Essay The surprising partnership of art and data February 18, 2021 In the mid-1960s, the renowned art historian Jules Prown was jeered. He was presenting new research at the annual meeting of the College Art Association, the principal professional art historical association. Read More
Interview Nicola Suthor on Bravura February 05, 2021 The painterly style known as bravura emerged in sixteenth-century Venice and spread throughout Europe during the seventeenth century. While earlier artistic movements presented a polished image of the artist by downplaying the creative process, bravura celebrated a painter鈥檚 distinct materials, virtuosic execution, and theatrical showmanship. Read More
Video The year of conferencing virtually January 21, 2021 For editors and publishers, conferences offer the opportunity to present our lists as a whole to the members of the disciplines in which we are embedded, each title a star in its larger constellation. Read More
Podcast Goya: A Portrait of the Artist January 15, 2021 The life of Francisco Goya (1746鈥�1828) coincided with an age of transformation in Spanish history that brought upheavals in the country鈥檚 politics and at the court which Goya served, changes in society, the devastation of the Iberian Peninsula in the war against Napoleon, and an ensuing period of political instability. Read More
Essay Material unfurling, digital scrolling, urban strolling, c. 1830鈥搉ow January 14, 2021 The companion website, developed with support from av福利社鈥檚 Global Equity Grant, supplements The Place of Many Moods: Udaipur鈥檚 Painted Lands and India鈥檚 Eighteenth Century. While taking the book to broader audiences, the website features objects published and studied for the first time in-depth. Read More
Podcast Sexuality, gender, and race in the Middle Ages December 18, 2020 While the term 鈥渋ntersectionality鈥� was coined in 1989, the existence of marginalized identities extends back over millennia.聽Byzantine Intersectionality聽reveals the fascinating, little-examined conversations in medieval thought and visual culture around matters of sexual and reproductive consent, bullying and slut-shaming, homosocial and homoerotic relationships, trans and nonbinary gender identities, and the depiction of racialized minorities. Read More
Interview Katherine Zubovich on Moscow Monumental December 17, 2020 In 1947, Stalin decreed that eight monumental buildings be built in the Soviet capital. Seven of these neoclassical structures were completed in the 1950s and these buildings continue to stand today as originally intended: as elite apartment complexes, luxury hotels, and the headquarters of key institutions including Moscow State University and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Read More
Video Human Flow book trailer December 03, 2020 Complete with photographs taken by Ai Weiwei while filming the epic feature documentary聽Human Flow, this book provides a powerful, personal, and moving account of the most urgent humanitarian crisis of our聽time. Read More
Essay In the mood for art in India鈥檚 eighteenth century October 29, 2020 In the long eighteenth century, artists from Udaipur, a city of lakes in northwestern India, specialized in depicting the vivid sensory ambience of its historic palaces, reservoirs, temples, bazaars, and durbars. Read More
Essay Piranesi, maker of books October 27, 2020 One of the central ideas that we explore in Piranesi Unbound is how a book comes together as the product of collaboration. As an artist, Giovanni Battista Piranesi (1720鈥�1778) worked in many forms and materials. Read More
Interview Leslie Geddes on Watermarks September 02, 2020 Formless, mutable, transparent: the element of water posed major challenges for the visual artists of the Renaissance. To the engineers of the era, water represented a force that could be harnessed for human industry but was equally possessed of formidable destructive power. Read More
Interview By Design | Karen Siatras on designing for Humboldt July 20, 2020 Karen Siatras is a graphic designer in SAAM鈥檚 Publications office. For her most recent project, the massive exhibition catalogue that accompanies聽Alexander von Humboldt and the United States: Art, Nature, and Culture, she created special decorative letters at the start of each chapter in the book. Read More
Essay The Black man at Lincoln鈥檚 feet: Archer Alexander and the problem of emancipation July 13, 2020 The Emancipation Memorial sits imprisoned in a cage in Washington鈥檚 Lincoln Park, waiting to hear whether it will be exiled or set free. The fate of its replica in Boston is also hanging in the balance, as a petition for its removal has been signed by thousands. Read More
Interview Hips don鈥檛 lie: The American incognitum July 07, 2020 While the Smithsonian American Art Museum rarely houses fossil remains, an amazing specimen, the original 鈥淧eale Mastodon鈥� skeleton, is part of the upcoming exhibition聽Alexander von Humboldt and the United States: Art, Nature, and Culture. Read More
Video A brush with nature: Alexander von Humboldt and Frederic Church June 30, 2020 What made Alexander von Humboldt a superstar in the 1800s was聽Cosmos, his global best-selling, multi-volume series on his scientific observations and international travels. Read More
