Who Arted: Weekly Art History for All Ages

Wassily Kandinsky was an artist, teacher and art theorist in the early 20th century. His work was very influential in the development of modern, abstract art. He was likely able to paint differently because he experienced the world differently. Kandinsky is thought to have had a rare condition called synesthesia, which is a combining of the senses. For him sound and color were linked. He would see...

The Benin Bronzes, a collection of exquisite brass and bronze sculptures originating from the Kingdom of Benin (present-day Nigeria), stand as a testament to the artistic brilliance, historical significance, and the complex narrative of colonial exploitation. These bronze pieces were not merely decoration. They recorded the history of the people and the kingdom of Benin. Because the Benin Bronzes...

Marcel Duchamp liked to portray himself as a rebel and an outsider courting controversy. While he was bold and pushing boundaries, he also came from a family of artists and he served as an advisor to the likes of Peggy Guggenheim and MoMA. Two of Duchamp's best known pieces were Nude Descending a Staircase 2 and Fountain. Check out my other podcasts  Art Smart | Rainbow Puppy Science Lab Who ARTed...

In 1936, Meret Oppenheim sat down in a cafe with Pablo Picasso and Dora Maar. Picasso took note of Oppenheim's bracelet and commented that anything could be wrapped in fur. Meret replied "even this tea cup" and thus found inspiration for one of the greatest Surrealist sculptures of all time. Other episodes for to explore: Meret Oppenheim | Object (full episode featuring Janet Taylor from The Art o...

Henri Matisse was born in Northern France on December 31, 1869. His father was a successful grain merchant. In 1887, Henri was well on his way to a successful, respectable career when he went to Paris. He was going to study law, and was working in that arena for a while then at age 20, he had appendicitis. His mom gave him a paint set so he could have something to do while he recovered, and he dec...

Yayoi Kusama is one of the most popular contemporary artists with her infinity rooms drawing massive crowds wherever they are installed. In the infinity rooms, the walls are covered in mirrors creating reflections of reflections that seem to go on forever. This idea of playing with reflections was a fixture in Kusama’s work pretty much from the start. As I covered in my previous episode about Yayo...

Claude Monet loved his garden and made about 250 paintings of water lilies. He and his Impressionist contemporaries were focused on color, light, and how our eyes perceive the world, but I would say technology was also central to the development. In his paintings of the train station, The Gare Saint Lazare, Monet gives us a glimpse of iron and glass station filled with the smoke of the steam engin...

As a young adult, Edvard Munch studied art. He was influenced early on by the Impressionists, but he really came into his own when he began using painting as a way of expressing his inner struggles. He is best known today for his expressionistic works like The Scream. Interestingly The Scream is not about a person screaming. The tormented figure in the painting is actually suffering an anxiety att...

Alfred Stieglitz is considered by many to be the father of modern photography. He looked at the camera as not simply a tool to document the world, but an artistic medium. His photograph The Steerage from 1907 is possibly his most famous work. As he set out on a European vacation, Alfred and his family were in first class, but he did not feel comfortable. He went out onto the deck and looked down a...

Louis Daguerre was an early pioneer of photography. While he didn't invent the medium, he did come up with a method that was workable, and perhaps most importantly, he made his method open source, so others could build off of his findings. In his early photograph, The Artist's Studio, from 1837, Daguerre wanted to show the potential for photography as not only a science but an art. He arranged a s...

Cezanne is widely celebrated today, but he struggled early on. He was rejected by Beaux Arts multiple times. He went back home to work at the bank for a while but he felt compelled to pursue the arts and he persisted. He met other artists like Renoir and Monet who had also been rejected by academic establishment and many critics of the day. The supported each other and learned from each other. In...

Today Diego Rivera is less of a household name than his wife Frida Kahlo, but in the early 20th century, he was the more established artist. In Dream of a Sunday Afternoon in Alameda Central Park by Diego Rivera, Mexico's rich and complex history comes to life. It is a slightly surreal and thought-provoking composition. This massive mural, set in Mexico City's largest park, invites viewers to take...

Frida Kahlo was a painter in the early 20th century associated with the Surrealist movement. While she had some moderate success as a painter during her lifetime, her fame grew in the decades after her passing. Today she is among the most popular figures in art history. She is best known for her self-portraits that give viewers a sense of her pain but more importantly, her strength. Check out my o...

The bulk of Olowe’s carvings seem to have been both decorative and functional artworks for the Yoruba kings and prominent families. One of his celebrated works for example is the veranda post that sits in the collection at the Art Institute of Chicago. In that piece we see the elongated neck and oval faces that were a part of his signature style. Traditionally Yoruba artists used scale and proport...

In this depiction of Shiva we see the natural rhythms to everything in the cosmos. Birth and death, creation and destruction are symply phases all things will go through. In this bronze work from 11th century India during the Chola period, we see Shiva in a dancing pose. He is surrounded by a ring of flames. Fire is an interesting force as it can be tremendously destructive and dangerous, but simu...

China's Longmen Caves or Longmen Grottos are a UNESCO world heritage site. Starting in the 5th century CE, artists chiseled away at the limestone carving out around 2300 caves and 110,000 statues. Because they were constructed over such a long period, the sculptures in the Longmen Caves not only reflect the religious tradition, but they track changes in artistic style over the centuries. Related e...

Stonehenge has captured the imagination of people for centuries. It is hard to categorize the massive stone work. Is it a feat of engineering, sculpture, architecture? Is it a work of deep spiritual significance or an oversized and needlessly complicated calendar? Located in Wiltshire, England, Stonehenge is made up of standing stones arranged in a circular formation and is estimated to be over 4,...

Machu Picchu would translate to “old mountain” but it isn’t that old. While stone ruins are often associated with ancient civilizations thousands of years old, Machu Picchu is relatively young having been built in the middle of the 15th century. Nestled high in the Andes mountains of Peru, this ancient Incan citadel is a UNESCO World Heritage Site and a bucket-list destination for travelers from a...

The Taj Mahal is one of the most beautiful man-made structures in the world. It is a UNESCO world heritage site considered to be one of the modern wonders of the world. The story behind its construction is equally beautiful as it is a tale of love and devotion between Shah Jahan and his wife Mumtaz Mahal who passed away shortly after giving birth to their fourteenth child. The Taj Mahal has a mass...

Today's mini episode is about the Moai statues of Rapa Nui, commonly referred to as Easter Island. The Moai are one of the artworks I will have in my annual Arts Madness Tournament this March, and it is one of the 250 artworks on the AP Art History list. For those students prepping for the test this spring, check out my AP Art History Cram Session playlist on Spotify. Check out my other podcasts A...

In 1974, some farmers began digging a well. Before they struck water, they stumbled upon an amazing archaeological and artistic treasure, the terracotta army. Qin Shi Huang, the first emperor of China, wanted an army to protect him in the afterlife. Artists constructed an estimated 8,000 life-size terracotta statutes of soldiers, 400 horses, 100 chariots and about 100,000 weapons. but what good is...

This mini episode is about The Book of the Dead, a collection of funerary texts from ancient Egypt. To better understand the collection as well as the culture and mythology behind these works, I looked a little bit at the page showing the judgment of Hunefer, a high-ranking scribe and priest. This is an encore presentation of my previous episode on this work. I am posting daily mini episodes to co...

On November 26, 1922, Howard Carter prepared to enter the tomb of a little-known pharaoh. Nobody had set foot inside the space for over 3,000 years, but as Carter held up his candle, his partner, Lord Carnarvon who had financed the expedition called out asking if he saw anything. Carter responded, “Yes, wonderful things.” Though his reign may have been short, the treasures found in Tutankhamun’s t...

Once again I will be hosting my annual Arts Madness Tournament this Spring. I will be posting daily mini-episodes covering 64 diverse artists and artworks from all around the world and from the prehistoric to the present. While many episodes in season 9 will be encore presentations of pervious episodes as a refresher for the works in the tournament, I will have at least one new episode each week c...

Once again I will be hosting my annual Arts Madness Tournament this Spring. I will be posting daily mini-episodes covering 64 diverse artists and artworks from all around the world and from the prehistoric to the present. While many episodes in season 9 will be encore presentations of pervious episodes as a refresher for the works in the tournament, I will have at least one new episode each week c...