Art Forms

Warrior and Attendants, 16th-17th century, brass, Royal Palace, Benin City, Nigeria, Metropolitan Museum of Art, NYC, USA. Detail. Masterpiece Stories

Masterpiece Story: Warrior and Attendants of Benin

Warrior and Attendants is a masterpiece of Benin art. It encapsulates the beauty of Africa and its people. Black is beautiful. Black is...

James W Singer 11 February 2024

Ramesses II, New Kingdom, 19th Dynasty, 1279–1254 BCE, granodiorite, Temple of Amun, Karnak Temple Complex, Thebes (Luxor), Egypt, Museo Egizio, Turin, Italy. Detail. Masterpiece Stories

Masterpiece Story: Ramesses II

The statue of Ramesses II is a masterpiece of ancient Egyptian sculpture that proclaims the royal majesty and prowess of Ramesses the...

James W Singer 11 February 2024

Double-Headed Serpent, ca 1400-1521, mosaic on wood, British Museum, London, UK. Masterpiece Stories

Masterpiece Story: Double-Headed Serpent

Double-Headed Serpent is a masterpiece of Aztec art that combines religious and commercial significance. It is filled with hidden allusions under a...

James W Singer 11 February 2024

California landscapes Art Travels

Divine Beauty of Landscapes: California on Canvas

The beautiful state of California is home to some of the most geographically diverse topography. This makes for the most breath-taking vistas. It...

Maya M. Tola 10 February 2024

Art Travels

Landscape Painters, National Parks, and the American West in Art

The US National Parks are natural and man-made monuments legally set aside for protection and public enjoyment. Yellowstone became the first National...

Alexandra Kiely 10 February 2024

Ancient Greece

Ancient Greek Splendour: The Erechtheion Caryatids

I visited Athens, Greece in the summer of 2016. Naturally, a visit to the Acropolis was mandatory, and it was as beautiful and epic as you can...

Nadine Waldmann 9 February 2024

Ancient Greece

The Ancient Greek Kouros and Kore

Classical Greek statues depicting male and female bodies are iconic and legendary: they set the standards for numerous artists and art movements to...

Nadine Waldmann 9 February 2024

Painting

Maiden or Boy? Androgyny and Misogyny in Symbolist Art

As the 19th century barreled towards the 20th, a profound reevaluation of established gender roles manifested in the confluence of burgeoning...

Martha Teverson 8 February 2024

Women Artists

Art in the Mail: Wisława Szymborska’s Cut-and-Paste Postcards

Wisława Szymborska (1923-2012) was a Nobel Prize-winning Polish poet, but she was also an occasional artist. Her main medium was quirky...

Alexandra Kiely 7 February 2024

Sculpture

Fleshy Sculptures That Could Come To Life

The debate about the supremacy of painting over sculpture or the other way around has been around for centuries. What is better, what is more real,...

Magda Michalska 5 February 2024

Masterpiece Stories

The Story of Girl at Mirror by Norman Rockwell

Do you know the Snow White fairytale? Girl at Mirror by Norman Rockwell would certainly be a contestant to Snow White’s wicked stepmother as she...

Rute Ferreira 3 February 2024

Portrait of Veronica Ryan with her exhibition, Along a Spectrum, 2021, Spike Island, Bristol, UK.  Contemporary Art

Meet Veronica Ryan, The 2022 Turner Prize Winner

A great example of resilience and coherence, Veronica Ryan is the latest winner of the Turner Prize, an annual prize awarded to British contemporary...

Carlotta Mazzoli 2 February 2024