Timeline of Aesthetic Realism

This is a timeline of notable events in the history of the philosophy of aesthetic realism.

*1902 Birth of Eli Siegel
*1922-3 Publication of "The Equality of Man" and "The Scientific Criticism" in "The Modern Quarterly". They were two of the first expressions of Aesthetic Realism. "I felt that every person owed something to every other person and, indeed, to every other thing. Aesthetic Realism now has in it the need of every person to be precise about what is not himself," wrote Siegel of these essays. (1969 Preface to "The Modern Quarterly Beginnings of Aesthetic Realism")
*1925 "Hot Afternoons Have Been in Montana" won the Nation Poetry Prize--a poem embodying the way of seeing the world which later would be the philosophy Aesthetic Realism.
*1925 The reaction of the press and academic world to this new poem, "Hot Afternoons Have Been in Montana," foreshadows the mingling of praise and criticism which was to follow for decades. Siegel received national fame and also what William Carlos Williams was to describe as "the extreme resentment that a fixed, sclerotic mind feels confronting this new" (1951 letter to Martha Baird).
*1930s Eli Siegel writes reviews for "Scribner's" magazine and the "New York Evening Post Literary Review"
*1938 Beginning of weekly poetry classes conducted by Siegel relating self and art
*1940 Artist Chaim Koppelman begins to study with Siegel. In later years Koppelman would win numerous awards for his works, including the Lifetime Achievement Award of the Society of American Graphic Artists (SAGA). He would document the effect of his study with Siegel on his work as a visual artist in sources that include "This Is the Way I See Aesthetic Realism".
*1941 Aesthetic Realism was founded by Eli Siegel. Persons studying poetry with Siegel asked for private lessons, or sessions, to understand themselves better--relating their individual lives to art. These were the first form of Aesthetic Realism lessons. As a result, the formal study of Aesthetic Analysis (later Aesthetic Realism) began. The way of seeing the world that Siegel taught now had a name and texts explaining it were soon to be written. "A person is a tremendous and concentrated drama of sameness and difference...."
*1942 Artist Dorothy Koppelman begins her study with Eli Siegel. Her account of those classes and their effect on her work is in the Foreword to her 2000 publication, "Poems and Prints."
*1942-3 Siegel wrote "Self and World", giving the basis of how Aesthetic Realism understands the self. This work includes case studies of individuals.
*1944 Siegel married Martha Baird of Manhattan, Kansas.
*1944 Siegel gave first series of philosophic lectures on what he then called Aesthetic Analysis and later called Aesthetic Realism.
*1945 "Definitions, and Comment: Being a Description of the World" completed
*1948 First use of the name "Aesthetic Realism"
*1948 Siegel's poem "The Dark That Was Is Here" is anthologized in "100 American Poems: Masterpieces of Lyric, Epic and Ballad from Pre-Colonial Times to the Present", edited by Selden Rodman (Penguin Signet Books). "NY Times" writes: "Selden Rodman has done a memorable service to the cause of American poetry."
*1951 William Carlos Williams receives 61 poems by Siegel and writes to Martha Baird, "I cannot adequately thank you....I am thrilled....I can't tell you how important Siegel's work is in the light of my present understanding of the modern poem."
*1952 Eli Siegel lectures on William Carlos Williams' poetry with Williams present at the lecture. Williams asks and answers questions, and tells Siegel, "It's as if everything I've ever done has been for you....You make it plain."
*1954 Definition Press established--to publish works by Eli Siegel and about Aesthetic Realism
*1955 Terrain Gallery founded by Dorothy Koppelman. Artists who show in first year include Paul Mommer, Larry Rivers, Leonard Baskin, Peter Grippe, Malcolm Anderson, Robert Conover, Sid Hurwitz.
*1955 "Is Beauty the Making One of Opposites?" by Siegel published. 15 questions about opposites as the basis of beauty in art--beginning with the opposites of "Freedom and Order."
*1955 "The Journal of Aesthetics and Art Criticism" publishes "Is Beauty the Making One of Opposites?"--perhaps the earliest recognition of Siegel as an authority by the academic press.
*1955 The Seurat Art Club is formed. Artists give public talks on painting, printmaking, sculpture, & photography at the Terrain Gallery--exploring the Siegel Theory of Opposites as a unified explanation of beauty in diverse styles and periods.
*1955 "Nice Deity", poems by Martha Baird, is published. Contains preface by Siegel, "The New Simplicity; or, Towards Poetry Again."
*1957 "The Villager" writes: "Greenwich Village can attest to a half dozen big name poets who make their homes within its boundaries. Among them, to give a little proof, are W. H. Auden, who lives on St. Marks Pl.; Alfred Kreymborg, Perry St.; Eli Siegel, Jane St.; Mark Van Doren, Bleecker St." (3 January 1957)
*1957 Sheldon Kranz marries Anne Fielding. He later publicly described (1971) how "a person who is homosexual...can honestly and permanently change the way he sees women" through the study of Aesthetic Realism (see p. 23, "The H Persuasion").
*1958 "Hot Afternoons Have Been in Montana: Poems" is published. Nominated for a National Book Award
*1959 Publication of "Personal & Impersonal: Six Aesthetic Realists". Poems by Sheldon Kranz, Louis Dienes, Nancy Starrels, Nat Herz, Martha Baird, Rebecca Fein with a "Critical Preface" by Eli Siegel.
*1959 Chaim Koppelman establishes the Printmaking Department of the School of Visual Arts where he teaches with Aesthetic Realism as his point of view
*1960 "Konica Pocket Handbook: An Introduction to Better Photography" by Nat Herz is published by Universal Photo Books (Verlan: New York) in which the author writes: "My own approach to the art of photography is based on Aesthetic Realism...founded by the noted American poet and philosopher Eli Siegel....Aesthetic Realism deals with the making one of opposing forces in art, the world and oneself" (p. 13).
*1961 Ted van Griethuysen has his first "Aesthetic Realism lesson on the subject of homosexuality". He writes later that he never again had a homosexual experience.
*1962 Ted van Griethuysen and Rebecca Thompson have an Aesthetic Realism lesson together. They are married three months later.
*1964 "Damned Welcome: Aesthetic Realism Maxims" published by Terrain Gallery
*1964 "Williams' Poetry Talked about by Eli Siegel and William Carlos Williams Present and Talking: March 5, 1952" is published. Includes excerpts from the 1952 lecture on Williams' poetry given by Siegel which Williams attended. Scholar demand and library purchases exhaust the original Terrain Gallery edition. A new one is anticipated.
*1965 Tom Shields begins his study of Aesthetic Realism and claims to have changed from homosexuality as a result. Aesthetic Realism students begin soliciting the media for coverage about their supposed gay cure.
*1965 Poems by Siegel anthologized in "Modern American Poetry", Thomas Corbett and William J. Boldt, eds. (Macmillan): "Notes on the Telephone," "Trees in Rain," "Free Verse," "She's Crazy and It Means Something."
*1965 "The Ordinary Doom" by Eli Siegel--essay explaining why persons feel they are not understood--anthologized in "A Book of Nonfiction", edited by J. T. Browne (Macmillan).
*1965 Siegel's poem "Smoke Goes Up Slowly" anthologized in "A Book of Poetry", M. Teresa Clare, ed. (Macmillan).
*1966 Filmmaker Ken Kimmelman begins his study of Aesthetic Realism.
*1966 Artist Dorothy Koppelman receives Tiffany Grant for painting. Credits her study of Aesthetic Realism for her success.
*1968 "James and the Children: A Consideration of Henry James's 'The Turn of the Screw' " is published. Chapter 1, "Careful Hovering," is a survey of how James viewed children throughout his works.
*1968 Margot Carpenter (formerly a soloist in Miami Ballet) begins her study of Aesthetic Realism. Later to be Executive Director of Aesthetic Realism Foundation.
*1968 Roy Harris begins his study of Aesthetic Realism and has his first Aesthetic Realism lesson on homosexuality.
*1968 Devorah Tarrow begins her study of Aesthetic Realism. Tarrow has her first Aesthetic Realism lesson on how a woman sees the world, knowledge, and men. She would bring this understanding to her study of sociology and her research into women's issues at The New School, New York University, and Aesthetic Realism Foundation.
*1968 "Hail, American Development", second book of Siegel's poems, published. Reviewed in "New York Times Book Review" by Kenneth Rexroth.
*1968 "People Are Trying to Put Opposites Together", film directed by Ken Kimmelman of Siegel conducting an Aesthetic Realism class, shown on WNET, Channel 13, New York City.
*1969 "Aesthetic Realism: We Have Been There--Six Artists on the Siegel Theory of Opposites" published. Essays on acting (Anne Fielding, Ted van Greithuysen), art (Dorothy Koppelman, Chaim Koppelman), photography (David M. Bernstein, Lou Bernstein) with the Aesthetic Realism understanding of beauty in the arts as their basis. Eli Siegel's essay "Art Is Life" is published in this book and annotated by artists Regina Dienes, Barbara Lekberg, Chaim Koppelman, Dorothy Koppelman.
*1969-70 Ibsen's "Hedda Gabler" based on a new critical interpretation by Eli Siegel premieres at Terrain Gallery and continues at the Actors Playhouse.
*1970 Advertisement placed in "New York Times" by students of Aesthetic Realism on their opinion of the philosophy and its founder
*1970 "The Williams-Siegel Documentary" ed. by Baird and Reiss is published; subtitled as follows: "Including Williams' Poetry Talked about by Eli Siegel, and William Carlos Williams Present and Talking: 1952."
*1970 Eli Siegel is invited to serve on the Advisory Board of the "New York Quarterly" along with W. H. Auden, Robert Lowell, Allen Ginsberg, Richard Wilbur, others. Siegel's article "Assonance Is Like This," a technical essay on prosody, is published in issue no. 2.
*1970 Flutist Barbara Allen begins to study Aesthetic Realism.
*1971 Ellen Reiss writes: "as a careful scholar and human being, who has watched Siegel skeptically for years, I consider him the most important thinker in the history of the world."
*1971 Jonathan Black, of "Free Time", on WNDT, Channel 13, broadcasts an interview Sheldon Kranz, Roy Harris, and Ted van Griethuysenwith describe changing to heterosexuality from homosexuality. Resulting public interest results in the establishment of "Consultation With Three" in which Harris, Kranz, and van Griethuysen teach men who wish to understand their homosexuality. Simultaneously Aesthetic Realism Consultations for women begin with "The Three Persons," Margot Carpenter, Berthe Bania, and Devorah Tarrow, teaching women who wish to understand themselves and how they see men and the world.
*1971 Kranz, Harris, van Griethuysen, and Tom Shields appear for two hours on the "David Susskind Show", discussing their change from homosexuality, together with four representatives of the Gay Liberation Front--an interview that is eventually broadcast in forty states reaching 32 million people. Aesthetic Realism faces "an almost overwhelming demand" for consultations.
*1971 First presentation of Aesthetic Realism method in anthropology, including explanation of both racism and culture shock, at the American Anthropological Association annual meeting.
*1971 "The H Persuasion: How Persons Have Permanently Changed from Homosexuality through the Study of Aesthetic Realism with Eli Siegel" is published, containing essays in which Sheldon Kranz, Ted van Griethuysen, Roy Harris, and Tom Shields give "the principal reason for the change from H" and present "some of the details of that change" (pp. xi, vii). The And the book contains Siegel's short explanation, "Aesthetic Realism; or, Is a Person an Aesthetic Situation?" The book includes first-person case studies.
*1971 Aesthetic Realism Seminars begin with "The Three Persons" addressing women's issues, particularly how a woman "can welcome love and yet like herself and the universe."
*1971 Rev. Wayne Jack Plumstead begins to study Aesthetic Realism in consultations. He would later describe how, as a direct result of his study in consultations and later with Eli Siegel, he completed his divinity degree at Princeton University and was ordained a minister in the United Methodist Church.
*1971-2 Artist Marcia Rackow begins to study Aesthetic Realism in consultations with "The Kindest Art" (1971) and continues in classes with Eli Siegel (1972). Later to join the faculty of the Aesthetic Realism Foundation teaching "The Visual Arts and the Opposites."
*1973 "The Right of Aesthetic Realism to Be Known" begins. The first issue is titled "We Have to Stir the Conscience of the "Times" and describes Aesthetic Realism consultations in diverse areas, including art, marriage, youth issues.
*1973 The Aesthetic Realism Foundation is founded. The Foundation and the Terrain Gallery are in New York's SoHo district.
*1973 Beginning of the series "My Dramatic Autobiography"--full-length autobiographical evenings written by persons studying and teaching Aesthetic Realism. First personal narrative of Barbara Allen presented.
*1973 Beginning of public seminars on Aesthetic Realism Teaching Method, presented by New York City educators.
*1973 Columbia University doctoral dissertation in anthropology based on Aesthetic Realism and sponsored by Margaret Mead: "Oksapmin Society and World View" by Arnold Perey. This is the first formal acknowledgement by the academic world that Aesthetic Realism provides scientific content and method in the social sciences.
*1973 Perey writes in his PhD thesis, "And I want to thank Eli Siegel, the founder of Aethetic Realism, for the principle: 'The world, art, and self explain each other: each is the aesthetic oneness of opposites.' I see this as the most significant idea in all human thought; and through studying its meaning my life and work have become more what I always hoped they would be."
*1974 "The Frances Sanders Lesson and Two Related Works" by Eli Siegel published by Definition Press. "The main thing in the life of Frances Sanders was how she saw the world....The study of how the self, surmising triumph, abets disaster, will be, as Aesthetic Realism sees it, the future study of mind as a means of encouraging person to be more the way they would like to be" (p. 13).
*1974 Siegel's poem "Hot Afternoons Have Been in Montana" is anthologized in "America: A Prophesy: A New Reading of American Poetry from Pre-Columbian Times to the Present" ed. by Jerome Rothenberg and George Quasha (Vintage / Random House) pp. 481-5.
*1975 Men who describe how they have "changed from homosexuality through the study of Aesthetic Realism" are interviewed by Tom Snyder on his network television show
*1975-6 For the first time in an academic milieu scientific articles based on Aesthetic Realism are published: "A New Perspective for American Anthropology: The Philosophy of Aesthetic Realism" ("The Anthropologist", University of Delhi, India); "The Aesthetic Realism of Eli Siegel As a Teaching Method in Anthropology" ("Anthropology and Education Quarterly", Journal of the Council on Anthropology and Education); "Body and World in Oksapmin Kin Terms" ("Oceania: A Journal Devoted to the Study of the Native Peoples of Australia, New Guinea and the Islands of the Pacific Ocean", University of Sydney, New South Wales, Australia) by Arnold Perey.
*1976 "An Outline of Aesthetic Realism" by Eli Siegel published as an advertisement in the "New York Times" by the Aesthetic Realism Advertising Committee
*1977 2nd Printing of "The H Persuasion"
*1978 Eli Siegel takes his life
*1979 Advertisements are placed in the "New York Times", the "Washington Post", and the "Los Angeles Times", by men and women who state, "We, the undersigned, have changed from homosexuality through our study of the Aesthetic Realism of Eli Siegel....We represent 140 men and women....The means by which we changed is both scientific and beautiful" ("New York Times Magazine", June 3, 1979).
*1981 "Self and World: An Explanation of Aesthetic Realism" published
*1984 At the suggestion of Ellen Reiss, the Terrain Gallery begins the series "The Aesthetic Realism of Eli Siegel Shows How Art Answers the Questions of Your Life!"--"short talks on specific works, from classical Greek architecture to a painting by Roy Lichtenstein."
*1986 "The Aesthetic Realism of Eli Siegel and the Change From Homosexuality", ed. by Ellen Reiss is published. Includes autobiographical essays by six men, which are first-person case studies documenting what they learned.
*1990 Double page advertisement placed in the "New York Times", "A Letter to the American People," on the education of Aesthetic Realism from impersonal subjects such as art and literature to more personal ones--including liking oneself and liking the world on an honest basis.
*1990 Aesthetic Realism Foundation "discontinued its public presentation of the fact that through Aesthetic Realism people have changed from homosexuality, and consultations to change from homosexuality are not being given." The reason, stated the Foundation, is: "We do not want this matter, which is certainly not fundamental to Aesthetic Realism, to be used to obscure what Aesthetic Realism truly is: education of the largest, most cultural kind. Aesthetic Realism is for full, equal civil rights for everyone."
*1990s Students of Aesthetic Realism discontinue wearing Victim of the Press buttons after newspapers across the country begin to print letters and articles about Aesthetic Realism, many written by them, with increasingly frequency.
*1992 "The Right of Aesthetic Realism to Be Known", issue no. 1000. By now "The Right Of" is the largest extant collection of publications by Eli Siegel--lectures, poems, essays--and of editorial essays by Ellen Reiss on diverse subjects of immediate public interest.
*1995 Emmy Award for anti-prejudice public service film produced by Ken Kimmelman of Imagery Films, based on a statement by Eli Siegel: "It will be found that black and white man have the same goodnesses, the same temptations, and can be criticized in the same way. The skin may be different but the aorta is quite the same." It got wide public service circulation, including on the Armed Forces network, at Yankee stadium before every game for several years, and on various cable television outlets including CNN Headline News. [10] (http://ifl.home.mindspring.com/THKB-FACT_SHEET-11-03-.html)
*1996 Dorothy Koppelman, founding Director of Terrain Gallery, receives award for painting, American Society of Contemporary Artists Annual exhibition
*1998-present. Articles published by New York City teachers on the success of the Aesthetic Realism Teaching Method, K-12.
*1998 The New York Post runs an article "Foes accuse teachers of 'cult'" about how AR members who were also public school teachers were allegedly proselytizing about AR in the classroom. [http://michaelbluejay.com/x/nypost.html]
*2001 "Aesthetic Realism Explains the Cause of America's Housing Crisis & the Solution" presented at the Campus Outreach Opportunity League (COOL) National Conference, Harvard University
*2002 Papers on the Aesthetic Realism understanding of art presented at the World Congress of the International Society for Education (InSEA)
*2002 City of Baltimore, Maryland erects monument to honor Eli Siegel in Durid Hill Park on the occasion of the one hundredth anniversary of his birth. Proclamations are issued by the governor of Maryland the mayor of Baltimore proclaiming the day "Eli Siegel Day" in the state and city. The Mayor's office later backtracks, saying "It is unfortunate that this group appears to have misrepresented themselves." [http://michaelbluejay.com/x/jewishtimes.html]
*2002 Eli Siegel honored in US Congressional Record
*2004 Aesthetic Realism Foundation presented with a Special Recognition award in 2004 by the New York State Attendance Teachers Association for the Aesthetic Realism Teaching Method
*2004 Former Aesthetic Realism student Michael Bluejay publishes [http://michaelbluejay.com/x a web page critical of Aesthetic Realism] . Aesthetic Realism students respond by starting a website called [http://CounteringTheLies.com Countering the Lies] .
*2005 Aesthetic Realism consultant Chaim Koppelman wins Lifetime Achievement Award from Society of American Graphic Artists (SAGA)