Americana

With Nigeria’s independence came new art. London’s Tate Modern tells the story of 20th-century art in the nation, highlighting unique, Pan-African aesthetics.  Written by Ashley Busby On October 1, 1960, Nigeria established independence from British colonial rule, and just after that declaration members of the Zaria Art Society published a manifesto that charged the nation’s…

The Hispanic Society Museum & Library in New York spotlights the opulence and over-the-top silhouettes of the Spanish Golden Age, including hoop skirts so large that women were accused of concealing illicit pregnancies. Written by Fred Voon In the 16th century, the world’s fashion capital wasn’t Paris or Milan. It was Madrid. After all, this…

A fresco of Selene and Endymion, dating from the 1st century, once decorated a home in Pompeii The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston A touring exhibition, now at the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, brings the ancient Roman emperor to life, as well as the lives of the subjects who lived under his rule Written…

An exhibition at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, shows why some consider Winslow Homer the greatest American watercolorist of the genre By Fred Voon The art of Winslow Homer (1836–1910) is well known, but his mind is a bit of a mystery. Famously reclusive, he left no diaries, avoided mingling with other artists, and…

By David MaMasello Kenny Harris is not an interior decorator, but some of what he does to create his subject matter has similarities to that profession. While the Venice, California–based Harris is best known for his evocative, poetic depictions of the interiors of rooms and unassuming cityscapes, what he reveals on panel or canvas is…

San Francisco’s de Young Museum refreshes its Indigenous America galleries to center Native voices and connect the ancestral with the contemporary. By Fred Voon When Meyo Maruffo, a Pomo artist and curator, was invited years ago to the de Young Museum and asked for her thoughts on the Native American exhibits, she said, “It’s a…

Art, nature, and a sense of timelessness converge at quiet Meridiano, a contemplative, experimental, open-air art gallery in Mexico’s Oaxaca region By Jean Nayar Completed only two years ago, Meridiano, an enchanting new exhibition space in Mexico, looks as though it could have been constructed by the region’s indigenous Zapotecs, when they flourished in Oaxaca…

Three masterful still lifes by the 17th-century master of the genre, Pieter Claesz, are now on display at the Kunsthistoriches Museum, in Vienna, each relating an active story  By David Masello There’s an art to setting the table and Pieter Claesz knew how to do it. In his home and painting studio in Haarlem in…

Grandma Moses became every American’s grandma through her quaint and poignant depictions of American life and landscapes By Ashley Busby In her 1952 autobiography, My Life’s History, Anna Mary Robertson Moses, wrote, “If I didn’t start painting, I would have raised chickens. I could still do it now. I would never sit back in a…