World Watercolor Month
July is World Watercolor Month. I’m always happy to celebrate a medium in which I am really not terribly good. I have a feeling it’s because I’m an impatient Virgo who can’t st ...
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Curator's Corner
It's the Little Things in Life: Miscellaneous Arts
I despise the terms “decorative arts” and “minor arts” to categorize any art work that is not a painting, print, photograph, or sculpture. I prefer the word “miscellaneou ...
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Curator's Corner
Revival Curiosities: 1800s Furniture
I once was a teaching assistant in a furniture history course in grad school, and have subsequently loved historic furniture and design. One of the mantras we chanted about the history of furniture wa ...
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Curator's Corner
German American Heritage Month: Pennsylvania German
The more things change, etc. I get really irritated with people who say in speeches that immigrants to the United States should “speak American.” For one thing, “American” isn& ...
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Curator's Corner
African Realism: Yoruba
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
The Intriguing Peter Blume
One super-prime example of why it is often unwise to stick with labels for artists’ styles is the term “Painters of the American Scene,” or “American Scene Painting.” Thi ...
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Curator's Corner
Another Art History Myth Busted: Northern Renaissance
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
Survey No. 11: Unknown Impressionists
Art in the 1800s brought us the terms Neoclassicism, Romanticism, and Realism, covered in my New Slant on Art History. The second half of the century saw a major shift in how artists used art to portr ...
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Curator's Corner
Survey No. 10: Ubiquitous Real
So far we have taken a look at Classicism and Romanticism around the world in the 1800s. Now let’s look at “realism,” which—like every other style—has been a trend somewh ...
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