Masterpiece Stories

Masterpiece Stories

Masterpiece Story: Duchamp’s La Joconde aka L.H.O.O.Q

This masterpiece, La Joconde, is all about codes, reversals, play with conventions, and provocation. In other words, it’s an epitome of Dada...

Magda Michalska 15 December 2021

Kūka’ilimoku, ca 1795-1822, ʻŌhiʻa lehua Wood, Kawaihae, Hawai’i, British Museum, London, UK. Detail. Masterpiece Stories

Masterpiece Story: Kūka’ilimoku

Kūka’ilimoku is a masterpiece of Hawaiian art. It is an artistic icon of Hawai’i, Polynesia, and Oceania. With so little Oceanic art displayed...

James W Singer 9 December 2021

Masterpiece Stories

Masterpiece Story: George Henry Boughton, Pilgrims Going to Church

This week’s masterpiece is Pilgrims Going to Church by George Henry Boughton (1833-1905). Even though Boughton grew up in America, he was born...

Alexandra Kiely 25 November 2021

Masterpiece Stories

Masterpiece Story: Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec, Divan Japonais

Divan Japonais is a lithograph poster by Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec which was an ad for a café-chantant of this exact name. The poster is like a...

Zuzanna Stańska 24 November 2021

Masterpiece Stories

Masterpiece Story: Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec, Aristide Bruant in his Cabaret

In the 1890s Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec was one of a group of young avant-garde artists whose color lithography was a vehicle for innovative...

Zuzanna Stańska 24 November 2021

Masterpiece Stories

Masterpiece Story: The Kensingtons at Laventie by Eric Kennington

The painting The Kensingtons at Laventie, which we present today, is Eric Kennington’s most famous work. It has been described as “one of...

Zuzanna Stańska 11 November 2021

Masterpiece Stories

Masterpiece Story: Old Woman Dozing by Nicolaes Maes

Introduction 123 ABC. Nicolaes Maes, Old Woman Dozing, ca 1656, Musées Royaux des Beaux-Arts de Belgique, Brussels,...

James W Singer 24 October 2021

Masterpiece Stories

Masterpiece Story: Aeneas Taken by the Sibyl to the Underworld by Jacob van Swanenburgh

Aeneas Taken by the Sibyl to the Underworld is one of only 11 known surviving works by Jacob van Swanenburgh. It is a rare gem of late Renaissance...

James W Singer 10 October 2021

Masterpiece Stories

Masterpiece of the Week: Andreas Gursky, Rhine II

It seems to be one of those pictures you may accidentally take on holiday when the weather is bad. Rhine II by Andreas Gursky is not a photo we...

Joanna Kaszubowska 22 August 2021

Masterpiece Stories

Painting of the Week: Thomas Cole, The Architect’s Dream

The Architect’s Dream is an outstanding example of architectural genre. It was painted by American artist and founder of the Hudson River School Thomas Cole in 1840 for the New York architect Ithiel Town. The painting seamlessly stitches together Egyptian, Graeco-Roman and Gothic styles into a fantastical landscape.

Rucha Vijay Bodas 8 August 2021

Renaissance

All You Should Know About the Albrecht Dürer’s Melencolia I

A famous print, known as Melencolia I created by Albrecht Dürer is one of the most intriguing works in art history. In this modest monochromatic...

Zuzanna Stańska 2 July 2021

Masterpiece Stories

Painting of the Week: Claude Raguet Hirst, A Gentleman’s Table

A Gentleman’s Table by Claude Raguet Hirst is a mysterious painting that echoes the realism of Winslow Homer, Thomas Eakins, and Henry Ossawa...

James W Singer 6 June 2021