Art history

Politicscomment

Partygate: debaucherous celebrations captured by artists through the ages

As Sue Gray report detailing the British government's breach of lockdown rules is published, we look at similar scenes in art history

From Anglo-Saxon sculpture to Tracey Emin's tent: BBC series summarises the biggest British art events of the past 2,000 years

Art That Made Us winds through the centuries, exploring the cultural effects of landmark historical events such as the Black Death and the First World War

Women are on top at London's Eye of the Collector fair

Almost half the works on show at the boutique event are by female artists—and lower price points are attracting buyers

Exhibitionsinterview

'Art world disillusionment led me to make art with memes': artist Cem A on his London exhibition

The man behind the infamous Instagram account @freeze_magazine shows his meme creations at the Barbican

Interview by Frank Wasser
Booksreview

A new visual history of domestic service spanning 400 years examines the lives of those working within the home

From drawings and paintings by Dürer and Velázquez to lesser known images, book puts servants and slaves centre stage

Book Clubfeature

Take a fresh look: a new little history of art offers a global perspective

In her forthcoming book, Charlotte Mullins aims to challenge the “myopic prioritisation of male Western art” in earlier art history publications

Booksreview

‘Not art history as usual’: book brings together revolutionary writings by the feminist art historian Linda Nochlin

The 30 essays on realism, Modernism and modernity include seven that have never before been published

Try nude modelling—it will make you a better artist

Being a life model is not just artistic tradition or a way to make money

Betye Saar repaints lost mural at Frieze Los Angeles

The 95-year-old artist was on hand at the fair this week

Christie’s supports charity delivering art history lessons for students at UK state schools

Art History Link-Up chief says subject is a rare offer at state schools because of cuts and teacher shortages

Nigerian artist Ben Enwonwu’s greatest work is much loved by the art market—but it should mean more to art history too

Editions of the Anyanwu sculpture always attract attention at auction, but the legacy of the work and its maker are largely ignored both in his home country and the international art scene

Podcastspodcast

The results are in: the real impact of Covid-19 on the art market

Plus, Dawn Ades on Duchamp and Superflex on Cildo Meireles

Postgraduate art history students in UK say they are being encouraged to produce ‘less rigorous and ambitious’ research in light of pandemic

As the funding body, UK Research and Innovation, restricts additional funding, students are being asked to rethink projects

Freshman art history student uncovers identity of Mughal miniature

Connections have been made between the Colby College Museum of Art’s Man with a Flowered Coat and portraits of the 17th-century commander Sayyid Muzzafar in international collections

A separated pair: the story behind Van Gogh’s famed empty chairs

An insight into what the two paintings reveal about Vincent's life with Gauguin in the Yellow House

a blog by Martin Bailey
Booksnews

Prize-winning Gainsborough publication shines light on lives of painter's female sitters

New book, which reveals how the Old Masters influenced the 18th-century British artist, has won the William MB Berger Prize for British Art History

The most famous bedroom in art history: secrets of Van Gogh’s nocturnal life

A story of changing wall colours, a pair of pillows, wartime bombs and the hunt for a lost bed

a blog by Martin Bailey

The story behind a student who discovered Edward Hopper's earliest paintings were copies

New research finds teenage artist's landscapes were based on a magazine for amateurs learning how to paint

Art historian Aby Warburg’s groundbreaking image atlas reunited in Berlin after nearly a century

The Bilderatlas Mnemosyne—once derided by Ernst Gombrich—will appear in its fullest form since Warburg's final presentation

Hannah Gadsby: taking down art history's misogyny through comedy

From the High Renaissance to Picasso’s questionable moral compass, the Tasmanian comedian is bringing an exploration of art's patriarchy to a new audience

Booksreview

New Orientalists: a thoughtful book on the rise and decline of Western artists in the Middle East

There is plenty to enjoy in this account of a group of travelling painters who were not only accomplished but also determined, brave and hardy

Van Gogh detective discovers exact spot of artist's last work, painted just hours before his suicide

The spot—in a village north of Paris—now has a plaque linking it to Vincent's death

Pope Francis, his crucifix and the Virgin Mary: miraculous or merely traditional?

Art history removes the numinous from art. At the Vatican’s Covid-19 blessing we saw it invoked again

Is art history becoming too woke?

Discussion around Yale's decision to pull its introductory survey course reveals unnerving trend for "morally appropriate" studies

Booksreview

The case is made for connoisseurs and their role in art history

The practice of connoisseurship, which, the author Frédéric Elsig argues, is a skill that can be learned, is examined in relation to 15th-and 16th-century painting

What can mysterious markings in stone teach us about British art?

Research for a new book begins with a pilgrimage to find prehistoric rock art in northern England

Educationcomment

‘Art history is a global discipline’

The head of Yale’s art history department explains the university’s decision to change its introductory survey courses

So you think you know your art? Brain teasers to test your knowledge of famous works

This puzzle book includes 36 of art history's best known pieces, from Botticelli’s Primavera to Van Gogh’s Starry Night