Jasper Johns, Figure 7, 1968 (sorry, couldn't resist!) whitney.org/collection/w...
Professor of Art History, Hunter College & CUNY Graduate Center. I look at things and then write about them. Author of Van Gogh and the End of Nature, from Yale University Press: https://yalebooks.yale.edu/book/9780300274363/van-g
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Jasper Johns, Figure 7, 1968 (sorry, couldn't resist!) whitney.org/collection/w...
Love this- thanks for sharing!
And one last super-fun art history tidbit: clifflike hills in background of "Burial at Ornans" are part of the Jura mountain range of Courbet's native Franche-Comté region. The term "Jurassic" was derived from that very range, thus linking Courbet to one of most beloved movie franchises of our time
Since people seem to have appreciated this thread, just want to add another delight of studying Courbet is his outsize public persona, which was satirized by caricaturists at the time. Second panel here comments on his role in destruction of Vendôme Column, one of his many defiant political acts
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To me, one of saddest losses in art history is of Courbet's equally monumental 1849 canvas The Stonebreakers, which was destroyed in Allied bombing of Dresden during WWII. These works are on my mind as I'll be teaching Realism in my @huntercollege.bsky.social graduate art history seminar later today
While those who know my posting habits won't be surprised that I adore the dog in the right foreground of Courbet's burial scene, I do think he serves an important purpose: here is a creature, Courbet is telling us, who doesn't understand the significance of that yawning grave at center of the scene
When it comes to 19th-century French art most people go gaga over Impressionism, but I think they're missing out on Gustave Courbet, to me the real GOAT whose devotion to Realism (with a capital "R") made something monumental out of the lives of everyday people, as in his "Burial at Ornans," 1849-50
And to give credit where credit is due, the Prudential Insurance corporate logo diagram first appeared in this book, "Corporate Identity Design" by Veronica Napoles archive.org/details/corp...
Just to weigh in with some actual historical evidence: this diagram reproduced in my book on Roy Lichtenstein shows evolution of corporate logos over nearly a century. The simplified Cracker Barrel design is nothing new- trend toward simplification appeared as early as 1920s & certainly by 70s & 80s
Ivan Albright, "Fleeting Time, Thou Hast Left Me Old," 1945
Andrew Wyeth, Perpetual Care, 1961
Félix Vallotton, The Funeral, 1891 www.moma.org/collection/w...
relatedly:
Kurt Schwitters, Untitled (1 September 1923) www.moma.org/collection/w...
Jack Levine was actually pretty well known at one point - as well-known as a committed figure painter could be in the American art world at mid-century, when abstraction reigned - but he has unfortunately receded over time. His work is also best viewed in person www.moma.org/collection/w...
Jack Levine, Gangster Funeral, 1952-53 whitney.org/collection/w...
There are so many resources like this, one would need to narrow things down a bit- my period, or geographical area, or the like. One good general resource is Smarthistory: smarthistory.org
And my apologies if I came off as argumentative, but there are several things about that article that really got under my skin
As I mentioned in another reply I don't think this is a good platform for complex discussions, but that being said I do think there are disciplinary differences (including training) between history & art history, and I think those come out in approaches to visual analysis
I think you know by now that I'm like a dog with a bone on things like this, so I hope you'll forgive my subsequent post🙏. Since art historians have been writing about these types of images for so long now, I think it would have been preferable to have that perspective included
Look, a platform like this is not amenable to complex discussions, but: -Art historians have been writing about—& critiquing—these kinds of images for decades -The image in question is a painting & thus not (iconographically, semiologically) equivalent to a photograph
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For a thoughtful and historically astute look at Gast's deep connections to 19th-century printing, here's a helpful post from the Princeton library's graphic arts collection graphicarts.princeton.edu/2021/08/09/t...
For instance an art historian or scholar of visual culture might have pointed out that Gast was *not* primarily a painter but rather affiliated with the printing business—as this period advertisement attests—which might explain the wide circulation of his image of "American Progress" in its own time
From my experience there are still many who view art history as something akin to what used to be called "art appreciation" - a mostly aesthetic-focused endeavor rather than one concerned with history, ideology, meaning, etc.
For instance an art historian or scholar of visual culture might have pointed out that Gast was *not* primarily a painter but rather affiliated with the printing business—as this period advertisement attests—which might explain the wide circulation of his image of "American Progress" in its own time
For comparison's sake, here's a column art critic @benadavis.bsky.social wrote just a few weeks ago on the same topic news.artnet.com/art-world/dh...
The writer of this NY Times article that focuses on a *single painting* interviewed numerous people but not one art historian or art critic. Just shows that many still don't recognize the specialized knowledge & tools used to interpret historical works of art www.nytimes.com/2025/08/28/a...
Does it concern you that he wrote an entire article about a painting and talked to not one art historian or art critic? Honestly it does bother me
same same
I know this is quite the art world deep cut but reading this I instantly imagined an entire college sports team competing against this guy www.moma.org/collection/w...
Happy 75th birthday to British sculptor Antony Gormley, born #OnThisDay in 1950 (Home and the World II, 1986-96)
Franz Xaver Messerschmidt, "The Ill-Humored Man," c. 1771-83
José Guadalupe Posada, Happy Dance & Wild Party of All the Calaveras, c. 1890-1913
jasper johns little guys listening to bowie, the beatles, michael jackson, andrea bocelli and i dreamed a dream from les misérables while they work
For more on José Guadalupe Posada's iconic Calaveras (skeleton images), you can check out this website from a 2022 Posada exhibition at the Clark Art Institute www.clarkart.edu/microsites/p...
José Guadalupe Posada, Happy Dance & Wild Party of All the Calaveras, c. 1890-1913
José Guadalupe Posada, Calavera of the Presidential Elections, 1919 digitalcollections.smu.edu/digital/coll...
Calaveras of Political Leaders Who Aspire to the Presidency (Calaveras de caudillos de silla presidencial), a broadside by the great Mexican printmaker José Guadalupe Posada www.loc.gov/resource/ppm...
James Ensor, Skeletons Warming Themselves, 1889
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So @rachelholliday.bsky.social recently wondered if anyone had seen a Waymo in NYC, and to that I'll respond: Ask and ye shall receive (on Park Ave near Grand Central)
I know, right..?? Just reach out to me, ask if I want to do it, and *then* sign me up. Maybe a tiny bit more work, but at least makes me feel like I'm being treated collegially...??
And sorry if I came off as testy, but I'm having one of *those* mornings and feel like my store of patience has run pretty dry by this point🙏
Understood- that seems like the right way to do things! Thanks for clarifying-
Yes- so the editor gets to be "efficient," at the expense of any sense of consideration or cordiality. I get it, but I also wonder if you see why this isn't a great way to approach people
imho it's terrible: why not reach out to me, ask if I'm willing, and then enter my name in the system?
Fellow academics! Is this, uh, normal..? Automated email from a major peer-reviewed scholarly journal that set up an account in my name to review a manuscript BEFORE asking if I'd agree to do so. Even if things are automated it still seems pretty presumptuous & I'm hoping isn't standard practice
yep- "truth is stranger than fiction," yada yada yada
That for centuries, including up through the early 20th century, painters used a pigment called "Mummy Brown" which was produced—as its name clearly indicates!—by grinding up Egyptian mummies😬
My favourite trompe l'oeil painting is arguably the one with the least going on it it, but I find it beautiful. It's Bagsiden Af Et Indrammet Maleri (The Reverse of a Framed Painting) by the great 17th Century Flemish artist Cornelis Norbertus Gijsbrechts.
Now I really want to know who painted those "Arthur Dove" pictures for the film
Even better, from what I gather from early film festival reviews, his plan is to steal four Arthur Dove paintings, which is just
A Kelly Reichardt film with Josh O'Connor as a suburban man living a double life as an art thief in the 1970s..? Yes please youtu.be/AWokrf6yeEU?...
So excited to finally receive copies of my new book on Portuguese baroque painter Josefa de Óbidos! www.lundhumphries.com/collections/...
Congrats on this- publishing a book always an incredible accomplishment🎉
This vivid 1958 image of children in school uniforms on a Brooklyn street by photographer David Attie, from a photo shoot documenting Truman Capote's Brooklyn at the time gothamist.com/arts-enterta...
Felix Gonzalez-Torres's Untitled (Death by Gun) is a stack of posters listing the more than 460 people killed by firearms during a single week in 1989. Viewers are invited to take a poster as the stack is constantly replenished www.moma.org/collection/w...
Ed Ruscha, Norms on Fire, 1964
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This one's pretty great (Fayum-Re, 1982); more of her sculptures, & other works, are viewable on the Nancy Graves Foundation website: www.nancygravesfoundation.org/sculpture
Nancy Graves, "Enfolded Order," 1989
Makes me think of some of Nancy Graves's neo-Baroque sculptures of the 1980s
Just about two weeks left to see the Beauford Delaney show at the Drawing Center in Soho. If you're in or around NYC during that time and up for some art viewing, I'd highly recommend this illuminating view into the life & work of a truly fascinating artist👇
Frans Hals, Young Man & Woman in an Inn, 1623 www.metmuseum.org/art/collecti...
Roy Lichtenstein The Ring, 1962 www.lichtensteincatalogue.org/catalogue/en...
Roy Lichtenstein, The Ring (Engagement), 1962 www.lichtensteincatalogue.org/catalogue/en...
Roy Lichtenstein, The Engagement Ring, 1961
Time for a defleaing and a timeline cleanse. Pedro Núñez de Villavicencio, Boy Looking for Fleas on a Dog, 1650s, Oil on canvas, 61 x 48 cm (The Hermitage, St. Petersburg)]
Pretty sure I learned this from either @joshuajfriedman.com or @pfrazee.com at one point...? Both of them are true founts of @bsky.app info
I absolutely adore trompe l'oeil paintings of printed images, & here's one of my absolute favorites: The Printseller's Window, 1883, by little-known English artist Walter Goodman, a pictorial meditation on modern image culture & photography's impact on painting magart.rochester.edu/objects-1/in...
I have a way that feels easier to me: go to your profile; click on the three horizontal dots at upper right & click on "Search posts"
Saw one in Chelsea - several times - a week ago; no one seemed to react to it really...?
Does it make you irrationally angry too...? Not proud of myself for it, but there you have it. When I hear someone say it, I think to myself "You're not *doing* anything...!"
Super out-of-left-field question: Does anyone know where linguistic tendency to order (food, coffee) by asking "Could I do..." (rather than "Could I have..") originated? To be honest I get irrationally angry when I hear it, & I'm curious where it might come from. Maybe @bcdreyer.social has a thought
Thanks for sharing!🙏
MJM, I think I need you to teach me how to do this
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Hair We R Las Vegas, NM
August's First Light will be re-airing on East Village Radio at 12pm ET today. Tune in for two hours of blissed-out Ambient, New Age, Spiritual Jazz, and Classical Indian. eastvillageradio.com/first-light-...
R.B. Kitaj, "W.H. Auden," from First Series: Some Poets, 1966-69 emuseum.mfah.org/objects/1257...
"To be free is often to be lonely." -W.H. Auden Don Bachardy, W.H. Auden, 1967 www.metmuseum.org/art/collecti...
it felt important to figure out why this screen looks like an abstract painting, but also why it absolutely isn't. the tl;dr is close to Jason Farago's point about Hiroshima: we don't have the cultural knowledge to understand the terror, and the risks we still face greg.org/archive/2025...
My god, these clothes are hideous! They're reminding me of one of the best drag queen putdowns I ever heard, ages ago now: "I didn't know Ralston Purina made shirts."
Claes Oldenburg, Flying Pizza, 1964 www.moma.org/collection/w...
The great concrete poet Eugen Gomringer died last week aged 100.
#ArtButMakeItPolitics
Meret Oppenheim, Glove (for Parkett), 1985
This monumental sculpture of a common garden tool was originally proposed by Coosje van Bruggen & Claes Oldenburg for the Tuileries Gardens in Paris, which helps explain why it's titled with a French word - plantoir - rather than the more prosaic English "trowel"
I'm just low-key obsessed with that painting- and if I ever get to Rochester I want to see it in person
Another indication of the theoretical intent of Goodman's picture is that it gives central place to an image of critic John Ruskin, who was deeply engaged with photography's impact on art making
