Jan van Eyck, Arnolfini Double Portrait, 1434, oil on panel, 32.4” x 23.6”, National Gallery, London, Public Domain via Wikimedia Commons.
This is one of those works of art that represents an era, yet it is totally unique. Double portraits were quite rare in the fifteenth century, and so art historians have had a difficult time interpreting this one by Jan … Continue reading
Sint Anthoniesluis Bridge, Amsterdam, The Netherlands, photo by Jorge Royan, Creative Commons attribution license via Wikimedia Commons.
The Art & Culture of Northern Europe A Handcrafted, Escorted Travel Program to Belgium and Amsterdam 18-25 April 2012 (8 days, 7 nights) Your Docent and Co-host: Dr. Sally Whitman Coleman, author of The Art Minute Join us in the … Continue reading
John Singleton Copley, Boy with a Squirrel, 1765, oil on canvas, 30¼” x 25”, Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, Public Domain via Wikimedia Commons
Back in the Colonial era in America, people were suspicious of art. Art was aristocratic and European. The colonies most definitely were not. It was not easy for artists like John Singleton Copley to find training or work. Typically for … Continue reading
Salisbury Cathedral, 1220-1258, Salisbury, England, photo by Gaius Cornelius, Creative Commons attribution license via Wikimedia Commons
Nave (noun) The central part of the interior of a church. The term derives from the medieval Latin word for “ship,” which is navis. The horizontal divisions in the nave of the Salisbury Cathedral dominate the vertical ones and are … Continue reading
Gianlorenzo Bernini, The Ecstasy of St. Theresa, 1645-1652, marble, life-size, Coronaro Cahpel, Santa Maria della Vittoria, Rome. Photo from Flickr available under a Creative Commons Attribution license.
This is a little awkward. This spiritual event looks like something altogether different.
Norman Rockwell, OURS… to fight for Freedom from Want, 1942, color lithograph, covered by fair use laws via Wikimedia Commons.
This is the best-known image of Thanksgiving. Norman Rockwell, the painter and illustrator who created cover art for the Saturday Evening Post for forty years, painted this as part of a series entitled Four Freedoms that promoted war bonds during … Continue reading
Anna Atkins, Algae, cyanotype, 1843, Public Domain via Wikimedia Commons.
Cyanotype (noun) Blue photographic prints made with light-sensitive iron salts. The process reproduces items placed directly on the paper. The simple and low cost cyanotype process, invented by the renowned English scientist Sir John Frederick William Herschel, was often used … Continue reading
West portal, tympanum with Last Judgment by Gislebertus, Cathedral of Saint-Lazare, c. 1120-1135, Atun France. Photo by Henri Moreau, Creative Commons license, via Wikimedia Commons.
This is not a threat. This is a promise. The reason the photograph above of this tympanum over a portal (sculpture in the space over the doorway) is so good is because it shows how ominous this sculpture appears to … Continue reading
Marcel Duchamp, Bicycle Wheel, 1951 (after a lost original from 1913), metal wheel mounted on a painted wood stool, 51” x 25” x 16½”, Museum of Modern Art, New York, photo by rocor - flickr
Readymade (noun) An ordinary manufactured object that an artist selects and modifies so that it becomes art. When Marcel Duchamp created the first readymade, he inaugurated conceptual art in which the idea takes precedence over aesthetics.
Sculptures from the east pediment of the Parthenon, c. 438-432 B.C.E., marble, over life-size, The British Museum, photo by Andrew Dunn under a Creative Commons Attribution license via Wikimedia Commons.
The recent news about the economic and political crisis in Greece brings to mind the controversy surrounding the Parthenon Marbles. The Parthenon Marbles are the classical Greek sculptures by Pheidias and his workshop that originally were part of the Parthenon … Continue reading
Walton Ford, Nila, 1999-2000, watercolor, gouache, ink, and pencil on paper, 144” x 216”, Photo by La Petite Claudine (Flickr) under a Creative Commons Attribution license.
Walton Ford’s watercolors are magnificent. The contemporary artist paints the natural world on an enormous scale. This watercolor of an elephant, when all twenty-two panels are placed together, is life-size. The painting is meticulous. The detail is exacting. It is … Continue reading
Vincent van Gogh, The Night Café, September 1888, oil on canvas, 28½” x 36⅓”, Yale University Art Gallery, New Haven, public domain via Wikimedia Commons.
You are privy to the point of view of a very sick man. The Dutch artist Vincent van Gogh suffered terribly from many diseases including syphilis, epilepsy, and alcoholism. He also was tremendously anxious and depressed, which is why he … Continue reading