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Curator’s Corner

Swiss National Day—Bundesfeier: Le Corbusier

Monday, August 1, 2022 | Karl Cole

The first of August (Erschten Ougschte in Bernese) is the Swiss “Independence Day,” celebrating the establishment of the first Swiss Confederation of thirteen cantons (districts) seeking l ...

Curator’s Corner

Asian/Pacific American Heritage Month 2022: I. M. Pei

Monday, May 16, 2022 | Karl Cole

I. M. (Ieoh Ming) Pei was a pioneering American architect renowned in the International Style. He conceived of many of his building designs as a form of sculpture. ...

Curator’s Corner

Rethinking Classicism Part 4

Thursday, August 13, 2020 | Karl Cole

Today's Rethinking Classicism post brings us to the city of Isfahan, Iran. The Safavid dynasty (1501–1736) was a cultural pinnacle in Persian history. The Safavid rulers were massive patrons of ...

Curator’s Corner

Rethinking Classicism Part 1

Monday, August 10, 2020 | Karl Cole

As a Westerner (and art historian my entire adult life), I have always felt extremely weary of the word “classicism.” One reason I am weary of the word is that it is used as a blanket term ...

Curator’s Corner

Art of Libraries

Monday, April 20, 2020 | Karl Cole

April 20th through 27th is National Library Week. We all like libraries. Like museums, they have such a special ambience. In order to celebrate that in an art historical manner, let’s look at so ...

Curator’s Corner

What Was Happening in the 20s?

Monday, January 6, 2020 | Karl Cole

As a celebration of the new year, let’s look back at what was happening in the ‘20s of centuries past. ...

Curator’s Corner

Indigenous Peoples Heritage Month I

Monday, November 18, 2019 | Karl Cole

The actual title is “National Native American Heritage Month.” There are so many outstanding examples of the artistic contributions First Nations cultures have made to the history of this ...

Curator’s Corner

Gem of the Month: The Blue Mosque

Tuesday, November 12, 2019 | Karl Cole

Istanbul is yet another one of the places on my “to see” list that I probably will never get to see. One of the big draws for me to that city—besides its amazing history as the forme ...

Curator’s Corner

Gem of the Month: Mughal Architecture

Monday, July 29, 2019 | Karl Cole

Aside from painting, architecture is one of the most stunning legacies of the Mughal Empire that ruled most of India between 1526 and (technically) 1857, when it was dissolved by the British East Indi ...

Curator’s Corner

Christmas Came Early

Monday, December 3, 2018 | Karl Cole

Christmas in 2018 came early, namely, this past summer. I always feel as if I’m getting Christmas presents when we receive new images of art from museums, or receive new photography of artwork a ...

Curator’s Corner

Women's History Month 2017 II

Tuesday, March 21, 2017 | Karl Cole

There aren’t many women architects who share the star power of names such as Mies van der Rohe or I.M. Pei, but, like many things in the old timey art history books—like sculpture—ar ...

Curator’s Corner

It's All in the Details, part 3

Friday, March 10, 2017 | Karl Cole

I’m not sure if the Benjamin Latrobe-like klismos side chair in the foreground is original to Lemon Hill, but the curving door is. This interesting detail is on the second-floor landing of the c ...

Curator’s Corner

It's All in the Details, part 2

Thursday, March 9, 2017 | Karl Cole

The sculptural decoration of Hoysala Dynasty (ca. 1050–ca. 1346) architecture is particularly ornate and worth scoping out. In the West, we are so inundated with data about the “sculpture ...

Curator’s Corner

It's All in the Details, part 1

Wednesday, March 8, 2017 | Karl Cole

Two weeks ago, my brother visited a friend in Rome and he raved about their visit to the recently re-opened—after almost 20 years—early Christian church of Santa Maria Antiqua. It has some ...

Curator’s Corner

American Renaissance Architecture

Monday, January 23, 2017 | Karl Cole

“American Renaissance” is sometimes used to refer, stylistically, to the period between the Civil War (1860–1865) and 1900. Some call the same period “Victorian,” but, Vi ...

Curator’s Corner

A Beautiful Idea...and Building

Tuesday, October 13, 2015 | Karl Cole

Once, while on a plane landing at O’Hare when I lived in Chicago, the sun was going down and we flew in low over this spectacular building. I’ll never forget that sight. And, yes, it was i ...

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Swiss National Day—Bundesfeier: Le Corbusier

Asian/Pacific American Heritage Month 2022: I. M. Pei

Rethinking Classicism Part 4

Rethinking Classicism Part 1

Art of Libraries

What Was Happening in the 20s?

Indigenous Peoples Heritage Month I

Gem of the Month: The Blue Mosque

Gem of the Month: Mughal Architecture

Christmas Came Early

Women's History Month 2017 II

It's All in the Details, part 3

It's All in the Details, part 2

It's All in the Details, part 1

American Renaissance Architecture

A Beautiful Idea...and Building

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