Exploring whether art is something worth spending public money on.
Have you heard of Italian Baroque artist Artemisia Gentilschi? Find out why her popularity, and that of other artists, has risen dramatically since the 1970s. From Art Assignment. Created by Smarthistory.
There is a huge range of ways that gender has been understood and represented in the history of art. We look at a few examples that show us gender is a concept that has never been fixed: Hermaphroditos by the ancient Greeks, Titian's Venus of Urbino, Baule portrait masks, the photographs of Claude Cahun and Marcel Moore, and Maya stone carvings.
Resistance isn't always visible, but when we can see it in art, what does it look like?
What's the point of making realistic paintings when photography can do the trick? We look at the history of artists recreating the world as we see it and ponder why it's still happening. From Art Assignment.
Corporate lobbies and board rooms are often graced with impressive art, but why? What's the rationale behind this expense, and what impact does it have on the rest of the art world? We look at the history of corporate collecting, starting with Chase Manhattan Bank in 1959, trace its meteoric rise since, and work through the reasoning behind it.
Was your Art History class an endless succession of names and dates and movements? Art History doesn't have to be that way!