How the Louvre Codified Essentialism in Art History
The art historical meta-narrative canonized by the Louvre Museum converts all artworks into specimens of their cultural moment. No wall tag can fix this.
Mariah Robertson’s Chemical Reactions — Art21
How does an artist come to grips with the uncontrollable? Filmed over the course of four years, artist Mariah Roberston experiments with photographic chemistry in her Brooklyn darkroom, leading to…
The South African Art Collective That Imagined the End of Apartheid
In 1978, Serote and Thamsanqa (Thami) Mnyele founded the Medu Art Ensemble, an art collective that advocated for an end to the South African apartheid government through creative expression —…
Artists Demand Removal of Their Works From Aichi Trienniale in Open Letter
The exhibition After ‘Freedom of Expression?’ was meant to probe Japan’s history of art censoring and celebrate artworks that had been previously excluded from museums in Japan. It was shuttered…
Here I Am, Luchita Hurtado — Art21
Luchita Hurtado reflects on her eight-decade-long career and the relationship between the human body and the natural world that is embedded in her work. In her Santa Monica studio, Hurtado…
Public Domain Class of 2018
top pick of artists and writers whose works will, on 1st January 2018, enter the public domain in many countries around the world. Of the eleven featured, seven will be…
Sidedoor: Murder Is Her Hobby
Heiress, divorcée … mother of forensic science? Frances Glessner Lee was not your average 19th-century woman. Using the skills that high-society ladies were expected to have—like sewing, crafting, and knitting—Frances…
Tyree Guyton becomes a star in Philadelphia, Heidelberg undergoes renovation in Detroit
Tyree Guyton finishes a major new work in Philadelphia, "The Times," while the Heidelberg Project undertakes its first major renovation as "Heidelberg 3.0" pushes forward. {read}
The Art of Making a Tapestry
Learn how tapestries were made in the time of Louis XIV and are still made today. Explore the process of tapestry weaving at the Gobelins Manufactory in Paris, where historical…
What Did 17th Century Food Taste Like?
Guessing the true flavors of these ingredients—the taste of premodern chicken, or mace carried in a ship's hold from Indonesia to Europe, or butter that was churned by hand—is at…