With its origins in late Medieval art and religious culture, the word “Gothic” conjures the dark, the mysterious, or the otherworldly. A international exhibition, Gothic Modern: From Darkness to Light, not only broadly explores such popular associations but also provides a ground-breaking examination of later 19th- and early 20th-century artistic fascinations with the era, all while complicating traditional narratives of the history of Modernism.
Art News
As the hype fades following the record-breaking $54.7 million sale at Sotheby’s in November 2025 of Frida Kahlo’s 1940 self-portrait, El sueño (La cama), becoming the most expensive artwork by a female artist ever sold at auction, let’s pause and consider the facts.
Born in the late nineteenth century, Modernism sought to challenge conventional institutions of its time. The late nineteenth century saw a shifting European political structure, with the birth of nation-states rising from the ashes of empires. This period was also significant in academic achievements and rapid industrialization.
Echoing a pilot program launched in 1950, the Brooklyn Public Library (BPL) will now allow cardholders to borrow select pieces of art for up to three weeks, as of November 3rd.
As empires fell and made way for nation-states, dissolving Medieval social structures, rapid industrialization led to the development of Realism, a period from the mid-to-late nineteenth century that rejected the conservative and elitist structure of the Neoclassical movement that had ruled since the Renaissance.
Last summer, a small American museum made history by becoming the first institution in the country to return one of the fabled Benin bronzes. Officials of the University of Iowa’s Stanley Museum of Art traveled to Benin City, in southern Nigeria, to meet with the Oba, the hereditary ruler of the Edo people, and formally hand over one bronze plaque, as well as a wooden altarpiece, both of which had been in the museum’s collection for decades.
As the orginal "Renaissance Man," Leonardo da Vinci’s works have influenced artists, scientists, architects, and great thinkers for centuries. Along with the Mona Lisa and The Last Supper, his Vitruvian Man drawing is one of the most iconic images in the history of Western art.
When I went to first grade, as an only child, my mother, Arlene Schnitzer, enrolled in the Portland Art School. Her teachers complained to her that there was no contemporary art gallery there. This was the early 1960s. So she opened the Fountain Gallery of Art, to concentrate on artists of the Pacific Northwest and the San Francisco Bay area. As a third-grader, I was looking into a corner and there was a funny cabinet there: I saw that there were these tiny print drawers. I pulled one out and started looking at a beautiful fuchsia print.
Gustav Klimt (1862-1918) was born and died in Vienna, where he helped found the Vienna Secession, a contemporary art movement closely related to Art Nouveau. He received formal training at the Vienna School of Arts and Crafts.
"Dive into the creative journey of David Whitburn, the 1st legacy artist for Artist Resource Transnational. In collaboration with the David Barnett Gallery, this special episode celebrates Whitburn’s visionary work and the artists who shaped his path." - David Barnett Gallery
