Often called “the father of art photography” and a “photographer’s photographer,” Oscar Rejlander is possibly the most innovative nineteenth century photographer you’ve never heard of. A retrospective at the J. Paul Getty Museum, Oscar Rejlander: Artist Photographer sets out to change that, celebrating his early contributions to photography. (March 12 - June 9, 2019). First seen at the Canadian Photography Institute of the National Gallery of Canada, the sweeping exhibition is the culmination of a decade of research by curator of photographs Lori Pauli. With Karen Hellman, Getty assistant curator of photographs, Pauli has assembled a wide ranging collection of 150 works – landscapes, portraits, allegories, and commentaries on Victorian society. Organized roughly chronologically, the exhibition opens with a selection of Rejlander’s early paintings, drawings and prints produced after his move from Sweden to England. In 1852, a trip to Rome inspired Read More
The Reluctant Autocrat: Tsar Nicholas II
“I am not prepared to be a Tsar. I never wanted to become one. I know nothing of the business of ruling.” So declared 26-year-old Nicholas II in 1894, the year he inherited the throne after the death of his father Alexander III. The disastrous Russo-Japanese War in 1904, followed by Nicholas’s failed military command during World War I, and the ensuing Russian Revolution would culminate in the end of the three century Romanov dynasty. On the evening of July 17, 1918 by Vladimir Lenin’s order, Nicholas II, Alexandra, and their five children were executed by a firing squad. “The Reluctant Autocrat: Tsar Nicholas II” at the University of Georgia’s Georgia Museum of Art is a fascinating window into this period of momentous political and social change. Curated by Asen Kirin, Parker Curator of Russian Art and professor of art history at the Lamar Dodd School of Art, the exhibition explores the reigns of the last two Romanov tsars who clung tragically to the Read More
Caesar’s Friend: Antonio Canova and Napoleon
Royal Treatments: Hieronymus Bosch at 500
Jacques Le Boucq, Portrait of Hieronymus Bosch, c. 1550, Arras, Bibliothèque Municipale On the 500th anniversary of his death, medieval Netherlandish painter Hieronymous Bosch is a smash hit. To meet the demand for “Jheronimus Bosch – Visions of genius,” the Noordbrabants Museum in Den Bosch has added 30,000 tickets to the 380,000 tickets that flew out the door. Between March 24 and May 8, the museum will stay open until 11 pm, seven days a week. Crowds are flocking to the artist’s hometown for the largest Bosch retrospective to date -- a remarkable reunion of most of his known works. Some 17 paintings (panels and triptychs) and 19 drawings are organized into six thematic sections. In dramatic fashion, visitors come face-to-face with Bosch’s highly original monsters, demons, angels and saints. Over the centuries, natural aging of the material components of the paintings and human intervention have adversely affected some of Bosch’s works. Nine were able to travel to the Read More