I believe I may suffer from a derth of artistic and intellectual heroes. Help me fix that. What artists and thinkers are worth engaging with fully as an adult?
By "engaging with fully," I mean making a concerted effort to consume all of their output, several times, as well as seeking out supplementary information about them by way of interviews, criticism, documentaries, collected letters, biographies, etc. etc.
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posted by jsturgill
on Mar 15, 2013 -
50 answers
I am thinking about majoring in Art History, and would like to know from others that have obtained a bachelors in this area if it was worth it to them?
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posted by Lillian7
on Apr 19, 2012 -
42 answers
I'm looking for 'Folk' Web Cultures. I am thinking of the recent take-down of Geocities, which seemed to refresh people's love of the naff, kitsch aesthetic it was famous for, as a prime example. What are some other folk cultures still lingering in the dark corners of the web?
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posted by 0bvious
on Apr 4, 2012 -
11 answers
My late grandfather painted
an interpretation of one of Maurice Utrillo's depictions of the "Maquis" of Montmartre, in Utrillo's time a very poor
area of the well-known Paris neighbourhood. Which Utrillo work did my granddad use as a blueprint, and where exactly was Utrillo's vantage point?
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posted by goodnewsfortheinsane
on Mar 26, 2012 -
12 answers
I saw
Cave Of Forgotten Dreams and loved it. Now I want to read more about early human history. Please recommend some good books on the beginnings of human art in particular and the emergence of human society and the beginnings of conciousness in general. I'm not a scientist and I'm not looking for a textbook, but I'm not afraid of a challenging read, either.
posted by vibrotronica
on Mar 26, 2012 -
16 answers
How do I do a better job of teaching Art History in a way that will engage my students and feel meaningful to me (are the two antithetical)?
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posted by segatakai
on Feb 3, 2012 -
26 answers
Schools or asylums that trained young girls in some sort of speciality skill only to later sell them off to rich men: did they really exist? Do they still?
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posted by divabat
on Dec 27, 2011 -
28 answers
If I had never seen the internet before, where would you direct me in 2011? What are the best news, film, music, art, fashion, history, technology, gossip, sports websites and blogs out there?
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posted by maca
on Oct 3, 2011 -
14 answers
I've recently visited the
Galleria Doria Pamphilj in Rome, and there I discovered gallery walls ordered in a very crowded grid, "a grid that is typical to the 18th century", according to the audio guided tour.
I tried looking for further material on such wall arrangements, the history of curation, perhaps, or the concept of Grid in the practice of gallery curation. I've found none.
Can you recommend any leads (books/links) for learning such a subject?
posted by lipsum
on Jun 4, 2011 -
8 answers
I'm writing a paper on (animated) GIFs and am trying to track down some of the most (in)famous. I suppose I am talking memes, but I'm more interested in the GIF as an archaeological reference point. I frequent sites like
dump.fm,
tumblr etc. so am quite tuned in to the glitchy/kitschy side of GIF culture. How theoretical have people got on these wonders of the web? How does one trace the history of an animated GIF?
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posted by 0bvious
on May 16, 2011 -
11 answers
Who were some politically and creatively challenging artists pre-1900, before the Modernist movement?
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posted by heylight
on Apr 13, 2011 -
19 answers
I am teaching an undergraduate photography class. What are the most amazing, resource intensive websites that the students should be exposed to?
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posted by archivist
on Mar 22, 2011 -
15 answers
Just finished reading Hemingway's Moveable Feast, and want more. Specifically, more about the time and place - Paris in the 20s, the Lost Generation, novelists, artists, poets, patrons and the hangers-on. Suggestions welcome for the best of anything with that flavour: biographies, novels (from then or now), films.
posted by reynir
on Mar 3, 2011 -
23 answers
I'm digital arts student who wants to visualize internet addiction.
How do I log browser activity: not just history...but back, forward, scrolling, and the seconds between each action?
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posted by victory_laser
on Jan 23, 2011 -
6 answers
Librarians, art historians, art researchers and scholars: From the perspective of art historical periodicals research with the widest range of relevance for art studio and art history students and instructors, which is the better database,
Art Abstracts ~ or ~ Art and Architecture Complete?
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posted by xod
on Nov 11, 2010 -
4 answers
What's the best way to find a career in historical preservation/art restoration from where I am now?
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posted by billypilgrim
on Oct 22, 2010 -
12 answers
Sacrifice, speech, writing and art: I am interested in the different ways in which a sacrifice, a sacrament, a spoken word and a written word act as signifiers. The notion for instance that the sacrament, at the point of its acceptance, is understood as
becoming the signified. What can you tell me / what has been written about the notions of sacrifice and their relationship to speech, art and the technologies of writing?
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posted by 0bvious
on Feb 24, 2010 -
8 answers
Four years ago, I asked if there was a way to get Eduardo Paolozzi's short film The History of Nothing on DVD, but there wasn't an obvious answer. I was wondering if things have changed.
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posted by eschatfische
on Sep 1, 2009 -
2 answers
What should I name my new project? (hint: it involves hair and significant historical figures).
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posted by Jezztek
on Aug 3, 2009 -
27 answers
I seem to remember reading somewhere, or possibly listening to a story on NPR, which talked about Norman Rockwell being a subversive artist. The tone was of a researcher having talked to his contemporaries and concluding that Rockwell was in a way being ironic or sarcastic in his paintings. I also vaguely remember hearing/reading that there were small clues in some of his paintings indicating this. Any help finding more information on this?
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posted by efalk
on Dec 25, 2008 -
8 answers
Looking for recommendations on films (documentary or dramatic) or books (nonficiton or novel) about Agitprop or Agitprop Theater, specifically as it was practiced in Boshevist Russia/USSR.
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posted by brain cloud
on Nov 15, 2008 -
1 answer
Creative Ideas Filter: I need ideas of Famous and Memorable Photographs or Paintingsor famous and memorable scenes from History, Movies, or Television that can be Reenacted on the spot without planning by 3-6 people for me to photograph for a final project for school.
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posted by Del Far
on Apr 14, 2008 -
18 answers
How is the
meaning of art and artefacts being altered by the methods we use to:
Experience,
Define and
Preserve them... In other words, in what ways have technologies been used to experience, re-define and/or preserve art and artifacts?
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posted by 0bvious
on Feb 5, 2008 -
12 answers
'The Flâneur': What fascinating titbits can you add to my knowledge about this concept? Art, history, philosophy and literary theory links all welcome.
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posted by 0bvious
on Oct 25, 2006 -
22 answers
I'm having trouble tracking down information about a movement in
Dada-ist Art I heard about a few years ago. From what I remember Dadaist idealism inspired a group of artists to contemplate the organic development of urban environments. Art, using the defined structure of the city, to reflect the chaotic order which arises from nature.
Did this
century old movement exist or has my brain made it up?
posted by 0bvious
on Apr 26, 2006 -
10 answers
Is it illegal, where applicable, to own a work of art or an artifact of history if it is also an item of drug paraphernalia?
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posted by yesster
on Feb 7, 2006 -
17 answers
I've got some Chinese paintings from my late grandfather, and I'm having trouble finding more information about them.
Here's what he had to say about them (image, transcript inside) and
here's a scan I made of one of them (image). I don't know enough about this subject to make educated guesses, and the information from my grandfather is either inaccurate or just a dead-end. So basically, I'd like to know anything that you know about this. I'd be happy to scan more of the prints as well if someone needs additional information.
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posted by j.edwards
on Apr 19, 2005 -
6 answers
Anyone know of any good books, plays, or other material about
Suzanne Le Peletier de Saint-Fargeau, a.k.a. "Mademoiselle Nation"? She was an eleven-year-old girl adopted by the French revolutionaries after her father's murder by a royalist. Her portrait by
Jacques-Louis David is currently on display at the Getty in Los Angeles, and as the book blog
Romancing the Tome says the story of her life would make for excellent reading. Surely she's found her way into print by now?
posted by Asparagirl
on Mar 18, 2005 -
3 answers
I am looking for either books or online resources for Bayeux Tapestry - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bayeux_Tapestry - style illustrations (or any other book/site that depicts depict medieval life.) So far, the illustrations on the web are of relatively small size or poor quality.
posted by turbanhead
on Dec 10, 2004 -
4 answers
I want to learn as much as I can about life in fin-de-siècle Belgium as I can, particularly from primary sources, art, music, and literature. What would you all recommend?
posted by Sticherbeast
on Dec 3, 2004 -
6 answers
A few weeks I had to listen to a drunken guy drone on about hip-hop. There was one thing he said that caught my interest. He mentioned that there were tracks based on Robert Johnson samples. So what are the tracks and who does them?
posted by rdr
on Aug 19, 2004 -
5 answers
In trance/techno music, where does the following pattern come from: A major bass hit on the first beat of the measure, then doubling to the first and third beat a couple measures later, then every beat, then eighth notes, sixteenth notes - usually accompanied by a melodic glissando climbing octaves or a vocal loop stuttering - until it releases (usually to a short pause) and then plunges into the full bass loop (and usually the chorus). Where'd this come from? What/who was the first song or DJ to use it?
posted by ao4047
on Jan 8, 2004 -
3 answers