© 2016 Sally Whitman Coleman, PhD. All rights reserved.
A few people who work in the manuscripts department at The Getty have been posting pictures from medieval manuscripts on Twitter and Tumblr and asking the public to give them a caption. They did this for a year, and, well, … Continue reading
Zhang Daqian (1899-1983), ALISHAN IN OBLIQUE SUNRISE, 1980, 24.25” x 52.25”
In April, a painting by Chinese artist Zhang Daqian that was estimated to sell at Sotheby’s in Hong Kong for $8 million sold for $35 million to Chinese billionaire Liu Yiqian, who just announced he will build a third art museum in … Continue reading
Umberto Boccioni, Unique Forms of Continuity in Space, 1913, bronze, 3' 8
Futurism is an artistic movement that originated in Italy in 1909 to become the “caffeine of Europe.” Futurism was inspired by Analytic Cubism, but with a focus on technology and “progress.” In the Futurist Manifesto, written by Filippo Tommaso Marinetti and published in … Continue reading
Xu Bing, Book from the Sky, 1987-1991, Ink on Paper, Photo by Sally Whitman Coleman.
Contemporary Chinese artist Xu Bing’s groundbreaking work of art, Book from the Sky, currently is on view at the Blanton Museum of Art in Austin, TX. Belonging to a group of artists who emerged from the Cultural Revolution with an … Continue reading
Etel Adnan, artist, Photo by P. K. via Flickr, Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic License.
Etel Adnan did not make a splash in the art world until she was 87 years old, and that’s just fine with her. She has been busy. The Lebanese-American poet, essayist, and visual artist is recognized in academic circles to … Continue reading
André Derain, 1906, Charing Cross Bridge, London, National Gallery of Art, Washington, DC, artwork in the Public Domain via Wikimedia Commons.
André Derain, the co-founder of Fauvism with Henri Matisse, was born on June 10, 1880 near Paris. In 1905, Derain and Matisse exhibited their groundbreaking art in the Salon d’Automne when one critic declaired that their boldly-colored work looked like … Continue reading
James McNeill Whistler, Arrangement in Grey and Black, 1871, oil on canvas, 56.8” x 63.9”, Musée d'Orsay, Paris, Artwork in the Public Domain, Photo from Wikipedia.
This old gal still holds a fascination for viewers 145 years after James McNeill Whistler painted her. The American expatriate artist gave the painting the title, Arrangement in Grey and Black because his primary interest was to create a balanced … Continue reading
Stonehenge, bluestone, c. 3100 BCE – 1600 BCE, Amesbury, Wiltshire, United Kingdom
Scholars are closer to unlocking the mystery of the ancient monument, Stonehenge. This month, Michael Parker-Pearson at University College London published an article in Antiquity supporting the “graveyard theory,” which is the idea that the site was used as a … Continue reading
Charles-François Daubigny, Spring, 1862, oil on panel, Alte Nationalgalerie, Berlin, artwork in the Public Domain.
The Barbizon School is a group of French painters who lived in the village of Barbizon near the Forest of Fontainebleau and worked roughly from 1830-70. A precursor to Realism, these artists’ subjects were taken from the French countryside, often … Continue reading
Marcel Duchamp, L. H. O. O. Q., 1919, pen on a postcard, 19.7 x 12.4 cm, Philadelphia Museum of Art, Philadelphia, artwork in the Public Domain.
Dada is an art movement that originated in the early 20th century in response to World War I, after which the artists and writers in this group felt society was morally bankrupt. The word, “Dada,” was picked randomly from a … Continue reading
© 2016 Sally Whitman Coleman, PhD. All rights reserved.
The world lost an extraordinary artist this week when David Bowie passed away at the age of 69. The media has published many reverential articles about Bowie and thousands of fans have gone on social media to express their heartbreak and … Continue reading
Eva Hesse, Repetition Nineteen III, 1968, fiberglass and polyester resin, nineteen units, Each 19 to 20 1/4
Eva Hesse, the German-born American artist, had only a ten-year career before her death of a brain tumor at age 34 in 1970, but she made an indelible mark in the art world as a Postminimalist. The artist cut her … Continue reading