Blogs

painting

Curator's Corner

Winter

Monday, January 11, 2016 | Karl Cole

Well, it’s winter. Instead of ruefully awaiting spring, I prefer to look at works of art that evoke the idea of winter, one way or another. It’s always interesting to me how artists can ca ...

Read Article
Curator's Corner

The Noble Carp?

Friday, December 4, 2015 | Karl Cole

It probably doesn’t occur to most people to view a fish as a symbol of heroic qualities, unless maybe it’s a whale or a shark. In Japan, the carp (koi in Japanese) is a symbol of cour ...

Read Article
Curator's Corner

A Bridge: Jasper Johns

Monday, September 28, 2015 | Karl Cole

The impression a reader gets from some surveys of art history, unfortunately, is that one artistic movement ends and another picks up in a totally different direction. We know this is not true when we ...

Read Article
Curator's Corner

Smile of the Buddha in Art

Wednesday, September 9, 2015 | Karl Cole

The look on the Buddha’s face of serenity is probably what some of us acquired after having a three-day weekend for Labor Day. But, this image intrigued me because—as is the case with ever ...

Read Article
Curator's Corner

Vacation Blog: Provincetown Modernism

Monday, August 24, 2015 | Karl Cole

I’m off on a week’s vacation in Provincetown, which, as you may know, has been the home of a thriving art colony since the late 1800s. The Provincetown Art Association was founded in 1914, ...

Read Article
Curator's Corner

Women's (Art) History Month: Nell Blaine

Monday, March 23, 2015 | Karl Cole

There are so many inspiring stories involving artists throughout history that I could probably crank out a blog every day! (Don’t worry, I’m not going to do that!) But, to celebrate Women& ...

Read Article
Curator's Corner

5 Days and Counting: John Singer Sargent

Monday, March 16, 2015 | Karl Cole

Here is a gorgeous little John Singer Sargent work to stoke your Spring Fever. You know, I never come across a Sargent watercolor I don’t like. Just looking at this beautiful work makes me feel ...

Read Article
Curator's Corner

It's All in the Title: Paul Cézanne

Monday, February 16, 2015 | Karl Cole

The words “melting snow” probably sound pretty good to most people who live in the northeast US. As a transplanted Midwesterner, snow doesn’t really phase me, but I must say, this ye ...

Read Article
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 ...

Read Article
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 ...

Read Article
Curator's Corner

Survey No. 5: 1400s/1500s II

Friday, December 12, 2014 | Karl Cole

Sometimes I wonder if, unfortunately, most Westerners only know about Korea in relation to that unfortunate war in the 1950s or because of contemporary politics in North Korea. This is yet anothe ...

Read Article
Curator's Corner

Hierarchical Size

Tuesday, October 14, 2014 | Karl Cole

Hierarchy is the level of importance allotted to an object, or, for the sake of this posting, a person. Hierarchical size deals with the principle of design known as proportion. Proportion has to do w ...

Read Article
Curator's Corner

Spiritual Color: Sister Gertrude Morgan

Monday, September 8, 2014 | Karl Cole

The persistence of types of artworks through the centuries always fascinates me. While materials may vary, the artwork still serves the same purpose. Before air conditioning, I’m sure fans were ...

Read Article
Curator's Corner

Sous-Verre Painting: Gora Mbengue

Monday, March 10, 2014 | Karl Cole

I once watched an artist in Switzerland do a reverse painting on glass, and the technique amazed me. As an artist, one is thinking in reverse, literally painting details and foreground first, then mid ...

Read Article
Curator's Corner

African American History Month 2014: Kermit Oliver

Monday, February 10, 2014 | Karl Cole

I’m always excited when I learn about a new artist! I’d never heard of Kermit Oliver, but discovered his story when we acquired an image of his work from the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston. ...

Read Article
Curator's Corner

New Year New Art: Emily and Robb Sandagata

Friday, January 10, 2014 | Karl Cole

To start off the new year, I present to you two artists who we are now featured at the Davis Art Gallery in a dual exhibition entitled Unearthed: Emily and Robb Sandagata. Watch them talk about their ...

Read Article

Always Stay in the Loop

Want to know what’s new from Davis? Subscribe to our mailing list for periodic updates on new products, contests, free stuff, and great content.

Back to top