Features
How Detroit Became a Hub for Black Art
A decade before the mainstream Black Arts Movement, Detroit underwent a transformation of its own, driven by Black artists who recognized a need for opportunities and community.
Art History
Features
A Brief Art History of Grief
Scholar Roger Luckhurt’s richly illustrated book chronicles the ways we memorialize the dead across the world, tracing burial practices from Ancient Greece to the present day.
Comics
An Unfinished History of the Antichrist
The sinister figure was shaped by social and political forces throughout the centuries. Is he still walking among us?
Opinion
The Tackiness of Evil
More than a testament to his tastelessness, Trump’s demolition of the White House tells the American people: I can do whatever I want with the past.
Opinion
The Arch of Trump’s Triumph and Downfall
Triumphal arches have been used for imperialistic ends since Roman antiquity, and the president’s latest proposal is no exception.
Book Review
The Paradoxical Promise of Postwar Liberation
Art history has struggled to address a contradictory artistic output that engaged with Japan’s modernization and occupation, a new book argues.
Book Review
How the Wound Man Healed Medieval Europe
In a new book, art historian Jack Hartnell reconsiders the gruesome image as “one of the period’s most sophisticated repositories of medical hope.”
Book Review
Unpacking the Ageist Myths of Western Art
Scholar Larry Silver sheds light on depictions of old age in Greek, Biblical, and European art history, but misses a deeper exploration.
Book Review
How Liberty Fabrics Weaves Design and Art History
Kassia St. Clair, who specializes in color, explores its historical connection to artists and art movements in a book timed with the company’s 150th anniversary.
Books
This Is Not the Real Geronimo
Elbridge Ayer Burbank’s haunting paintings of the Apache leader capture a likeness that was only ever real from the vantage point of a White man with a gun, canvas, or camera.
Opinion
Homeland Security’s Genocidal Aesthetics
By posting paintings like “American Progress,” the DHS signals its white supremacist beliefs.
Book Review
Jewelry Deserves a Place in Art History
Beyond Adornment explores what the depiction of jewelry in art says about adornment, artists, and their subjects, from Charlemagne to Frida Kahlo.