For 30 years Patrick Dougherty’s enchanting Stickwork sculptures have been sprouting up at museums, botanical gardens, and public spaces around the world. Amazing what you can do with 30,000 pounds of willow! Until recently I’d never seen one, but whenever I’ve read about a Dougherty Stickwork I’ve been tantalized. So it was a delight to […]
Surrounded by the highest choir of angels, this portrait of King Charles VII’s favorite mistress was commissioned by the King’s treasurer for his wife’s mortuary altar. […]
All the learning about composition, color, brushwork builds in an intuitive way. Sometimes you have to paint over something that you love — a beautiful color, passage, image — in order for the painting to continue to unfold. […]
It is a testament to Rubens’ extraordinary skill that he could convey such tenderness and devotion without any hint of sentimentality. The Descent from the Cross shows the artist moving away from his exuberant Baroque compositions to a more Classical approach. […]
With this sensational painting, Rubens introduced the Baroque into Northern European art. In composition, iconography and size (15’ x 20’) it is resplendent with the artistic ideals of the Counter-Reformation. Imagine the effect this must have had when it was unveiled in 1610! […]
Ordinary people overwhelmed with an unexpected calamity display a range of responses to the crisis in this highly-affective video installation. It is a powerful statement of the resilience of humanity. […]
The Morse is world-renowned for its comprehensive collection of works by the American artist and designer, Louis Comfort Tiffany, revealing that his creative talent and the output of his workshop soared well beyond jewel-like lamps and leaded glass windows. […]
A spectacular collection of Native American art is on long-term view at New York’s Metropolitan Museum. We couldn’t ask for more in an exhibition, for the purely aesthetic pleasure these objects give, for gaining a fuller understanding of their cultural significance, and for seeing indigenous art in the context of American art history. […]
Nicolas Abdallah Moufarrege (1947-1985), who died of AIDS at 36, produced idiosyncratic embroidered paintings, appropriating iconography from Classical sculpture, Arabic calligraphy, comic book heroes, Pop Art, Baroque paintings and more. […]
A quick study: Who was Jusepe de Ribera? Who was St. Paul the First Hermit? And why did the artist paint the saint? The Snite Museum of Art at the University of Notre Dame in Indiana, has recently received an exciting long-term loan — from the Cummins Family Collection — of the painting St. Paul […]