Visual Arts

The kiss can be an obligatory greeting,  a sign of respect, a personal expression of caring concern, and so much more.

"On the wall was a large nearly full-length portrait of her by Rossetti, so strange and unreal that if you hadn’t seen her you’d pronounce it a distempered vision, but in fact an extremely good likeness." — American Writer Henry James About Jane Burden Morris

He does all this and he stays anonymous. I think that's great. These days everyone is trying to be famous. But he has anonymity. — Brad Pitt

Art of the American West has become an increasingly popular genre during the last century. Here I discuss a selection of some of the most well-known artists of the 19th century American frontier.

"Women are important in the Pre-Raphaelite movement. But while their faces are seen everywhere—in oil paintings, watercolors, drawings—their voices are never heard." — Jan Marsh, Pre-Raphaelite Sisterhood (Quartet Books, 1985)

Ever since I was a little girl I've had a fascination with fairies. There are so many stories about them in so many cultures and traditions, that I can't help but wonder whether there is some basis in truth for their existence.

Painted screens are a unique folk art tradition of Baltimore, Maryland that gave inhabitants of narrow streets privacy. Includes how to paint a screen as well as a gallery of decorated screens.

"She’s like a queen, magnificently tall, with a lovely figure, a stately neck, and a face of the most delicate and finished modelling: the flow of surface from the temples over the cheek is exactly like the carving of a Phidean goddess" – Walter Howell Deverell describing Elizabeth Siddal.

An overview of the origins and evolution of Christian art from its onset to the end of the 9th century.

Camille Pissarro was one of the most prominent Impressionistic artists. He was also a known anarchist. Did his political beliefs find their way into his artwork?

This article suggests a list of the 20 best paintings of modern art. Biographies for the artists are provided as well as photos of their paintings. The different styles of modern art are also explained: Expressionism, Impressionism, Symbolism, Pop Art, Dada, Futurism, post-Impressionism and Fauvism.

The inspiration behind the many pre-Raphaelite paintings of Arthurian lore.

This article takes a look at the meaning of bamboo in east Asian art, some of the great Chinese bamboo painters, and a little about Chinese, Japanese, and Korean bamboo paintings.

"The very hem of the poor girl's dress, at which the painter has labored so closely, thread by thread, has a story in it, if we think how soon its pure whiteness may be soiled with dust and rain, her outcast feet failing in the street" - John Ruskin to the Times on 25 May,1854 about The Controversy

The article summarizes the career of American artist Willem de Kooning, who became the most influential and perhaps the highest paid abstract artist in American history.

Europe had an incredible "face lift" in the arts between the years 1600 and 1750. Everything from architecture, painting, sculpture, and music changed dramatically in both looks and sound. Read on to learn about the key changesin the arts of the Baroque era.