Long-form Research Essays
In his 1932 watershed study, pioneering art historian Aby Warburg accused fifteenth-century Florentine cosmopolitan elites of unabashedly emulating “the superstitious Etruscans” in their devotional art practice.[1]This enigmatic quote—reproduced here in its porous entirety—has haunted art history for nearly a century: By associating votive offerings with sacred images, the Catholic Church, in its wisdom, had left […]
In ancient Rome, social constructs moderated any form of luxurious decoration, personal or otherwise, by linking them to an excessive – and therefore morally questionable – lifestyle. Yet, documented parallels between decoration and identity reveal that only conservative Roman citizens in socio-political centers avoided decorative adornment, whereas others relegated their decorative predilections to more rural […]
On January 1, 1994, the Ejército Zapatista de Liberación Nacional (EZLN or Zapatista Army of National Liberation) declared war on the Mexican government. Indigenous fighters engaged in a guerrilla attack and seized nearby cities, towns, and ranches and occupied the colonial capital of Chiapas, San Cristóbal de las Casas. Though an eventual ceasefire was called, […]
Niçois watercolorist and oil painter, Gustav Adolf Mossa (1883-1971) exaggerated and satirized popular nineteenth-century motifs by coating his compositions with caricature. In turn, his oeuvre is slippery, referencing multiple—even conflicting—styles and tropes especially evident in the watercolor La Marchande d’Amour (1904) (Figure 1). Mossa crowds La Marchande d’Amour with references ranging from classical subjects to stereotypical […]
In 1784, the antiquarian Sir William Hamilton donated a group of phallic-shaped votive sculptures to the British Museum. These votives were used in cult rituals to the ancient fertility god Priapus, which Hamilton had researched in Southern Italy on behalf of the Society of Dilettanti. There were five votives in total, each hollow and modeled […]
If a portrait photograph can capture the likeness of a person in both appearance and character, so too can a photograph of an interior, such as those that appear in Artistic Houses, preserve both the form and feeling of a room. Published by D. Appleton and Company of New York in two volumes, each comprising […]
Bewogen Beweging (Moved Movement) was an exhibition held at the Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam, from March 10 to April 17, 1961. Curated by two museum directors—the Stedelijk’s Willem Sandberg and Pontus Hultén, from the Moderna Museet, Stockholm—together with artists Daniel Spoerri and Jean Tinguely (1925–1991),[1] the show constituted a survey of Kinetic art as it presented […]
To expand the photos of before and after Cecilia Giménez’s intervention, slide the toggle in the center. The global online community erupted on August 21, 2012 following reports by the Spanish newspaper Heraldo of the failed attempt made by Cecilia Giménez, an elderly local amateur artist, to restore Elías García Martínez’s fresco Ecce Homo (Behold the Man) […]
The Centennial Exposition opened on May 10, 1876, and attracted nearly 10 million visitors during its six months of operation. [1] Covering 450 acres of Fairmount Park in Philadelphia, the Centennial, officially titled the International Exhibition of Arts, Manufactures, and Products of the Soil and Mine, featured five grand structures and a collection of temporary pavilions […]
“To the artist the spirit rather than the letter is the important thing.” [1] Thus wrote Elizabeth O’Neill Verner (1883-1979), a sketcher and printmaker focused on depicting the stark contrasts between light and dark in her hometown of Charleston, South Carolina. Light and dark is meant both literally and figuratively here, as Verner did much […]