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portraiture

Curator's Corner

Happy Fourth of July Week

Monday, July 6, 2015 | Karl Cole

I would really have liked to have been around when George Washington was our first president! That must have been such an exciting (and challenging, to be sure) period in which to live. Everything abo ...

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Curator's Corner

Patriots Day Week: Joseph Badger

Friday, April 24, 2015 | Karl Cole

Since Monday was Patriots Day, as well as the running of the Boston Marathon, I’m celebrating this week—in an art historical way, of course—with one of my favorite colonial portrait ...

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Curator's Corner

One of the Forbearers of American Art: Peter Pelham

Monday, February 3, 2014 | Karl Cole

Since I moved to New England years ago, I have come to greatly to appreciate the rich history of our country. One of the most interesting aspects of realllllly early American art is the influence (nat ...

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Curator's Corner

Oil Painting in Italy: Antonello da Messina

Tuesday, September 4, 2012 | Karl Cole

I really love the Philadelphia Museum of Art, especially the monastery-like room in which I saw this painting displayed. I also really like getting the side-eye from this guy, because this artist is o ...

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Curator's Corner

Not Your Typical Mummy: Roman Period

Thursday, May 12, 2011 | Karl Cole

I’m a big fan/geek when it comes to portraiture. This may stem from the fact that I can’t paint a portrait of someone without it looking like a bad cartoon, but I digress. Additionally, I& ...

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Curator's Corner

An African Photographer: Seydou Keïta

Monday, October 18, 2010 | Karl Cole

In looking at the history of art, I always try to appreciate art that is under-appreciated. Photography has been accepted as an art form since the early 1900s, although is it rarely studied outside of ...

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Curator's Corner

Importance of Portraits V: Gillian Wearing

Monday, September 27, 2010 | Karl Cole

As the wrap-up to my “Ode to the Portrait” series, I couldn’t wait to show you this image by the awesome contemporary artist Gillian Wearing. She is one of the so-called Young Britis ...

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Curator's Corner

Importance of Portraits III: Mughal Dynasty

Monday, September 13, 2010 | Karl Cole

Mughal art, the art produced in the Islamic empire in India, is fascinating because of its blending of artistic traditions from other Muslim lands, indigenous Indian art, and western European influenc ...

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Curator's Corner

Importance of Portraits II: Desiderio da Settignano

Tuesday, September 7, 2010 | Karl Cole

Throughout the history of art, there have been artists, who, although they did not have a long career, established themselves as a master of a genre. That is true of early Italian Renaissance master s ...

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Curator's Corner

Importance of Portraits I: David Gilmour Blythe

Monday, August 30, 2010 | Karl Cole

It seems unbelievable, but there are only five more weeks before this blog reaches 100 posts. To celebrate the milestone, the next five entries will focus on an important subject taught in art classro ...

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Curator's Corner

Canadian Photographer: William McFarlane Notman

Monday, December 21, 2009 | Karl Cole

I’m returning to a Canadian artist again this week because this work reminds me of two things I think we tend to forget: 1) Photography was an art form that evolved in Canada the same as it did ...

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Curator's Corner

Puerto Rican Colonial Art: José Campeche y Jordán

Monday, September 14, 2009 | Karl Cole

In the United States we tend to think of John Singleton Copley, John Smibert, and Charles Willson Peale when the words “colonial art” come up. There is, however, another rich and fascinati ...

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Curator's Corner

Incan Painting of the Colonial Period: School of Cuzco

Monday, July 27, 2009 | Karl Cole

Last Saturday night, I started a new landscape painting by doing a sketch in linseed oil-thinned oil paint. You’ve read about my art historian geekhood on this blog, but now you’ll hear ab ...

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Curator's Corner

Ancient Roman Realism

Monday, June 8, 2009 | Karl Cole

While when we think of the art of ancient Rome we tend to connect it to the influence of Greek art, there was a strong naturalistic trend in Roman art that would have appalled Greek artists. ...

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Curator's Corner

Spanish Colonial Portraiture

Monday, February 2, 2009 | Karl Cole

When we think of portraiture in the “New World,” we usually tend to think of John Singleton Copley and Charles Willson Peale in the United States. However, there was a thriving artistic mi ...

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