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Art-Making
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Pencil sketch from Picasso's notebook.
Video
A Picasso Sketchbook: Fantasy and Reality
In his inaugural talk at The Met, scholar Neil Cox explores Picasso’s Sketchbook No. 26, which the artist kept until his death. Deciphering written notes and Cubist drawings, Cox reveals Picasso’s drawing processes and explores connections with his other sketchbooks, paintings, drawings, and sculptures from around 1913.
Neil Cox
October 25, 2022
17th century etching of two peasant card players and a skeleton representing death
Audio
Immaterial: Bonus Episode, Tarot
Grab a cup of tea and join us for a bonus episode on tarot.
September 14, 2022
A metallic black and gold texture
Audio
Immaterial: Metals, Part Two
Let’s talk about the metals that break the rules.
August 31, 2022
Detail of a silver tray featuring the design of a frog seated at the edge of a grassy pond with a queue of mosquitos approaching from a setting sun on the horizon. The surface has a hexagonal-shaped texture. The grass and mosquitoes protrude in a low relief on the tray surface. The front is more heavily sculpted and plated with mixed metals that are silver, gold, and copper in tone.
An Introduction to Metalworking at Tiffany & Co.
How did Tiffany & Co. become an innovator of metalworking techniques in the nineteenth century?
August 24, 2022
A flat cigarette case and a tall match case in a matching wood grain pattern rendered in deep red, black, brown, and gold metals.
Mokume-gane
Ancient Japanese metalwork, meaning “wood eye,” fuses contrasting metals with heat and pressure to create patterned mixed-metal laminates.
August 24, 2022
A silver, blue, and maroon cylindrical cup with a handle rests on a matching saucer. The cup and saucer are reflective and adorned with an inlay design of a checkerboard pattern of wavy triangle shapes.
Electrolytic Inlay
A decorative technique that uses an electric current to deposit metal particles from an electrolytic solution into designated recesses on a metal object.
August 24, 2022
A pair of black iron candlesticks with a tapered conical base appear side-by-side. They are adorned with various sinuous floral motives that are modeled in low relief on the surface and surfaced in a variety of silver-, gold-, and copper-toned metals.
Damascening
To produce a design or pattern by inlaying a softer metal into a harder one—often gold, silver, or copper into a darkened steel background.
August 24, 2022
A three-quarter view of a patinated copper and silver chocolate pot in the shape of a pitcher with a handle, spot, and ivory handle. Silver banding emphasizes the handle, spout, and rim of the lid and neck. A lobster rendered in high-relief silver adorns the body of the pot.
Patinating Copper
A process by which chemicals are used to purposefully induce the formation of a thin colored layer on the surface of metal, referred to as chemical patination.
August 24, 2022
A pair of dazzling gilded and enameled cups and saucers adorned with floral designs, a coat of arms, and monogram.
Electrolytic Etching
A process that eats into designated areas of a material's surface through the application of acids or an electrical current.
August 24, 2022
A short but elongated silver teapot with an ivory lid finial adorned with abstract floral motifs rendered in maroon, orange, taupe, and turquoise enamel.
Champlevé Enameling
A decorative technique that fuses a powdered glassy material into a recess in a metal surface through the application of heat.
August 24, 2022