A Scholarly Skater
-
Highlights at the Wadsworth Athenaeum
The Wadsworth Athenaeum is one of America’s oldest art museums. It has a little bit of everything and is a very pleasant place to spend an afternoon.
-
Beginner-Friendly Art Styles: Suggestions for New Museum Visitors
For those new to art, do you feel unsure what to see first? I think these three areas are particularly accessible and enjoyable to new viewers.
-
King of the Confessors: a Crazy Story About the Cloisters Cross
Thomas Hoving’s King of the Confessors is about his adventures in acquiring the so-called Cloisters Cross. The story is wild, and I couldn’t put it down.
-
A Skating and Art Fun Fact
This painting depicts a fashionable way to ice skate in the 18th and 19th centuries. Find out why I don’t recommend skating that way today.
-
American Artists and the American Revolution
In the USA, paintings help us experience the story of our country’s origins. Paul Staiti’s book talks about five major painters of the American Revolution.
-
What Are Votives? They’re Not Just Candles.
When I saw Agents of Faith: Votive Objects in Time and Place, the show was almost over. Instead of writing a review, I’ll explain what votives are.
-
The Self-Portrait: A Cultural History, by James Hall
James Hall’s The Self-Portrait: A Cultural History is an interesting, well-thought-out assessment of self-portrait painting as a cultural phenomenon.
-
Still Life Paintings by Anne Vallayer-Coster
Anne Vallayer-Coster was an 18th-century French artist who specialized in still life. She was so good that she became official painter to Marie-Antoinette.
-
Art That Inspires Me: Still Life Painting
Back in the days of the artistic academies, still life was considered the least prestigious of the painting genres, but it’s one of my personal favorites.
-
Art That Inspires Me: Japanese Buddhist Deity
This installment of Art That Inspires Me features a Japanese Buddhist statue that appeared on a poster sent to me by the Yale University Art Gallery.
-
Lyndhurst at Christmastime
Over the weekend, I visited Lyndhurst, a 19th-century Gothic Revival mansion in Tarrytown, NY, to take the delightful Christmas tour.
-
Why Museums Don’t Display All the Art They Own? (and Related Questions)
Somebody recently asked me why most museums display only a small portion of their collections. Here are my answers to that and some related questions.
