In yesterday's satirical post, I referenced Linda Nochlin's acclaimed 1971 essay, "Why Have There Been no Great Women Artsts?" In honor of National Women's Day, I reread it and got to thinking about women artists and the many, many artists who have been left out. I am not striking today, though I support those women … Continue reading What Women?
All good leaders appreciate the grave importance of protecting their citizens from the threats of invading barbarians, be they Eurasian nomads, Visigoths, Huns, or . . . Mexicans. Donald Trump knows his history and looks to that history with concern and anticipation. He will protect his people from the Great Mexican Horde, just as the … Continue reading The Great Trumpian Wall of Southern America
One of the things that most captivated my imagination in graduate school was pre-modern cartography. The maps produced before the modern era are not only visually fascinating, but they speak of so much more: mystery, knowledge/ignorance, longing, hope, adventure, human limitations. But mainly of hope, since, if you don’t know what is beyond your world, … Continue reading Found!
Well, it hasn’t been the greatest week for me and I’m not feeling super inspired to expound about much. Still, there is a lot of arts news that I thought my readers might find interesting. So, I’m kicking off my new newsletter-style blog post, which I’m hoping to make a regular feature. Check out some … Continue reading Around the Web
Okay. I wasn’t going to step into this “Renoir Sucks at Painting” debate, but it doesn’t seem to be going away as quickly as I thought it would, and I’ve got some opinions on the matter. In case you haven’t been following the story, a guy named Max Geller has started a movement decrying the … Continue reading In (Moderate) Defense of Renoir
A few days ago, The Guardian published an article about the discovery of prehistoric rock paintings in a remote part of the Colombian jungle. Filmmaker Mike Slee was working on a film about the country’s natural wonders when he stumbled onto the heretofore un-photographed reddish-hued paintings on cliff walls in the Chiribiquete National Park. The … Continue reading Colombia’s Jungle of Forgotten Tears
A couple of weeks ago, I wrote about a win for the arts in Philadelphia with the Association for Public Art’s acquisition of Roxy Paine’s Symbiosis. This week, I’m writing about a big loss for the arts in Philadelphia. While running errands in Center City, I stumbled upon a demolition in progress. I was a … Continue reading Philly Loses The Boyd Theater, Art Deco Treasure
It’s been a (delightfully) hectic couple of weeks for me, as I’ve been completing several freelance projects. In the moments that I’ve allowed myself to come up for air, I have read several arts-related news stories that I had hoped to discuss here. There was the recent news that ISIS deliberately destroyed works of art … Continue reading Longing & Nostalgia
Last night, there was a terrible crash on New York's commuter rail line, Metro North, that killed six passengers. Today we learned that one of those killed was Walter Liedtke, curator of Dutch and Flemish painting at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. The museum's official announcement on its Facebook page says, ". . . We pay … Continue reading Death of Walter Liedtke
I just learned of very exciting news via Hyperallergic: The Codex Mendoza, a sixteenth-century manuscript filled with valuable information about Aztec culture has been fully digitized in a collaboration between Mexico's National institute for Anthropology and History and the Bodleian Library at Oxford, King's College. The importance of the Codex Mendoza can hardly be overstated. … Continue reading Codex Mendoza
Ellen A. Hurst 