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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

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 ...

Curator’s Corner

Mask for Theater

Monday, January 23, 2012 | Karl Cole

There are so many aspects of Japanese culture that I find absolutely fascinating; I could keep writing this blog for years! As with many countries around the world and throughout history, art is an in ...

Curator’s Corner

Aizuri-e = Wonderful

Monday, October 24, 2011 | Karl Cole

Aizuri-e means blue printed picture. Traditionally, the blue was derived from the dayflower. However, via the Dutch in Osaka, Prussian blue was imported from Europe as early as the 1790s. It did ...

Curator’s Corner

Meet a Mezzotint Master

Monday, October 3, 2011 | Karl Cole

I’ve tried lithography, woodcut, linoleum cut, and etching (on a plastic plate, yuck!), but have never succeeded as a printmaker. I would gladly do color lithography if I could have a press in m ...

Curator’s Corner

Yakimono

Thursday, August 4, 2011 | Karl Cole

Yakimono in Japanese refers to a “fired thing.” A reverence for nature has historically been part of Japanese art since ancient times. Interestingly, the evocation of the respect for natur ...

Curator’s Corner

Today = Tradition

Monday, April 25, 2011 | Karl Cole

I’m able to trace my mother’s side of the family back to the Middle Ages in Switzerland, hence (love using that word whenever I can), I’m totally appreciative of tradition. As you kn ...

Curator’s Corner

kacho-e

Monday, April 4, 2011 | Karl Cole

Today’s post is about my epiphany of the week. In a previous post I introduced you to the early 1900s phenomenon in Japanese woodblock prints called sosaku hanga. That was the continuation of th ...

Curator’s Corner

Three Friends of Winter

Monday, December 27, 2010 | Karl Cole

I’m celebrating the beginning of winter by showing you an image that goes along with the "Looking and Learning" theme for December in our SchoolArts magazine: Stories. I don’t re ...

Curator’s Corner

Venerable Painting School

Monday, December 13, 2010 | Karl Cole

In the 21st century, when millionaires get tax breaks and people are judged by the type of car they drive, it’s nice to be able to retreat and look at art with a simpler outlook on human existen ...

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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

Mask for Theater

Aizuri-e = Wonderful

Meet a Mezzotint Master

Yakimono

Today = Tradition

kacho-e

Three Friends of Winter

Venerable Painting School

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