Official Macron portrait

Louis XIV, Napoleon, and Macron: The Choreography of Portraits

Official portraits have been a means of communicating intention and creating image throughout history. Consider three of France's iconic leaders.
Victoria wedding

A Natural History of the Wedding Dress

The history of the wedding dress is shorter than the history of weddings, and even shorter still than the history of marriage.
Lourdes Grobet

Mexico’s Radical Women Artists

Art by Mexican "Radical Women" artists capture the turbulent times of the feminist movement in Mexico in the 1970s and still ring true today.
Indian Dress

Why India Once Led The Fashion Industry

India led the fashion world in the 16th and 17th centuries through cotton fabric, design motifs, and its customer-centric market system.
de Heem books

The 17th-Century Dutch Version of Bookstagram

Jan Davidszoon de Heem, one of the greatest still-life painters of the 17th century Dutch Golden Age, brought particular brilliance to book still-lifes.
Dreamcatcher at Walker Art Center

Honoring History with Edgar Heap of Birds’s Building Minnesota

Prior to discussions about appropriation art, artist Hock E Aye Vi (Hachivi) Edgar Heap of Birds honored the 40 executed Dakota men in "Building Minnesota."
Marian Beyonce

Beyoncé, the Virgin Mary, and the Power of Imagery

Why did Beyoncé pose as the Virgin Mary in her pregnancy and birth announcements? Learn about her art historical referents and iconic portraiture here.
SF MOMA text art project

A Museum in the Palm of your Hand

SFMOMA recently made headlines with its digital campaign to make art go viral with their Send Me SFMOMA project — but what museum exhibits came before this?
Kate Lingley

Kate Lingley and the Art History of China

Looking for an insider’s view of life in academia? We interviewed Kate Lingley, a Professor in the Art Department at the University of Hawai‘i at Mānoa.
Pope Francis Sistine Chapel

How Pope Francis Will Redefine Art at the Vatican

Inaugurated in 2013, Pope Francis has been full of surprises and has redefined the papacy, including the ways in which he considers the power of art.