Museums N' Things
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Takashi Murakami at the Palace of Versailles | Art and design | guardian.co.uk
How did I not know this happened? My coworker and wonderful friend Jessi visited Versailles when it was there and understandably hated it. But I think it’s hilarious and a perfect contrast to Versailles’s opulence. Seriously, I can’t stop cracking up about this. I love when the present and the past get matched up like this, like when I visited the Galleria dell’Accademia in 2010 and they contrasted Michelangelo’s sculptures with Robert Mapplethorpe’s photos.
More Leonardo news. Seriously, so many Renaissance works need a thorough cleaning. I know previous restorers were just doing what they thought was best, but sometimes I really want to go back in time and punch them.
The giant David is parked in front of Storefront for Art & Architecture.
24 notes (via hyperallergic)
All this focus on rediscovering Leo’s Battle of Anghiari just makes me sadder Michelangelo didn’t get further on Battle of Cascina.
Tempted to flood this tumblr with Michelangelo posts in honor of his 537th birthday.
You have been warned.
Frantisek Kupka, Planes By Colors, Large Nude, 1909-10
From the Guggenheim:
Theosophy—a synthesis of philosophy, religion, and science—guided Kupka’s holistic approach to art. His paintings draw on a variety of sources, including ancient myths, color theory, and contemporary scientific developments. The invention of radiography at the turn of the century was especially significant for Kupka, whose search for an alternative dimension through a kind of painterly X-ray vision is captured in his monumental Planes by Colors, Large Nude. In this work, Kupka rendered the figure of his wife, Eugénie, in vivid shades of purple, green, yellow, and blue, devising an innovative modeling technique based on color, not line or shade, that sections her body into tonal planes in such a way that her “inner form” is made visible. This unveiling of the unseen is crucial, for Kupka believed that it is only through the senses, through physical experience, that we can reach an extrasensory, metaphysical dimension and thereafter achieve an intuitive understanding of the universal scheme underlying existence.
233 notes (via cavetocanvas)
Hide-and-Seek in a Pair of Wall Lights
At first glance, these simple wall lights appear to be made of undulating gold vegetation. Upon closer observation, however, they are alive with chase scenes. Take a look.
Unknown maker, Pair of Wall Lights, ca. 1735, gilt bronze. The J. Paul Getty Museum, Los Angeles
Hidden among the leaves at left is a dog tracking an ibis (a type of bird) and on the right, a cat skulks in pursuit of a squirrel. Can you see them?
Unknown maker, Pair of Wall Lights, ca. 1735, gilt bronze. The J. Paul Getty Museum, Los Angeles
Unknown maker, Pair of Wall Lights, ca. 1735, gilt bronze. The J. Paul Getty Museum, Los Angeles
22 notes (via wtfarthistory)
