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portraiture

Curator's Corner

An Image of Royal Power Attributed to Muhammad Hasan

Monday, November 18, 2024 | Karl Cole

In the history of portrait painting, it is fascinating to interpret what the artist is trying to convey about the sitter. Sometimes when the portrait is of a member of a ruling family, it’s pret ...

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Curator's Corner

Art for National Peach Month 2024

Monday, August 19, 2024 | Karl Cole

August was first declared National Peach Month in the United States in 1982. Since August is the month when peaches are supposed to be at their peak ripeness, let’s look at some works of art tha ...

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Curator's Corner

Celebrating Rembrandt's Birthday

Monday, July 15, 2024 | Karl Cole

As one of the most remarkable talents of the Dutch Golden Age of painting, Rembrandt had the distinction of becoming a fantastically successful artist. Although his contemporaries raved about him, Rem ...

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Curator's Corner

Emancipated Artist: Moses Williams

Monday, June 17, 2024 | Karl Cole

In honor of Juneteenth this week, I present an earlier experience of emancipation—that of artist Moses Williams. When he was 9 years old, Williams’s parents were emancipated. At the time, ...

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Curator's Corner

Pride Month 2024: Marie Laurencin

Monday, June 3, 2024 | Karl Cole

It’s the beginning of LGBTQ+ Pride Month, which was initially celebrated as a single day in late June. Over time, it evolved into a month-long celebration of the Stonewall Uprising that occurred ...

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Curator's Corner

AAPI Heritage Month 2023: Chan Chao

Tuesday, May 30, 2023 | Karl Cole

Photography was a groundbreaking art form when it was first introduced. Quite soon after its development, numerous Western photographers explored photography for documentary and journalistic purposes. ...

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Curator's Corner

Women's History Month 2022: Toyin Ojih Odutola

Monday, March 14, 2022 | Karl Cole

Nigerian-born artist Toyin Ojih Odutola explores contemporary definitions of gender, culture, and society with a unique graphic/painting technique. ...

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Curator's Corner

Respect for the Aged Day: John Singleton Copley

Monday, September 20, 2021 | Karl Cole

The concept of filial piety (reverence for one’s elders) has been deeply ingrained in many cultures around the world for forever. At one time this may have been the case in the West, but the obs ...

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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 ...

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Curator's Corner

The Headgear of Ancient Egypt

Monday, November 9, 2020 | Karl Cole

Since I was a child art historian (there is such a thing), I have been fascinated by the art and culture of ancient Egypt. Aside from the amazing continuity of almost 3000 years in their canonized art ...

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Curator's Corner

Ancient Egypt Find

Monday, May 13, 2019 | Karl Cole

Because of the recent news about an exciting archeological find in Giza, I decided to show some stunning portraits from ancient Egypt. ...

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Curator's Corner

African American History Month: Henry Taylor and Carmen Cartiness Johnson

Monday, February 26, 2018 | Karl Cole

One of the avenues of expression in the flourishing of African American art since the Harlem Renaissance (ca. 1920s–1940) has been the exploration of subject matter concerning the contemporary B ...

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Curator's Corner

Something Beautiful for March: Edward Steichen

Saturday, March 19, 2016 | Karl Cole

Instead of showing a painting of daffodils blooming or March winds and rain, I’d like to look at one of my favorite photographers, who just happened to take this photograph in March. It probably ...

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Curator's Corner

National Women's History Month 2016: Queen Anna Jagiellon

Friday, March 18, 2016 | Karl Cole

To celebrate National Women’s History Month I would like to introduce you to a woman who is not in many history books about Europe: Queen Anna Jagiellon. However, she played a very important rol ...

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Curator's Corner

The Peale Women

Monday, January 25, 2016 | Karl Cole

The name “Peale” is synonymous with the First Family of American painting. The painters of the Peale family were the first “dynasty” of American art, and what a dynasty! They e ...

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Curator's Corner

Photo Phear: George Barnard and Gertrude Käsebier

Monday, August 31, 2015 | Karl Cole

I am Totally not into getting my photograph taken, especially while on vacation, so I am the last person on Earth who should criticize the way other people come out in photographic portraits. I don&rs ...

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