
Strong Women in Renaissance Italy
The story of the Renaissance in Italy is often told through the work of great male artists such as Michelangelo, Raphael, Donatello, and Leonardo. But...
Dutch Art in a Global Age
The seventeenth century has long been considered a “golden age” for Dutch art, fueled by the Dutch Republic’s growth as an economic world power...
Fashioned by Sargent
“The coat is the picture,” John Singer Sargent explained to his fellow artist Graham Robertson in the summer of 1894, tugging a heavy garment ever...
Tiny Treasures
The Magic of Miniatures
Intricate and appealing, curious and uncanny, miniature works of art exert surprising power. Over thousands of years and across cultures, artists and...
Hokusai: Inspiration and Influence
The great painter, book illustrator, and print designer Katsushika Hokusai (1760–1849) has become the best known of all Japanese artists and one of...
Faces of Ancient Egypt
Portraits from the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston
Over the course of some three thousand years, Ancient Egypt fostered a vibrant and dynamic portrait tradition that encompassed innovations, revivals...
Frida Kahlo and Arte Popular
The visionary and supremely self-fashioning artist Frida Kahlo drew inspiration throughout her career from arte popular—painted ceramics, embroidered...
Frank Bowling’s Americas
New York, 1966–75
When the British Guiana–born artist Frank Bowling relocated from London to New York in 1966, he found an art scene in flux, with abstract painting...
America Goes Modern
The Rise of the Industrial Designer
During the 1920s and 1930s, the speed of modern life in the United States, accelerated by the invention of cars, airplanes, electric lighting...
Real Photo Postcards
Pictures from a Changing Nation
The ubiquity of photography and social media today makes it hard to imagine a time when it was not possible for ordinary people to take their own...