We can’t deny that one strand of the global Baroque is its Catholic, monarchical, and colonizing nature, but this doesn’t mean that there wasn’t room for artistic individuality, experimentation, or even dissent.
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A monumental solution, rethinking the sculpture of Richmond
Kehinde Wiley, Rumors of War
Delaney celebrates the famous opera singer Marian Anderson as a modern icon of Black excellence and civil rights
Beauford Delaney, Marian Anderson
Arts of adornment, like the thethana, have the amazing ability to function as signifiers of social belonging and individual status.
Thethana, South Sotho artist
This federal building inspires discussion over neoclassical architecture's ties to the ideals of democracy and contemporary American politics
Contemporary politics and classical architecture
Upon its discovery, Lady Dai’s tomb was in a remarkable state of preservation with wooden objects and silks in near perfect condition, as though immune to the ravages of time
The search for immortality: The Tomb of ...
The first monument to commemorate the over 4,000 African Americans who were lynched in the early 20th century.
The National Memorial for Peace and Justice ...
The Elevated Wetlands is one of the first and most enduringly effective pieces of eco art in Canada.
Noel Harding, The Elevated Wetlands
This begonia-shaped porcelain bowl attempts to achieve purity and perfection in its shape, thinness, and glaze
Tang Yue ware
This porcelain bowl with reeds and geese for decoration has a metal rim where the bowl couldn't be glazed
Ding ware bowl, Northern Song dynasty
Beyte Saar boldly attempts to rescue the Mammy character from her demeaning, servile role in Jim Crow fantasy in this powerful assemblage
Betye Saar, Liberation of Aunt Jemima
These portraits of a couple show us what the sitters want us to see about them, and conceal the less glamorous details of their lives
Portraits of Francisca Ramírez de Laredo and ...
Along the River during Qingming Festival offers a rare glimpse of the thriving commercial activity of medieval China.
Attributed to Zhang Zeduan, Along the River ...
Emperor Huizong's Auspicious Cranes records natural phenomena that would be interpreted as a good omen for the dynasty.
Emperor Huizong, Auspicious Cranes, handscroll
Gu Hongzhong’s The Night Revels of Han Xizai offers an intriguing portrayal of a court minister testing the bounds of Confucian propriety during the Five Dynasties
Gu Hongzhong, The Night Revels of Han ...
This luxuriously dressed Virgin Mary as a child spinning cloth may have spoken to the rich textile traditions of Indigenous cultures in Peru
The Child Mary Spinning
Hassam’s incorporates French Impressionist techniques into a fully American urban scene, while foreshadowing the social progress to come
Childe Hassam, Snowstorm, Madison Square
Painting and poetry among friends during Mongol rule in Yuan dynasty China
Wang Mian, Plum Blossoms in Ink
From lusterware ceramics to "Kufic" script to the engagement with classical scientific literature, the artistic legacies of the Abbasid caliphate are varied.
Arts of the Abbasid Caliphate
A Galaxy of Musicians, one of Ravi Varma’s most famous paintings, depicts 11 Indian women who appear to be in the midst of an elaborate musical performance.
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