On Behalf of Aunt Jemima

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 →

Happy Birthday Henri Fantin-Latour

Henri Fantin-Latour, Vase of Peonies, 1881, oil on canvas, Honolulu Museum of Art, Public Domain via Wikimedia Commons.

Henri Fantin-Latour French Realist Ignace Henri Jean Théodore Fantin-Latour was born in Grenoble France on January 14th, 1836.  In 1854, he moved to Paris to study at the École des Beaux-Arts, where he befriended the American expatriate James Abbott McNeill Whistler, who sold many … Continue reading →

The Wrath of Athena: Laocoön and His Sons

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 →

Make the Time: Jim Hodges at the Dallas Museum of Art

Jim Hodges, detail, No Betweens, 1996, silk, cotton, polyester and thread, Photo by LollyKnit via Flickr, Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 2.0 Generic License.

If you can, visit the Dallas Museum of Art to see the retrospective of Jim Hodges work before the exhibition closes this Sunday, January 12th.  You will be happy you didn’t miss it.  If you can’t make it, the show … Continue reading →

Happy Birthday Henri Matisse

Henri Matisse, Purple Robe and Anemones, 1937, oil on canvas, 73.1 x 60.5 cm, Baltimore Museum of Art, Baltimore, Photo by Julia Manzerova via Flickr, Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 2.0 Generic License.

Henri Matisse French Fauve painter and draughtsman Henri-Émile-Benoît Matisse was born on December 31, 1869 in Le Cateau-Cambrésis in the north of France to a grain merchant.  In 1887, he moved to Paris to study law, but decided to become … Continue reading →

Seeing Double Dürers

Albrecht Dürer, The Adoration of the Shepherds, from The Life of the Virgin, circa 1503, woodcut, 11 3/4 x 8 5/16 in., National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C. Albrecht Dürer [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons.

Albrect Dürer created this lovely woodcut of the shepherds adoring the baby Jesus on the night he was born as part of a series that illustrates the Life of the Virgin.  The print demonstrates Dürer’s German sensibilities with the expressive … Continue reading →

Philip Johnson’s Glass House and The Architecture of Transparency

Philip Johnson, The Glass House, New Canaan, Connecticut, 1945 - 1949, Photo by Staib via Wikimedia Commons, Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported license.

The Art Minute University: This post was written by Ryan Maler, a student at Southwestern University, Georgetown, TX. The Glass House, designed by architect Philip Johnson, is set in a rural landscape in New Canaan, Connecticut. The modern home has … Continue reading →

Just a Second: Mitre

Jacques Daret, The Visitation, 1434-35, oil on oak panel, 22.44” x 20.47”, Staatliche Museen, Berlin, Public Domain via Wikimedia Commons.

Mitre (noun) A mitre is a pointed hat worn by bishops and certain abbots in the Roman Catholic Church.  In Jacques Daret’s painting of the Visitation, the moment when Mary, pregnant with Jesus meets her relative Elizabeth, who is pregnant … Continue reading →

In Their Own Words: John Fitzgerald Kennedy

Robert Rauschenberg, Retroactive I, 1963, Oil and silkscreen ink on canvas, 84 x 60 in., Wadsworth Atheneum Museum of Art, Hartford, CT, Photo by Mary Ellen via Flickr, Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 License.

“As we express our gratitude, we must never forget that the highest appreciation is not to utter words, but to live by them.” John Fitzgerald Kennedy Happy Thanksgiving from The Art Minute.

Constantine’s Big Ol’ Head

Constantine the Great, c. 315, marble, 8½ feet tall, Palazzo dei Conservatori, Musei Capitolini, Rome, Photo by Camille King via Flickr, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 2.0 Generic License.

Not long after the Roman Emperor Constantine defeated his foe Maxentius at the Battle of the Milvian Bridge, wresting control of the Roman Empire, he left Italy in 324 CE to found Constantinople, which is present-day Istanbul. This is not … Continue reading →

Happy Birthday Claude Monet

Claude Monet, Poplars, 1891, Public Domain via Wikimedia Commons.

Claude Monet French impressionist painter Oscar-Claude Monet, a founder of French impressionist painting, was born in Paris on November 14, 1840, the second son of Claude Adolphe Monet and Louise Justine Aubrée Monet.  His parents called him Oscar.  His father wanted … Continue reading →

Make the Time: 82nd & Fifth

Arhat (Luohan), Liao Dynasty, c. 1000, glazed stoneware, 41¼” h., New York, Metropolitan Museum of Art, Photo by Eric Parker via Flickr, Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 2.0 Generic License.

The Metropolitan Museum of Art is running a series of short videos called “82nd & Fifth” that feature a curator talking about a work of art in the museum.  The videos are beautifully produced with incredible photographic details of the … Continue reading →