Have You Met the Big Four?

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 […]

Have You Met Antoinette Bouzonnet-Stella?

At the National Museum of Women in the Arts in Washington DC is an unexpected exhibition titled Impressive: Antoinette Bouzonnet-Stella (on through October 20, 2024). Ranging across the blue walls of three adjacent alcoves, a series of twenty-five 17th-century prints by artist Antoinette Bouzonnet-Stella (Lyon,1641-Paris,1676) depicts The Entrance of the Emperor Sigismond into Mantua (1675). The […]

Seeing Dorothea Lange’s Compassion

The powerfully moving and iconic photograph, Migrant Mother (below), is the one image most people see in their mind’s eye when they think of Dorothea Lange. That was certainly true for me. But then I had the good fortune to spend time with dozens of her ground-breaking images, all equally eloquent and poignant, at the […]

An American in Paris: Donald Beauregard

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 […]

Knotty Ladies Make a Beautiful Mess

Eleven women have been curated into a group show that throws new light on fiber art. These conceptual artists push the boundaries of their textile-based medium. While freely breaking the rules, they are serious about making a strong cultural and intellectual impact, while deftly and masterfully weaving meaning into their work. […]

Have You Met Jules André Smith?

Jules Andre Smith’s experimental artist’s colony is an aesthetic masterpiece, created over 22 years by his singular artistic vision. Now the Maitland Art Center, and one of the only remaining examples “Mayan Revival” fantasy architecture in the Southeastern U.S. Smith’s compound is must-see National Historic Landmark. […]

Have You Met Diné (Navajo) Photographer, Will Wilson?

Diné photographer Will Wilson (b. 1969) presents an authentic, contemporary depiction of Indigenous culture, using historical photographic techniques, in a comparative dialog with the work of Edward Sheriff Curtis (1868-1952). Curtis holds an enduring place the history of photography as a result of his life’s work, the 20-volume The North American Indian. Between 1900 and […]

Discovering American Arts and Crafts Woodblock Prints

In the late 19th century, the wave of Japonisme that washed over Western culture merged with the American Arts and Crafts reform movement — with its heightened interest in craftsmanship and the handmade — leading to the broad acceptance and popularity of color woodcuts. This centuries-old art of Japan inspired American artists to design beautiful, […]

Have You Met Arthur Wesley Dow?

Arthur Wesley Dow (1857, Ipswich, MA – 1922, NYC, NY) should be more widely recognized as a leader on the American art scene of the late-19th and early-20th centuries. He worked in watercolor, oils and ink, was a printmaker, a photographer and a lifelong designer. But his real influence was carried forward by his students.   While […]