Monthly Archives: November 2010

The Starving Art Historian Gift Guide: Books for Every Coffee Table

Posted on November 30, 2010 by

Buying books can be risky.  You aren’t sure if the person has already read it, much less if they ever will read it once in their possession.  So, dear reader, imagine a fantasy world in which everyone on your list … Continue reading →

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Art, More Accessable

Posted on November 29, 2010 by

Yesterday’s post got me thinking generally about famous illustrators, which of course led me down another tangent.  There is a longstanding tradition of artists applying their talents to commercial projects that I, as a consumer, really appreciate.  It’s pretty cool … Continue reading →

Posted in Art History, commerical, Illustration | Tagged , , , , , , , | 4 Comments

A Foray into Fangirldom

Posted on November 28, 2010 by

A little known fact about me – I used to be a huge Final Fantasy fan.  I’m not talking about the musician, but the video game franchise.  I don’t talk about that phase of my life too often because video … Continue reading →

Posted in Comparisons, Illustration | Tagged , , , , , , , | 2 Comments

No Bad Impressions

Posted on November 25, 2010 by

Impressionism is possibly the world’s most well loved artistic movement.  It was a 19th century movement centered on thin, light brushstrokes and the depiction of light at all angles.  Any ordinary subject could theoretically be translated into an impressionistic style.  … Continue reading →

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Food, Glorious Food (and Flowers)!

Posted on November 24, 2010 by

Just in time for Thanksgiving…still life!  I promise we won’t talk about any still lifes with skulls, too.  You might think of still life as merely a dull exercises in sketching apples, but the genre’s history goes deeper than a … Continue reading →

Posted in Art History, European Art | Tagged , , , , , , | 1 Comment

The Botany of Death

Posted on November 20, 2010 by

I saw pale kings and princes too, Pale warriors, death-pale were they all; They cried – “La Belle Dame sans Merci Hath thee in thrall!” Above is a stanza from John Keat’s 1819 ballad “La Belle Dame sans Merci.”  It … Continue reading →

Posted in Art History, European Art | 4 Comments

The Raft of the Medusa: Bad Days are Here to Stay

Posted on November 19, 2010 by

The 1818-1819 Gericault painting is, frankly, one of the most amazing pieces of art ever.  That’s in my humble opinion, at least.  The French artist painted it when he was only 27, not to mention the extensive studies of corpses, … Continue reading →

Posted in Art History, European Art, Uncategorized | 2 Comments

Life is Short, and Shortly It Will End

Posted on November 19, 2010 by

One of the oldest tropes in art history is the memento mori. The phrase, dating back to antiquity, means “remember your mortality” or “remember that you will die.”  The phrase and depictions of it became especially popular in Medieval history … Continue reading →

Posted in Art History, European Art | 7 Comments

Breathing Life into an Old Fairytale

Posted on November 18, 2010 by

When I was younger I had the notion of writing a feminist retelling of the Pygmalion and Galatea myth, in which the Galatea character realizes she can’t be autonomous while being a mere creation of Pygmalion and…well, kills him.  This … Continue reading →

Posted in Art History, film | 4 Comments

Crazy Cats and Sane White Space

Posted on November 17, 2010 by

I posted a few weeks ago about Gericault’s portraits of the mentally ill and the somewhat ridiculous notion in his time that a patient could be diagnosed based on facial features.  Gericault’s portraits provided the “diagnostic material.”  So we, the … Continue reading →

Posted in American Art, Art History, European Art, Mental Illness | 1 Comment