Jan Vermeer, The Concert, c. 1664, oil on canvas, 28½” x 25½”, stolen from the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, Public Domain via Wikimedia Commons.
On March 18th 1990, as Bostonians were celebrating St. Patrick’s Day, two thieves posing as police officers entered the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, saying they were responding to a call. The guard on duty allowed the thieves into the museum. … Continue reading
Rembrandt van Rijn, Self-Portrait, 1659, oil on canvas, 33 ¼” x 26”, National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C. Image Courtesy of 1000Museums.com.
When you walk into any gallery of 17th-century paintings and one by Rembrandt is in the room, you will be drawn to the Rembrandt. His paintings glow. In a word, they are “rich,” like a dessert can be rich. They … Continue reading
Vincent van Gogh, Gauguin’s Chair, November 1888, Van Gogh Museum, Amsterdam, Image Courtesy of 1000Museums.com.
The original “tortured artist,” Vincent van Gogh, painted this chair during his good friend and fellow artist, Paul Gauguin’s, visit to his Yellow House in Arles, France, a place that van Gogh dearly hoped would become and artists’ collective someday. … Continue reading
© 2013 Sally Whitman Coleman, PhD. All rights reserved.
Frank Gehry’s design for the Guggenheim Museum in Bilbao, Spain is so completely unhindered by traditional rules that regulate architectural design that the building has a sculptural appearance that is totally independent of any school of architecture from history. Gehry … Continue reading
© 2013 Sally Whitman Coleman, PhD. All rights reserved.
Whether Georgia O’Keeffe’s subjects are representational or not, they always have a source in the natural world. Her Blue Black and Grey is a composition of abstract shapes and planes that are nevertheless reminiscent of the curves and colors one finds in … Continue reading
© 2013 Sally Whitman Coleman, PhD. All rights reserved.
Alexander Gardner was one of three photographers who “documented” the American Civil War with collodion photography, a new type of photographic process that used glass negatives. Advantages of this photographic process were that the images were clear and crisp and … Continue reading
© 2013 Sally Whitman Coleman, PhD. All rights reserved.
“The Apostles of Ugliness” is what the critics called members of the Ashcan School of painting because these artists painted the life of working-class New Yorkers at the turn of the 20th century using dirty and dark colors that reflected … Continue reading
Jacob Lawrence, Confrontation at the Bridge from the series entitled, Not Songs of Loyalty Alone: The Struggle for Personal Freedom, 1975, Silkscreen, 19.5” x 25.85”, Photo by Zeal Harris via Flickr, Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivs 2.0 Generic License.
“When the subject is strong, simplicity is the only way to treat it.” – Jacob Lawrence Jacob Lawrence was an American painter best known for his portrayal of essential moments in African American history. Influenced by Cubism, Lawrence used bright colors … Continue reading
© 2013 Sally Whitman Coleman, PhD. All rights reserved.
Nothing brings an empire together like a good mock naval battle – at least, that’s what the Roman emperor Vespasian always said. Following the welcome demise of the reign of the Julio-Claudian emperors with the death of Nero and a … Continue reading
Andō Hiroshige, Snow at Kambara from the Fifty-Three Stations of the Tōkaidō Highway series, c. 1833, woodblock print, 9.9” x 14.8”, Brooklyn Museum, New York, Public Domain via Wikimedia Commons.
Inspired by Hokusai’s success with his views of Mount Fuji, Japanese artist Andō Hiroshige created prints of the various locales in Japan capturing the mood and character of each setting. In his Snow at Kambara from his Fifty-Three Stations of … Continue reading
Federico Barocci, The Nativity, 1597, oil on canvas, 52.75
Working near the end of the Mannerist era, Federico Barocci was given to unusual compositions and colors, as is seen in his Nativity with the steep, diagonal recession into space where Joseph opens the door to let the shepherds into … Continue reading
Arthur Dove, Sunrise, 1924, oil on wood, 18¼” x 20 ⅞”, Milwaukee Art Museum, Photo by Micah & Erin, via Flickr, Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 2.0 Generic License.
Arthur Dove was a member of a small circle of artists in New York City, including Alfred Stieglitz and Georgia O’Keeffe, that introduced modernism to America. Dove developed a highly original form of abstraction based upon the natural landscape and … Continue reading