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Curator's Corner

Painting or Print? Albert Bierstadt

Monday, August 10, 2015 | Karl Cole

Yes, Sunset (California Scenery) is a print. But, what a print! I will admit, before I learned a little bit about art when in college, I would have seen such a chromolithograph in an antique shop and ...

Curator's Corner

The Essence of Essence

Monday, August 3, 2015 | Karl Cole

I’ve been reading manifestos by several early modernist artists from Europe recently (Kandinsky, Boccioni, Doesburg), and a recurring thought comes out in all of their writings. It is the idea t ...

Curator's Corner

A Neglected Japanese Printmaker: Gosōtei Hirosada

Monday, July 27, 2015 | Karl Cole

I’m pretty sure there’s generally a misconception about the ukiyo-e phenomenon in Japanese art. It is certainly one I had until I recently came across hundreds of gorgeous woodblock prints ...

Curator's Corner

Horse Worship

Monday, July 13, 2015 | Karl Cole

I recently became reacquainted with the British painting mania for horse portraits and hunting scenes that flowered between the late 1600s (in both Holland and Britain) and early 1800s. In the 1700s, ...

Curator's Corner

Happy Fourth of July Week

Monday, July 6, 2015 | Karl Cole

I would really have liked to have been around when George Washington was our first president! That must have been such an exciting (and challenging, to be sure) period in which to live. Everything abo ...

Curator's Corner

Too Nice to Put on the Floor: Nasrid Kingdom

Monday, June 29, 2015 | Karl Cole

Every so often I learn about a period in history in a certain place that seemed to have everything going for it—relative peace, flourishing economy and vibrant artistic culture, and a government ...

Curator's Corner

Cure for Modernization Regret: Richard Upjohn

Monday, June 22, 2015 | Karl Cole

I get the sads whenever I walk a certain way to work, because I pass an old, late 1800s house now stuck between a sidewalk and entrance to a parking garage. It is all boarded up and covered over with ...

Curator's Corner

African Realism: Yoruba

Monday, June 15, 2015 | Karl Cole

During the 1800s, when European invaders were exploiting the riches of the African continent, art historians were “astounded” at the richness and variety of African art. They had no knowle ...

Curator's Corner

The Intriguing Peter Blume

Monday, June 8, 2015 | Karl Cole

One super-prime example of why it is often unwise to stick with labels for artists’ styles is the term “Painters of the American Scene,” or “American Scene Painting.” Thi ...

Curator's Corner

Old Styles, New Techniques: Furniture Revival

Monday, June 1, 2015 | Karl Cole

The history of furniture design has always been one of my favorite areas of study. Such study is even more rewarding when I learn about a “first” in regards to American furniture, which wa ...

Curator's Corner

How Old Is This? Edo and Jutta Sika Ceramics

Tuesday, May 26, 2015 | Karl Cole

Lately, I can’t seem to get away from seeing “abstraction” in all sorts of places. I came across this wonderful Japanese bowl from the mid-1700s to mid-1800s, during the Edo period ( ...

Curator's Corner

Recognize This Artist? Louise Nevelson

Monday, May 18, 2015 | Karl Cole

When I was teaching art history, I guess I was a student’s worst nightmare, because on tests I would not show them images of the works that they had seen in the book and in class. Instead, I wou ...

Curator's Corner

Some Thoughts about Stools

Monday, May 11, 2015 | Karl Cole

Does furniture have a soul? I sort of think it does. We sit on, lean on, and lie down on furniture for most of our lives. It’s hard to believe that something of our souls does not get infused in ...

Curator's Corner

Abstraction is Nothing New: Ancient Egypt

Monday, May 4, 2015 | Karl Cole

I’m making a declaration: artists were inspired to create abstract art thousands of years ago. When one (and by “one” I mean a person reading an art history text) reads about any art ...

Curator's Corner

Revisiting Gandhara

Monday, April 27, 2015 | Karl Cole

Believe it or not, this is a Buddhist bodhisattva (saint). My very first posting for this blog was about the Greek invasion of northern India and how it affected some of the earliest images of the Bud ...

Curator's Corner

Patriots Day Week: Joseph Badger

Friday, April 24, 2015 | Karl Cole

Since Monday was Patriots Day, as well as the running of the Boston Marathon, I’m celebrating this week—in an art historical way, of course—with one of my favorite colonial portrait ...

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Painting or Print? Albert Bierstadt

The Essence of Essence

A Neglected Japanese Printmaker: Gosōtei Hirosada

Horse Worship

Happy Fourth of July Week

Too Nice to Put on the Floor: Nasrid Kingdom

Cure for Modernization Regret: Richard Upjohn

African Realism: Yoruba

The Intriguing Peter Blume

Old Styles, New Techniques: Furniture Revival

How Old Is This? Edo and Jutta Sika Ceramics

Recognize This Artist? Louise Nevelson

Some Thoughts about Stools

Abstraction is Nothing New: Ancient Egypt

Revisiting Gandhara

Patriots Day Week: Joseph Badger

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