Books
Broaching the Subject of Beauty
A look at three paintings from the cusp of the 20th century that make a powerful argument for beauty.
Weekend
Art
Redefining Identity Through Artists' Books
The works at Center for Book Arts embrace a wide spectrum of emotions and subjectivities outside of White-centric definitions of what an “American” is.
Books
The Rise and Fall of Three Actresses
In Amanda Lee Koe's debut novel, the lives of Marlene Dietrich, Anna May Wong, and Leni Riefenstahl are intertwined with changes in the world and with one another.
Art
Catching Up with Taiwanese Art
We in America have some idea of what is going in art in China, Japan, and South Korea, but we seem to know almost nothing about contemporary Taiwanese art.
Art
Required Reading
This week, the 1619 project, personal book curators, corporate America’s ‘Elite Charade,' Epstein's intellectual enabler, hand embroidered animation, and more.
Art
N. C. Wyeth's Artistic Aspirations
Illustration provided Wyeth a very comfortable living, but did not satisfy his deep ambition to be taken seriously in the art world.
Music
Chance the Rapper Ties the Knot, and You’re Invited
Chance the Rapper’s new release, The Big Day, is celebratory and playful, but also wheedling — he wants to convince you that marriage is a good decision.
Art
The Rarities and Oddities of a Vanished World
It’s fair to say that images of sporting have a relatively marginal place in our art world.
Art
Berenice Abbott's Optimistic Modernity
Abbott aimed her lens at so many 20th-century subjects that her photographs challenge us to rethink modernity itself.
Art
Jess, a West Coast Visionary
It is clear to me now that seeing Jess's art was the beginning of my awareness that there was a multitude of what John Ashbery called “other traditions.”
Art
Seeing American History Through the Art of a Black WWI Soldier
Horace Pippin was a self-taught artist out of necessity, as the society in which he lived had shut most of its doors on him.
Art
Required Reading
This week, artist Arthur Jafa, the history of the Stradivarius violin, the politics of criticism, Latinx underrepresentation in the US media, an inflatable garden, and more.