years ago!
Robert Tracy
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This portrait of Ayn Rand is one I like very much, thank you for doing it.
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patrickg,
And thank you for seeing something in my portrait that touches you personally.
Robert
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My goodness. Beautiful. Mrs. Rand would be proud, this is by far the best work on her I've seen yet.
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Thank you very much.
Robert
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My pleasure, you're an excellent artist and a true objectivist.
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Thank you very much.
Robert
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