Tim Brinkhof, Author at Art News Global

26 Dec How Mucha Transformed Sarah Bernhardt Into an Art Nouveau Icon

Posted at 09:00h in Uncategorized by Tim Brinkhof

On Christmas Eve in 1894, Czech painter and illustrator Alphonse Mucha was checking lithographic prints at the Parisian studio Lemercier when he received an unexpected call from the nearby Théâtre de la Renaissance. Sarah Bernhardt, the lead actress of the upcoming play, Gismonda, didn’t like...

25 Dec Did JMW Turner Really Tie Himself to the Mast of a Ship to Paint a Storm?

Posted at 12:00h in Uncategorized by Tim Brinkhof

JMW Turner was a bit of an eccentric, as well as a recluse, but on the rare occasion that he did attend a party or gathering, he always had interesting stories to tell. One of his most intriguing tales concerned the preparation for one of...

24 Dec The Math—and Mystery—Behind an Ancient Counting Device

Posted at 10:01h in Uncategorized by Tim Brinkhof

The absence of modern-day calculators did not stop ancient cultures from performing extraordinary feats of mathematics. The ancient Greeks kept count with abaci, frames with rods or grooves for moving beads that represent numbers. People living in Congo’s Ishango region 20,000 years ago etched notches...

24 Dec American Gothic: Caricature of Iowa, or Celebration of Rural America?

Posted at 06:00h in Uncategorized by Tim Brinkhof

Grant Wood’s American Gothic (1930) is a painting that needs no introduction. It’s a deceptively simple work of art—a seemingly straightforward portrait of an old farmer and his daughter, pictured in front of their country house (based on a real building the painter encountered in...

23 Dec Why Narrative Art Speaks Louder Than Words

Posted at 12:00h in Uncategorized by Tim Brinkhof

Most people know George Lucas as the writer-director of the original Star Wars trilogy, as well as a producer of many films and series that make up the franchise’s extended universe. In recent years, he’s also been working on building a museum in Los Angeles,...

23 Dec Why Cézanne Was Obsessed with Apples

Posted at 07:35h in Uncategorized by Tim Brinkhof

What inspired Mary Cassatt’s portraits of mothers? Why did Jackson Pollock paint on the floor? Eureka investigates the origins of artists’ most famous works and techniques, unpacking how great art ideas happen. Two of the greatest 19th-century French luminaries, the Post-Impressionist painter Paul Cézanne and the...

22 Dec Ancient Mythical Beasts Come Alive at This South Asian Art Exhibition

Posted at 09:00h in Uncategorized by Tim Brinkhof

The Jigoku-zoshi (“Handscrolls of Buddhist Hell”) is a Japanese scroll from the late 12th century that graphically depicts naked, horrified monks running away from bands of vicious, animal-headed demons engulfed in flames. Someone with limited knowledge of art history and the Buddhist religion might assume that...

22 Dec Georgia O’Keeffe's Fruitless Pineapple Commission

Posted at 06:00h in Uncategorized by Tim Brinkhof

In 1938, Dole, then known as the Hawaiian Pineapple Company, offered to take the American artist Georgia O’Keeffe on a paid trip to the Pacific island to paint their flagship fruit for an upcoming marketing campaign. Although O’Keeffe wasn’t a fan of commissions, especially commissions coming...