Alexander Calder, Untitled Mobile, 1963, Painted metal and wire, 29” x 57” x 24”, Photo courtesy of Sotheby’s Auction House.
Kinetic art is art that moves. Probably the best-known artist who created kinetic art was Alexander Calder (1896-1976), who made mobiles – large and small – that moved with the slightest breeze. Calder made these sculptures by suspending abstracted organic shapes … Continue reading
© 2019 Sally Whitman Coleman, PhD. All rights reserved.
So many people have written about the expansion of the Museum of Modern Art in New York City that the world may not need one more review, but I promise to keep it short. It’s great. I love it! They … Continue reading
Mildred Thompson, Magnetic Fields, 1991, oil on canvas, triptych, 70 1/2 x 150 inches. Courtesy of the Mildred Thompson Estate, Atlanta, Georgia art and photo © The Mildred Thompson Estate, Atlanta, Georgia.
Magnetic Fields: Expanding Abstraction, 1960s to Today at the Kemper Museum of Contemporary Art in Kansas City, MO showcases three generations of abstract art created by women of color, artists typically left out of the canon of American art. Different … 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
Joan Brown, The Kiss, 1976, enamel on canvas, 96" x 78", Estate of Joan Brown, Photo via Wikiart
“A kiss is a lovely trick designed by nature to stop speech when words become superfluous.” Ingrid Bergman Happy Valentine’s Day from The Art Minute
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
Mark Rothko, No. 13 (White, Red on Yellow), 1958, oil on canvas, 95 1/4 × 81 3/8 in., The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, Photo courtesy of The Metropolitan Museum of Art
There is a terrific website that has basic information about modern and contemporary art. The Art Story (www.theartstory.org) has helpful details about artists, movements, and art criticism. It also has a few timelines to assist in putting these art movements in … Continue reading
Archibald J. Motley Jr., ‘Blues,’ 1929, oil on canvas, 36 × 42 inches, Collection of Mara Motley M.D., and Valerie Gerrard Browne, Image courtesy of the Chicago History Museum, Chicago, Illinois. © Valerie Gerrard Browne.
A retrospective exhibition of the work of Archibald J. Motley, Jr. now is on view at the Whitney Museum of American Art. Motley was one of the first black artists to attend the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, where … Continue reading
Andy Warhol, Self-Portrait, oil and silkscreen ink on canvas, 45 in. x 67 1/2 in. , Collection SFMOMA, Photo by Thomas Hawk via Flickr, Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial 2.0 License
“An artist is somebody who produces things that people don’t need to have.” Andy Warhol
© 2013 Sally Whitman Coleman, PhD. All rights reserved.
Andy Warhol Pop Artist Andrej Varhola, Jr. was born on August 6, 1928 in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania to Andrej Varhola, a coal mine worker, and Júlia Zavacká, both of whom were immigrants from Slovakia. Andy Warhol died in New York City on February 22, 1987. … Continue reading
Jean-Michel Basquiat, Dustheads, 1982, acrylic, oilstick, spray enamel and metallic paint on canvas, 72” x 84”, Photo by glouglou2fois via Flickr, Creative Commons ShareAlike 2.0 Generic License.
On May 15th, Christie’s held the biggest art auction in history at which collectors spent a record-breaking $495 million for canvases by Jean-Michel Basquiat, Jackson Pollock, and Roy Lichtenstein among others. One of the snarky writers at Gawker.com, Maggie Lange, … 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