Originally, the mask was adorned by members of all socioeconomic classes to conceal identity. This was necessary since most legal and moral boundaries were blurred during this period, and so were the Venetian Republic’s rules regarding upper and lower social classes intermingling. Originating in the fourteenth century, the Venetian mask was originally intended to serve as a method of inclusiveness.
Art News
We all need water. No matter where, no matter when, human life cannot survive without it. This has been made acutely and painfully apparent across large swaths of the globe this summer as human-driven climate change has fueled water shortages with detrimental effects to both the environment and human life.
Focused on simplicity and symmetry—principles valued by classical artists, Neoclassicism was an antidote to Rococo and Baroque excess. Neoclassicists painted everything from ancient myths to contemporary events, portraying their subjects through the heroic lens of a classical style.
Many countries decided to impose very strict regulations on the press in order to limit, or completely prevent, the circulation of negative accounts. Lord Kitchener, the British Secretary of War, made sure that the control on correspondents was so watertight that the photojournalist Jimmy Hare reported that “to so much as make a snapshot without official permission in writing means arrest.”
Medusa, like many other classic Greek myths, has become a cultural icon. She was one of the three Gorgons, meaning creatures who resembled human females save for their heads, from which snakes sprouted instead of hair. The eyes of Gorgons could also turn humans to stone.
Rachel Smythe’s insanely popular webcomic now turned graphic novel (and future Netflix animated series), Lore Olympus, is a recent iteration of this trend – one that combines both the art of storytelling and digital illustration.
Summertime’s gardens have long inspired artists and botanists. Botanical illustration emerged around the time of Plato, more than 2,000 years ago. The medium launched not as a fine art, but as a record-keeping device and a teaching tool. At the time, botany and medicine essentially were one and the same.
In December 2021, the Television Academy announced eleven significant rule changes designed to better align the Emmys with, “the dynamic and rapidly evolving television industry." Among these changes are several meant to highlight the too often unsung visual artists.
Noted iconoclastic Jewish-American poet, playwright, novelist, and art collector Gertrude Stein (1874–1946) is remembered for her experimental use of language, her frank depiction of lesbian relationships in fiction, and for amassing an exceptional art collection while living in Paris as something of a celebrity figure.
Following a trend that started in the late 1800s, Western photographers were sent abroad to create images of foreign countries. Such photographs, oftentimes created through an imperialist and colonial lens, contributed to the creation of stereotypical views of non-Western countries.
