Jean Lecomte du Nouÿ: Imagination and History  by Eileen Trulli Like many of the academic painters of the 19th century, Lecomte du Nouÿ followed the traditions of neo-classicism. His technical skills as a painter were developed in the academic traditions, but his travels to North Africa inspired his imagination and the imagination of his European audience. >> Read the full article...		8/1/2004
		The First School At Fontainebleau  by Lorenzo Buonanno In 1530, the Italian painter Giovanni Battista di Jacopo (1494-1540), more commonly referred to as Rosso Fiorentino, arrived at the Château de Fontainebleau at the behest of François I of France. François I was a great enthusiast of Italian art, and had already attempted to transplant some of Italy's major artists into France with slim to moderate success.  >> Read the full article...		7/1/2004
		Jean Cocteau: L’enfant Terrible!  by Jean François Bélisle Throughout his career, Jean Cocteau multiplied and diversified his revolutionary artistic production; writing numerous volumes of poetry and literature, producing hundreds of drawings and sculptures, writing and directing dozens of plays, ballets, and movies. Very quickly, Jean Cocteau became one of the most well known men in Europe. In North America his name was known, but his artistic production has remained unfamiliar. >> Read the full article...		7/1/2004
		Giorgione  by Lorenzo Buonanno In November of 1510, Isabella D'Este, Marchioness of Mantua and owner of one of the most prized collections of art in the entire Italian peninsula, wrote a letter to her agent in Venice concerning the acquisition of a work by a young burgeoning star of Venetian painting, Giorgione of Castelfranco.  >> Read the full article...		6/1/2004
		The Italian Avant-Garde in the Mid-20th Century  by Adrian Kohn Italians have done more of their fair share for the history of art. This has been true not only during the Renaissance, but in the 20th century as well. It was new ideas of what else might constitute art- besides painting and sculpture that led to Spatialism, Atre Povera, and Conceptualism. >> Read the full article...		6/1/2004
		Art Review: Open House  by William Powhida As a Brooklyn-based critic I had high expectations for Open House: Working in Brooklyn. The sprawling exhibit features over three hundred works by two hundred artists who happen to have a studio in Brooklyn. It is an overwhelming exhibit that demonstrates little curatorial responsibility. >> Read the full article...		6/1/2004
		Art Review: The Eighth Bienal  by Monroe Denton The coup of the Eighth Bienal of Contemporary Art in Havana was Wilfredo Prieto’s installation, outside the 18th century fortifications which had originally been erected to defend the city’s harbor and have been remodeled to serve as the primary exhibition venue for this survey. The Bienal included nearly 150 national representatives. Unsurprisingly, the largest national representation was Cuba, which featured twenty artists. Also unsurprisingly, there was only limited U.S. participation, none of which was official. >> Read the full article...		6/1/2004
		Moma At El Museo Del Barrio  by William Powhida MoMA at El Museo Del Barrio represents the first major exhibition of the museum’s collection of Latin American and Caribbean art. Perhaps as much of a political move as an altruistic one, MoMA has let a diverse body of work out from its vaults and into the public eye after languishing for decades. >> Read the full article...		5/1/2004
		On Contemporary Art Of El Salvador  by Claudia Rousseau Countries like Guatemala, Honduras, Costa Rica and El Salvador all have contemporary art scenes of some importance, with histories that stretch back to the early 19th century. Of these, El Salvador’s is certainly among the strongest, with a list of important names that are legendary in the country’s cultural heritage, and many more recent artists whose work should claim more international attention.  >> Read the full article...		5/1/2004
		Frida Kahlo: Viva La Vida  by Veronica Moriarty I painted my own reality,” Frida Kahlo declared in 1940. Passion, intimacy, mystery, and fantasy informed the life, politics and art of Magdalena Carmen Frida Kahlo Calderon. Known to the world as “Frida Kahlo,” the diminutive and enigmatic painter has become a feminist icon through her painting and her lifestyle. >> Read the full article...		5/1/2004
		Creative Time  by William Powhida Over the last few years Creative Time has arguably been the most visible public arts organization in New York City. It hasn’t been the quantity of projects but the quality and diversity of them. As an arts organization, Creative Time produces, curates, and organizes public arts projects themselves and in collaboration with sponsors and other partnerships. >> Read the full article...		4/1/2004
		The Peacock Room Harmony In Blue And Gold  by Rosanne Pellicane, ASID The Leylands bought a larger home in London at 49 Prince’s Gate upon Rossetti’s advice and hired architect Norman Shaw to oversee the renovation. Shaw, in turn, engaged the services of Thomas Jeckyll as interior architect to decorate the dining room. Leyland needed a special room to display his museum-quality blue and white porcelain collection. The dining room measured twenty-three feet by thirty-five feet with a fourteen-foot ceiling. Whistler’s painting, “La Princesse du pays de la porcelaine,” or “The Princess from the Land of Porcelain,” was to occupy the place of honor over the mantle.  >> Read the full article...		3/1/2004
		Venetian Colorito and Seascapes of Turner  by Lorenzo G. Buonanno Joseph Turner is a giant of Romantic landscape and seascape painting. Because of his use of color and light in the modeling of form he is considered by some to be a forerunner of the general movement towards abstraction that took place at the end of the nineteenth century and proceeded into the twentieth.  >> Read the full article...		2/1/2004
		Uses of Americana in Contemporary Art  by William Powhida It is no surprise that Americana shows up in contemporary art in many different ways. Artists make use of Americana historically and thematically by appropriating imagery and objects as both the subject and form of their work, thereby reinvigorating traditional forms. >> Read the full article...		1/1/2004
		Benjamin West  by Michael Hickey In the late 18th century there was a major change in American figurative and narrative painting. An emphasis on portraits of the upper class, as well as an interest in large-scale history painting, began to predominate. Benjamin West (1738 - 1820), whose art was most instrumental in effecting this change, went to Europe in 1760. >> Read the full article...		1/1/2004