29 February 2008 | Conferences
We’ve extracted a few choice bits from the collected abstracts of the recent CAA meeting in Dallas: Yvonne Scott: “The paradox of the island is that it is at once an entity and a fragment and consequently functions synecdochically.” Daniel Savoy: “The architects of early modern Venice created an ‘aquatic aesthetic’ that responded to the [...]
29 February 2008 | Africa, Architecture
The Winter 2007 issue of Africa Today is devoted to “Visual Experience in Urban Africa.” Guest editor Joanna Grabski writes: Cities in Africa, like their counterparts elsewhere in the world, are intensely visual environments … Rather than positioning the city as a backdrop or stage, the articles [here] explore the relationships and processes connecting visual [...]
28 February 2008 | Americas, Ancient, Architecture
From the AP: A team of German and Peruvian archaeologists say they have discovered the oldest known monument in Peru: a 5,500-year-old ceremonial plaza near Peru’s north-central coast … The discovery is further evidence that civilization thrived in Peru at the same time as it did in what is now the Middle East and South [...]
27 February 2008 | Teaching
The White House recently announced an initiative called “Picturing America,” which will “provide K-12 schools and public libraries with 40 images of American art, an illustrated teachers resource book, and a web site containing additional information including lesson plans.” The press conference included the president and the first lady as well as NEH head Bruce [...]
25 February 2008 | Crime, Modern
From The Art Newspaper: Art historian and Modigliani specialist Christian Parisot is facing trial in Paris, accused of faking 77 drawings by Jeanne Hébuterne, the artist’s mistress and mother of his daughter, also called Jeanne … Mr Parisot told The Art Newspaper that … they are genuine and that they came from a clear-out of [...]
25 February 2008 | Conferences
X.M.B. writes: So here is a brief overview of the 2008 CAA conference in Dallas. There is no Bohemia. everyone gets dressed up and applies for jobs, the world of academia is as cold and stiff as everyone described. There are good eggs and bad eggs though, It is fun to differentiate between the folks [...]
22 February 2008 | Conferences
Alas, neither we nor CAA are blogging from the conference this year. Fortunately, a few other people are: Artist E. Marie writes: … Dallas does not adhere to the same coffee standards as Northern California. Now. On to the more esoteric lessons. The day started off with an interesting conference session entitled “Photography After Photography” [...]
22 February 2008 | Museums
According to The Art Newspaper: the Museum of the City of New York (MCNY) has decided to quietly sell its Rockefeller Rooms to make way for a modernisation of its building on upper Fifth Avenue. The two period rooms from the Manhattan townhouse of oil tycoon John D. Rockefeller have been the museum’s signature attractions [...]
21 February 2008 | Career, Conferences
Karla, completing a dissertation on Czech Surrealism, writes: I have reached the architecturally unexpected city of Dallas and am trying to get myself into full College Art Association mode. I’ve always enjoyed CAA in the past, but this year it’s more of an effort. It is kind of difficult to enjoy much of anything to [...]
21 February 2008 | Baroque/Neoclassical, Museums
From the Telegraph: During his lifetime, the Roman painter Pompeo Batoni was among the most celebrated artists in Europe, counting several popes among his patrons as well as Frederick the Great and Catherine of Russia. But only two years after his death in 1787, Sir Joshua Reynolds predicted that Batoni’s name would quickly fall into [...]
20 February 2008 | Conferences
Various individuals descend on the College Art Association conference, which begins today in Dallas. Artist Kathy O’Connell writes, “There I will be schmoozing my way to a job (wearing power shoes, but avoiding Dallas power hair).”
19 February 2008 | Ancient, Awards, Books
The new Art Book Award, awarded by The Art Book and the Association of Art Historians (both in the UK), “aims to promote and acknowledge the best in art publishing by honouring the contributions and collaboration of the many different people involved.” Its first award has just gone to Antinous: the Face of the Antique [...]
18 February 2008 | Crime, Museums
From the Boston Globe: … as one museum after another negotiates deals [to repatriate art], and prosecutors all over the world target the commercial trade in ancient objects, some prominent scholars are drawing a line in the sand, saying that objects belong where they are – that the movement is based on a false reading [...]
15 February 2008 | Museums
In caa.reviews, David A. Levine considers the Metropolitan Museum of Art exhibition The Age of Rembrandt: Dutch Paintings: … Timed to coincide with Rembrandt’s four-hundredth birthday (2006) and the publication of [curator Walter] Liedtke’s masterful two-volume catalogue, Dutch Paintings in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, this impressive exhibition puts on display every one of the [...]
14 February 2008 | Uncategorized
Power enough to persuade the London Underground to ban the Royal Academy from using his “Venus” in a Tube advertisement. The Guardian writes: … if Cranach’s nudes didn’t prevent his friendship with Martin Luther – hardly a slouch in the morality department, what with the Reformation and all – you wonder if they are really, [...]
13 February 2008 | Medieval
From The Johns Hopkins University Gazette: Grants of $779,000 from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation will allow The Johns Hopkins University and the Bibliotheque Nationale de France to provide scholars with virtual access to more than half the known versions of Le Roman de la Rose, a medieval poem on the art of love that [...]
11 February 2008 | Contemporary, Museums
What percentage of art museum collections are on display at any time? If the percentage is too small, should the art travel more so that it can be seen? What about the risk to the works? According to the New York Times, Eli Broad recently made the surprising decision not to give his contemporary-art collection [...]
8 February 2008 | Uncategorized
Blogger Sneakysnu analyzes the Barack Obama campaign’s imagery: As an art historian by training, I have been fascinated by the campaign’s use of images and graphic design. It has inspired other Obama supporters to create their own images that produce a specific message: Obama as cultural icon. Below, I am going to engage in visual [...]
7 February 2008 | Uncategorized
Columbia University architectural historian Hilary Ballon, who recently co-authored a report on art-history publishing with Mariët Westermann, “left Columbia last semester for a curriculum development job at New York University’s new Abu Dhabi campus,” where Westermann is vice chancellor.
5 February 2008 | Baroque/Neoclassical
The Sacramento Bee writes on a recent TV ad for Orangina: … This has got to be one of the weirdest spots to air in quite a while. With a soundtrack of pulsing dance pop, here are some of the images we see: A flamingo in a G-string, sliding down a vine as if it [...]
