The Frick Collection’s Diana the Huntress by Jean-Antoine Houdon (1740–1828) has found a permanent home in the elegant museum’s new Portico Gallery, along with one other sculpture by Houdon, The Dead Thrush. A signature work of the Frick Collection, the graceful statue is now the jewel of the new gallery, the building of which was […]
One of the most enduring forms of Chinese art, ceramics has an unbroken history dating to possibly as early as 18,000 years ago (Proceedings of the National Academy of Science). Through this long resume of craftsmanship, no period was as revolutionary as the Ming Dynasty(1368-1644). The Ming Dynasty saw innovations in design, technique, and brilliant […]
On view through July 13, 2012, Casting the Divine showcases over a hundred works of art from the “Nyingjei Lam” Collection (which means “Paths of Compassion”), representing the first and only time the collection has been exhibited in its entirety. Encompassing stunning sculpture in metal, stone and bone work from the Himalayas and the immediate […]
In 1784, Duncan Phyfe arrived in New York a struggling immigrant apprenticed to a cabinetmaker. By the early 1800s, he had built for himself such a demand that he was known as the “United States Rage.” Between 1805 and 1847, Phyfe was the dominant furniture maker of the elite moneyed class of New York, Philadelphia, […]
Born in Beppu, 1941, a time and place where bamboo craftsmen, including the artist’s father, were working towards the highest level of bamboo mastery, Yufu Masataka was early poised to become a basketry artisan of the loftiest order. From his early youth, Mastaka studied in his father’s workshop, adopting from him the striking yatara style, […]
Playing House, which opened Friday 24, at the Brooklyn Museum adds new perspective to an old and much-loved exhibit. The exhibition is the first in a series of installations aimed at garnering new interest in the museum’s period rooms. Meticulously detailed and carefully built, the historic rooms at the Brooklyn Museum, favorites with Museum-goers, have […]
Currently on view at Forbes Galleries, “International Art Jewelry 1895-1925” is an expansive look at the emergence of art jewelry in the late 19th century. A time of radical innovation, the end of the Victorian age found artists the world over eager to spearhead a new design aesthetic. Jewelry makers, like other artists, found themselves […]
The Metropolitan Museum of Art is proud to introduce its new exhibition, The Game of Kings: Medieval Ivory Chessmen from the Isle of Lewis. In 1831, a hoard of luxury items, including more than 70 chess pieces carved of walrus ivory and dating as early as the 12th century, was unearthed on the Isle of […]
Judith Leiber Lizar Karung handbag, 1990s, Treasures & Pleasures Gallery Judith Leiber, the name in handbags of elegant luxury, started her remarkable career as the first woman to join the Hungarian Handbag Guild during World War II. Of Jewish descent, she escaped the Holocaust and eventually immigrated to the United States in 1947 where she […]
In the long and vibrant history of Islamic art, the Samanid Dynasty (AD 819-999) though short-lived was one of the most significant. The first native Persian empire to arise after the Muslim Arab conquest, the Samanid Dynasty represented a renaissance of early Iranian culture, not the least of which is its contribution to pottery making. […]