Sainte-Chapelle, 1241-1248, Île de la Cité, Paris, Photo by Didier B, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 2.5 Generic via Wikipedia.
Built by French King Louis IX, a.k.a. St. Louis, in the mid-13th century, Sainte-Chapelle almost itself is a reliquary rather than a chapel to house reliquaries. The space is connected to the Royal Palace so that the royal family could simply walk into … Continue reading
An Angel Unlocking the Door of Hell, Winchester Psalter (Psalter of Henry of Blois), between1121-1161, 12.6” x 8.8”, British Library, London, Creative Commons CC0 1.0 Universal Public Domain Dedication License, Wikimedia Commons.
The lavishly illustrated Winchester Psalter likely was created for Henry of Blois, brother of Stephen, King of England, in the 12th century. This manuscript from the Romanesque era has 80 unusual and innovative illustrations, including the frightening scene of an … Continue reading
Roman copy of the Apoxyomenos by Lysippos, original c. 330 BCE, Museo Pio-Clementino, Vatican City, Rome, Photo by Marie-Lan Nguyen via Wikimedia Commons.
The Apoxyomenos, or the “Scraper,” is a popular subject in ancient Greek art that depicts athletes cleaning themselves by rubbing olive oil on their bodies and then scraping it off with a curved metal scraper, called a strigil. This particular … Continue reading
Michelangelo, David, 1501-1504, Carrara marble, 17’, Galleria dell'Accademia, Florence, Photo by Rico Heil via Wikimedia Commons, GNU Free Documentation License.
This week, Italian newspaper La Repubblica reported that Michelangelo’s 17-foot tall, marble sculpture of the Old Testament figure David has weak ankles and is on the verge of collapsing. The National Research Council found cracks in the marble on the … Continue reading
Benin Bronze of an Oba with Two Assistants, 16th century, brass, 19” x 15”, Benin Kingdom (Nigeria), British Museum, London, Photo by Michel Wai via Wikimedia Commons, Creative Commons Share-Alike 3.0 License.
This is one of hundreds of brass sculptures (mistakenly identified as bronze sculptures) created by the Edo people for the palace of the Court of Benin, which was a sprawling cluster of buildings in present-day Nigeria. Today this sculpture and … Continue reading
Marsden Hartley, Portrait of a German Officer, 1914, oil on canvas, 68.25” x 41.375”, Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, Marsden Harley [Public Domain], via Wikimedia Commons.
Olivia Huffstetter, a student at Southwestern University in Georgetown, TX, wrote this post. When we think about war, the first thought that comes to mind usually isn’t about a love affair or a relationship. However, this is just what American … Continue reading
Robert Smithson, Spiral Jetty, 1970, mud, salt crystals, rock, 15' 1
Zelly Martin, a student at Southwestern University in Georgetown, TX, wrote this post. It’s tough to get a good look at Robert Smithson’s Spiral Jetty as it is constantly disappearing into the Great Salt Lake of Utah. If you arrive … Continue reading
Detail, Interior, Hieronymus Bosch, Garden of Earthly Delights, c. 1480-1515, oil on panel, center 7’ 2½” x 6’ 4½”, wings, each 7’ 2½” x 3’ 2”, Museo del Prado, Madrid, Public Domain via Wikimedia Commons.
Late one night, a young woman named Amelia, a college student at Oklahoma Christian University, noticed that Hieronymus Bosch painted music on the rear end of a figure in the scene of Hell in his Garden of Earthly Delights, and so … Continue reading
Dante Gabriel Rossetti, La Pia de’ Tolomei, c. 1868, oil on canvas, 41.5” x 47.5” Spencer Museum of Art, Lawrence, Kansas, Photo via Wikimedia Commons, Artwork in the Public Domain.
Paige Guerra, a student at Southwestern University in Georgetown, TX, wrote this post. In 1848, three art students in London took it upon themselves to rebel against what the “frivolous” Royal Academy was teaching and sought to take art back … Continue reading
David Salle, We’ll Shake the Bag, 1980, acrylic on canvas, 48” x 72”, Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, Photo by Andrew Russeth via Flickr, Creative Commons Attribution ShareAlike 2.0 Generic License.
The Art Minute University: Abby Garcia, a student at Southwestern University in Georgetown, TX, wrote this post. Inspired by the erotic stock images he stole from his time working at a New York magazine, artist David Salle uses multiple overlapping … Continue reading
Betye Saar, The Liberation of Aunt Jemima, 1972, Mixed media, 20.3 X 29.8 X 6.9 cm, University Art Museum, University of California, Berkley. Photo by Erika Clugston, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 2.0 Generic License.
The Art Minute University: Erika Clugston, a student at Southwestern University in Georgetown, TX, wrote this post. Betye Saar’s found object assemblage, The Liberation of Aunt Jemima (1972), re-appropriates derogatory imagery as a means of protest and symbol of empowerment … Continue reading
Hegesandros, Polydoros, and Athanodoros of Rhodes, Laocoön and His Sons, Roman copy of 1st cen. CE sculpture. Marble, 6’ 7” high, Vatican Museum, Rome, Photo by Marie-Lan Nguyen via Wikimedia Commons, Artwork in the Public Domain.
The Art Minute University: This post was written by Meghan Rayford, a student at Southwestern University. Laocoön, who was the priest of Poseidon, was subjected to the wrath of Athena after he suggests that the Trojan horse, filled with the Greek … Continue reading