Alfred Stieglitz, Photograph of Marcel Duchamp’s Fountain, 1917, Image in the Public Domain via Wikipedia.
If you feel somewhat alienated by art, or if you find a lot of modern and contemporary art hard to understand, you are not alone. People have been feeling this way for 100 years now, and we all can blame … Continue reading
Sonia Delaunay, Prismes électriques (Electric Prisms), 1914, oil on canvas, 98.4” x 98.4”, Musée National d'Art Moderne, Centre Pompidou, Paris, Public Domain via Google Images.
Pioneered by the couple Sonia and Robert Delaunay, Orphism was an art movement in Paris that was influenced both by Cubism and color theory. These artists used abstract form and color alone to indicate the subject and sensations. Borrowing from scientific … Continue reading
Michelangelo, Moses from the Tomb of Pope Julius II, 1512, San Pietro in Vincoli, Rome, Artwork in the Public Domain
The Italian Renaissance Master Michelangelo di Lodovico Buonarroti Simoni was born on this day in 1475. He arguably is one of the greatest artists of all time. Before anything else, Michelangelo was a sculptor, his finest achievements in painting and architecture also having a … Continue reading
Suor Plautilla Nelli, The Lamentation, 1550, oil on canvas, Museum of San Marco, Florence, Public Domain via Wikimedia Commons.
On March 8, 2017, the Uffizi in Florence will dedicate an exhibition to the earliest known female Renaissance painter, Suor Plautilla Nelli. This is part of an initiative of the museum’s new director, Eike Schmidt, to highlight work by women … Continue reading
Frida Kahlo, Thinking About Death, 1943, oil on canvas, 17.5
Frida Kahlo’s compelling surrealist self-portraits that are filled with personal iconography have a broad relevance. Her work was championed by early feminists who adopted the slogan “the personal is political,” meaning that one woman’s experience is representative of the experiences … Continue reading
Rembrandt van Rijn, Abraham Entertaining the Angels, 1656, etching and drypoint, 6 ½” x 5 ½”, Image via Wikiart, artwork in the Public Domain.
Abraham is an example of faith in Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. Each of the three monotheistic religions, meaning that followers believe there is just one God, either emphasizes Abraham or traces their origins to the tribal patriarch. Jews believe that … Continue reading
The Nativity, Sarcophagus lid, c. 408 CE, Basilica of St. Ambrose, Milan, Public Domain via Wikimedia Commons.
The earliest Nativity scene in art is carved into a sarcophagus lid once thought to be for a Roman general, Stilicho, who died in 408 CE. The ox and the ass and two birds are the only figures that appear in addition … Continue reading
Morton Broffman, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. arrives in Montgomery, Alabama on March 25th 1965 at the culmination of the Selma to Montgomery March, 1965, silver gelatin print.
When I write about photographs, I typically discuss the work of art, or the object, but today I want to write about an image. This is an image of Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr. leading thousands of demonstrators from Selma, … Continue reading
Norman Rockwell, Which One?, 1944, oil on canvas, 37" x 29", Private Collection.
If you still have a sense of humor after Election Day, and you are willing to drop about $5 million, you can bid on Norman Rockwell’s Which One?, which goes up on the auction block at Sotheby’s on November 21st. … Continue reading
Grace Hartigan, Grand Street Brides, 1954, oil on canvas, 73” x 102”, Whitney Museum of American Art, New York.
Grace Hartigan exhibited under the name George Hartigan, following in the footsteps of female writers George Eliot and George Sand, so that she would be taken seriously as an artist. She was from the second generation of Abstract Expressionist artists, … Continue reading
Agnes Martin, Aspiration, 1960, ink on paper, 11 ¾” x 9 ⅜”, Photo by J R via Flickr, Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic License.
Tomorrow a major retrospective of artwork by Agnes Martin (1912-2004) will open in the famous rotunda at the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum in New York. It is a brilliant space to enjoy the subtle variations in her minimalist and expressive … Continue reading
Caravaggio, Judith Beheading Holofernes, 1598-99, oil on canvas, 57
Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio would have been 545 years old today. He actually only lived to be 38 years old, which is somewhat miraculous considering his tumultuous life. We know more about him from law books than anything else. He was brought to … Continue reading