He said, “I’ll paint you a picture if you’ll finance the eggs.” They did, and he did. It was 1930, it was his first mural, and it marked the beginning of his rise to fame. It wasn’t long before he was on the cover of Time Magazine, the first artist ever featured there. Thomas Hart […]
A mark of a good art exhibition is that it expands our range of vision: historically, geographically, culturally. Solid explanatory text on the gallery walls, or a really good docent, can turn a show from being “just pictures on the wall” into a magic carpet ride, revealing a view far beyond our own personal experience. […]
But for two votes in the 1866 legislature Wickenburg would have been the capital of the new territory of Arizona. Instead, Wickenburg today is a sleepy town, pop. approx. 8000, a worthwhile stop on the scenic route from Phoenix to Prescott and Sedona — or a destination unto itself —because of the surprising Desert Caballeros […]
On Plantation Row along the Ashley River west of Charleston are three magnificant properties, with Drayton Hall and Middleton Place flanking Magnolia Plantation. All three have stories to tell, featuring large in both local and US history. Drayton Hall was built in 1738 by John Drayton (c.1715–1779) — the great-grandson of Thomas Drayton Jr., who founded Magnolia Plantation in 1676. Although John […]
Three important historic plantations are located in a row along Ashley River Road, about 15 miles NW of downtown Charleston. Just past Trader Joe’s on Rte 61 we suddenly found ourselves cruising through a verdant wooded suburb that held a promise of bucolic delights. Of the three National Historic Landmarks located within a five-mile stretch, […]
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 […]
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 […]
Tampa’s downtown riverfront has bloomed in the past decade or so, with the splendid Riverwalk connecting museums, parks, restaurants and other attractions. Slip on your walking shoes and head out for a day of history, art, terrific food options and people-watching. Rivers were essential to the commercial viability and growth of cities, and from the […]
If your exposure has been primarily to Western art, it can be difficult to fully appreciate the artistry of icons. Knowing something about the underlying iconography and typologies, and putting aside expectations of artistic originality and realism, will make these deeply symbolic images more accessible. […]
He’s such an obscure figure today that he doesn’t even warrant a Wikipedia entry — but he must have been Somebody, to have been the subject of this outsized painting by Charles LeBrun, court painter to King Louis XIV. In 2014, at the time of its acquisition, Thomas P. Campbell, then-Director of the Metropolitan Museum of […]