Gustav Klimt did not speak about his art, but he left many drawings that attest to the richness of his creative process. Gustav Klimt: The Magic of Line, opening today at the Getty Center, coaxes these drawings to speak, revealing… More»
In this time of uncertainty, art can bring pleasure to the eye, nourishment to the mind, and also solace to the heart. A work that does just this is Jean-Honoré Fragonard’s Making Fritters (Les Beignets), an enchanting drawing from about… More»
I find auctions terrifying. Mesmerizing, but terrifying. When a major early Renaissance portrait drawing came up for auction at Sotheby’s in New York a month ago, my stomach was in my mouth. It was the sort of drawing one hardly… More»
Ryan and Trevor Oakes are close to completing their three-week drawing project, in which they’ve been rendering the Getty Center and Central Garden exactly as the human eye views it. Their last day here is this Saturday, December 24. Their… More»
Twin brothers and artists Ryan and Trevor Oakes have similar interests, which isn’t really unusual for twins. However, the brothers have taken their mutual fascination with vision, light, space, and depth to a whole new level, and have built their… More»
Did you know that visitors to the Getty Museum are allowed—in fact, encouraged—to draw from the artworks in the galleries and on the grounds? Whether drawing to express yourself, to discover rich patterns or details in art, or to create… More»
I never expected to witness an evening combining British artists Aubrey Beardsley and Thomas Girtin, goth-rocker Marilyn Manson, Ugly Betty, six contemporary American poets, Stonehenge, improvisational bassist Roberto Miranda, William Blake, and the exhumed body of a Pre-Raphaelite model. Yet… More»
An American has slipped his way into exclusive British company—the exhibition Luminous Paper: British Watercolors and Drawings, opening July 19. Owned for years by Thomas Jefferson, admirer of all things classical, this pen-and-ink by Pennsylvania-born artist Benjamin West depicts a… More»
In the emerald-green galleries of the exhibition Spirit of an Age: Drawings from the Germanic World, I was drawn to a cluster of quiet drawings that convey beautiful stories: miraculous healings, heroic quests of medieval knights, momentous coronations. These are… More»
Years ago I found myself in the Metropolitan Museum of Art with a posse of 15 finance geeks in tow, enjoying respite from a college trip to study financial institutions on Wall Street. Being the only art nerd amongst the… More»
Echo Park in 1895: Snow-capped peaks in the distance and rolling countryside all around