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Curator's Corner

Heal's Mod Textile Designs

Tuesday, March 1, 2016 | Karl Cole

I vaguely (I’m lying) remember the word “mod” used during the late 1960s to describe anything that was slightly “edgy” (I hate that word) and “hip.” It encomp ...

Curator's Corner

It's the Little Things in Life: Miscellaneous Arts

Tuesday, February 16, 2016 | Karl Cole

I despise the terms “decorative arts” and “minor arts” to categorize any art work that is not a painting, print, photograph, or sculpture. I prefer the word “miscellaneou ...

Curator's Corner

Impressionist Armand Guillaumin

Tuesday, February 9, 2016 | Karl Cole

I very often come across an artist that I don’t know that much about and think “Wow! I really like this painter’s stuff!” Such was the case years ago when I first saw the gorge ...

Curator's Corner

The Winter Sads Call for Art: Bartolomeo Cavarozzi

Thursday, February 4, 2016 | Karl Cole

Even though the weather hasn’t been that bad this winter in New England (yet), I still have a major case of the sads for warm weather. What we do to beat the sads is travel 40 minutes into Bosto ...

Curator's Corner

The Peale Women

Monday, January 25, 2016 | Karl Cole

The name “Peale” is synonymous with the First Family of American painting. The painters of the Peale family were the first “dynasty” of American art, and what a dynasty! They e ...

Curator's Corner

Music

Monday, January 18, 2016 | Karl Cole

An artist picking up his artwork from the latest exhibit in the Davis Art Gallery, In Vision: 2D and 3D Landscape, proposed an idea for an exhibition of art related to jazz music. I’m sure the a ...

Curator's Corner

Winter

Monday, January 11, 2016 | Karl Cole

Well, it’s winter. Instead of ruefully awaiting spring, I prefer to look at works of art that evoke the idea of winter, one way or another. It’s always interesting to me how artists can ca ...

Curator's Corner

Happy New Year: Japanese Surimono

Monday, January 4, 2016 | Karl Cole

Since I’m feeling lazy this week, I’m showing you Japanese New Year cards (surimono) again. I think they’re lovely, and who wouldn’t want to receive one of these color woodcut ...

Curator's Corner

Rookwood, A National Treasure

Tuesday, December 22, 2015 | Karl Cole

I’m a really big fan of American art pottery, so you can just imagine me doing a little jig of joy in my office when we recently acquired this gorgeous pitcher from the Brooklyn Museum! If I cou ...

Curator's Corner

National Monkey Day: Shimizu Seifu

Wednesday, December 16, 2015 | Karl Cole

I always admit I’m never too old to learn. This week I learned about National/International Monkey Day, which fell on the 14th of December. The commemorative day has only been around since 2000, ...

Curator's Corner

Endlessly Engaging (Ancient) Egypt

Monday, December 7, 2015 | Karl Cole

Naturally occurring pattern always fascinates me, especially when there’s a good art history story behind it. I present you with three ancient Egyptian vessels, all with different, random patter ...

Curator's Corner

The Noble Carp?

Friday, December 4, 2015 | Karl Cole

It probably doesn’t occur to most people to view a fish as a symbol of heroic qualities, unless maybe it’s a whale or a shark. In Japan, the carp (koi in Japanese) is a symbol of cour ...

Curator's Corner

Afterthoughts about Being Thankful: Lewis Wickes Hine

Friday, December 4, 2015 | Karl Cole

Now that we’re done saying how grateful we are for all the food with which we stuffed ourselves on Thanksgiving, and for our iPhones, and the gift of being able to drive one person per car to wo ...

Curator's Corner

More Wearable Art: Reiko Sudo

Friday, November 20, 2015 | Karl Cole

You may remember that I introduced you to the fiber art of Korean artist Jeung Hwa-Park, whose work is fabulous, back in 2009. Now I’ve discovered this wonderful Japanese artist who bowls me ove ...

Curator's Corner

Utilitarian Object or Sculpture?

Friday, November 13, 2015 | Karl Cole

First of all, let me clarify the use of “utilitarian” or “decorative arts.” These are unfortunately terms art historians are stuck with from the 1800s art history gods in Weste ...

Curator's Corner

Revival Curiosities: 1800s Furniture

Friday, November 6, 2015 | Karl Cole

I once was a teaching assistant in a furniture history course in grad school, and have subsequently loved historic furniture and design. One of the mantras we chanted about the history of furniture wa ...

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Heal's Mod Textile Designs

It's the Little Things in Life: Miscellaneous Arts

Impressionist Armand Guillaumin

The Winter Sads Call for Art: Bartolomeo Cavarozzi

The Peale Women

Music

Winter

Happy New Year: Japanese Surimono

Rookwood, A National Treasure

National Monkey Day: Shimizu Seifu

Endlessly Engaging (Ancient) Egypt

The Noble Carp?

Afterthoughts about Being Thankful: Lewis Wickes Hine

More Wearable Art: Reiko Sudo

Utilitarian Object or Sculpture?

Revival Curiosities: 1800s Furniture

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