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Curator's Corner

Gem of the Month: Kim Bong-Ryong

Monday, August 30, 2021 | Karl Cole

I have long held a big “Wow!” for lacquer in East Asian arts. That was especially true when I recently came upon this piece, which is why I'm featuring it as my Gem of the Month. It is suc ...

Curator's Corner

Romance Awareness Month: Suzuki Harunobu, Etruria, Safavid

Monday, August 16, 2021 | Karl Cole

I was not aware of the association of romance with the month of August, but I think it’s refreshing. On one website that explains national month days, it said that “February isn’t th ...

Curator's Corner

How Art Looks at Age

Monday, August 9, 2021 | Karl Cole

Having made my weekly visit to my dear friend Alice in a senior residence—where she was committed by a state conservator—I began thinking about how society perceives older (and I refuse to ...

Curator's Corner

To Mask or Not to Mask

Monday, August 2, 2021 | Karl Cole

The word “mask” gets an emotional response from some folks in these days of pandemic. I wonder, if the masks we're asked to wear looked like these following examples from Davis Digital&rsq ...

Davis Desk

Disability Pride Month 2021 - Yayoi Kusama

Thursday, July 22, 2021 | Karl Cole

July is Disability Pride Month! As we continue to celebrate this annual observance that promotes the pride felt by people with disabilities, today we share artist Yayoi Kusama. During her long and di ...

Curator's Corner

World Watercolor Month: Kota School

Monday, July 12, 2021 | Karl Cole

I imagine July is World Watercolor Month because many artists take advantage of the beautiful summer weather to paint out of doors. I never fail to admire artists who achieve amazing works in this med ...

Curator's Corner

Kimono Patterns and Ukiyo-e Prints

Monday, April 26, 2021 | Karl Cole

The Worcester Art Museum is hosting a fascinating exhibit tying kimono design and its importance in the ukiyo-e print aesthetic. Ukiyo-e, meaning “images of the floating (i.e. transient physical ...

Curator's Corner

Spring Is in the Air: Xia Chang

Monday, April 5, 2021 | Karl Cole

Please come on spring, that’s what I say! And what better way to anticipate the blooming and blossoming than a gorgeous impression of early spring? ...

Curator's Corner

Gem of the Month: Guanyin

Monday, January 25, 2021 | Karl Cole

Seated in the “position of royal ease” (rajalilasana in Hindu), this portrayal of the bodhisattva Guanyin mirrors hundreds of other versions of the subject in Chinese art. The pose was inf ...

Curator's Corner

Auspicious Friend for the New Year: Kanō Isen'in Naganobu

Monday, January 4, 2021 | Karl Cole

Pine trees are one of the three “auspicious friends”—plants (along with bamboo and plum blossom) that help welcome the New Year in Japan. Pines are auspicious because they survive an ...

Curator's Corner

The Month of Frost: Hashimoto Gahō

Monday, November 30, 2020 | Karl Cole

It’s the last day of November 2020. In Japan, the historical (traditional) calendar was based on the Chinese lunar calendar, which meant that months began three to seven weeks later than the Gre ...

Curator's Corner

Kittens and Bunnies

Monday, November 16, 2020 | Karl Cole

It’s been a crazy year with this awful pandemic going on, and an equally crazy last two weeks with this nutty election. I think we all need some kittens and bunnies to recoup our mental health. ...

Curator's Corner

Realism of Ceramics Artist Ah Leon

Monday, August 31, 2020 | Karl Cole

I was blown away the first time I saw this artist’s work, and I’m certain you will have the same reaction. We all know about the great ceramic tradition of Eastern cultures such as China, ...

Curator's Corner

Second Leader of the Kanō School: Kanō Motonobu

Monday, August 24, 2020 | Karl Cole

At the end of this week, August 28, we remember the anniversary of the passing of Kanō Motonobu (1476–1559) of the illustrious Kanō School. Not really a “school,” the Kanō School was ...

Curator's Corner

Rethinking Romanticism: Kamakura Period

Wednesday, August 19, 2020 | Karl Cole

This week’s Rethinking Romanticism series continues with romanticism in Japanese art. The Kamakura period (1185–1333) was a particularly turbulent, civil-war-ravaged era in Japan. It is th ...

Curator's Corner

Rethinking Classicism: Song Dynasty

Wednesday, August 12, 2020 | Karl Cole

My Rethinking Classicism series continues with landscapes of the Southern Song style. The early Song period (900s CE) witnessed the rise of a great school of landscape painting that endured as the mea ...

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Gem of the Month: Kim Bong-Ryong

Romance Awareness Month: Suzuki Harunobu, Etruria, Safavid

How Art Looks at Age

To Mask or Not to Mask

Disability Pride Month 2021 - Yayoi Kusama

World Watercolor Month: Kota School

Kimono Patterns and Ukiyo-e Prints

Spring Is in the Air: Xia Chang

Gem of the Month: Guanyin

Auspicious Friend for the New Year: Kanō Isen'in Naganobu

The Month of Frost: Hashimoto Gahō

Kittens and Bunnies

Realism of Ceramics Artist Ah Leon

Second Leader of the Kanō School: Kanō Motonobu

Rethinking Romanticism: Kamakura Period

Rethinking Classicism: Song Dynasty

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