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National Iris Day: Muhammad Zaman

Thursday, May 8, 2025 | Karl Cole

The iris is a beautiful flower that was first planted in the United States in Virginia in the 1600s. The flower started being commercially imported around 1869. The iris is the symbol for the city of ...

Curator's Corner

An Image of Royal Power Attributed to Muhammad Hasan

Monday, November 18, 2024 | Karl Cole

In the history of portrait painting, it is fascinating to interpret what the artist is trying to convey about the sitter. Sometimes when the portrait is of a member of a ruling family, it’s pret ...

Curator's Corner

Beautiful in Cobalt Blue

Monday, August 15, 2022 | Karl Cole

Being a painter, I have colors that I consider essential to almost every painting I make. I tend to prefer phthalo and cobalt colors. (Safety note: yes, I always wear gloves when I paint.) O ...

Curator's Corner

Rethinking Classicism: Safavid Dynasty

Thursday, August 13, 2020 | Karl Cole

Today's Rethinking Classicism post brings us to the city of Isfahan, Iran. The Safavid dynasty (1501–1736) was a cultural pinnacle in Persian history. The Safavid rulers were massive patrons of ...

Curator's Corner

A Multicultural Proclaimer: Safavid Dynasty

Monday, December 18, 2017 | Karl Cole

Westerners usually think of the Archangel Gabriel in terms of Christmas cards depicting the Annunciation, when he proclaimed to Mary that she would conceive Jesus. Well, it turns out that he was a mul ...

Curator's Corner

Letters Are Beautiful

Thursday, October 13, 2016 | Karl Cole

I learned long ago how venerated calligraphy is in some cultures, and we speak of that in many of our Davis books. A short while ago as I was reading about contemporary Iranian artist Parastou Forouha ...

Curator's Corner

World Watercolor Month

Friday, July 8, 2016 | Karl Cole

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 ...

Curator's Corner

Music

Monday, January 18, 2016 | Karl Cole

An artist picking up his artwork from the latest exhibit in the Davis Art Gallery, In Vision: 2D and 3D Landscape, proposed an idea for an exhibition of art related to jazz music. I’m sure the a ...

Curator's Corner

Survey No. 10: Ubiquitous Real

Monday, January 19, 2015 | Karl Cole

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 ...

Curator's Corner

Survey No. 7: The 1700s

Monday, December 22, 2014 | Karl Cole

As we approach the 1800s in our Art History Survey, just so we do not forget (as if) that art was being produced in other parts of the world besides the West, let’s look elsewhere at art produce ...

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 ...

Curator's Corner

Calligraphy/Typeface as Abstraction

Monday, September 23, 2013 | Karl Cole

Abstraction is defined as the reduction of form to simple (geometric, or organic) or decorative (a word I hate) shapes. I’ve blogged briefly about calligraphy in the past, but I rarely get a cha ...

Curator's Corner

Illuminated Manuscript Obsession

Monday, March 4, 2013 | Karl Cole

I’ve posted about manuscripts previously, because I LOVE THEM! That love has since extended to myriad cultures around the globe that produce such artworks. Therefore, in this post I won’t ...

Curator's Corner

The Art of Fiber: Islamic Art

Monday, May 21, 2012 | Karl Cole

The Davis Art Gallery is currently holding a show called The Art of Fiber. It has always interested me that fiber arts were considered a “minor art.” It is one of the oldest art forms next ...

Curator's Corner

Jewel of Architecture: Mosque of Shaykh Lutfullah

Monday, August 17, 2009 | Karl Cole

I don’t know about you, but I have several spots on the globe that are “dream vacations.” Egypt, Japan, and Greece come to mind. But one city that I would truly like to visit has a W ...

Curator's Corner

Calligraphy = Line: Safavid Dynasty

Monday, March 23, 2009 | Karl Cole

In most of our Davis textbooks and studio books, we talk about the ELEMENTS OF ART. One of the key elements of art is LINE. We can look at line not simply as a way of defining a shape, but also how be ...

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National Iris Day: Muhammad Zaman

An Image of Royal Power Attributed to Muhammad Hasan

Beautiful in Cobalt Blue

Rethinking Classicism: Safavid Dynasty

A Multicultural Proclaimer: Safavid Dynasty

Letters Are Beautiful

World Watercolor Month

Music

Survey No. 10: Ubiquitous Real

Survey No. 7: The 1700s

Hierarchical Size

Calligraphy/Typeface as Abstraction

Illuminated Manuscript Obsession

The Art of Fiber: Islamic Art

Jewel of Architecture: Mosque of Shaykh Lutfullah

Calligraphy = Line: Safavid Dynasty

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