Alexander Calder, Untitled Mobile, 1963, Painted metal and wire, 29” x 57” x 24”, Photo courtesy of Sotheby’s Auction House.
Kinetic art is art that moves. Probably the best-known artist who created kinetic art was Alexander Calder (1896-1976), who made mobiles – large and small – that moved with the slightest breeze. Calder made these sculptures by suspending abstracted organic shapes … Continue reading
Robert Therrien, Untitled (Folding Chairs and Table), 2008, Paint and metal, Table: 96” x 120” x 120”, Chairs: 104” x 64” x 72”, Image via Artsy.com.
The American artist Robert Therrien died earlier this week. He was 71 years old. Therrien is best known for his amusing sculptures of functional, mass-produced objects from everyday life that are enlarged to a scale that fills a room. Surely, … Continue reading
Grave Stele of Hegeso, c. 410 B.C.E., marble and paint, from the Dipylon Cemetary, Athens, 5' 2
A stele is a tall slab made of wood or stone that typically is used as a grave marker. Sometimes people in ancient civilizations used stele as a boundary marker to ward off evil. Steles often were sculpted with images … Continue reading
Eva Hesse, Sans II, 1968, fiberglass and polyester resin, 38
Eva Hesse was an artist at the center of the Post-Minimalist art movement. There are many “Post-” art movements in the history of art, which simply is a way of describing art that expands upon some of the achievements of … Continue reading
Carl Frederik Reuterswärd, Non Violence, 1985, bronze, Plaza at the United Nations, New York.
When you visit the United Nations headquarters in New York City, the first thing you will see is a large bronze sculpture entitled Non-Violence created by Carl Frederik Reuterswärd. The Swedish artist sculpted the work of art at the request … Continue reading
Gian Lorenzo Bernini, 1622-25, Apollo and Daphne, Marble, 93”, Galleria Borghese, Rome, Photo by By Alvesgaspar, CC BY-SA 4.0.
Looking at Gian Lorenzo Bernini’s Apollo and Daphne, we can see characteristics of the over-the-top Baroque style. For example, the sculpture illustrates the point of highest tension in the story, which is when the nymph Daphne is “saved” by her … Continue reading
Camille Claudel, The Waltz, conceived in 1889 and cast in 1905, bronze, Musée Camille Claudel, Nogent-sur-Seine, France, Photo by Scott Lanphere via Wikipedia, artwork and photograph in the Public Domain.
If you are fortunate enough to travel to France, make the time to visit the new Musée Camille Claudel in Nogent-sur-Seine, which is about an hour’s drive from Paris. Best known as Auguste Rodin’s lover and muse, the immensely talented … Continue reading
Ai Weiwei, Forever Bicycles, 2015, Waller Creek Delta on Lady Bird Lake, Austin, TX, Photo by Rachel Zein for The Daily Texan.
Next time you are out on Butler Trail in Austin, TX, make your way over to the Waller Creek Delta to see Chinese political activist artist Ai Weiwei’s public art installation, Forever Bicycles. The dramatic assemblage of over 1,200 bicycles … Continue reading
Michelangelo, Moses from the Tomb of Pope Julius II, 1512, San Pietro in Vincoli, Rome, Artwork in the Public Domain
The Italian Renaissance Master Michelangelo di Lodovico Buonarroti Simoni was born on this day in 1475. He arguably is one of the greatest artists of all time. Before anything else, Michelangelo was a sculptor, his finest achievements in painting and architecture also having a … Continue reading
Alexander Calder, Mobile, 1941, 60 x 152 3/8in., Painted aluminum, steel, steel rod, and wire, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, Photo courtesy of The Metropolitan Museum of Art
Kinetic art is art that moves, and therefore optimally it engages a viewer. One of the early artists to make kinetic art was Alexander Calder, who created mobiles that were so carefully balanced that the slightest movement of air created by an approaching viewer … Continue reading
The Nativity, Sarcophagus lid, c. 408 CE, Basilica of St. Ambrose, Milan, Public Domain via Wikimedia Commons.
The earliest Nativity scene in art is carved into a sarcophagus lid once thought to be for a Roman general, Stilicho, who died in 408 CE. The ox and the ass and two birds are the only figures that appear in addition … 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