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Image title: Portrait of Napoleon I Medium: Wool, silk, silver-gilt thread (26-28 warps per inch, 10-12 per cm.); gilded pine frame Date: designed 1805, woven 1808–11 Source: The Met Collection   “ This world, after all our science and sciences, is still a miracle; wonderful, inscrutable, magical and more, to whosoever will think of it. ” — Thomas Carlyle This Is Not a Brushstroke: Conceptual Painting After Magritte   Introduction: The Pipe That Wasn’t René Read more…

Image title: The Crucifixion with the Virgin and Saint John Medium: Oil on canvas Date: ca. 1624–25 Source: The Met Collection   “ When watching after yourself, you watch after others. When watching after others, you watch after yourself. ” — The Buddha After the Fall: Reimagining Classical Sculpture Through Postcolonial Eyes   Introduction: Marble Myths and Modern Reckonings For centuries, Greco-Roman sculpture has represented the pinnacle of ideal beauty in Western art. Chiseled marble Read more…

Image title: The Fieschi Morgan Staurotheke Medium: Gilded silver, gold, enamel worked in cloisonné, and niello Date: early 9th century Source: The Met Collection   “ I hear and I forget. I see and I remember. I do and I understand. ” — Confucius Pixels and Saints: AI Reimagines Medieval Iconography   Introduction: A New Digital Devotion In dimly lit abbey scriptoria, monks once painstakingly illuminated manuscripts with gold leaf and rich pigments, adorning sacred Read more…

Image title: Sprite Medium: High-copper alloy, fire-gilt, brown natural patina where exposed Date: 1432 Source: The Met Collection   “ Do more than dream: work. ” — William Arthur Ward More than Marble: Black Sculptors Transforming Classical Traditions   Introduction: Reframing the Pedestal The marble bodies of Greco-Roman antiquity have long stood as the epitome of artistic perfection in the Western canon. From Michelangelo’s David to the Roman copies of Greek originals, these statues have Read more…

Image title: The Crucifixion; The Last Judgment Medium: Oil on canvas, transferred from wood Date: ca. 1436–38 Source: The Met Collection   “ I never considered a difference of opinion in politics, in religion, in philosophy, as cause for withdrawing from a friend. ” — Thomas Jefferson The Futurist Who Hated Time: Speed, Violence, and Politics in Early 20th Century Italy   The Speed of Desire: An Introduction to Futurism In the chaotic blur of Read more…

Image title: Self-Portrait with a Straw Hat (obverse: The Potato Peeler) Medium: Oil on canvas Date: 1887 Source: The Met Collection   “ We live in a society bloated with data yet starved for wisdom. We’re connected 24/7, yet anxiety, fear, depression and loneliness are at an all-time high. We must course-correct. ” — Elizabeth Kapu’uwailani Lindsey Data Canvases: When Painters Collaborate with Coders   Introduction: A New Brushstroke in the Digital Era What happens Read more…

Image title: The Adoration of the Magi Medium: Distemper on canvas Date: 1472–74 Source: The Met Collection   “ The energy of the mind is the essence of life. ” — Aristotle The Graphic Revolutionaries of Zimbabwe’s Post-Independence Posters   Introduction: Ink, Independence, and Identity In the heady days following Zimbabwe’s independence from British colonial rule in 1980, a wave of vivid, defiant poster art swept across the newly-liberated nation. These bold visual statements, created Read more…

Image title: Night-Shining White Medium: Handscroll; ink on paper Date: ca. 750 Source: The Met Collection   “ When written in Chinese, the word ‘crisis’ is composed of two characters. One represents danger and the other represents opportunity. ” — John F. Kennedy Ink as Rebellion: Underground Chinese Brush Painting during the Cultural Revolution   Introduction: Art in the Shadows of Revolution During the Chinese Cultural Revolution (1966–1976), official art was co-opted into a singular Read more…