Category: Art history

Death of history painting

At the end of the eighteenth century, art flowed along several currents. History painting, the primary current, was in its heyday and remained the undisputed champion until ‘history’ intruded into contemporary events with the French Revolution. This current continued into the middle of the nineteenth century with Delacroix. Another important current used myth to launch…

Amusement park series

I visited Lake Erie’s preeminent amusement park, Cedar Point, five times this summer. I am using the thousands of photos that I took from these visits as reference material for my new series–Amusement Parks. I have 10 finished designs and I’ve started the drawings on several canvases. Yesterday, I finished the drawing for the first…

Reader gift

For me, visiting the Utrecht store on 3rd Ave. in Manhattan was like going to Disneyland. An entire store dedicated to art supplies! Utrecht along with Pearl and other independent icons like David Davis made New York City a mecca for working artists. Those days are gone. Pearl closed and when Utrecht’s founders, Harold and…

Protectors

Some artists have goals similar to my own. Among these artists are some I find especially sympathetic–my protectors. My protectors are the artists from whom I learn the most. My protector list is different from the artists that influenced me when I was young. My youthful influences include Rodin, Monet, and van Gogh. Of these,…

Thomas Crow

Thomas Crow is an American art historian. For a short time, his interests overlapped with mine, which is how I became aware of him. Some readers might know that I am a fan of the French artist J.L David. Early in his career, Crow wrote a book focused on David and his circle, Emulation: Making…