It is an unfortunate fact of art history reporting that artists about whom little is known often stay that way, largely because a lack of juicy details about their lives often makes for dull articles.
Opinion
It is fascinatingly unpredictable how some of the biggest brouhahas among cultural critics can be preserved for history, while others are so quickly lost to time.
In 1881, nearly a century after the United States defeated Great Britain in 1783, Massachusetts businessman Chester Chapin commissioned a statue to commemorate America’s centennial.
In the summer of 1930, Grant Wood, then age 39, was traveling through the rural town of Eldon, Iowa, searching for artistic inspiration. He spotted a white wooden house in a gothic style, quite at…
