Kids’ Art Reads: “Chasing Vermeer”
Ever wondered how to share your love of art with kids? Besides what we do here at the Art Docent Program, that is. Perhaps you’ve wanted to get them more into reading, too. Well, good books about art aren’t just written for adults! The Chasing Vermeer series by Blue Balliett, although originally written for young readers, […]
Art in Disney– Mulan
We’ve established the fact that Disney definitely has some art historians employed in their animation department (see the entries for The Little Mermaid and Frozen if you doubt this fact). But what’s even more impressive is that Disney doesn’t just draw on Western art of the last 500 years in their films–their art historical knowledge […]
Manet for #fancyfriday
We haven’t gotten #fancy in a while, so today we’ve decided to bring it back with Edouard Manet’s A Bar at the Folies-Bergère! Manet, better known for his realist paintings, is experimenting with Impressionist trends and subject matter in this 1882 painting. And he’s adapting the style quite well. The clearly visible brushstrokes make up […]
Artist Spotlight: Alejandro Cesarco
Today’s featured artist is Alejandro Cesarco! Heads up: today’s article is a shameless plug for one of my favorite artists living and working in the art world today. Alejandro Cesarco’s Conceptually-influenced pieces bring attention to ideas of art historical codes, linguistics in a refreshingly witty, non-elitist manner. Alejandro Cesarco was born in 1975 in Montevideo, […]
Veronese Meets Monty Python
First, watch this Monty Python sketch. Because Monty Python, that’s why. Awesome, as usual. But did you know that this sketch was probably actually based on true events concerning the painter Paolo Veronese and his 1573 painting Feast in the House of Levi? Here’s what happened: Veronese was commissioned to paint a Last Supper to adorn the wall of […]
Henry Ossawa Tanner and Biblical Paintings
For much of the history of western art, what is considered a “good” painting was judged by how well a painting conveyed a visual narrative—that is, how well a painting told a story. From just before the Renaissance onwards, the implicit hierarchy for what would make a painting “good” was as follows—history paintings (paintings such […]
10 Caravaggio Paintings Better Than Any Reaction Image
You’ve probably heard of Caravaggio, the Italian Baroque painter whose particular style of painting spread throughout Europe like wildfire. But have you ever considered the fact that many of his paintings make excellent reaction images? In the spirit of countless Buzzfeed articles (including this Napoleon Dynamite-inspired compilation) in which classical art proves that it’s still […]
Art Reads– “Ode on a Grecian Urn”
You’ve probably heard of John Keats’ “Ode on a Grecian Urn” at some point in your educational lifespan. It’s the Romantic poem about an urn. Upon viewing some of the recently plundered–er, repurposed, the British government might say–goods the British army had carted back to London and put on display, Keats was so moved by […]
Rubens for #fancyfriday
This Friday, our #fancyfriday champ is none other than Peter Paul Rubens! His Self-Portrait with Isabella Brandt not only shows off the couple’s style, but their #flawless relationship as well. Rubens married Isabella Brandt in 1609 when he had just accepted a position in Antwerp as a court painter to the Habsburg rulers of Flanders. […]
Classic Paintings in Disney’s “Frozen”
Disney artists are some of the best in the business. As we’ve seen with my post discussing The Little Mermaid, somebody at Disney is a bigger art history geek than the rest and takes the time to carefully insert huge art history Easter eggs into their films. And much to my delight, the multi-billion-dollar blockbuster Frozen doesn’t escape […]