Sculpture

Group of three figurines, Early Cycladic II, early spedos type, museum number K9, Badisches Landesmuseum, Karlsruhe, Germany. Detail. Ancient Art

Demystifying Cycladic Figurines

Cycladic figurines have a mythical aura. Their gleaming abstract forms speak of timeless beauty. But what actually are they? Why do they look like a...

Isla Phillips-Ewen 28 July 2023

Ancient Art

Living Memories: The Funerary Stelae of Ancient Cyprus

The majority of sculpture that survives from ancient Cyprus are funerary stelae, elaborate grave markers to commemorate the dead. Possessing an...

Marga Patterson 28 July 2023

Parthian female Statuettes Ancient Art

Mysterious Female Nude Statuettes of the Parthian Empire

Several female nude statuettes have been unearthed from the subterranean landscape of ancient Iraq. Rendered in the Greco-Babylonian style, these...

Marga Patterson 18 July 2023

Asian Art

A Luxurious Desire: Ancient Near Eastern Ivory Carvings

The allure of ivory, a lustrous material that gleams and glows when polished, exudes warmth and mysterious beauty. Near Eastern ivory carvings are...

Marga Patterson 18 July 2023

Bizarre

The Intriguing Tale of Shocking Sheela Na Gig and Its Art References

Everyone remembers their first sighting of a Sheela Na Gig. Wandering around an old church, breathing in the architecture, the history, the silence.

Candy Bedworth 3 July 2023

Women Artists

10 Great Women Sculptors You Should Know

Just like traditionally in painting, art history has acknowledged mainly male sculptors. However, that doesn’t mean that women haven’t made...

Errika Gerakiti 26 June 2023

Women Artists

Claire Falkenstein: Wire and Venetian Glass Sculptures

American sculptor Claire Falkenstein (1908–1997) was highly successful in her days, but today her story rarely resurfaces on the pages of art...

Magda Michalska 23 June 2023

Ancient Rome

The Portrait of Rome’s Decline: Bust of Decius

The turmoil of Rome’s decline in the 3rd century enclosed the 21-month reign of Decius. His tenure as emperor was not exceptionally short for the...

Guest Profile 11 June 2023

Review

The Artist and the Eternal City: Gian Lorenzo Bernini’s Career in Rome

Can an artist single-handedly impact an entire city? Considering that the city in question is Rome, probably not. But add to the mix an influential...

Joanna Kaszubowska 8 June 2023

Artist Stories

A Song and a Prayer – Croatia’s Ivan Mestrovic

My favorite thing about Instagram is coming across new art and artists – scrolling and finding things that excite you and catch your eye. A...

Nadine Waldmann 7 June 2023

Benin art African Art

Art Treasures from the African Kingdom of Benin

Today we’ll go back in time to the 1500s when the wealth of the Benin Empire (in contemporary Nigeria) was at its peak: when Europeans traded with...

Magda Michalska 25 May 2023

Women Artists

Valentine Schlegel: Sculptor of Organic Abstraction

Sculptor, ceramist, artist, and teacher. Valentine Schlegel (1925–2021) was a headstrong individual with fervent, creative independence who carved...

Marga Patterson 23 May 2023