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Art Explained
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Collage of three images black and white one of a outline of a black face, the third a black background with white text, and the last a painting depictions of a party.
Video
The Leonard A. Lauder Distinguished Scholar Lecture—Blackbeats: Cubism Reimagined
Join scholar Richard J. Powell as he rethinks the art of Cubism through the historical and aesthetic lens of African American art. Artists such as Dudley Murphy, Aaron Douglas, Jacob Lawrence, Mickalene Thomas, and Nina Chanel Abney use angular and fractured forms that resonate with the cultural effects of ragtime, jazz, hip-hop, and other Black performing arts traditions.
Richard J. Powell
July 10, 2024
Morning Catch by Jeff Munger
Video
Why this porcelain broth bowl stops a Met curator in his tracks
"It’s so exaggerated by current standards of taste that I think it’s very hard for us to appreciate it today."
May 22, 2013
Grid of six artworks spanning 5,000 years of art history
Art, Explained
January 24, 2013
In Conversation by Ellenor Alcorn
Video
How this English porcelain bottle mount embraces China with antiquity
"The whole world is encapsulated in one piece."
May 8, 2013
Awkward by Cora Michael
Video
How Edgar Degas captured the gangly, awkward movements of a young dancer
"So much about dance vocabulary has to do with line."
Cora Michael
November 26, 2013
Divinity by Denise Leidy
Video
Why this Buddhist Monk statue defies traditional depictions of religious figures
"It looks like someone you might know, someone you might talk to."
Denise Patry Leidy
May 22, 2013
Hyperreality by Kim Benzel
Video
How the dizzying repetition of these Assyrian reliefs gives them hyperreality
"That infinite image creates an endless echoing, which is almost dizzying and supernatural."
Kim Benzel
September 17, 2013
Cinematic by Helen Evans
Video
Why this plate has one of the most cinematic depictions of David and Goliath
"One doesn’t tend to think of silver plates as being quite as emotionally involving."
Helen C. Evans
May 15, 2013
Close up of a drawing by Rembrandt of Christ crucified on the cross
Video
Rembrandt's interpretation of the crucifixion changes how you look at people
"For me a great work of art is something that goes beyond the image that it’s depicting."
Nadine M. Orenstein
July 23, 2013
Ephemeral by Nonnie Frelinghuysen
Video
How this Tiffany hair ornament embodies so much of what the artist was about
"I think he looked at this with special eyes and those eyes help transform the way we look at nature."
Nonnie Frelinghuysen
June 26, 2013