In this preface to the Obsession catalogue, exhibition curator Sabine Rewald writes about the "private pleasures" that drew Scofield Thayer to nudes by Gustav Klimt, Egon Schiele, and Pablo Picasso.

Artist Wangechi Mutu reflects on Egon Schiele in this episode of The Artist Project.

Publisher, poet, and aesthete, Scofield Thayer (1889–1982) led an intense public life that included the editorship of the prominent avant-garde journal the Dial and often contentious friendships with literary luminaries such as T. S. Eliot and E. E. Cummings. In the early 1920s, Thayer went to Vienna, where he was analyzed by Sigmund Freud. He also embarked on an art-buying spree throughout the capitals of Europe, acquiring (among many other things) a number of highly erotic works on paper by Gustav Klimt, Egon Schiele, and Pablo Picasso. Though these artists were little known or appreciated in America at the time, and though the especially provocative nature of the drawings and watercolors put them outside the mainstream, these works have now taken their place as erotic masterpieces, collected with remarkable foresight and vision. Obsession showcases 52 of these rarely seen works, presenting them within the context of Thayer’s remarkable life and tempestuous times while enhancing our understanding of these three modernist masters.

"It's not trying to achieve perfection. It's actually trying to achieve imperfection."

A master such as Tilman Riemenschneider transcended the limitation of monochromy, relying exclusively on his carving skills to achieve direct emotional appeal.

In observance of Day Without Art and World AIDS Day, Associate Chief Librarian Daniel Starr looks at a heartbreaking letter from an artist who died too young.

Mastery of the arts of war was by no means sufficient. To achieve and maintain their wealth and position, the samurai also needed political, financial, and cultural acumen.

Proper control of firing time and temperature are critical to achieve the desired results; even today this aspect remains one of the most challenging in the production of stained glass.

Florentine color was frequently more vivid than the palette used in Venetian paintings; typically Venetian, however, was the process of layering and blending colors to achieve a glowing richness.

2016

"He has clarity in his humanness, in his present-ness: "I'm here, right now, and not for long.""

The Artist Project is an online series in which we give artists an opportunity to respond to our encyclopedic collection.