Auteur: Dianne L> Durante

At age five, I won my first writing award: a three-foot-long fire truck with an ear-splitting siren. I »ve been addicted to writing ever since. Today I »m an independent researcher, freelance writer, and lecturer. The challenge of figuring out how ideas and facts fit together, and then sharing what I know with others, clearly and concisely – that »s what makes me leap out of bed in the morning. Janson »s *History of Art*, lent to me by a high-school art teacher, was my first clue that art was more than the rock-star posters and garden gnomes that I saw in Catawissa, Pennsylvania, and that history wasn »t just a series of names, dates, and statistics. Soon afterwards I read Ayn Rand »s fiction and nonfiction works, and discovered that art and history – as well as politics, ethics, science, and all fields of human knowledge – are integrated by philosophy. My approach to studying art is based on Rand »s *The Romantic Manifesto*. (See my review of it on Amazon.) As an art historian I »m a passionate amateur, and I write for other passionate amateurs. I love looking at art, and thinking about art, and helping other people have a blast looking at it, too. *Outdoor Monuments of Manhattan: A Historical Guide* (New York University Press, 2007), which includes 54 sculptures, was described by Sam Roberts in the *New York Times* as « a perfect walking-tour accompaniment to help New Yorkers and visitors find, identify and better appreciate statues famous and obscure » (1/28/2007). Every week I issue four art-related recommendations to my supporters, which have been collected in *Starry Solitudes* (poetry) and *Sunny Sundays* (painting, sculpture, architecture, literature, and more). For more of my works, see https://diannedurantewriter.com/books-essays .