Magda Michalska

Magda, art historian and Italianist, she writes about art because she cannot make it herself. She loves committed and political artists like Ai Weiwei or the Futurists; like Joseph Beuys she believes that art can change us and we can change the world.

Stories By Magda Michalska

dailyart

Europa in Focus: Rape and Rebirth

By Magda MichalskaMay 24, 2019

If you read my articles, you’ll know that I tend to get political. With the European Elections coming up this weekend, I wouldn’t be myself letting it pass unnoticed. Hence, I dedicate this post to Europa,...
19th Century

Brass Heads, Coral Beads, And Ivory: Art from the Kingdom of Benin

By Magda MichalskaMay 16, 2019

Today we’ll go back in time to around 1500s when the wealth of Benin kingdom (in contemporary Nigeria) was at its peak: when Europeans traded with Benin spices, palm kernels, gum, brass, ivory, shells, or arms;...
21st century

Lubaina Himid’s Dinner Service at the V&A

By Magda MichalskaMay 14, 2019

In 2017, Lubaina Himid won the Turner Prize (and she was the oldest winner ever, aged 63!). Ten years before she presented her work Swallow Hard: The Lancaster Dinner Service at the Judges’ Lodgings in Lancaster,...
19th Century

Josef Šíma: from Czech Republic to Paris

By Magda MichalskaMay 9, 2019

Josef Šíma was born in Jaromer, in today’s Czech Republic in 1891, but he became a naturalized French citizen (he took the citizenship already in 1926). Although he spent most of his life in France, he...
Artists' Stories

Die Brücke’s Magician: Otto Mueller

By Magda MichalskaMay 3, 2019

Do we talk enough about Die Brücke? Its importance for the development of modern art is undoubted. But lost between various movements and -isms that we encounter when we read or talk about the art of...
dailyart

First of May Celebrations in Painting

By Magda MichalskaMay 1, 2019

Happy May 1st to all workers and to all who have fought and still fight for their rights. I hope you’ll celebrate by doing nothing and chilling (hopefully outdoors, wishing everyone a sunny day!). First of...
Artist

William Strang: Portraitist, Printmaker, Scotsman

By Magda MichalskaApril 27, 2019

I used to live in Scotland and when I stumble upon a Scottish artist I’d had no idea about before, I really want to share their art with you. William Strang was a comprehensive artist with...
dailyart

Egg Art 2019 Easter Edition

By Magda MichalskaApril 20, 2019

Two years ago I wrote an Easter article about eggs and what to do with all the remaining ones after the holidays. This year I decided to take up this topic again, since eggs are more...
21st century

Alec Soth’s American Landscapes, Global Interiors

By Magda MichalskaApril 13, 2019

Alec Soth is a contemporary American photographer who so far has specialized in capturing his native US. Based in Minneapolis, Minnesota, he travelled across all states to meet and photograph Americans and their surroundings. In his...
20th century

Kandinsky’s Inspiration? Nature, Spirituality and Other Artists

By Magda MichalskaApril 11, 2019

Wassily Kandinsky: a lawyer turned painter, a painter turned lecturer, a green-fingered man for whom a house with garden was a curse (because instead of working he would spend hours digging and sowing). Rightly considered one...