Over a long career Faith Ringgold has used her art to support civil rights for African Americans and feminist causes. The first retrospective of her work in France makes the message clear through its title “Black is Beautiful”. Ringgold was born in 1930 in Harlem and grew up surrounded by the art, literature and music … Continue reading “Faith Ringgold: Black Art Matters”
Despite the coronavirus, the Musée Jacquemart-André has a great retrospective of the work of JMW Turner (1775-1851), with the “Turner, peintures et aquarelles de la Tate” exhibition. Running to January 11, 2021. The Musée Jacquemart-André is paying tribute to one of the best-known English artists and the greatest representative of the golden age of English … Continue reading “Private Turner: Watercolours and Paintings”
The new Bansky artwork portrays a nurse as superhero. The painting shows a young boy choosing a nurse as the superhero he wants to play with over Batman and Spiderman. The painting was unveiled at University Hospital Southampton, in southern England. An image of the work was also posted on Banksy’s Instagram page with the … Continue reading “Banksy Portrays Nurse as a Superhero”
Evocative American painter Edward Hopper was to be the subject of an exhibition at the Fondation Beyeler in Basel, Switzerland this spring. But since visitors can’t go to the museum, the museum can come to them online. Hopper’s paintings are wonderful jumping off points for creative writing, or, as film director Wim Wenders explains, for … Continue reading “Edward Hopper: Telling Stories”
This B1-level article will introduce your pupils to the Rockwell and Roosevelt Four Freedoms Exhibition (Caen Mémorial, June-October 2019). It focuses and expands on a very specific passage from Franklin D. Roosevelt’s State of the Union speech delivered in January 1941 in which he put an emphasis on freedom, or rather freedoms: freedom from fear, … Continue reading “Rockwell, Roosevelt and Freedom”
Seventy-five years ago, Norman Rockwell painted four iconic covers for The Saturday Evening Post depicting the Four Freedoms promoted by President Roosevelt: Freedom of Speech, Freedom of Worship, Freedom from Fear and Freedom from Want. The Freedoms would ultimately lead to the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. The iconic pictures, and other socially engaged paintings, … Continue reading “Towards Human Rights”
Jean-Michel Basquiat, one of the most remarkable American painters of his generation is the subject of an exhibition at the Fondation Louis Vuitton, from October 3, 2018 to January 14, 2019. From 1980 to 1988, Jean-Michel Basquiat managed to impose his underground style in the streets of New York, a city where hip-hop, graffiti and … Continue reading “Basquiat by Vuitton”
Mary Cassatt was doubly unusual within the school of Impressionism: as a woman and an American. An exhibition in Paris puts the spotlight on this lesser-known member of Degas’ school, and free class visits are available in English. Cassatt was born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, in 1844, into a family that had made a fortune in … Continue reading “Mary Cassatt: An American Impressionist”
The exhibition POP ART: Icons That Matter at the Musée Maillol has excellent teaching resources to explore a key movement in 20th century U.S. culture. The exhibition features works from the permanent collection of the Whitney Museum of American Art in New York. The Musée Maillol’s teaching page lets you download a detailed teaching pack. … Continue reading “Pop Art: Teaching Resources”
Until January 21st, 2018, the American Pop Art movement has taken up residence in the Musée Maillol in Paris. For the first time in France, you can see more than sixty works from the collection of the Whitney Museum of American Art, New York. This is a rare opportunity to discover key pieces of the … Continue reading “POP ART – Icons That Matter”
