Take It In and Take It Slow During Slow Art Day
What’s a yearly practice that can make you a better person and only happens every spring? It’s not tax day: it’s Slow Art Day, and it’s coming up! Slow Art Day, a day dedicated to slowing down when viewing art, falls on April 6 of this year. Its name pretty much says it all: on […]
Yes, A Cat Just Attacked & Damaged A 17th-Century Painting
Yes, you did read that headline right. As we here at the Art Docent Program know by now, damaged and attacked works of art tend to always grab our attention (see for reference another big headline from just last month when a teenager smashed multiple works at the Denver Art Museum). However, the biggest new […]
Smithsonian Acquires Grandma Moses Artwork
Earlier this year, the Smithsonian American Art Museum acquired three works of art by Anna Mary Robertson, better known as Grandma Moses. These acquisitions are proving to be more than popular pieces: they’re a big step forward in adding more work by women and self-taught artists to the Smithsonian’s permanent collections. Grandma Moses, who lived […]
Sacramento, Get Ready for Wide Open Walls 2018!
Get ready, Sacramento: as of next month, Wide Open Walls is back! The wildly-popular Wide Open Walls Mural Festival will be held at locations throughout Sacramento starting on August 9th and running through 19th, 2018. That’s ten whole days of murals from over 40 acclaimed artists, ranging from local artists to international muralists, who will […]
The Hidden Life of “The Blue Boy”
At first blush, Thomas Gainsborough’s famous work known as “The Blue Boy” seems like a simple enough painting of a well-to-do 18th-century young master of the upper class, dressed to the nines in his little blue suit. However, some new details have come to light as the painting undergoes restoration at its home, The Huntington […]
How Will “Genius: Picasso” Choose To Portray the Prolific Artist?
Fans of art and television rejoice: the second season of National Geographic Channel’s acclaimed series Genius, airing April 24th, will cover the life of Pablo Picasso. We’re excited that the series, whose first season covered Albert Einstein, will have an entire series devoted to a prolific artist whose work is featured in our first, third, fourth, […]
The Many Fakes of Modigliani
Last summer, 21 works in a major exhibition in Genoa of Amadeo Modigliani’s work were pulled from exhibition on the concern that they were forgeries. As reported by Architectural Digest earlier this year, 20 of those works were declared fakes. However, much of this will sound like old news, as the rash of fake Modiglianis […]
Art News: The Obama Portraits Make a Statement in More Ways Than One
As you’ve probably heard, last week, the Smithsonian’s National Portrait Gallery unveiled its commissioned portraits of former President Barack Obama and former First Lady Michelle Obama. What might have been an uneventful affair for any other former presidential portraits quickly made headlines for the simple fact that the Obamas’ portraits are strikingly different than any […]
One-Stop Holiday Shopping: Your Local Museum Store?
Looking for a unique place to find a Christmas gift for the art-lover in your life? (Or, let’s face it, a special gift for yourself?) Here’s a thought: try your local museum shop. Despite criticism by Banksy (whose film is derisively titled Exit Through the Gift Shop) and others, museum shops often serve a vital purpose: […]
Cards for a Cause: Meet Wunderkid
Have you ever considered the sheer amount of greeting cards manufactured in the United States? Unless you’re Joseph Gordon-Levitt’s character in 500 Days of Summer, the answer is probably not. We hadn’t: until we heard about Wunderkid, a company that creates a variety of sustainable greeting cards. Cool, right? But that’s not all: a portion of the […]