Category: visual

Before Twitter, before 24-hour cable news, before instantaneous visual information flooding our lives, there was the poster. “Produced and displayed on a massive scale, these posters used a variety of cultural, political, and psychological strategies to steer public behavior with eye-catching and sometimes shocking visuals.” (The message? Very much the same.) – The Atlantic

Hepworth has, for decades, been thought of as a cold and uncaring parent who sent her triplets away when they were four months old so she could get some work done. Surprise: The letters tell a quite different story about postpartum depression and abandonment by the babies’ father (and an idealistic view of the “nursery college” where she sent the babies for just over nine months). – The Observer (UK)

The chairwoman of Sotheby’s fine art division says, “In effect, we’ve been in the live theater business. Now we’re segueing into what is more like live streaming. The truth is, that revolution has been underway for some time.” But that revolution is deeply incomplete. – The New York Times

The tapestry, which depicts in 100 medieval panels the Book of Revelations, is a vivid glimpse into how people lived through plague and war. And: “It is remarkable that the tapestry still exists, given that during the French Revolution it was looted, cut into pieces and used as floor mats and blankets for horses.” – The Guardian (UK)

Ficre Ghebreyesus, a chef who combined Eritrean and Ethiopian food, kept a studio where he painted, but didn’t exhibit his work. His widow: “The thing that was cool about Ficre as a chef is that to him it was making art. It’s like the dreaminess of the paintings. There’s something remembered and something invented.” – The New York Times

Mountains were long thought to be impermeable barriers between ancient communities – but this one, with finds ranging from horseshoes and sleds to wool tunics and mittens, is one of many passes revealed by climate change to have been major thoroughfares to other lands. – Vice

Independent institutions that usually depend on entrance fees and are not backed by regular grants or funding are thought to be most at risk. London’s Florence Nightingale Museum and Charles Dickens Museum are among those who have appealed for more help. – BBC

Dr Dirk Obbink, an associate professor in papyrology and Greek literature at the university, was detained by officers from Thames Valley police. The force had received a report claiming the papyrus fragments that had been housed at the renowned Sackler Library in Oxford, which ended up in a biblical museum in the US, had been stolen. – The Guardian

“Posing in her most glamorous handmade outfits, ArtActivistBarbie has been calling into question the representation of women on gallery walls” — the blonde doll is photographed in front of an artwork, generally one of a nude or topless woman such as Charles Mengin’s Sappho (1877), holding a sign saying, for instance, “Yet another painting where the male gaze is legitimised by fine painting & brushwork & a scholarly reference to Classical history.” – The Guardian

“The floor plans should never have been affected by coronavirus to begin with. The museum should have released them — some semblance of them — months ago. Or how about a year ago, when a revised design was presented to the County Board of Supervisors for a crucial vote as part of the environmental impact approval process?” – Los Angeles Times