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Laura JG @laurajg.bsky.social · 01/10/2026

By African-American artist William Scott (1884-1964), “The Maker of Goblins,” 1919, oil on canvas, 32 1/8 × 26 1/8 inches, The Johnson Collection, Spartanburg, SC. #arthistory #painting #oilpainting #BlackArt #blackartists

From the museum: "Characteristic of William Edouard Scott's depictions of African American life, The Maker of Goblins is a playful rendering of the autumnal tradition of pumpkin carving."
And 'In the groundbreaking anthology, The New Negro: An Interpretation (1925), educator and philosopher Alain Locke wrote of the need for African American visual artists to raise "the Negro subject from the level of trivial or sentimental genre to that of serious type study . . . and furnish the fullest and most revealing portrayal of Negro life." Citing the work of Henry O. Tanner, Hale Woodruff, and William Eduoard Scott, Locke hailed the "advent of a representatively racial school of expression, and an important new contribution, therefore, to the whole body of American.”’

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Laura JG @laurajg.bsky.social · 30/09/2026

Langston Hughes: “My soul has grown deep like the rivers.” Here is a copy of the book “The Weary Blues,” by Langston Hughes. Cover art: Mexican artist Miguel Covarrubias (1904-1957). Photo: Sotheby’s. #art #poetry #BlackHistory #hispanicart

A tattered, ripped book cover with the words “The Weary Blues” (the word The mostly ripped off), and “by Langston Hughes” (the “S” torn away). A stylized Black man plays the piano. A lamp above the keys radiates a stylized burst of yellow light.

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Laura JG @laurajg.bsky.social · 29/09/2026

By Abu'l-Qasim, "A Court Musician Playing the Kemancheh, Qajar, Iran, early 19th-century, oil on canvas, 55½ x 31 5/8 inches (140.8 x 80.4cm.), photo: Christie's London, 26 Apr 2012. #arthistory #painting #oilpainting #iranart

From the website: "a young musician wearing a red floral embroidered skirt and jewelled yellow jacket kneels on a floral carpet playing a kemanche, before her a white floral tray with two glasses, very small areas of repainting, unlined, in gilt-wood frame with identification inscription below.”

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Laura JG @laurajg.bsky.social · 28/09/2026

By African-American printmaker Raymond Steth (1917–1997), Evolution of Swing, 1939, lithograph, image: 12 11/16 x 16 3/4 in. (32.2 x 42.6 cm). #art #arthistory #BlackArt #BlackArtist #BlackHistory

From the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York: “Evolution of Swing illustrates the development of swing music from its origins in rural Africa, represented by the scene at lower right, through the enslavement of Africans by white Americans, to the urban centers of the twentieth century. The subject is representative of the centrality of black American history and culture in Steth’s work. He took cues from the three primary leaders of the Mexican muralism movement—his contemporaries José Clemente Orozco, Diego Rivera, and David Alfaro Siqueiros—in producing a flowing, allover composition that conveys an intelligible narrative. The print is based on a drawing that Steth used in his application to the Federal Art Project of the Works Progress Administration, a New Deal program that financially supported unemployed artists. He was placed in the Graphics Division of the Federal Art Project in Philadelphia, where he worked for a little over two years and developed the drawing into a lithograph.”

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Laura JG @laurajg.bsky.social · 27/09/2026

By Ìgùn Ẹ́rọ̀nwwọ̀n (brass-casting guild) artists, Nigeria, Court of Benin, Horn Player, ca. 1550–1680, brass & iron, 24 3/4 × 11 1/2 × 6 3/4 in. (62.9 × 29.2 × 17.2 cm), looted by the British army, now in the Metropolitan Museum of Art. More in ALT. #arthistory #art #africanart #africaart #Sculpture

From the museum: “This figure of a court musician playing a side-blown trumpet attests to the technical virtuosity of the Benin bronze-casters. The figure's elaborately textured garment depicts the hide of a leopard, an animal associated with the power of the Oba. Similarly, the strands of coral around his neck and chest reaffirm this musician's status in the Benin court, since coral, like bronze and ivory, is a royal prerogative in Benin.”

Also from the museum: “The British invasion of the capital of the Kingdom of Benin in 1897 was part of a campaign waged from 1892 through 1902 to forcibly bring most of the inland territory of modern-day Nigeria under British rule. With the British conquest of Benin City, Oba Ovonramwen was exiled to Calabar and soldiers plundered the palace. The brutality of the removal of its contents has forever decoupled altars dedicated to each individual oba dating from 1300 to Benin’s conquest with the specific works conceived to commemorate them…

Subsequent to the nineteenth century dispersal of Benin works, awareness of their extraordinary aesthetic power, beauty, and complexity profoundly influenced Black public intellectuals. Notable among these in the U.S. were W.E.B. Dubois, Alain Locke and artists from the Harlem Renaissance on. At the same time, their relegation to ethnographic museums during the colonial era continues to reflect the legacy of their forceful removal and segregation from comparable cultural achievements by Western creators.”

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Laura JG @laurajg.bsky.social · 26/09/2026

By Antoni Clavé (1913-2005), Harlequin, 1948, oil on canvas, 81 x 65 cm (31 7/8 x 25 5/8 inches), photo: Christie’s Paris, 6 Dec 2017. More info in ALT. #arthistory #paintimg #oilpainting

A painting of a harlequin (not the DC character), playing a guitar. Very Picasso-esque. From Artnet: “Antoni Clavé was a Spanish painter, printmaker, and set designer celebrated for his dark and lyrical abstractions. Largely influenced by French impressionists like Pierre Bonnard and Édouard Vuillard, Clavé developed his own style of collage using paint along with materials such as wood and metal to create richly textured and layered compositions. He frequently employed newspapers and other printed materials in his works in a manner reminiscent of the French artist movement of affichistes. Born in Barcelona, Spain on April 5, 1913, Clavé received his formal training at the School of Fine Arts in Barcelona under artists such as Angel Ferrant and Félix Mestres Borrel. He was notably also a theatrical designer, creating sets for opera and ballet, and was nominated for two Academy Awards, Best Art Direction and Best Costume Design, for his work on the film Hans Christian Andersen (1952). Today, his work can be found in the collections of the Paris Museum of Modern Art, the Fine Arts Museum of San Francisco, and the Tate Gallery in London, among others. The Catalan artist died on August 31, 2005 in Saint Tropez, France.”

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Laura JG @laurajg.bsky.social · 24/09/2026

By Abanindranath Tagore (1871-1951), A Moonlight Music Party, woodcut (chromoxylograph) printed in color, 6 ¾ x 9 ¼ in. (17.1 x 23.4 cm.), photo: Sotheby’s New York, 16 March 2021. #arthistory #art #printmaking #woodcut

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Laura JG @laurajg.bsky.social · 24/09/2026

Pierre-Auguste Renoir (1841–1919), Woman at the Piano, 1875-1876, oil on canvas, 93 × 74 cm (36 9/16 × 29 1/8 inches), The Art Institute of Chicago. #arthistory #oilpainting #painting #impressionism

A young white woman at the piano, painted in Impressionist style, very loose, lovely colors. Info about the artist, from Sotheby’s, “21 Facts About Pierre-Auguste Renoir,” January 26, 2026: ‘Renoir began his artistic career as a porcelain painter… He displayed a quick talent for the work (which principally involved copying floral designs to decorate plates and dish-ware) but found himself eager to expand his horizons. He began frequenting the galleries of the Louvre, where he applied his skills as a copyist to studying the great masterworks…

Later in life, he suffered from debilitating rheumatoid arthritis, causing him to make creative adaptations to his painting technique.

Renoir began to develop arthritis around 1892, causing progressive deformities of the hands, ankylosis of his shoulders and elbows, and eventually severely limiting his mobility. Naturally, his condition made it necessary for Renoir to adapt his methods. He relocated to the warmer climes of Cagnes-sur-Mer, near the Mediterranean coast, and took frequent spa treatments. Photographs of the artist reveal his hands wrapped in bandages to prevent skin irritation as he held his paintbrush; a palette was affixed to his wheelchair, allowing it to swivel from side to side; and a system of horizontal cylinders and a crank would enable access to different sections of larger canvases while he remained seated. Despite his deteriorating physical condition, Renoir remained committed to painting, noting: “The pain passes, but the beauty remains.”’

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Laura JG @laurajg.bsky.social · 24/09/2026

Excerpt: “After Kennedy’s assassination in 1963, Congress passed a law that named the center for him and required it to operate as a living memorial. The governing framework that developed aimed to insulate the institution from partisanship.“ www.nytimes.com/2026/09/20/u...

nytimes.com

How President Trump Broke the Kennedy Center (Gift Article)

Internal emails and documents demonstrate the political capture of the institution, including how officials once pursued a plan to unload much of the art collection.

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Laura JG @laurajg.bsky.social · 23/09/2026

By Thomas Hart Benton (1889-1975), The Twist, 1964, private collection. I found very little information about this painting, not unusual for works in private collections. One source did say the medium is oil on Masonite. More info in ALT. #arthistory #painting #oilpainting

A painting of a group of young white people dancing, doing the twist, as a man (maybe a bit brown?) plays a bongo.

From the artist’s obituary in The New York Times, January 20, 1975: ‘Mr. Benton was a painter of enormous talent who believed that only by turning art to meaningful subject matter could America have an art that was not a bald imitation of the symbolic and abstract paintings that were then the vogue in Europe…

With such fellow Midwesterners as John Steuart Curry and Grant Wood, Mr. Benton became a practitioner of what became known in the Thirties as “regionalism.” It was a time when the nation concentrated on its own image. The regionalists’ art mirrored what the majority of Americans had in mind— America itself.’

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Laura JG @laurajg.bsky.social · 22/09/2026

By Colombian artist Fernando Botero (1932-2023), The Musicians, 1979, oil on canvas, 85 ½ x 74 ¾ in. (217.2 x 189.9 cm.), ©️Fernando Botero, photo: Christie’s New York, 9 Nov 2023. #arthistory #painting #oilpainting

Excerpts from the lot essay: “Lit from above by a constellation of lights, a group of musicians are neatly arranged, each poised at the ready, in picture-perfect position, about to impress their audience with an undoubtedly well-rehearsed tune. Musicians take pride of place in Botero’s oeuvre as one of the artist’s most celebrated subjects…

Drawing from a range of artistic influences, Botero approaches the time-honored theme of the musical performance from both local and international perspectives…

With The Musicians, Botero finds the perfect melody between past and present, humor and celebration, reflecting on the enduring pastimes that sustain community.”

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Laura JG @laurajg.bsky.social · 21/09/2026

By Okada Saburōsuke (1869-1939), Portrait of a Lady, 1907, oil, 733x615 cm, Artizon Museum, Tokyo. #arthistory #oilpainting #painting #japaneseart #asianart More info in ALT.

From the museum: “Okada Saburosuke won first prize at the 1907 Tokyo Industrial Exhibition for this painting, which initially was entitled Study in Purple, a reference to the purple cords that lace the drum. The woman wearing a Genroku-style kimono and her hair in a chignon seem about to strike the drum. In the background is a Rimpa-style folding screen with a design of fringed pinks and flowing water. This painting was commissioned by Takahashi Yoshio, who was involved in the management of Mitsukoshi Drapery Store and had touched off the Genroku motif boom. The subject is his wife, Chiyoko. This familiar painting was used in a poster for the Mitsukoshi’s Spring New Pattern Show and later as a postage stamp.”

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Laura JG @laurajg.bsky.social · 20/09/2026

By Caravaggio (1571-1610), The Musicians, 1597, oil on canvas, 36 1/4 x 46 5/8 inches (92.1 x 118.4 cm), The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York. #arthistory #painting #oilpainting The museum: “Caravaggio was one of the most revolutionary figures of European art.” More info in ALT.

From the blog The Artistic Adventures of Mankind: “The painting is supposed to represent an allegory to music as sustenance of love in the same way that, for example, food is the sustenance of life. The composition of the Musicians is one of the most challenging Caravaggio achieved during his life as he was able to harmoniously place four figures so close together in a very small space. The four young boys of the painting were painted from life. We see four boys wearing classical-style robes: three of them play a musical instrument or sing, while the fourth, to the left and dressed as Cupid, looks for some grapes. The music sheets are actually madrigals, short composition celebrating love, and we can notice that the eyes of the lutenist, the main central boy, are in tears. The violin placed in the foreground can imply the presence either of a fifth participant, thus including the viewer (?) or that the boy giving the back to us just left the violin to focus on the music sheet he’s holding. It seems that Caravaggio used two models for this painting: the central figure with the lute has been identified as Caravaggio’s friend Mario Minniti, and the boy next to him looking at the viewer is possibly a self-portrait. The ‘Cupid’-boy at the left looks similar to the boy in Boy Peeling Fruit painted ca. 3 years before.”

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Laura JG @laurajg.bsky.social · 19/09/2026

By Peter Max (October 19, 1937 – September 14, 2026), “Cosmic Music City,” designed as a tribute to Nashville. The artist, known for his Pop Art psychedelic style, passed away earlier this week. #arthistory #popart #psychedelicart

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Laura JG @laurajg.bsky.social · 17/09/2026

By Nigerian artist Tosin Oyeniyi (born 1987), “Hold on 2," mixed media and acrylic on canvas. More info in ALT. #printmaking #linocut #linocutprint #linoleumblockprint #africanart

A Black man, seated, cello (or bass) between his knees. From the artist's About Me on Etsy (link in comments): "I'm a self-taught Nigerian printmaker creating hand-carved, large-scale reduction linocuts on canvas from Ibadan, Nigeria. My work blends naturalism with post-expressionism to share African beauty, culture, and real Black stories with the world - one painstaking layer at a time... My art preserves, protects, and projects African culture globally. It heals wounds, calls out injustice, celebrates our legends, and speaks for the poor, the African woman, the out-of-school child, and the homeless. It's rooted in love, dignity, patience, bravery, and industry. From portraits and landscapes to abstracts and seascapes, every print carries history, hope, and humanity.”

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Laura JG @laurajg.bsky.social · 16/09/2026

Female Dancers and Musicians in Funeral Procession, limestone bas relief, New Kingdom, 19th Dynasty, reign of Rameses II, ca. 1250 BC, Egypt Museum, Cairo. Reminds me of a New Orleans Jazz Funeral! #art #sculpture #egyptianart #ancient

From the museum: “A jubilation scene, probably from a funeral procession, it depicts a group of women dancing and drumming opposite rows of soldiers, priests, and dignitaries.”

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Laura JG @laurajg.bsky.social · 15/09/2026

By Arai Kōu (Japanese, active early 20th century), Female Chanter for Jōruri Puppet Theater, ink, color, and gold on silk, Metropolitan Museum of Art. More info in ALT. #art #arthistory #japan #japaneseart #JapanArt

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Laura JG @laurajg.bsky.social · 14/09/2026

By Flemish painter David Teniers the Younger (1610–1690), better known for his scenes of peasants and tavern life: Cat Concert (Katzenkonzert), oil on panel, 26 x 31.5 cm, Bavarian State Painting Collections, Staatsgalerie Neuburg. #art #arthistory #painting #oilpainting #cats

Katzenkonzert was a popular theme at the time. Sometimes called a “glaring of cats,” referring to a group of 3 or more cats. Here, we see 6 cats sitting on a round table with a music book open and propped up. They appear to be singing/rehearsing a choral piece. An owl is perched on the book. Another cat watches the scene from his perch on a windowsill. In the lower left corner we see 2 monkeys, one wearing a feathered cap, the other dressed in a red and yellow cloak and playing a wind instrument. In the lower right corner we see some other, different instruments resting on the floor, propped against the wall, plus a closed book.

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Laura JG @laurajg.bsky.social · 13/09/2026

By Dante Gabriel Rossetti (1828-1882), The Blue Bower, 1865, oil on canvas, 84 × 70.9 cm, The Barber Institute of Fine Arts, Birmingham, England. #art #arthistory #painting #oilpainting

From the museum: "A bower is a private setting for lovers and Rossetti has decorated it with exotic elements suited to a frankly amorous encounter. The tiles combine a Chinese cherry blossom motif with an arabic shape and at the front is a Japanese stringed instrument, the koto. Everything is depicted with a Pre-Raphaelite attention to detail." From Victorian Web: 'Rossetti has objectified his painting by calling it "The Blue Bower," but it is really a portrait of his model and mistress, Fanny Cornforth..
Everything in the painting tends to establish Fanny's identity and enhance her particular kind of beauty.
The blue cornflower-patterned background, the cornflowers strewn in the right foreground, even the matching blue decoration she wears in her hair, seem to spell out her surname. The small Japanese koto that she plays suggest her role in his life at present: that of courtesan, the entertaining geisha, the mistress.
The predominant colour and the choice of instrument are also right on trend: artists were beginning to be fascinated by Japanese culture, and the fashion for blue-and-white china, Japanese ornaments and so on, marked this culture's growing influence on later nineteenth-century Aestheticism.
Yet, with all this, Fanny looks very English in feature, colouring and even expression. There is a slight abandon in her thick wavy hair and her loose voluptuous gown, and her eyes are not cast down modestly as a geisha's might be, but watchful. From every point; of view, composition, colour and artist: character, it is a fascinating and very beautiful work.’

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Laura JG @laurajg.bsky.social · 12/09/2026

By Henri Rousseau (1844–1910), La Bohémienne endormie (The Sleeping Gypsy), 1897, oil on canvas, Museum of Modern Art. Today, she is more properly referred to as Roma. “Gypsy” is considered a slur. #art #arthistory #painting #oilpainting

From Wikipedia: “In the painting, a dark-skinned woman – the Romany gypsy of the title, variously linked in French literature to Bohemia or to Egypt[2] – is sleeping in an arid landscape with mountains in the background, under a dark sky with a few stars and a full moon. She is wearing a long robe with a rainbow of colourful stripes, perhaps a djellaba or jellabiya, and lies upon a similarly striped cloth. Her right hand holds a staff, while beside her rests a mandolin and a tall jar with slim neck. While she continues to lie passively, a maned lion has approached and dips its head to cautiously sniff.”

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Laura JG @laurajg.bsky.social · 11/09/2026

By Robert Henri (1865-1929), Blind Spanish Singer, 1912, oil on canvas, Smithsonian American Art Museum. More info in ALT. Quote from the artist: “The object isn't to make art, it's to be in that wonderful state which makes art inevitable.” #art #arthistory #painting #oilpainting

From the museum: “ Robert Henri and his wife, Linda, made their first trip to Spain in 1900. They spent six weeks in Madrid, where Henri lingered at the Prado copying paintings by Velázquez. He traveled to Spain several times over the next few years, painting people from all walks of life with the directness that he had learned as a newspaper illustrator. Among his subjects were two blind street singers, who played their guitars in his studio for hours. (Boone, España!: American Artists and the Spanish Experience, 1998)”

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Laura JG @laurajg.bsky.social · 09/09/2026

By Joseph Holston, Jazz, 1990. Screenprint, 35.375 x 25 inches, ©️ Joseph Holston. More info in ALT. #art #BlackArt #Blackartist #blackhistory #printmaking

From American University Museum, Washington, DC: “Step into a world where jazz and visual art converge. Jazz, with its roots deeply embedded in Black music and storytelling, mirrors Holston's commitment to representing the depth and breadth of the Black American experience. A Maryland painter and printmaker, Joseph Holston celebrates Black life, history, and culture through his art. His work can be found in numerous public collections, including the Smithsonian American Art Museum, the Phillips Collection, the Baltimore Museum of Art, the Library of Congress Fine Print Collection, among others. Holston's mature style is distinct, blending abstraction and figuration with a bold, primary color palette that creates identifiable forms without anchoring them to a specific identity.”

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Laura JG @laurajg.bsky.social · 08/09/2026

By Thomas Hart Benton (1889-1975), “Jessie with Guitar, 1957, Jessie Benton Collection. ©️T.H. and R.P. Benton Trusts / Licensed by Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York. This is portrait of the artist’s daughter. More info in ALT. #art #arthistory #painting #oilpainting

A young woman, seated on a rock; she plays the guitar. Behind her we see a body of water, with partly cloudy sky above. From Leo Mazow, curator of American art at the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, quoted in The New York Times, April 25, 2023: 'Dr. Mazow said that one of his favorite works was Thomas Hart Benton's "Jessie with Guitar," of the artist's daughter, from 1957. "Every birthday he would make a drawing or a painting of her," he explained, "and this painting is based on sketches completed the morning of her 18th birthday." Based on conversations with Jessie, who died in February, he said, “this guitar provided a way for the older dad to bond with his young, hip daughter, who was something of a folk sensation.”’

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Laura JG @laurajg.bsky.social · 07/09/2026

A portrait of “Lead Belly” Ledbetter by Charles White (1918-1979), “Good Night Irene,” 1952, oil on canvas, 47 × 24 inches (119.38 × 60.96 cm), Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, Kansas City, MO. More info in ALT. #art #arthistory #blackart #blackartist #blackartists #BlackHistory

Gallery label: ‘Performing for an intimate audience of one, Huddie “Lead Belly” Ledbetter plays Goodnight Irene, his signature ballad. While he sings about the emotional toll of unrequited love, his companion closes her eyes and rests her head near his. Although the woman’s face and arms are solidly rendered, there is no evidence of the rest of her body. Is she simply a figment? Is she the elusive Irene conjured by Lead Belly’s longing lyrics: “Goodnight Irene, goodnight Irene, I’ll get you in my dreams?”

Charles Wilbert White created this portrait three years after the legendary musician’s death. He painted Lead Belly in his prime playing a popular late-1800s folk song that he was the first to record in 1933. In addition to celebrating an icon of American music, Goodnight Irene is a key example of White’s socially conscious art. White aimed to affirm the humanity and beauty of African Americans throughout his career. Goodnight Irene highlights the artist’s ability to invest his subjects with steadfast dignity and universal resonance.’

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Laura JG @laurajg.bsky.social · 06/09/2026

Pablo Picasso (1881–1973), The Old Guitarist, late 1903–early 1904, oil on panel, 122.9 × 82.6 cm (48 3/8 × 32 1/2 inches), The Art Institute of Chicago, © 2018 Estate of Pablo Picasso / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York. #arthistory #painting #oilpainting #picasso #art

From the museum: “Pablo Picasso made The Old Guitarist while working in Barcelona. In the paintings of his Blue Period (1901-04), the artist restricted himself to a cold, monochromatic blue palette, flattened forms, and emotional, psychological themes of human misery and alienation related to the work of such artists as Edvard Munch and Paul Gauguin. The elongated, angular figure of the blind musician also relates to Picasso’s interest in Spanish art and, in particular, the great 16th-century artist El Greco. The image reﬂects the twenty-two-year-old Picasso’s personal struggle and sympathy for the plight of the downtrodden; he knew what it was like to be poor, having been nearly penniless during all of 1902.”

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Laura JG @laurajg.bsky.social · 05/09/2026

By Tsukioka Yoshitoshi (1839-1892), The Heian Poet Yasumasa Playing the Flute by Moonlight, Subduing the Bandit Yasusuke with His Music, 1883, color woodcut on three panels (triptych). As a print it appears in many collections. #art #arthistory #japaneseprints #printmaking #woodblockprints

From Sotheby’s London: “The full title of this print, Fujiwara no Yasumasa Playing the Flute by Moonlight, a Painting Shown at the Exhibition for the Advancement of Painting in Autumn 1882 (Meiji jugo mizunoe uma kishu Kaiga Kyoshinkai shuppinga Fujiwara no Yasumasa gekka roteki) highlights the fact that this triptych was based on a painting Yoshitoshi submitted to an exhibition of Japanese art (the Naikoku kaiga kyoshinkai) in 1882.

Both triptych and painting depict Fujiwara no Yasumasa (958-1036), the Heian period courtier, celebrated poet and flute-player. The story tells that one night while playing his flute on the Ichihara moor he was approached by Hakamadare Yasusuke (Kidomaru), a bandit, who planned to kill him. However as he was about to draw his sword and attack, Hakamadare Yasusuke was so enchanted by the music that he abandoned his plan. Widely considered Yoshitoshi’s masterpiece, this triptych is full of atmosphere and drama with these two characters captured on the windswept moor. The clouds were applied by hand and this appears to be an unrecorded example with the clouds applied horizontally.”

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Laura JG @laurajg.bsky.social · 04/09/2026

By Ernie Barnes (1938-2009), “Club 55,” acrylic and oil on canvas, ca. 1990/1994, 41 ⅝ by 53 ¼ inches (105.7 by 135.3 cm), photo: Sotheby’s New York, 28 September 2023, ©️Estate of Ernie Barnes. #art #blackartist #blackartists

From the catalogue note: “Vibrating with soulful vigor and an inimitable dynamism, Ernie Barnes’ Club 55 is a striking presentation of Black joy which pays homage to music legend Marvin Gaye. Featuring a banner commemorating Gaye’s revolutionary 1973 album Let’s Get It On, the present work epitomizes Barnes’s celebrated legacy for capturing some of the most vivacious depictions of twentieth-century Black life. Displayed in the foreground wearing his iconic red beanie, Gaye raises a glass to dancing crowds and a spirited jazz band rendered in Barnes’ quintessential neo-Mannerist, elongated style of figuration… Barnes’ fascination with depicting the purity of bodies in motion began after witnessing a dance at the Durham Armory as a child. Having snuck into the venue, Barnes was immediately enthralled by the sounds and sights of the steamy hall: individuals overwhelmingly carefree with limbs passionately reaching out in every direction to a reverberating beat. This spirit is ever present in Club 55. Overhead lights illuminate a dance floor packed with elongated, sinuous figures as a jazz band passionately plays above them. The music is reflected in the very color of the composition itself, each element more vivid than the next. From Gaye’s bright red beanie to a dancer's electric yellow dress, Barnes translates a moment in time with pure mastery of color and form. Club 55 is housed in its original artist’s frame made of distressed wood, which honors his father and is reminiscent of the picket fence that lined the family's home in Durham.”

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Laura JG @laurajg.bsky.social · 04/09/2026

By The Master of the Female Half-Lengths (active in Antwerp during the first half of the 16th Century), A Young Lady Playing the Lute, oil on oak panel, 14⅝ by 9⅞ inches (37.2 by 25.2 cm), photo: Sotheby’s New York, 22 May 2019. #arthistory #renaissance #painting #oilpainting

A young woman in Renaissance clothing plays a lute.

From the catalogue note: “The engaging subject of this work is entirely typical of this master, who repeated compositional formulae with minor variations when creating these small-scale panels of elegant women reading, writing or making music in intimate interiors; in this work, we have the added detail of the figure’s removed gloves, which she has placed on the table before her in readiness for the recital. An ointment jar, the attribute of the Magdalene, is also visible, which combined with the musical theme serves to emphasise the underlying vanitas meaning of the subject – the transience of earthly pleasures and beauty.”

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Laura JG @laurajg.bsky.social · 02/09/2026

By African-American artist Henry Ossawa Tanner (1859–1937), The Banjo Lesson, 1893, oil on canvas, 49x35.5 inches (124.4x90.1 cm), Hampton University Museum, Hampton, Virginia. #arthistory #BlackHistory #blackartist #blackartists #painting #oilpainting

From Dr. Richard Stemp: “In today’s picture we see an old man teaching a boy to play the banjo. Given the age difference we assume that they are grandfather and grandson, although there is nothing specifically to confirm this, apart from the fact that both seem so much at ease that they could easily be at home – a very humble home at that. There are pots and pans on the bare floorboards, and a jug, a plate, and some bread on the table in the background. There is a coat hook, a shelf and two chairs – the old man sits on one, a coat is thrown across the other. The room is not without decoration, though: two pictures are hung on the walls, too indistinct to identify. …the couple are surrounded by light. It illuminates the floor around them and the wall behind, so they stand out, dark, but clear and distinct, even if the Realist attention to naturalistic detail is softened by an impressionistic blurring of form. The boy stands on the floor, legs close together and slightly bent, leaning against the old man’s leg, slightly unstable, slightly unsure. The grandfather is entirely stable, feet planted, secure. What we are witnessing is knowledge being passed from one generation to another.”

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Laura JG @laurajg.bsky.social · 01/09/2026

By an unknown artist, India (Rajasthan, Kishangarh), “A Lady Playing the Tanpura,” ca. 1735, ink, opaque and transparent watercolor, and gold on paper, 18 1/2 x 13 1/4 in. (47 x 33.7 cm), The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York. #arthistory #india #watercolor

From the website: “As a nayika (archetypal heroine), this figure personifies the ideal of feminine beauty as conceptualized in Indian devotional poetry of the period. She strums a tanpura and wears elaborate jewelry and sheer textiles, clearly placing her as a member of the court. At the same time, there is the allusion that she is Radha, the divine consort of Krishna, who was important to these Kishangarh patrons.”

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Laura JG @laurajg.bsky.social · 30/08/2026

By Puerto Rican artist Ángel Rodríguez-Díaz (1955-2023), “Antifaz: Forget the Alamo. Yellow Rose,” acrylic and oil on canvas, 100.33 × 152.4 cm (39 1/2 × 60 inches), National Gallery of Art, not on display. #art #painting #puertorico #puertorican #hispanicart

From Marco Aquino, San Antonio Current, March 28, 2018: ‘In Forget The Alamo. Yellow Rose, Ángel Rodríguez-Díaz depicts himself as his alter-ego: a Mexican wrestler known as Antifaz. Here, Antifaz is depicted twisting his body away from a figure handing him a Christmas ornament shaped as the Alamo. Seemingly repulsed, or perhaps frightened by the image of the Alamo, Antifaz negates the popular rallying cry of “Remember the Alamo.” As the lone Puerto Rican artist in this exhibition, Rodríguez-Díaz understands the annexation of Texas as an example of U.S. imperialism.’

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Laura JG @laurajg.bsky.social · 29/08/2026

By Vincent van Gogh (1853–1890), The Red Vineyard at Arles, 1888, oil on canvas, 28.7x35.8 inches (73x91 cm), Pushkin State Museum of Fine Arts, Moscow. More info in ALT. #arthistory #painting #oilpainting #vangogh

A bright colorful oil painting, main palette of orange, yellow, turquoise, and blue. We see a group of peasants harvesting grapes. To the right, a stream of water. In the background a building under a yellow sky with a white sun. Left foreground of buildings and trees.

From the website Gateway to Russia: ‘"We saw a completely red vineyard – red as red wine. From a distance it looked yellow, above it – a green sky, around – purple earth after the rain, here and there on it – yellow reflections of the sunset." This is how the artist described the environs of Arles in a letter to his brother Theo. This incredibly bright painting is considered one of the few that were sold during the artist's lifetime.’

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Laura JG @laurajg.bsky.social · 28/08/2026

By Tamara de Lempicka (1898-1980), Woman in a Yellow Dress (Femme à la robe jaune), 1929, oil on canvas, 80 by 120 cm (31 ½ by 47 ¼ inches), photo: Sotheby’s London, 27 June 2023. #arthistory #painting #oilpainting #womenartists #womanartist

From the catalogue note: “Femme à la robe jaune presents a vision of a starkly modern and self-possessed woman. Much like Lempicka herself… the sitter in the present work exudes a decided sense of independence, even defiance, as her sculpted figure takes up the whole of the composition… Lempicka’s woman in gold is a force to be reckoned with—elegant, implacable, doubtless…

Germain Bazin states: 'The linea serpentine, to sixteenth-century Italian theorists the supreme expression of beauty, animates Tamara’s figures: with bodies twisting from top to toe they touch the edge of the painted surface at various points… A painting by Tamara is generally presented like a bas-relief with a single, powerful figure filling the whole canvas – to the extent quite often that the head is cut off by the upper edge'”

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Laura JG @laurajg.bsky.social · 26/08/2026

By Palestinian artist Sliman Mansour (1947-2026), a leading figure in modern Palestinian art, Olive Tree Grove, 2012, oil on canvas, 41 ¾ x 41 ¾in. (106 x 106 cm), photo: Christie’s London 31 Oct 2024. #art #arthistory #painting #oilpainting #palestine

A vibrant painting of an olive grove, planted in neat rows.

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Laura JG @laurajg.bsky.social · 25/08/2026

Vietnamese painter Mai Trung Thu (1906-1980), Woman in an Orange Dress (Femme a la robe orange), 1937, oil on canvas, 28 ¾ by 23 ¼ inches (73 by 59 cm), photo: Sotheby’s Hong Kong, 5 October 2023. #arthistory #painting #vietnam #vietnameseartist

From the catalogue note: “The sitter in Femme a la robe orange bears striking features - her deep-set large eyes, long lashes, red lipstick and strong eyebrows accentuates this lady's distinct individuality as compared to Mai Thu's typical models. The artist prepared sketches of this elegant lady before completing the current painting. The orange hue of the lady's ao dai dress is the brightest color among the artist's early oil on canvas portraits. The vibrant pigment foreshadows the artist's embrace of stronger, opaque pigments in his later silk works - a precursor to the iconic orange hue seen in the most coveted of his late pieces, such as Mélodie (1973) and Coquetterie (1966). Furthermore, the lady's makeup and red painted nails, lend the portrait a formality and signals the sitter's sense of power and confidence. During a time of modernization in French Indochina, the ao dai was designed in brighter colors as women became influenced by Western style. The model's pose in the painting bears striking similarity to Girl Resting on her Elbow in the collection of the Fukuoka Asian Arts Museum. In Femme a la robe orange, the sitter also leans against a pillow or cabinet, however her posture is less shy or demure, and rather, more assertive.”

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Laura JG @laurajg.bsky.social · 24/08/2026

By Claude Monet (1840-1926), Tulip fields in Holland, 1886, oil on canvas, 65.5x81.5 cm, Musée d'Orsay. A quote from the artist: “I must have flowers, always, and always.” #arthistory #painting #oilpainting #impressionism

A painting of tulip fields in the foreground, a windmill and other buildings in the midground, indeterminate landscape in the far background, and a partly cloudy sky above.

From the website Claude Monet Giverny: ‘April 17, 1886.The baron d’Estournelles de Constant, secretary of the French Embassy at La Haye sent Claude Monet a missive inviting him to come to paint in Holland: “Holland, between Haarlem and La Haye starts to be covered in hyacinths and tulips fields […]. As far as the eye can see, there are multi-coloured, sparkling expanses, resembling different coloured lights in the sunshine, or pastel hues. […] And yesterday, while observing these multi-coloured expanses, I thought you would do marvellous work here and it would be a crime to not let you know. […] The reds and whites of tulips are spectacular. Hurry up…”’

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Laura JG @laurajg.bsky.social · 23/08/2026

By Italian Impressionist Giuseppe De Nittis (1846-1884),The Orange Kimono, ca. 1878, oil on canvas, 42 x 31 cm, private collection. More info in ALT. #arthistory #painting #oilpainting #art

A painting of a white (probably) woman seated, seen from the back, wearing an orange kimono.

Information about the artist, from The Phillips Collection: “Although not well known outside of Italy, De Nittis is a central figure to the aesthetic and institutional upheavals of 1870s Paris. His urban scenes of Paris feature innovative arrangements and plein air subjects painted with a detailed realism that depicts a sophisticated and economically booming city—a choice unique to De Nittis’s work.”

And from C.R. Shelidon: “When Japan participated for the first time in the Universal Exhibition of 1867, Paris and the whole world were flooded by a sort of fever for Japan: artists, writers, critics, and the public developed a hunger for these new forms and shapes, this aesthetical approach that was so pleasant and yet so modern.

De Nittis himself tried his hand at Japanizing subjects from 1869 onwards, introducing into his interiors oriental elements such as screens, etchings or kimonos.“

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Laura JG @laurajg.bsky.social · 22/08/2026

By African/Cuban-American artist Harmony Rosales (born in Chicago, 1984). #oilpainting #painting #BlackArt #blackartist #womanartist #portrait #portraitpainting #portraiture More info in ALT. Here is her IG: www.instagram.com/honeiee/?hl=en

A gorgeously painted portrait of a young Black girl from the waist up. She is sumptuously dressed in green velvet, beautiful jewelry, and she holds a small spray of flowers in her hand. Her description on her Facebook and Instagram accounts: “I’ve been heads down with a new body of work.

Experimenting with different grounds and allowing parts of the image to remain unfinished.

This painting began with Portrait of a Lady with her Servant (c. 1694–95), and my interest in the liveried servant in European portraiture.

I kept returning to the power of portraiture: how a painting can tell us who was considered worthy of being remembered, while reducing another person to evidence of someone else’s status.

I wanted to disturb that hierarchy.

The figure once positioned as an accessory to the portrait now occupies it entirely and possessing the space around her.

Maybe the question is no longer who she served, but who she might have been when no one else was defining her.”

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Laura JG @laurajg.bsky.social · 21/08/2026

Bartolomé Bermejo (1440–1500), a sad demon from Descent of Christ into Limbo, c. 1475, oil & gilding on wood, Museu Nacional d'Art de Catalunya. More in ALT for the full work . #arthistory #art #spanishart #purgatory I call these kinds of paintings “Christian Art You Won’t Find at Hobby Lobby.”

A sad demon, sad because Christ has descended into Limbo (Purgatory) to rescue the souls trapped there.

Christ, on the day between his crucifixion and resurrection has broken down the gate to Purgatory and is leading out the souls trapped there.

As the museum’s server is down, here is information from the Museo del Prado: “Bartolomé de Cárdenas, alias El Bermejo (c. 1440 – c. 1501), is one of the most fascinating painters of the fifteenth century. He was born in Córdoba, though his status as a converted Jew may well have predisposed him to an itinerant life that included stints in Valencia, Daroca and Zaragoza at least and finally Barcelona. To get round the restrictions of the guild regulations of the period, he often teamed up with much less qualified local masters. Even so, the alias with which he proudly signed some of his most innovative works shows that he was a painter with a powerful personality, probably highly aware, and confident, of his skills.

Building on his mastery of the oil painting technique practised by Flemish artists, Bermejo developed a realistic language of his own with a particular emphasis on illusionistic effects, as well as spectacular ranges of colours. His technical prowess was coupled with an astonishing ability to interpret all kinds of themes and iconographies in new ways. His urge to carry on exploring new avenues, especially in landscape and portraiture, led him to produce some of his most complex and innovative works during the last stage of his career. All this drew the attention of a select clientele ranging from high-ranking clergymen and nobles to distinguished merchants as well as his own colleagues, who often imitated his compositions.“

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Laura JG @laurajg.bsky.social · 20/08/2026

By African-American artist Sargent Claude Johnson (1888-1967), “Chester,” 1930, painted terracotta, (Don Ross / Estate of Sargent Claude Johnson). More info in ALT. #art #arthistory #sculpture #Blackart #Blackartist

A terracotta portrait head of a young Black person who could be either male or female (it’s unclear), with close-cropped hair and right cheek resting on right hand. From the art critic Christopher Knight, the Los Angeles Times, March 1, 2024: “The first wave of the Great Migration that saw millions of Black Americans leave the rural South for the increasingly urban North and West was instrumental in creating the Harlem Renaissance. Given the name, we usually think of it as a New York phenomenon, but Johnson lived and worked in the Bay Area throughout his creative life. (He arrived in 1915 and died nearly penniless in 1967.)”

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Laura JG @laurajg.bsky.social · 18/08/2026

By a follower of that wild, wacky artist Hieronymus Bosch (1450–1516), a surrealist before that movement’s time: Christ in Limbo, ca. 1575, oil on panel, 22-7/8 x 28-3/8 inches, Indianapolis Museum of Art. #art #arthistory #painting #oilpainting #surrealism

From the museum: “ The story of Christ's descent into Limbo to rescue the souls of the righteous who lived before his time enjoyed a special place in the European popular imagination. This vision of Hell, its eternal darkness broken by Christ's dazzling entry, is exceptionally vivid. The composition may derive from a lost work by Hieronymus Bosch.

When he came to the edge of darkness like some splendid, terrible raider, the impious infernal legions, terrified as they gazed on him, began to ask: ‘Whence is he, so strong, so terrible, so splendid, so noble? . . . Who then is this, who comes to our gates so boldly, and not only has no fear of our torments but also frees others from our chains?
-Jacobus de Voragine, The Golden Legend, about 1260.”

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Laura JG @laurajg.bsky.social · 17/08/2026

By Max Ernst (1891-1976), Untitled (Sedona Landscape), ca. 1957, oil on masonite, 18 1/2 x 23 3/8 in (47.1 x 59.5 cm), photo: Bonhams New York, 14 November 2017. More info in ALT. #art #arthistory #painting #oilpainting #surrealism

From the website: “ The combination of the rich orange tones of the Sedona rocks and the overtly surrealist and otherworldly décalcomanie technique mark it out as a characteristic example of the artist's engagement with the region. The rocky outcrops set against a high horizon and a limpid sky also recall the great landscapes of the early 1940s… “Standing as a brooding sentinel at the left of the composition is the figure of a hawk, an exotic cousin to Loplop, Max's birdman alter-ego… The surface of the present work, notably the hawk, is built up using the technique of décalcomanie which Ernst had borrowed from the Spanish surrealist Oscar Domínguez. As with other favored methods, such as frottage and grattage, this introduced chance and by extension the role of the subconscious into the process. The effect is achieved by pressing pools of liquid paint between a smooth surface and the painting support and then separating them in a swift movement. The resulting runnels and blots are examined by the artist and used as a guide for the progress of the composition. Using this 'automatic painting' as a base, Ernst discerned the wing and beak of the hawk to the right, adding an eye and talons for emphasis. To the left, the contorted ridge of the Arizona landscape is defined by the scraped-away horizon line below a burning yellow sun, a decisive intervention by the artist which transforms the actions of chance into a recognizable landscape.”

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Laura JG @laurajg.bsky.social · 16/08/2026

By Nigerian artist Ben Enwonwu (1917-1994), “Man and Masks – A Mirage,” 1982, oil on canvas, 90.5 x 64.2cm (35⅝ x 25¼ inches), photo: Sotheby’s London, March 2023. Portrait of Lagos businessman and conservationist Chief Shafi Lawal Edu (1911–2002.) #art #painting #oilpainting #africanart

From the catalogue note: “Permeated with rich tones of yellow, orange and red, a particularly unique palette for Ben Enwonwu, the present lot displays Enwonwu’s maturity as a colourist, as well as his mastery of form and composition Enwonwu takes this masterwork beyond the realm of portraiture with the introduction of three mask motifs to the left of the composition.“

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Laura JG @laurajg.bsky.social · 16/08/2026

By Johan Christian Dahl (1788–1857), An Eruption of Vesuvius, 1824, oil on canvas, 37 x 54 3/4 inches (94 x 139.1 cm), Metropolitan Museum of Art. #art #arthistory #painting #oilpainting #volcano

A painting of Mount Vesuvius erupting, great plumes of smoke rising in the air. Hot orange magma beneath the smoke. Two figures observe the eruption. At the right bottom foreground we see three men and two donkeys. In the background the blue waters of the Bay of Naples, partly cloudy sky above.

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Laura JG @laurajg.bsky.social · 14/08/2026

Prehistoric painting, ca. 15,000-13,000 BC, in the Lascaux Cave in France, known as The Chinese Horse, due to its resemblance to traditional Chinese painting. The artist used mineral pigments (ocher, hematite, manganese). More info in ALT. #art #archeology #arthistory #prehistory #prehistoric

A prehistoric cave painting of a horse running. From French prehistorian Jean Clottes: “Rock art as a whole is one of the most important cultural heritage assets in the history of Humanity. Lascaux is certainly one of its jewels, but the most humble of the decorated sites is a witness of ancient cultural beliefs and practices, and therefore it must be protected. Lascaux strongly reminds us of the reasons why preservation is a necessity: above all to limit the effects of human activity on any decorated sites, and on their surrounding environment. That is the main condition for their survival.”

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Laura JG @laurajg.bsky.social · 13/08/2026

By Paul Manship (1885-1966), “Pauline Frances,” 1914, polychrome and gilt plaster, 20 5/8 inches high. Photo: William Doyle Galleries, Inc. More info in ALT. #arthistory #art #statue #sculptor #sculpture

From the Metropolitan Museum of Art, which owns a similar work in marble (I believe this plaster work was probably cast from the marble original): “Manship created this portrait of his firstborn child Pauline Frances when she was three weeks old. The realistically depicted life-size half-figure of the infant is wrapped in a blanket, which envelops her head and cascades down her sides. The… frame… features low reliefs of musicians and real and mythical birds and animals. The architectural format reflects the strong influence of early Italian Renaissance decorative conventions in Manship’s portrait work.”

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Laura JG @laurajg.bsky.social · 13/08/2026

My just for fun sketch, completed today: Portrait of Lex G, based on a photo reference from the Museum by Sktchy app, drawn freehand on my iPad Pro using the Sketch Club app. #digitalart #ipadart #artapp #drawingapp #sketchclubapp

An artwork depicting a young woman with blue skin, pink hair/lips/fingernails. She looks at her phone, which has a blue and black leopard print.

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Laura JG @laurajg.bsky.social · 12/08/2026

Early photography: by Léon Vidal (1833-1906), Italian Dagger, ca. 1872–1875, Photochrom, image: 32.3 × 17.5 cm (12 11/16 × 6 7/8 inches), mount: 55 × 38.3 cm (21 5/8 × 15 1/16 inches), The J. Paul Getty Museum, Los Angeles. #vintagephotography #vintagephotos #PhotographyHistory #darkroomphotography

Description from the museum: “A dagger with an ornately designed hilt featuring small portraits of various individuals.”

And from the Library of Congress: ‘Photochrom prints, also called Aäc, are ink-based images produced through "the direct photographic transfer of an original negative onto litho and chromographic printing plates.” Hans Jakob Schmid (1856-1924), who worked for the Swiss firm Orell Füssli, invented the technique in the 1880s… The prints look deceptively like color photographs. But when viewed with a magnifying glass the small dots that comprise the ink-based photomechanical image are visible. The photomechanical process permitted mass production of the vivid color prints. Each color in the final print required a separate asphalt-coated lithographic stone, usually a minimum of six stones and often more than ten stones.’

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Laura JG @laurajg.bsky.social · 11/08/2026

By Trinidadian-American actor/dancer/musician/director/choreographer/artist Geoffrey Holder (1930-2014), portrait of his wife, actress/choreographer/dancer Carmen de Lavallade, 1976, oil on canvas. #arthistory #blackhistory #blackartists #blackart #blackartist #painting #oilpainting

A striking, regal portrait of a woman of color sitting in a chair. Overall palette of brick red, orange, brown, and black. She wears a long sleeved black blouse and black trousers. Her hair is pulled back.

From James Fuentes Gallery: “The artist’s oeuvre demonstrates a deep interest in representing the totality of black life, registered here in compositions that move from the quiet intimacy of bedrooms and parlors to the lively energy encountered in city streets and nightclubs. Anchored in portraiture, at times Holder’s images are also steeped in religious iconography and a bold reverence for nature—consummately rendered in such a way that they appear at once contemporary, historical, and thus timeless…

Holder’s attunement to beauty imbued much of his portraiture with a mysterious quality—likely amplified by the fact that most of his figures were painted from imagination rather than life. Holder engaged the body as if it were a paintbrush or pen; his choreography resembled movements like brushstrokes and, in turn, his paintings reflected an intimate physical sensibility. For Holder, painting provided fertile terrain for his astonishing experimentations in style, representation, and expression. To this day, Holder’s work remains as contemporary as when it was made.”

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