Americans living in the first decades of the twentieth century felt they inhabited a modern age – a spirit of excitement and experimentation transforming the world around them. Our recently-published book, A Modern World draws upon the renowned collection of American decorative arts at the Yale University Art Gallery to
“I love you.” We call them “three little words,” and yet in Western thought, love as a concept is anything but a small concern. In fact, in Love: A History, Simon May demonstrates the way in which love has grown into a veritable colossus in our cultural consciousness, providing the
Following his “Eminent Biography” post on his new book, Mary I: England’s Catholic Queen, presenting a striking re-characterization of this often misunderstood monarch, John Edwards now writes on his own research experiences and how he came to carefully retell her life. John Edwards— Anyone who tackles a biography of
An excerpt from Nigel Warburton’s A Little History of Philosophy, a lively and accessible introduction to Western philosophy, bringing the ideas of the world’s greatest thinkers into focus. from Socrates’ questions about reality to Peter Singer’s thinking on the moral status of animals in our own times. Nigel Warburton—
Sarah Underwood— Quite a few people, places, and things “lost it” in 2011. Ireland, Spain, Portugal, and Greecelost it early on this year. Osama bin Laden lost it. Multiple Arab dictators lost it. The economy never had it, but Greecemanaged to lose it again. The media keeps suggesting that even
Alisa LaGamma challenges conventional understanding of key masterpieces of African sculpture. In her new book, Heroic Africans: Legendary Leaders, Iconic Sculptures, accompanying an exhibition currently on view at The Metropolitan Museum of Art, the curator of the MMA’s Department of the Arts of Africa, Oceania, and the Americas looks at
The National Gallery’s “Leonardo da Vinci: Painter at the Court of Milan” opened this fall, and is the most complete display of Leonardo’s rare surviving paintings ever held. Today we look at this landmark event, and the beautiful exhibition catalogue that accompanies it, which has been described by the UK Telegraph