#colonialism

African Art

6 Contemporary African Artists You Should Know

The contemporary art scene is booming in Africa. Artists are getting more attention and recognition, taking part in the most prestigious art fairs...

Natalia Tiberio 25 May 2023

Baroque

Beautiful Chinese Porcelain in Dutch Still Lifes

Chinese culture has always been an object of European fascination – in art history, we see it in paintings, ornaments, architecture, fashion, and...

Nicole Ganbold 19 May 2023

Masterpiece Stories

Masterpiece Story: Queen Mother Idia of Benin

Africa is a beautiful continent filled with sweeping landscapes and mighty rivers. Its history is filled with great kingdoms and large empires. Its...

James W Singer 14 May 2023

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 10 April 2023

Black Matrilineage, Photography, and Representation: Another Way of Knowing, edited by Lesly Deschler Canossi and Zoraida Lopez-Diago, Leuven University Press, 2022 (cover image) Photography

Black Motherhood in Photography: Book Review of Black Matrilineage, Photography, and Representation

Black Matrilineage, Photography, and Representation: Another Way of Knowing by co-editors Lesly Deschler Canossi and Zoraida Lopez-Diago of the...

Jennifer S. Musawwir 27 February 2023

Jean-Etienne Liotard, Chocolate Girl, 1754, Gemäldegalerie Alte Meister, Dresden, Germany Dine & Wine

Chocolate in Painting for a Cozy Evening

Even when it is not that cold, I still crave a good old hot chocolate (in painting) and a cozy evening under the blanket. We present to you a short...

Magda Michalska 16 February 2023

Masterpiece Stories

Masterpiece Story: Fons Americanus by Kara Walker

Kara Elizabeth Walker, born in 1969, is an American contemporary artist. She is known as a painter, silhouettist, print-maker, installation artist,...

Isla Phillips-Ewen 5 February 2023

Contemporary Art

4 Black Contemporary Artists Everyone Should Know

As art historians, it is our duty to acknowledge the importance of those overlooked and underprivileged artists who may not be as famous as they...

Magda Michalska 1 February 2023

Art of Australia & Oceania

Aboriginal Cultural Heritage Looted from Australia

At the end of the 18th century, the British Empire added Australia to its territory. Since the infamous arrival of Captain Cook white people have...

Jimena Escoto 26 January 2023

Masterpiece Stories

Masterpiece Story: The African King Caspar by Hendrik Heerschop

White subjects have dominated the Western art tradition for millennia, while people of color have been vastly underrepresented and misrepresented.

James W Singer 13 January 2023

Masterpiece Stories

Masterpiece Story: Two African Men by Rembrandt van Rijn

In the discourse on the Black presence in Western history, it is taken for granted that Africans in art represented solely enslaved people, and their...

Nicole Ganbold 28 December 2022

Great Princess Mama Occollo, ca 1850-70, oil on canvas mounted on wood, Cuzco, Peru, Denver Art Museum, Denver, CO, USA. Detail. Masterpiece Stories

Masterpiece Story: Great Princess Mama Occollo

Great Princess Mama Occollo is an amazing masterpiece of South American art from the 19th century in the collection of the Denver Art Museum. It...

James W Singer 24 October 2022