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

Just Weird

Sports fan? These 7 Historical Posters Show That Olympic Games Are Not Over Yet
By Magda MichalskaSeptember 12, 2016
We thought we’d overslept the Olympic Games in Rio this summer… But there are Paraolympic Games going on so there is still a reason to celebrate the magic of sport! Let’s unveil our selection of precious...
21st century

September To Remember – 9/11 Tribute
By Magda MichalskaSeptember 11, 2016
It’s been 15 years already. They jumped from the burning floors— one, two, a few more, higher, lower. The photograph halted them in life, and now keeps them above the earth toward the earth. Each...
Bodies And Erotic Art

Breastfeeding in Public Paintings Allowed Here!
By Magda MichalskaSeptember 10, 2016
Breastfeeding in public recurs in the public debate from time to time. Whether it’s legal, ethical, aesthetic… Well, no matter if you’re a mother, a hungry baby or an annoyed passerby, these paintings are showing that...
Artists' Stories

My name is Sofonisba And I’m Michelangelo’s Gal
By Magda MichalskaSeptember 7, 2016
And I don’t mean it as a mistress, no, no, I’m a respectable girl who comes from a little poor but still a noble family of Cremona. When I travelled to Rome, I was introduced to Michelangelo...
20th century

Best Vermeer’s Forger And His Fakes
By Magda MichalskaSeptember 2, 2016
Who wouldn’t love to discover an unknown original painting by Johannes Vermeer? It must be a blissful moment to find an untouched and unspoiled work of art by the brush of a master. A work that nobody...
Bodies And Erotic Art

Respectable Women From Art History – Yes, Most Of Them Were Naked. A Short Comment To Burkinis.
By Magda MichalskaSeptember 1, 2016
I want to add my personal voice to the debate about burkini and whether it enslaves women or the contrary. The creator of the burkini, Aheda Zanetti, clearly said that she had designed it to give...
Artists' Stories

Titian’s Women Who Are In Fact The Same Woman
By Magda MichalskaAugust 28, 2016
Titian had it all. He was so talented that people called him after Dante’s Paradiso “The sun amidst small stars”. He knew how to paint landscapes, still lifes, human figures, animals. He was also a master...
20th century

4 Of Hitler’s Least Favourite ‘Degenerate’ Artists (There Were Many More)
By Magda MichalskaAugust 27, 2016
As a person who considered himself an artist, Hitler was very sensitive to aesthetics. He hated people who did not fit to his imagined world of ideally proportioned men with Aryan features and German upbringing. Same...
Animals

It’s a Dog’s Life According to Cassius Marcellus Coolidge
By Magda MichalskaAugust 26, 2016
Have you ever imagined a world dominated by animals? Have you read Orwell’s Animal Farm and wondered what it would be like to live in such a world? Well, then brace yourselves for Cassius Marcellus Coolidge’s...
20th century

More Than Fifty Shades of Grey In The Grey Life Of Romaine Brooks
By Magda MichalskaAugust 25, 2016
WARNING: If you cannot digest sad stories about childhood, stop reading now. It won’t get better in adulthood, so if you don’t like such stories either, just click here to look at calm views of Mount Fuji instead. The...