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Lauded Dutch Golden Age Painter Rachel Ruysch Gets Her First Major Survey in the U.S.

Lauded Dutch Golden Age Painter Rachel Ruysch Gets Her First Major Survey in the U.S.The major survey includes more than 90 international loans, including 48 of Ruysch’s most significant works.

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Intricate Postage Stamp Tattoos by Ash Aurich Are an Ode to Art History

Intricate Postage Stamp Tattoos by Ash Aurich Are an Ode to Art HistoryThe artist’s deep appreciation for iconic artworks inspires tiny odes to famous compositions.

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Buried for Nearly 2,000 Years, a Monumental Dionysian Fresco Sees the Light of Day in Pompeii

Buried for Nearly 2,000 Years, a Monumental Dionysian Fresco Sees the Light of Day in PompeiiAn ancient “megalography” comprises a cycle of paintings with nearly life-size figures.

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Watch the Brilliant Ballet that Brought Dance to the Bauhaus Movement

Watch the Brilliant Ballet that Brought Dance to the Bauhaus MovementRarely performed today, ‘Triadic Ballet’ is a striking, playful dance structured around groups of three.

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Indigo: The Story of Blue Gold

Indigo is a deep blue dye extracted from the leaves of a variety of plants. It was not only a dye, but it has also been used as a pigment since ancient times. For centuries, Indigo was a valuable commodity that was traded across the globe, earning it the name ‘Blue Gold’. This article looks at the history of Indigo and its role in art, from Mayan artefacts to 17th-century European oil painting.     Indigo: The Story of Blue Gold What is Indigo? The vast majority of blue pigments throughout history have been made from minerals, like natural Ultramarine Blue and Azurite, or from metal-containing compounds like Cobalt or Prussian Blue. Indigo stands apart because it is derived from plants. There are more than three hundred different plants that produce Indigo dye, but some of the most important have been Indigofera tinctoria (native to the Indian subcontinent), Persicaria tinctoria (found predominantly in East Asia), and Indigofera suffruticosa (a species that grows in Central and South America).     Chemically, the blue-producing compound we know as Indigo is called Indigotin. However, Indigo-producing plants do not actually contain indigotin. Instead, they contain a chemical precursor called indican. To extract the indican, …

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8 min read
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Cobalt Green: The Pigment Overlooked by the Impressionists

Cobalt Green was first introduced as an artist pigment at the beginning of the 19th century. However, it was not very popular among artists at the time, and it often continues to be overlooked in favour of brighter and less expensive green pigments. This article examines the three Cobalt Green pigments in use today and explores the unique characteristics they bring to modern artists’ palettes.     Cobalt Green: The Pigment Overlooked by the Impressionists   The History of Cobalt Green The first Cobalt Green pigment, a compound of zinc and cobalt oxides, was formulated in 1780 by Swedish chemist Sven Rinman. However, zinc oxide was being manufactured on a small scale at the time, so the pigment wasn’t introduced in commercial artists’ paints until the 1830s. As far as chemical stability was concerned, Cobalt Green ticked every box: It was extremely lightfast and permanent and suitable for both oil and water-based binding mediums. These characteristics were extremely valuable at a time when new pigments were being developed and introduced very quickly, many of them chemically unreliable.     However, Cobalt Green didn’t capture the imagination of many artists. It was very expensive, gritty, dull, lacking in tinting power, and …

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3 min read
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Ruby Sky Stiler Reassesses Women’s Role in Art History in Geometric Portraits

Ruby Sky Stiler Reassesses Women’s Role in Art History in Geometric PortraitsRichly patterned, geometric paintings reenvision 20th-century abstraction and women as creators.

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In ‘Flying High,’ Tyler D. Ballon’s Portraits Parallel Sports, History, Identity, and Patriotism

In ‘Flying High,’ Tyler D. Ballon’s Portraits Parallel Sports, History, Identity, and Patriotism“I want young people to see themselves as worthy of being immortalized in art—a recognition that transcends time,” Ballon says.

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Wayne Thiebaud’s Passion for Art History Shines in ‘Art Comes from Art’

Wayne Thiebaud’s Passion for Art History Shines in  ‘Art Comes from Art’If imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, Wayne Thiebaud (1920-2021) knew how to appropriate most ardently.

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