Blogs

Curator's Corner

It Isn't Just Wood

Thursday, March 31, 2016 | Karl Cole

The American revolution in modernism in the mid-1900s was not confined to painting and sculpture alone (i.e., Abstract Expressionism). Aside from the New York School’s exploring the question of ...

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Curator's Corner

Utilitarian Object or Sculpture?

Friday, November 13, 2015 | Karl Cole

First of all, let me clarify the use of “utilitarian” or “decorative arts.” These are unfortunately terms art historians are stuck with from the 1800s art history gods in Weste ...

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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 ...

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Curator's Corner

A Realism Backlash? Modern Art Heads

Tuesday, August 18, 2015 | Karl Cole

After the horrors experienced by Europeans in World War I (1914–1918), the brakes were more or less put on to the prevailing trend towards modernism and abstraction, although certainly many arti ...

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Curator's Corner

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

African Realism: Yoruba

Monday, June 15, 2015 | Karl Cole

During the 1800s, when European invaders were exploiting the riches of the African continent, art historians were “astounded” at the richness and variety of African art. They had no knowle ...

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Curator's Corner

Recognize This Artist? Louise Nevelson

Monday, May 18, 2015 | Karl Cole

When I was teaching art history, I guess I was a student’s worst nightmare, because on tests I would not show them images of the works that they had seen in the book and in class. Instead, I wou ...

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Curator's Corner

Revisiting Gandhara

Monday, April 27, 2015 | Karl Cole

Believe it or not, this is a Buddhist bodhisattva (saint). My very first posting for this blog was about the Greek invasion of northern India and how it affected some of the earliest images of the Bud ...

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Curator's Corner

Another Art History Myth Busted: Northern Renaissance

Monday, March 9, 2015 | Karl Cole

I’m sure you are all familiar with the refrain we hear in art history books about the differences between the Renaissance in Northern Europe and Italy. Well, to put it mildly, the idea that the ...

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Curator's Corner

African American History Month 2015: William Edmondson

Monday, February 9, 2015 | Karl Cole

African American artists in the 21st century have embraced every art form, style, and new development, as well as pioneering many on their own. They have the added distinction of contributing a unique ...

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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 ...

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Curator's Corner

Survey No. 4: 1400s/1500s I

Monday, December 1, 2014 | Karl Cole

One of the bonuses of studying art history is learning about surprising connections when studying how cultures in the past interacted. Many times such interaction between cultures and the influence it ...

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Curator's Corner

Survey No. 3: Middle Ages

Monday, November 24, 2014 | Karl Cole

I’m not quite sure when the historical/art historical/cultural/religious term “Medieval” (the confluence of the Latin “medius,” middle, and “aevum,” age) came ...

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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 ...

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Curator's Corner

Cross-Cultural Connections: Gandharan Style

Monday, September 29, 2014 | Karl Cole

It’s amazing to me how connected the cultures of the world are. One can no longer separate east and west when we see the art of northern India/Pakistan during the early years of Buddhist art. Bu ...

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Curator's Corner

Head Vessels

Monday, July 21, 2014 | Karl Cole

Effigy (portrait, human head, or whole figure) ceramic art (usually male) has been featured in all sorts of wares since ancient times from throughout the world. In many instances it is associated prim ...

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Blogs

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It Isn't Just Wood

Utilitarian Object or Sculpture?

Smile of the Buddha in Art

A Realism Backlash? Modern Art Heads

Happy Fourth of July Week

African Realism: Yoruba

Recognize This Artist? Louise Nevelson

Revisiting Gandhara

Another Art History Myth Busted: Northern Renaissance

African American History Month 2015: William Edmondson

Survey No. 12: Abstraction

Survey No. 4: 1400s/1500s I

Survey No. 3: Middle Ages

Hierarchical Size

Cross-Cultural Connections: Gandharan Style

Head Vessels

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Always Stay in the Loop