How Old Is This? Edo and Jutta Sika Ceramics
Lately, I can’t seem to get away from seeing “abstraction” in all sorts of places. I came across this wonderful Japanese bowl from the mid-1700s to mid-1800s, during the Edo period ( ...
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Curator's Corner
Recognize This Artist? Louise Nevelson
When I was teaching art history, I guess I was a student’s worst nightmare, because on tests I would not show them images of the works that they had seen in the book and in class. Instead, I wou ...
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Curator's Corner
Some Thoughts About Stools
Does furniture have a soul? I sort of think it does. We sit on, lean on, and lie down on furniture for most of our lives. It’s hard to believe that something of our souls does not get infused in ...
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Curator's Corner
Abstraction is Nothing New: Ancient Egypt
I’m making a declaration: artists were inspired to create abstract art thousands of years ago. When one (and by “one” I mean a person reading an art history text) reads about any art ...
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Curator's Corner
Revisiting Gandhara
Believe it or not, this is a Buddhist bodhisattva (saint). My very first posting for this blog was about the Greek invasion of northern India and how it affected some of the earliest images of the Bud ...
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Curator's Corner
Patriots Day Week: Joseph Badger
Since Monday was Patriots Day, as well as the running of the Boston Marathon, I’m celebrating this week—in an art historical way, of course—with one of my favorite colonial portrait ...
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Curator's Corner
National Ocean Awareness Week: William Trost Richards
With the arctic ice flows melting and the oceans rising because of climate change, we should call April 4th thorugh 10th Hey, Wake Up and Pay Attention to the Ocean Week. Needless to say, the oceans a ...
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Curator's Corner
It's Here -- Really: Ernest Lawson
Spring really is here, although it may not yet look like it outside (it’s actually snowing right now!). How about experiencing it on the inside with these two phenomenally beautiful little ...
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Curator's Corner
Women's (Art) History Month: Nell Blaine
There are so many inspiring stories involving artists throughout history that I could probably crank out a blog every day! (Don’t worry, I’m not going to do that!) But, to celebrate Women& ...
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Curator's Corner
5 Days and Counting: John Singer Sargent
Here is a gorgeous little John Singer Sargent work to stoke your Spring Fever. You know, I never come across a Sargent watercolor I don’t like. Just looking at this beautiful work makes me feel ...
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