Guess Who?
As a painter myself, I find it fascinating to watch a famous painter’s progress from early to late work. In the case of Edgar Degas (1834–1917), I’m always over the top because he is ...
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Curator's Corner
A Forgotten Woman Artist
I always like to introduce you to artists who, I think, have been marginalized in “official” art history surveys of western (or non-western for that matter) art. Because Paris was has been ...
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Curator's Corner
A Prince of a Portrait
Of all the portraits I’ve ever come across—and believe me, I’ve been going to museums since I was a wee one—the portraiture of ancient Egypt fascinates me the most. For one thi ...
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Curator's Corner
Pictorialist Photographer
One of my favorite periods in the history of photography is from the early period, when there was a debate in artists’ circles as to whether or not photography was “fine art.” Ironic ...
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Curator's Corner
African American History Month 2010 I
To celebrate African American History Month, I’m going to feature black artists the month of February. Naturally, I’m going to start with one of my favorites, Horace Pippin. ...
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Curator's Corner
Northern Renaissance Engraver
I like showing you works from the Renaissance period in Northern Europe. This is partly because my mother was Swiss and I wrote my master’s thesis about a Swiss Renaissance painter (yes, Switzer ...
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Curator's Corner
Silhouettes
As I was strolling through the Davis Art Images archives (don’t roll your eyes, a lot of us art historians have museums of images in our head), I happened by chance upon this lovely, delicate po ...
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Curator's Corner
Documenting Native America
Whenever we think of Native Americans in the United States during the 1800s, we naturally think of the decimation of numerous indigenous cultures in America’s quest to dominate the continent (&l ...
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Curator's Corner
Earliest Poet of the Americas
When we in the West think of people who take religious orders, we usually think of vows of poverty, self-denial, and a life devoted to prayer and contemplation. We don’t expect the religious lif ...
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