Author Archives: Linnea

Ai Weiwei

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As you might have heard, China accused Ai Weiwei, artist of Olympic “bird’s nest” stadium fame and other internationally-known projects, of economic crimes and has held him in police custody since April 7. This happened right after I saw a fantastic PBS documentary on the artist, Who’s Afriad of Ai Weiwei, available here, which gives some nice background on the Chinese government’s treatment of the artist.

There have been protests across the world, and this weekend NYC joined in with 1,000 Chairs for Ai Weiwei. It has been suggested that the Chinese government wanted to send the message that no one is immune to the “rule of law”–or the government’s censorship–but let us hope that is not so.

Carl Larsson’s Idyllic Spring

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Spring

I’ve just returned from a quick visit to Sweden (my grandmother’s 90th birthday). The snow there has melted, and spring has just started to peak out from under the dead leaves. Carl Larsson’s images are representative of some of the idyllic Swedish days, full of light, that are just starting. 

Breakfast under the Big Birch Tree

Similar to Norman Rockwell in America, Larsson’s focus was on the home and happy families, and encapsulate the best and most charming aspects of Swedish life at the turn of the century. Also like Rockwell, advances in technology allowed his work to spread and become popularly known. Larsson’s watercolors could be reproduced easily through new printing techniques, just as Rockwell’s illustrations were spread on the cover of magazines. Having only spent the warmer months there, my memories of Sweden are just as idyllic.

Flowers on the Windowsill

Take a tour of Carl Larsson’s well-preserved and beautifully decorated home here. 

Cycladic Heads: What the Nose Knows

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Cycladic Head, Mindy Shapiro at Armory 2011

Is the title referring to the the Bronze Age civilization on the Cyclades islands in the southern Aegean Sea, or the present day inhabitants? The painted acrylic scales covering the wood statue were hand cut and performs marvels of gently undulating texture.

Detail, Cycladic Head

 The Metropolitan has its own Clycadic head, most definitely of the Bronze age- 2700 BC to be precise.

Head from the figure of a woman, Metropolitan Museum of Art

There are traces of pigment on the sculpture that suggest the surface was originally colored in with more facial features. Typically the nose the only individual feature sculpted, lending it a noticable prominence today.