Cristóbal de Villalpando (1649-1714), born and trained in Mexico City, was arguably the most important painter in the New World of the 17th century. Influenced by Europeans like Peter Paul Rubens, Villalpando created his own distinctive brand of New World Hispanic art — rich in bright colors and bold contrasts, filled with ornamental detail and biblical symbolism. Not much is known…
Into this season of rolling blackouts and energy crunches comes an enlightening reminder that electricity has only been something we could demand for about 100 years. “Light! The Industrial Age 1750-1900, Art & Science, Technology & Society,” on display until July 29 at the Carnegie Museum of Art in Pittsburgh, tells the story of how something we could never quite understand became something we can’t imagine living without.
Joseph Stella is remembered most for being one of America’s greatest modernist painters. Man Ray’s memorable portrait, circa 1920, poses him belly up to a bar behind a bottle of beer and a Spanish guitar. With his broad-brim hat and his wise-guy smile, it’s the portrait of the artist as bard and bringer of new songs for a new world.…
Why is it that when artists today want to be edgy and transgressive, they always pick Christian symbols to desecrate? In recent years, we’ve seen crucifixes plunged in urine and the portrayals of Jesus having sex with his apostles. Now the Brooklyn Museum of Art is displaying the “shocking” image of a Madonna festooned with real elephant dung and bare…