Pablo Picasso, Mother and Child, 1921, oil on canvas, 56 1/4
“My mother said to me, ‘If you are a soldier, you will become a general. If you are a monk, you will become the Pope.’ Instead, I was a painter, and became Picasso.” Pablo Picasso Happy Mother’s Day from The … Continue reading
Ernst Ludwig Kirchner, Self-portrait as a Soldier, 1915, oil on canvas, 27.25
Ernst Ludwig Kirchner German Expressionist Painter Ernst Ludwig Kirchner was born on May 6th, 1880 in Aschaffenburg, Germany. In 1905, Kirchner and three fellow architecture students founded the artists group Die Brücke (“The Bridge”) that promoted a modern, expressive style that could be “The … 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
Vault and colored ceiling of the Iwan of an Imamzadeh at the tomb of Omar Khayyam, 1962, Photo by By dynamosquito via Flickr, Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 2.0 Generic license.
Iwan (noun) An iwan is a vaulted room open on one side, usually onto a courtyard in an Islamic mosque. The iwan in Omar Khayyam’s tomb in Neishabour, Iran is decorated with characteristic Islamic geometric and vegetal motifs.
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
Maurice Denis, Easter Mystery, 1891, oil on canvas, 41
“Remember that a picture, before being a battle horse, a nude, an anecdote or whatnot, is essentially a flat surface covered with colors assembled in a certain order.” Maurice Denis, founder of Les Nabis Happy Easter from The Art Minute
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
William Gullick, Mary, Zoe, Marjory, and Chloe Gullick, c.1909, autochrome, State Library of New South Wales, Public Domain via Wikimedia Commons.
Autochrome (noun) An autochrome is a color photograph created with a glass filter that is covered with a colored mosaic of dyed potato starch. Louis Lumière invented the process in 1903.
© 2014 Sally Whitman Coleman, PhD. All rights reserved.
In Tim’s Vermeer, now showing in movie theaters around the country, Tim Jenison, a successful inventor and software engineer attempts to prove that Jan Vermeer, the 17th-century painter from Delft, used a mechanical device to create his images. In this … Continue reading
William Morris, Drawing for block-printed fabric Tulip and Willow, 1873, Public Domain vis Wikimedia Commons.
William Morris, the British artist and writer, was born in east London on March 24th, 1834 to William Morris and Emma Morris Shelton. Morris is best known for his highly influential textile designs and association with the Pre-Rapahelite Brotherhood, but … 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
Michelangelo, Jonah from the Sistine Chapel ceiling, 1508-12, fresco painting, The Vatican, Rome, Public Domain via Wikimedia Commons.
Prefiguration (Noun) The representation of an Old Testament figure as a type or foreshadowing of a New Testament figure. Michelangelo painted an image of Jonah just above the high altar on the Sistine Chapel ceiling because he prefigures Jesus in … Continue reading