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Curator's Corner

Gem of the Month: Wang Zhen

Monday, July 25, 2022 | Karl Cole

This beautiful still life is representative of a period in Chinese art when Chinese artists began to be influenced by elements of Western art, before the Communist government was established. Man ...

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Curator's Corner

We lost a truly unique artist this past December 25th. I associate Wayne Thiebaud more with New Realism of the 1960s, but he has been inexorably linked to Pop Art in many Western art history texts. Re ...

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Curator's Corner

National Pear Month: Luis Meléndez

Monday, December 21, 2020 | Karl Cole

In 2004, the U.S. Department of Agriculture declared December as “National Pear Month.” I did not realize that pears have as much potassium as bananas. And they are certainly interesting a ...

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Curator's Corner

German Expressionist Christmas: Gabriele Münter

Monday, December 23, 2019 | Karl Cole

What better way to enjoy Christmas than to give yourself the gift of German Expressionist color in the work of Gabriele Münter? Who needs to listen to Christmas carols when you have this beauty t ...

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Curator's Corner

Thanksgiving Thought: Rubens Peale

Monday, December 2, 2019 | Karl Cole

Thanksgiving always gets me to thinking about early America, particularly about the many changes that happened in our country at that time, which very few of us ever think (or know) about. I’m s ...

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Curator's Corner

An April Birthday Boy: Antoine Vollon

Tuesday, April 23, 2019 | Karl Cole

Antoine Vollon, known primarily for his excellent still-life paintings, had a birthday on April 23rd. In the glory days of the annual academic Salon in Paris (1760s–1890s)—when the self-ap ...

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Curator's Corner

Claude Raguet Hirst Realism

Monday, June 25, 2018 | Karl Cole

Nothing showcases the American obsession with realism in art during the 1800s better than the brief Trompe l’Oeil Realism movement of the 1880s and 1890s. Like the Dutch Baroque realist still-li ...

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Curator's Corner

National Plant a Flower Day: Margherita Caffi and Helen Hamilton

Friday, March 9, 2018 | Karl Cole

Not only is it National Women’s [Art] History Month, but Monday is National Plant a Flower Day. Due to the two major nor’easters that have rocked the Northeast, I would like to feature a h ...

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Curator's Corner

Deceiving the Eye: American Trompe-l'Oeil Realism

Wednesday, June 21, 2017 | Karl Cole

I’ve written before about the long-standing interest in extreme realism in American painting. Colonial American self-taught artists (“limners”) may not have been schooled in anatomy, ...

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Curator's Corner

Still Life and Our Culture of Abundance: John F. Francis

Monday, May 15, 2017 | Karl Cole

I got so excited the other night while watching Antiques Roadshow. A person brought two little still-life paintings from 1865, and I said to myself, “Oh, those look like John Francis’s wor ...

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Curator's Corner

The Raphael of Flowers: Pierre Joseph Redouté

Tuesday, May 9, 2017 | Karl Cole

I don’t usually experience beauty attacks when considering art from France of the late 1700s and early 1800s. Neoclassicism isn’t my thing! But this artist is a standout in a period otherw ...

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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

A Roesen is Still a Roesen...

Monday, August 4, 2014 | Karl Cole

I’m a big fan of artists, especially American artists, who may not be household names like Homer, Peale, or Eakins, but who nonetheless had an impact on art during their careers. There is such a ...

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Curator's Corner

Thoughts on Still Life: Willem Kalf

Tuesday, June 12, 2012 | Karl Cole

I like to contemplate terms that are used by art historians. One of them is “still life.” In French it’s nature morte (dead nature) and in German it’s Stillleben (sti ...

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Curator's Corner

A Still Life Pioneer: Raphaelle Peale

Thursday, November 17, 2011 | Karl Cole

Well, we’re coming up on Thanksgiving and I want to express my thanks for many aspects of the arts. One thing I’m totally thankful for is the rich history of American art. I may not always ...

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Curator's Corner

Women, Restriction, and Art History: Barbara Regina Dietzsch

Monday, August 29, 2011 | Karl Cole

I have previously mentioned in this blog my observation that even though women artists are not covered adequately in art history surveys, they nonetheless were an integral part of art history. I said ...

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Blogs

Still life painting

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Gem of the Month: Wang Zhen

Remembering Wayne Thiebaud

National Pear Month: Luis Meléndez

German Expressionist Christmas: Gabriele Münter

Thanksgiving Thought: Rubens Peale

An April Birthday Boy: Antoine Vollon

Claude Raguet Hirst Realism

National Plant a Flower Day: Margherita Caffi and Helen Hamilton

Deceiving the Eye: American Trompe-l'Oeil Realism

Still Life and Our Culture of Abundance: John F. Francis

The Raphael of Flowers: Pierre Joseph Redouté

The Peale Women

A Roesen is Still a Roesen...

Thoughts on Still Life: Willem Kalf

A Still Life Pioneer: Raphaelle Peale

Women, Restriction, and Art History: Barbara Regina Dietzsch

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Always Stay in the Loop