It Isn't Just Wood
The American revolution in modernism in the mid-1900s was not confined to painting and sculpture alone (i.e., Abstract Expressionism). Aside from the New York School’s exploring the question of ...
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Curator's Corner
Utilitarian Object or Sculpture?
First of all, let me clarify the use of “utilitarian” or “decorative arts.” These are unfortunately terms art historians are stuck with from the 1800s art history gods in Weste ...
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Curator's Corner
Smile of the Buddha in Art
The look on the Buddha’s face of serenity is probably what some of us acquired after having a three-day weekend for Labor Day. But, this image intrigued me because—as is the case with ever ...
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Curator's Corner
A Realism Backlash? Modern Art Heads
After the horrors experienced by Europeans in World War I (1914–1918), the brakes were more or less put on to the prevailing trend towards modernism and abstraction, although certainly many arti ...
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Curator's Corner
Happy Fourth of July Week
I would really have liked to have been around when George Washington was our first president! That must have been such an exciting (and challenging, to be sure) period in which to live. Everything abo ...
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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
Recognize This Artist? Louise Nevelson
When I was teaching art history, I guess I was a student’s worst nightmare, because on tests I would not show them images of the works that they had seen in the book and in class. Instead, I wou ...
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Curator's Corner
Abstraction is Nothing New: Ancient Egypt
I’m making a declaration: artists were inspired to create abstract art thousands of years ago. When one (and by “one” I mean a person reading an art history text) reads about any art ...
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Curator's Corner
Revisiting Gandhara
Believe it or not, this is a Buddhist bodhisattva (saint). My very first posting for this blog was about the Greek invasion of northern India and how it affected some of the earliest images of the Bud ...
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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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