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Michael Lobel

@mlobelart.bsky.social
107K followers 102 following 6.5K posts

Professor of Art History, Hunter College & CUNY Graduate Center. I look at things and then write about them. Author of Van Gogh and the End of Nature, from Yale University Press: yalebooks.yale.edu/book/97803002743…

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Michael Lobel @mlobelart.bsky.social · 11h
While most know major Renaissance works at the Vatican, notably the Sistine Chapel, I think many are likely unaware the Vatican Museums also include modern art, including a stupendous example of Jacob Lawrence's "Builders" works, donated by the artist himself www.museivaticani.va/content/muse...
Painting of figures in a carpenter shop or the like, at work
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Chris Santa Maria @chrissantamaria.bsky.social · 01/10/2026
Wayne Thiebaud, Santa Fe Cloud, 1991 oil on canvas 15 5/8 × 16 5/8 inches
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Michael Lobel @mlobelart.bsky.social · 01/10/2026
I have never heard before of this department of the MTA but now I am extraordinarily curious about what exactly they do
Door of an MTA vehicle with the legend, "Track Geometry"
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Michael Lobel @mlobelart.bsky.social · 01/10/2026
There's a lot suspect about NY Times op-ed today, "I'm a College Professor. Writing Isn't as Important as We Think," but this is one of most egregious. How could you give *each* student in your class an independent 45-minute oral exam?? How could this possibly scale? www.nytimes.com/2026/09/29/o...
Last semester I permitted my students to use A.I. tools on their final essays in accordance with specific guidelines. They then had a 45-minute oral exam in which I could audit their understanding of their claims and push them further in their analyses. I was reassured by the results.
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Michael Lobel @mlobelart.bsky.social · 01/10/2026
absolutely savage😭 www.nytimes.com/2026/09/29/u...
Dr. Schnell told The Dartmouth in a statement that he used A.I. “for language refinement, copyediting, improving clarity and organization and making writing processes more efficient.” The newspaper then ran Dr. Schnell’s statement on his A.I. use through an A.I. detector, which flagged the statement itself as apparently written by A.I.
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Michael Lobel @mlobelart.bsky.social · 01/10/2026
This 1890 painting by Van Gogh of flowering chestnut trees, which hasn't been seen publicly in over 50 years, and which goes on sale - along with modern works by the likes of Cezanne, Monet & others - at Sotheby's in NY in November👀 www.theguardian.com/artanddesign...
Painting of flowering trees, primarily in shades of green, with figures below and built structures in the background
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Michael Lobel @mlobelart.bsky.social · 30/09/2026
Feels like it would be a good time for a Pavel Tchelitchew retrospective: Untitled (Skull), 1944
Watercolor & ink rendering of a skull-like head, or skull as seen if by X-ray through a head
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Michael Lobel @mlobelart.bsky.social · 30/09/2026
Pierre-Ernest Prins, Édouard Manet on His Deathbed, c. 1883 www.metmuseum.org/art/collecti...
Drawing of the head of a man, bearded, looking very weak and drawn
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Michael Lobel @mlobelart.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
"A Lazy Cat," 1896, by Henriette Ronner-Knip, one of the great animal painters of the 19th century, who specialized in carefully-observed feline portraits like this one. Too cute!
Painting of a fuzzy cat, looking tired or sheepish
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Michael Lobel @mlobelart.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
Did I just get back from a viewing at Bonhams auction house in NYC of cat-themed art? Why yes- yes I did. Did I take pictures, including of these Chinese ceramic cats from the Qing Dynasty? Also yes! Will I make a thread of some of them? Indeed I will, which will include...
Two ceramic cats in a vitrine
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Michael Lobel @mlobelart.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
Milton Avery, French Pigeons, 1952
Painting of five pigeons, two on the ground, two perched on rocklike formations at back
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Michael Lobel @mlobelart.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
Contact sheet of photos by Peter Hujar of Diana Vreeland, iconic doyenne of fashion born #OnThisDay in 1903 www.interviewmagazine.com/art/5783-pho...
Grid of 3 x 4 b&w photos showing Diana Vreeland, fashion editor, seated on a banquette
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Michael Lobel @mlobelart.bsky.social · 28/09/2026
Many people act like I'm a crazy Luddite for not using AI in my work, but honestly at this point I want to hear a really good argument for using it, at least in scholarly/creative work. The downsides just seem way too significant, and they appear to be growing day by day
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Michael Lobel @mlobelart.bsky.social · 28/09/2026
Georgia O'Keeffe, "Patio Door with Green Leaf," 1956 access-ok.okeeffemuseum.org/object/28/
Abstracted picture of a green leaf, against stylized image of a structure
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Michael Lobel @mlobelart.bsky.social · 28/09/2026
Great panel this afternoon at NYU on catalogues raisonnés, with Julia Halperin interviewing Barbara Bloemink (on Florine Stettheimer) and Barbara Buhler Lynes (on Georgia O'Keeffe). Saw some great paintings I'd never seen before, including (thread)...
Julia Halperin with curators Barbara Bloemink & Barbara Buhler Lynes, in front of screen with image of Family Portrait II by Florine Stettheimer
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Michael Lobel @mlobelart.bsky.social · 27/09/2026
I've talked to a few journal editors who are concerned about similar problems re: anonymous reviewers. If a peer reviewer wants a little help & feeds your unpublished submission into an AI system, they've just shared your proprietary work & broken confidentiality. A nightmare to think about
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Peter Huestis @peterhuestis.bsky.social · 27/09/2026
The great Hairy Who artist Karl Wirsum was born on this date in 1939. Lip Balm, acrylic on canvas, 1966, from the Smithsonian American Art collection:
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Michael Lobel @mlobelart.bsky.social · 27/09/2026
Another piquant Helene Kröller-Müller anecdote: in 1939, as threat of war loomed, she lobbied to have bomb shelter built at her museum—where her beloved artworks were stored during WWII. I was there in 2019 when museum temporarily allowed visitors to enter tijdlijn.krollermuller.nl/en/timeline/...
Decorated hillside entranceBomb shelter-like interior, with ladder
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Michael Lobel @mlobelart.bsky.social · 27/09/2026
It is true that the world can be ugly at times, but it can also be very beautiful as well, full of miraculous wonders. Try to remind yourself of this as often as you can
An early painting by Piet Mondrian, titled "Mill in Sunlight," from 1908. The picture is mostly built up of small strokes and lines of paint, in vivid colors, red, orange, and yellow among them
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Michael Lobel @mlobelart.bsky.social · 27/09/2026
Unfortunately, the NY Times fails to mention one of most notable moments in collecting career of Helene Kröller-Müller, who amassed one of world's most remarkable collections of Van Gogh works: after her death in 1939, her coffin was laid out in her museum beneath her beloved Van Gogh paintings
B&W photo of coffin, surrounded by flowers, in front of wall of Van Gogh paintings
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Michael Lobel @mlobelart.bsky.social · 26/09/2026
Jacob Lawrence, Rain, 1938
We are looking down on a city street scene, with a building at right, and a subway entrance. Various figures are moving about, as a regular rain falls
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Michael Lobel @mlobelart.bsky.social · 26/09/2026
Jacob Lawrence, Rain, 1938
We are looking down on a city street scene, with a building at right, and a subway entrance. Various figures are moving about, as a regular rain falls
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Michael Lobel @mlobelart.bsky.social · 26/09/2026
Rainy morning NYC
Photo of NYC skyline looking up at grey clouds
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Michael Lobel @mlobelart.bsky.social · 26/09/2026
When at the end of 1939 Walter Benjamin was advised to get out of Paris, he instead renewed his library card. He died #OnThisDay in 1940, fleeing from the Nazis. He was one of the great cultural critics of the 20th century
Walter Benjamin's membership card to the Bibliotheque nationale de France
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Michael Lobel @mlobelart.bsky.social · 26/09/2026
Georgia O'Keeffe, Morning Sky, 1916 whitney.org/collection/w...
Abstracted image of a sunrise, in bright colors
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Michael Lobel @mlobelart.bsky.social · 26/09/2026
John Sloan, "Sunset, West 23rd Street," 1905-06
Painting of an early 20th-century city skyline, with blazing sunset. In the right foreground, a woman hangs laundry on a rooftop
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Jesse Locker @jessemlocker.bsky.social · 25/09/2026
Cornelis Norbertus Gijsbrechts, Reverse side of a painting, 1670, Oil on canvas, 67 x 87 cm (Statens Museum for Kunst, Copenhagen)
A trompe l'oeil painting of the back of a canvas, and a little (illusionistic) tag attached with a wax seal that says "56)
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Alex Zivkovic @alexzivkovic.bsky.social · 24/09/2026
can't stop obsessing over Manet's masterful details!!! such effective faces in the background of his Masked Ball at the Opera (1873). Some have so few brushstrokes! each economically conjures an eyebrow, blush, or five-o-clock shadow
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Michael Lobel @mlobelart.bsky.social · 24/09/2026
I'll bet you thought I had let this go, but I was just biding my time; your reminder that I'm waging a one-man campaign to get My Neighbor Totoro transferred to Broadway, & now I'm calling on Bluesky heavy hitters like @joshuajfriedman.com & @darthbluesky.bsky.social for assistance as well🙏
youtu.be
My Neighbour Totoro perform acoustic title song | Heart Musicals
YouTube video by Heart
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Michael Lobel @mlobelart.bsky.social · 24/09/2026
Seems to me like we're due for a reconsideration—and perhaps even an exhibition?—of the mostly forgotten illustrator Boris Artzybasheff, whose hallucinatory mid-20th-century automation drawings seem eerily prescient right now. "Executive of the Future," 1952 onlinecollections.syr.edu/objects/1223...
Drawing of a robot-like figure at a keyboard
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Michael Lobel @mlobelart.bsky.social · 24/09/2026
Seems to me like we're due for a reconsideration—and perhaps even an exhibition?—of the mostly forgotten illustrator Boris Artzybasheff, whose hallucinatory mid-20th-century automation drawings seem eerily prescient right now. "Executive of the Future," 1952 onlinecollections.syr.edu/objects/1223...
Drawing of a robot-like figure at a keyboard
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Michael Lobel @mlobelart.bsky.social · 23/09/2026
And now some good news for the day: the Archives of American Art's website is back up, I can continue browsing archival material to my heart's content, huzzah!🥳 www.aaa.si.edu
Screenshot of Archives of American art website splash page
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Michael Lobel @mlobelart.bsky.social · 23/09/2026
I'm not the kind to say it all points back to a single historical episode, but so much of what Trump is doing with ballroom & Kennedy Center—the wanton destruction, the callous indifference to the past—was evident when he destroyed Bonwit Teller's irreplaceable sculptures nearly a half-century ago
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Michael Lobel @mlobelart.bsky.social · 23/09/2026
As a regular user of the Archives of American Art's online collections in my research & teaching, painful to see the site still down. Hoping this isn't akin to catastrophic 2023 British Library cyberattack. If you're curious to learn more, take a few minutes to watch this video on the AAA's mission:
youtu.be
Archives of American Art — Dig Deep (2025)
YouTube video by Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution
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Michael Lobel @mlobelart.bsky.social · 22/09/2026
Hi- So I use the Archives of American Art website a lot, & just tried to access it, & it goes...nowhere...? Well to a Smithsonian site that redirects to itself...? I'm concerned this is part of Trump's attack on the Smithsonian—does anyone know about this or have further information? www.aaa.si.edu/
aaa.si.edu
Research Centers
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Michael Lobel @mlobelart.bsky.social · 22/09/2026
The NY Art Book Fair is a lovely event, running September 24-27 at MoMA PS1 in Queens, and if you're interested in art, books, & everything in between, a visit is highly recommended www.momaps1.org/en/events/84...
momaps1.org
Printed Matter’s 2026 NY Art Book Fair - MoMA PS1
Event. Sep 24–27. Printed Matter’s NY Art Book Fair (NYABF) is the world’s leading fair for artists’ books. Over four days, NYABF convenes hundreds of independent publishers, artists, antiquarian book...
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Michael Lobel @mlobelart.bsky.social · 22/09/2026
Fred Tomaselli, Night Music for Raptors, 2010
Image of an owl composed primarily of smaller concentric circle shapes
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Michael Lobel @mlobelart.bsky.social · 21/09/2026
Having just spent several hours studying how railway signal towers operated around 1920, I understand why these people use AI, but the hill I'll die on is that the work of scholarship *is* the time spent doing the research, which helps me understand the past in ways I couldn't otherwise comprehend
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Michael Lobel @mlobelart.bsky.social · 21/09/2026
Also, thanks to @sirenma.bsky.social for pointing out our porcelain cat friend's resemblance to Salvador Dali, which now I can't unsee
Detail of a porcelain cat's head, which maybe makes him look like famed Surrealist artist Salvador Dali...?B&W photo of Salvador Dali
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Maybe It Will Happen Today @today-maybe.bsky.social · 21/09/2026
A digital illustration based on a scene from the German Expressionist silent film Metropolis (1927). What we see is a robot woman seated in a chair, colored in gradated maroon shades. She's a shiny brass color in a sculptural art deco style staring implacably or incomprehendingly outward. Two sockets on either side of her head and many such other sockets on the chair have wires leading away out of frame. The background, colored in shades of blue is divided into radial sections with lightning bolt edges. (All these colors are purely notional as the source material is all black and white.)Around the chair and the robot are four sets of equally-spaced concentric triple rings or some sort of energy or electricity. Riding the top edges of these rings is jaggedy, electric lettering reading 'Maybe it will happen today'.
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Michael Lobel @mlobelart.bsky.social · 21/09/2026
As a member of the LGBT+ community throughout my adult life, just honestly aghast at someone who has moved through the world without having to consider that social and political circumstances might have a massive impact on them. Hard for me to imagine how that might even feel
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Fiona McLees @mclees-fiona.bsky.social · 21/09/2026
Gallery 12 at National Museum Cardiff now has EIGHT of our wonderful Monets on display. As viewing experiences go - none of the jostling and filing past you might find in the galleries of Paris and London. If you come early enough you might even have them to yourself!
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Michael Lobel @mlobelart.bsky.social · 21/09/2026
There's some incredible cat-themed art in this upcoming auction, but this dapper fellow - a cat lantern from China's Qing dynasty - has to be one of my favorites😻 www.bonhams.com/auction/3258...
A blue-and-white ceramic cat, who looks kind of like a Victorian gentleman...?
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Michael Lobel @mlobelart.bsky.social · 20/09/2026
Fortunately I know the answer to this
Mirrored photo of Marcel Duchamp showing five separate figures of Duchamp in different positions
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Michael Lobel @mlobelart.bsky.social · 20/09/2026
Fortunately I know the answer to this
Mirrored photo of Marcel Duchamp showing five separate figures of Duchamp in different positions
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Michael Lobel @mlobelart.bsky.social · 19/09/2026
Gotta admit I've lived in NYC a very, very long time and don't think I ever knew about this mural Keith Haring did in 1987 for the Carmine Street Swimming Pool. I just stumbled upon it while walking past and was like👀 www.haring.com/!/art-work/242
View of a swimming pool area with an extremely long mural above of stylized fish and human figures swimming
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Michael Lobel @mlobelart.bsky.social · 19/09/2026
Gotta admit I've lived in NYC a very, very long time and don't think I ever knew about this mural Keith Haring did in 1987 for the Carmine Street Swimming Pool. I just stumbled upon it while walking past and was like👀 www.haring.com/!/art-work/242
View of a swimming pool area with an extremely long mural above of stylized fish and human figures swimming
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Michael Lobel @mlobelart.bsky.social · 19/09/2026
This is reminding me of this indelible image from Fred Wilson's 1992 "Mining the Museum," where he remixed & reinstalled objects from the Baltimore Historical Society's permanent collection, which included placing a Klan hood inside a baby carriage bmoreart.com/2017/05/how-...
A Klan hood inside a vintage baby carriage
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Michael Lobel @mlobelart.bsky.social · 19/09/2026
Would probably be a good time to introduce all of you to George Stoll's untitled 1990s artwork where he recreated two rolls of toilet paper out of white silk chiffon, hand-quilted & lovingly embroidered with tiny roses. In other news, George Stoll is brother of John Waters actress Mink Stole
What looks like two rolls of toilet paper decorated with pink roses
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Michael Lobel @mlobelart.bsky.social · 18/09/2026
A close look at the resplendent variegation of the natural world: Sylvia Plimack Mangold, "Summer Maple," 2016
Painting of the many leaves on a maple tree
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