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Curator’s Corner

The Beauty of Wayō Shodō

Friday, October 30, 2015 | Karl Cole

Did you known that the Japanese did not have a written language up until the 400s CE? I find cursive Japanese so incredibly beautiful. The story behind its development is very interesting, and I bet y ...

Curator’s Corner

A Neglected Japanese Printmaker

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

How Old Is This?

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 and was sort of wowed by ...

Curator’s Corner

Survey No. 12: Abstraction

Monday, February 2, 2015 | Karl Cole

In our art history survey, we are now at the end with the 1900s. The big “revelation” in Western art starting very late in the 1800s and flowering in the early 1900s was abstraction. Abstr ...

Curator’s Corner

Survey No. 11: Unknown Impressionists

Monday, January 26, 2015 | Karl Cole

Art in the 1800s brought us the terms Neoclassicism, Romanticism, and Realism, covered in my New Slant on Art History. The second half of the century saw a major shift in how artists used art to portr ...

Curator’s Corner

Survey No. 10: Ubiquitous Real

Monday, January 19, 2015 | Karl Cole

So far we have taken a look at Classicism and Romanticism around the world in the 1800s. Now let’s look at “realism,” which—like every other style—has been a trend somewh ...

Curator’s Corner

Survey No. 9: What is Romanticism?

Monday, January 12, 2015 | Karl Cole

Last week I discussed the stylistic designation “classicism” in both Western and non-Western art produced in the 1800s. For today’s New Slant on Art History, I continue to look at th ...

Curator’s Corner

Survey No. 7: The 1700s

Monday, December 22, 2014 | Karl Cole

As we approach the 1800s in our Art History Survey, just so we do not forget (as if) that art was being produced in other parts of the world besides the West, let’s look elsewhere at art produce ...

Curator’s Corner

Survey No. 6: The 1600s

Monday, December 15, 2014 | Karl Cole

I think an alternate term for art of the 1600s is needed other than “Baroque.” Baroque is the established stylistic term for the period roughly 1600–1750 in Western art. The term com ...

Curator’s Corner

Saturated Autumn Color

Tuesday, November 4, 2014 | Karl Cole

I know I showed a Japanese artist’s work last week, but I got so excited when I came across this woodcut print that I just had to share it with you. It’s a perfect example of saturation&nb ...

Curator’s Corner

Layered Magnificence

Tuesday, October 28, 2014 | Karl Cole

I am eternally grateful for the ability to be “wowed” on a continual basis when I see works of art/artists I’ve never seen before! This may just be the art historian nerd in me, but ...

Curator’s Corner

Japanese Porcelain Tradition

Monday, June 9, 2014 | Karl Cole

Stop me if you’ve heard this before, but I’m absolutely bonkers about ceramic art, and particularly Japanese and Chinese. This piece especially garnered my attention because it combines re ...

Curator’s Corner

Lacquer

Monday, June 17, 2013 | Karl Cole

The art of lacquer has long fascinated me. When I was in an Asian Art seminar in college (decades ago), I learned that ancient Chinese bodies coated in lacquer still had supple skin. Now that’s ...

Curator’s Corner

Thoughts About Abstraction

Monday, July 30, 2012 | Karl Cole

Abstraction is any art that does not represent observed aspects of nature or transforms visible forms into a stylized image. Another definition (which I prefer) is that abstraction is the extreme simp ...

Curator’s Corner

What is "Contemporary Art"?

Monday, June 18, 2012 | Karl Cole

What comes to mind when you think “contemporary art”? I find it interesting that Picasso and Abstract Expressionism are still considered, by some, to be “contemporary” in ...

Curator’s Corner

A Great Tradition Endures

Monday, March 5, 2012 | Karl Cole

As I’ve written before, ceramic arts in Japan are among the oldest on Earth, dating back to the Jomon Culture (dates to ca. 11000 BCE, flourished ca. 3000 – 200 BCE). The reason I bring up ...

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The Beauty of Wayō Shodō

A Neglected Japanese Printmaker

How Old Is This?

Survey No. 12: Abstraction

Survey No. 11: Unknown Impressionists

Survey No. 10: Ubiquitous Real

Survey No. 9: What is Romanticism?

Survey No. 7: The 1700s

Survey No. 6: The 1600s

Saturated Autumn Color

Layered Magnificence

Japanese Porcelain Tradition

Lacquer

Thoughts About Abstraction

What is "Contemporary Art"?

A Great Tradition Endures

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