A Charming Children’s Book Emerges From the Devastation of October 7
“Nothing is by the book in this story.”
A Rare View of Chagall’s Decorative Arts
With war not too far from Lithuania’s borders, the hopefulness emanating from the warmth and tactile nature of the tapestries and the vibrant ceramics provides much needed comfort.
The Grace of Photographer Osnat Ben Dov’s “Shadow of a Passing Bird”
“I think for most of us, we’re looking for stability or safety. But life isn’t stable and a surprise is always coming. That’s what makes life, the movement of things.”
Duckworth: Life as a Unity
Meteorology was the first science we studied when I was in middle school in the Chicago area during the early 1960s and I was mesmerized...
Visual Moment | John Singer Sargent: Fashioning Art
Fans, gowns, beaded dress pumps, even a French hat ornament constructed from the stuffed body of a bird-of-paradise, complement the 50 paintings assembled for “Fashioned by Sargent” at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, currently on view through January 15, 2024.
Visual Moment | Photographer Richard Avedon’s New Take on the Group Portrait
Sometime in the late 1970s, my father-in-law, who owned a bookstore in Chicago, arranged a book-signing party for the photographer Richard Avedon.
Meret Oppenheim: My Exhibition
Visionary Swiss artist Meret Oppenheim’s paintings, drawings, sculptures and collages demonstrate both a daredevil freedom and an obdurate determination.
The Seifter Menorah: Fingerprints From a Vanished World
As is often the case with material culture, the Seifter menorah tells a complex story.
Visual Moment | The World Inside Carl Moll’s ‘White Interior’
Looking into the calm of artist Carl Moll’s 1905 White Interior feels something like inhabiting the imaginative space at the periphery of a dollhouse.
Visual Moment | The Subversive Art of Philip Guston
Frances Brent discusses a new exhibit of Russian-Jewish painter Philip Guston’s sometimes controversial art.
A Gothic Rendering of a Hero of Judaism
Slightly more slender than life-size, Moses sits on an unadorned stone bench, supporting the tablets with his left hand and making the apparent sign of benediction with his right hand.
How a Collection of Japanese Netsuke Sheds Light on a Jewish Family’s Tumultuous History
I have a personal interest in the carved Japanese netsuke, or figurines, that are at the center of the New York Jewish Museum’s current show “The Hare with Amber Eyes,” on view through May 15.