Herb and Dorothy Vogel

Herb was a postal worker in New York and Dorothy a librarian. Now retired, they lived on one salary and with the other bought art. Over time, they amassed one of the most important contemporary art collections in history. >>more

Dwight Tryon - Early Spring 1913-1914

Among the most delicate paintings of early spring and autumn are those painted by Dwight William Tryon. >>more

Self Portrait by Chuck Close

Two quotes for you today from the artist Chuck Close: >>more

Venus In The Atrium

On the north shore of Long Island, about halfway between New York City and its eastern end is Setauket. Here, in 1906, William de Leftwich Dodge (1867-1935) built his dream home, >>more

Self Portrait at age 80, Alice Neel (1900 – 1984)

While I do admit to not particularly caring for much of what she does, I absolutely love this whacky painting by Alice Neel!! >> more

I find that after a painting is 'finished' if I let Zelda (my muse) have her way she often really changes things around - not always for the better >> more

The Barefoot Contessa

Sometimes the simplest ideas are the most effective. >>more

Antonio Mancini - Self Portrait 

“The sun sets. The man dies. It is right. But what a pity not to be able to paint any more.”
- Antonio Mancini to a friend.

Some artists just love to paint. >>more

Sometimes the role of the artist as self-critic goes neglected in conversations about what is important in the career of being an artist. >>more

 

David Galenson, an economic historian, has scoured the records of art auctions, counted entries in poetry anthologies, tallied images in art history textbooks – and then sliced and diced the numbers to reveal the source code of the creative mind – amazing!

What he has found is that genius comes in two very different forms. “Conceptual innovators,” make bold, dramatic leaps in their disciplines. They do their breakthrough work when they are young. “Experimental innovators” proceed through a lifetime of trial and error and thus do their important work much later in their careers. He allows that people can change camps over the course of a career, but he thinks it’s difficult. 

“Since the Renaissance, genius has been associated with virtuosos who are young.The idea is that you’re born that way – it’s innate and it manifests itself very young,” Galenson says, “We need those brash, certain, paradigm-busting youthful conceptualists. We should give them free rein to do bold work and avoid saddling them with rules and bureaucracy. But we should also leave room for those of us who have, er, avoided peaking too early, whose most innovative days may lie ahead. Nobody would have heard of Jackson Pollock had he died at 31. But the same would be true had Pollock given up at 31. He didn’t. He kept at it. We need to look at that more halting, less certain fellow and perhaps not write him off too early, give them a chance to ride the upward curve of middle age.”  

Source: Wired Magazine article “What Kind of Genius are You?”

Click To Subscribe 

Awhile ago I discovered an online art treasure, the Smithsonian Archives of American Art Collections Online. >>more

Keith Haring - Untitled

Some artists are content with no title; some will simply number their works… or will use that inventive title ‘untitled’. >> more

Robert Wood - Golden Horizon 1952 

The Golden Hour is officially the first and last hour of sunlight each day, so it occurs at both sunrise and sunset. >>more

By adding together the eye movement data from a group of test subjects, we can learn where most people look in a given picture. >>more