Perhaps the best way to begin this piece about the Gibbes Museum of Art is to reflect on the expository words of the museum curators themselves … “An active seaport in the 1700s, Charleston was a melting pot of cultures, religions and traditions. Powered by the labor of enslaved peoples in the rice and indigo […]
Andy Warhol (American, 1928-1987), magnified popular American culture in his art, and in so doing he himself became a paradigm of popular culture. “His pop sensibility embraced an anything-can-be-art approach, appropriating images, ideas and even innovation itself,” according to curatorial signage at Andy Warhol Portfolios: A Life in Pop. This exhibition, on through September 8th, […]
Painters by numbers. Canada has it’s Group of Seven. Cuba has Los Diez Pintores Concretos. The Taos Six applied academic techniques to indigenous themes, producing a uniquely American school of painting. Then there’s the international group of wildlife painters of the late 1800s and early 1900s — Richard Friese, Wilhelm Kuhnert, Bruno Liljefors, and Carl Rungius […]
Beginning with 75 students and 13 faculty members in 1931, RCA+D has grown to more than 110 buildings on 48 acres (SEVEN of which are art galleries!), 1600 students, and 140+ faculty members. Today it is ranked as one of the top art schools in the nation. […]
At the angle of New York Ave. and H St. NW in Washington DC stands a 1908 landmark that was built as a Masonic Temple. In that capacity, women were not permitted to enter the building. Today, that same building is all about women — although men are more than welcome! Refurbished in accordance with the […]
When a man’s life is cut short at a young age one wonders what his future might have been – especially when he had already accomplished notable things. This is the case with Donald Beauregard. “Who?” You might well ask. Beauregard was an artist most of us have never heard of, but one who might […]
Ima Hogg, despite her unfortunate name, stands among the greatest patrons of American art. Her philanthropic legacy is broad and varied, but Bayou Bay — her home, gardens, and American decorative arts collection — is perhaps the most tangible. […]
With a wink to Gene Autry and Tex Ritter who lauded the Lone Star state with the song, Deep in the Heart of Texas, I’m singing the praises of the Menil Collection, deep in the heart of Houston. In an idyllic tree-shaded art neighborhood covering 30 urban acres, the Menil campus includes five museum buildings, […]
Not unlike Grandma’s curio cabinet, a 16th- and 17th-century ‘cabinet of curiosity” was filled with a collector’s treasures. Although a small collection might have been laid out in a drawer, or arrayed on shelves, the term cabinet originally was defined as a room rather than a piece of furniture (think water closet and the Italian equivalent, gabinetto). It […]
“Do you have family or friends in Houston?” Hearing that we don’t, the inevitable “So why are you going?” conveyed real perplexity!
“You’re going to Houston for art? REALLY?” […]