Picasso’s Blue Sympathies
Picasso’s Blue Period–or basically anything he did before Cubism–has always struck me as more powerful than anything he did later, … Continue Reading Picasso’s Blue Sympathies
The Past is Not Dead: There is Only Continuity
from Peter Ackroyd, at the end of his first volume of the history of England: Other forms of continuity are … Continue Reading The Past is Not Dead: There is Only Continuity
History is An Accident
from Peter Ackroyd, at the end of his first volume on the history of England: When we look over the … Continue Reading History is An Accident
The Impressionists Get to Work
Mothers, Ironers, Workers at a Cotton Office, Farmers, Floor Strippers, Writers, Waitresses, Stonebreakers, Gleaners, Apple Pickers, Sowers….
Caravaggio’s Dirty Feet
The affront that many of Caravaggio’s greatest paintings presented to their first audience must have been astonishing: casting a local … Continue Reading Caravaggio’s Dirty Feet
Images: Dürer’s Self-Portraits
From childhood through old age: Albrecht Dürer, “Self-Portrait” (1484) Albrecht Dürer, “Self-Portrait” (1493) Albrecht Dürer, “Self-Portrait” (1498) Albrecht Dürer, “Self-Portrait” … Continue Reading Images: Dürer’s Self-Portraits
Picasso & Sex
from John Richardson’s biography of Picasso: When questioned much later about his earliest sexual experience, Picasso claimed that his sex … Continue Reading Picasso & Sex
A Gallery of Greeks & Romans
Here are a few dozen faces I always go back to, from the collection of Greek & Roman sculpture I … Continue Reading A Gallery of Greeks & Romans
Heat & Light at Lascaux
The environment in which some of humanity’s first–and still best–works of art, in the cave of Lascaux nearly thirty … Continue Reading Heat & Light at Lascaux
Memento Mori
The Mind as a Mountain & Creativity its Tree
A drawing from 2015 that I suddenly found again today:
The Melancholy of William Blake
No matter how poor he got, and no matter what of his belongings he had to sell to get by, … Continue Reading The Melancholy of William Blake
The Brutal Paintings that Predicted the 20th Century
The Austrian artist Egon Schiele’s brutal self-portraits, many dating from before World War One, seem to presage all the carnage … Continue Reading The Brutal Paintings that Predicted the 20th Century
Claude Lorrain’s Nostalgia for What Never Was
I first came across Claude Lorrain’s fantasies of classical Greece and Rome on the cover of an old paperback of … Continue Reading Claude Lorrain’s Nostalgia for What Never Was
The Painting that Lit a Million Conspiracy Theories
It’s too bad Nicholas Poussin’s Shepherds of Arcady/Et in Arcadia (Even in Arcadia, there am I) can’t get much attention … Continue Reading The Painting that Lit a Million Conspiracy Theories
Aldous Huxley Saves the Day
from Thomas Cahill’s Heretics and Heroes: In a collection of travel essays published in 1925, Aldous Huxley had called Piero … Continue Reading Aldous Huxley Saves the Day
Week of Van Gogh: Town & City
Click on each picture to enlarge, or watch the video:
Week of Van Gogh: Still Life
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Week of Van Gogh: Landscapes
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Week of Van Gogh: Portraits
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Week of Van Gogh: Self-Portraits
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Images: The Saint & the Lion
One of the great jazz standards of Medieval & Renaissance art, here’s only a selection of all the depictions of … Continue Reading Images: The Saint & the Lion
One of the Most Haunting Paintings
At least for me, John Singer Sargent’s “The Daughters of Edward Darley Boit” is one of the more haunting paintings. … Continue Reading One of the Most Haunting Paintings
Images: Picasso Mostly in Pencil
Taken from John Richardson’s biographies of Picasso. Click on each to enlarge:
Images: Manet’s Muse, Victorine Meurent
The French painter and model Victorine Meurent (1844-1927) appears in some of the most famous of Édouard Manet’s paintings. Click … Continue Reading Images: Manet’s Muse, Victorine Meurent
Images: Rembrandt’s Self-Portraits
The number of Rembrandt’s self-portraits alone far outnumber the entire output of many artists. Here is only a fraction of … Continue Reading Images: Rembrandt’s Self-Portraits
Images: The Earliest Stone Buddhas
Among the earliest sculptures of the Buddha, from Heinrich Zimmer’s Art of Indian Asia. Click on each to enlarge:
Images: Watch Picasso’s “Guernica” Emerge
Scroll through this selection of preliminary studies & photos of the canvas as it was worked on & completed. Pretty … Continue Reading Images: Watch Picasso’s “Guernica” Emerge
Marc Chagall Struck by Lightning
The artist Marc Chagall, meeting his wife Bella Rosenfeld in 1909; they were together for the next 35 years: … Continue Reading Marc Chagall Struck by Lightning
The Hooded Lady of Brassempouy
from Randall White’s Prehistoric Art: The best known of the statuettes from Brassempouy is the 25,000 year-old “dame à la … Continue Reading The Hooded Lady of Brassempouy
We Were All Animals Once: The Beginning of Anthropomorphic Thinking
from Steven Mithen’s The Prehistory of the Mind: This propensity to think of the natural world in social terms is … Continue Reading We Were All Animals Once: The Beginning of Anthropomorphic Thinking
Vermeer in Bosnia
If anyone asks you about the Why of art, especially in the face of atrocity or just its apparent impracticality—for … Continue Reading Vermeer in Bosnia
Humanity’s Earliest Rituals
Three passages on prehistoric religion from the book Becoming Human: One of the pervasive themes of [this book] is … Continue Reading Humanity’s Earliest Rituals
The Archaeology & Mythology of Caves
The archaeologist Jean Clottes writes that, besides the more famous paintings in the ice-age caves of France and Spain, it … Continue Reading The Archaeology & Mythology of Caves
Neanderthal Compassion, Neanderthal Burials
from the book Becoming Human: Innovation in Prehistoric Material and Spiritual Culture: Caring for severely disabled members of the community … Continue Reading Neanderthal Compassion, Neanderthal Burials
The Invention of Harmony
from two essays on the origins of the aesthetic impulse in Becoming Human: Innovation in Prehistoric Material and Spiritual Culture: … Continue Reading The Invention of Harmony
Michelangelo & Leonardo da Vinci
From Walter Isaacson’s recent biography of da Vinci, here is about as concise and colorful a summary of how true … Continue Reading Michelangelo & Leonardo da Vinci
Unfinished Michelangelo (poem)
Unfinished Michelangelo The impossible bodies of apostles, messiahs and slaves, statues that couldn’t have stood had he finished them, faces … Continue Reading Unfinished Michelangelo (poem)
Female Figurines and a Shipwreck: Two Poems from “Bone Antler Stone”
Here are two of my favorite poems from Bone Antler Stone: one on the famous ice age “Venus” figurines from 20-30,000 … Continue Reading Female Figurines and a Shipwreck: Two Poems from “Bone Antler Stone”
Images: The Act of Writing
Albrecht Dürer
Entries in the Anthology series organize my favorite anecdotes about artists, writers, and historical events, and are always being updated. … Continue Reading Albrecht Dürer
Edward Hopper
Entries in the Anthology series organize my favorite anecdotes about artists, writers, and historical events, and are always being updated. … Continue Reading Edward Hopper
