ART for the Bleak Midwinter: Camille Pissarro
To quote the title of an old British Christmas dirge (and, I do mean dirge), In the Bleak Midwinter is where we stand right now. But, that doesn’t mean we can’t look at a gorgeous pai ...
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Curator's Corner
What's in a Snake 4: Tony Smith
For the last post in my Snakes in Art series, I’ll take a look at modern sculpture. This is a neutral snake, neither sinister nor benign. Like a piece from 1961, Willy, Snake is Out references c ...
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Curator's Corner
What's in a Snake 3: Poul Henningsen
Today’s post in my Snakes in Art series shifts to modern design. I guess a chair is an example of a good serpent! There’s something both ironic and logical in the combination of a serpent ...
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Curator's Corner
What's in a Snake 2: Deccan Painting
Yesterday I introduced the snake as a subject in art. Here’s an example of a sinister serpent/person in Hindu tradition. Aghasura was a demon follower of the evil (pseudo-demon) king Kamsa (of M ...
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Curator's Corner
What's in a Snake 1: Mississippian Culture
I really don’t have anything against snakes. Snakes may have something against me, after I once, as a teenager, accidentally planted one of my size-12 gunboats on a garter snake and it bit me. M ...
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Curator's Corner
American Renaissance Architecture: Frank Furness
“American Renaissance” is sometimes used to refer, stylistically, to the period between the Civil War (1860–1865) and 1900. Some call the same period “Victorian,” but, Vi ...
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Curator's Corner
Vietnam Part 3: Dinh Q. Lê
Yesterday I told you about Vietnamese art from the 1500s. For today’s final installment in my series about Vietnamese art, let’s take a look at some contemporary art. ...
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Curator's Corner
Vietnam Part 2: Ceramics
Yesterday I told you about the Champa kingdom that flourished in Vietnam. For the second post in my series on Vietnamese art, I will introduce you to the development of ceramics in Vietnam. ...
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Curator's Corner
Vietnam Part 1: Champa Kingdom
And speaking of political disasters this past week, I’m pretty sure most folks would agree that the Vietnam War (1955–1975) was one of them in the past. My problem with that—aside fr ...
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Curator's Corner
New Year for the Sensibilities
Leave it to Honoré Daumier to sum up a personality that could be any number of jerks in our current narrow-minded, materialistic, me-me-me culture. In honor of the advent of 2017, I decided to ...
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