Category: Art History
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Stuart Davis is hip to the jive
At critical moments in his career, Stuart Davis took his inspiration from jazz. But can a painter take the same passionate risks as a jazz musician? Conversely, can a jazz musician like Wynton Marsalis transform the colors, lines, and layers of a painting into live music? Here’s a rare opportunity to find out.
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Charles Sheeler and machine-age anxiety
Precisionist painter Charles Sheeler and Mexican muralist Diego Rivera never crossed paths at The Rouge, even though both men were deeply affected by what they saw at Henry Ford’s iconic manufacturing complex. Do their paintings celebrate the liberating potential of technology? Or warn us about tech’s dark side?
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Who cancelled Berthe Morisot?
Berthe Morisot’s unusual brushwork was audacious, even for a French Impressionist. Despite her radically new style of painting, most contemporary critics reviewed her work favorably. But today she is the least-known member of this beloved group of painters. The lady vanished. Where did she go?
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George Bellows: Last stop, 59th Street
“Bellows paints the city in undress,” grumbled the New York Daily News, and they were right. But did the artist’s fidelity to the hard truth necessarily thwart his ability to create beautiful and meaningful paintings?
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Leonardo’s brazenly feminist portrait
During the Italian Renaissance women were often seen as something other than themselves. In works of art, they were depicted as ideals, symbols, and allegories — even in their own portraits. Then one day Leonardo da Vinci said goodbye to all that.
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A home office fit for a genius
For centuries, the whole point of having your portrait painted was to reinforce your official role in society. It had little to do with our modern, lonely desire to feel seen for who we really are. Do we still believe a person can be described from a single viewpoint in one place? Will multimedia replace the painted portrait?
The Shy Museumgoer 