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George Santayana’s famous maxim about those who forget history being doomed to repeat is, unfortunately, all too sad of a truism when it comes to architecture in this country. Among the greatest firms in the history of architecture, McKim, Mead, and White, built the sorts of structures that Americans at the turn of the previous century could justly be proud of when showing off … Read More Art News Roundup: History Repeating Edition
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The ability to read and write does not automatically impart the ability to think – or indeed, the ability to write well. Case in point, this week the always wince-worthy online art magazine Hyperallergic offered a rather juvenile, ill-informed take on the latest botched art restoration in Spain, a story I reported on in last week’s Art News Roundup. I won’t comment on the … Read More Art News Roundup: Thinking Is Hard Edition
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It’s not surprising that one of the most interesting subjects in art media, whether you follow it like I do or not, is the topic of art crime. Even someone with no particular interest in what’s going on in the art world will read an article or watch a report on the theft of a famous or valuable work of art, or the news … Read More Art News Roundup: Pursuing Perspective Edition
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It’s rather curious how some of the most short-lived of living things – flowers – can bring us a great deal of joy and fascination, and indeed hope, when things aren’t exactly hopeful all around us. Case in point, let’s consider one of Florentine Renaissance artist Sandro Botticelli’s (1435-1510) most famous works, “Primavera” (“Spring”) (painted sometime around 1480), which currently hangs in the Uffizi … Read More Art News Roundup: Springing Eternal Edition
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For this week’s Art News Roundup, it’s time to settle in for a good wallow into some rather juicy new scandals from museum world, all of which seem to have hit the fan at about the same time. If you don’t have time to look into all of these stories, I want to at least encourage you to read this absolutely jaw-dropping report by … Read More Art News Roundup: Institutional Insanity Edition
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One of the very big stories in the art world (writ large) this week is that we may be on the verge of a major archaeological discovery from Ancient Egypt. Or not. As you may recall, for the past few years there’s been a great deal of back-and-forth speculation in the media regarding claims that there are additional, as-of-yet undiscovered chambers connected to the … Read More Art News Roundup: Who’s Buried In Tut’s Tomb Edition
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I had intended to do a regular post on Tuesday, Gentle Reader, but I was (happily) prevented from doing so by the arrival of my new niece. Everyone is doing well, so hopefully we can get back into the usual swing of things at this point. And to that end, one of the interesting things about studying art, and keeping up with what’s going … Read More Art News Roundup: Astrocat Edition
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Now that things are starting to get back to normal around the Fortress of Solitude following a very enjoyable vacation, it’s time to get back to the news beat. Before we get into some art stories of interest, I want to share two links regarding the ongoing reconstruction efforts at Notre Dame de Paris. The devastating fire at the church, which consumed the roof … Read More Art News Roundup: We Got The (News) Beat Edition
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Readers will recall the rather stunning news I reported on a month ago, that “The Mocking of Christ”, an extremely rare panel painting by the proto-Renaissance Florentine painter Cimabue (c. 1240-1302) had been found hanging in the kitchen of a somewhat humble apartment in France. The small picture, which was once part of a larger altarpiece, was auctioned in suburban Paris this past Sunday, … Read More What Price, Cimabue?
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Like any other commodity, art gets around, but so do the ideas which lead to stylistic innovations in art. Case in point: next weekend the Cincinnati Art Museum will open a major exhibition called “Treasures of the Spanish World”, featuring works of fine and decorative art from Spain and Latin America. All of the exhibits are on loan from the temporarily-shuttered Hispanic Society of … Read More Art News Roundup: Solo Goya Edition
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This morning, gentle reader, I have two new exhibition reviews of mine to point you towards – one published last week, and one today – looking at the work of two very different, important figures. For those of you who missed it, my penultimate piece for The Federalist was uploaded this past Thursday. In it, I reviewed a new show at The Walters in … Read More Federalist Twofer: Art Nouveau Scotland and Renaissance Spain
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On these virtual pages I often share news and views with you about art, from exhibitions and sales to new discoveries and concepts. Yet even though I sometimes touch on aspects of a work’s provenance, i.e., the ownership history of a piece, it’s an area that I’d like to explore at greater length. So, I’m interested in learning whether you’d be interesting in coming … Read More Botticelli Backstory: Exploring A Picture’s Provenance
