Lidded Bowl with Iguanac. 600–1100 (Thermoluminescence date, 995–1395)Costa Rica, Southern Nicoya regionceramic, slipCleveland Museum of Art It is believed the iguana’s regional symbolism was linked to both rulership and the solar realm, and here we see the iguana is portrayed as if basking in the sun, but also with an…
Galloping Through DynastiesOctober 7, 2022–January 1, 2023Cleveland Museum of ArtSchiff Gallery Gallery 234Free admission. Galloping Through Dynasties explores the evolution of Chinese horse painting in both its symbolic and its stylistic aspects throughout Chinese history. The approximately sixty art works drawn from the collections of leading U.S. museums and one from Japan…
The Vatican Loggia’s “Raphael Rooms” have long been noted for their immense variety of flora and fauna depicted, including many exotic species. Believed to have executed primarily by Rafael’s associate Giovanni da Udine (1487-1564) between 1517-1519, this artistic menagerie is thought to be an artistic catalog of the real-life menagerie…
Translation of caption: “In many Indigenous myths and legends, the tlacuache [opossum] has a special place. He is cunning and stands up to power to bring fire to men. Being a central figure in the mythology of pre-Hispanic peoples, he was represented in ceremonial dishes, such as this one found…
After a long period of relatively little activity outside of posting info about events, Smithsonian’s National Museum of African Art’s social media has had a busy August sharing more images from its collection, including no less than a half dozen animal art-themed works! I have been sharing these on the…
“Feathered Ink” is a new exhibition at the Smithsonian National Museum of Asian Art which “explores how Japanese artists have experimented over several centuries with different brush techniques in their depictions of avian subjects,” and showcases three galleries of hanging scroll paintings, folding screens, ceramics, and printed books. In Japan,…
Festival Kimono, Akita Prefecture, Tōhoku region, Honshū. Late 19th-early 20th century. Cotton; shibori (shape resist) 51 × 50 inches (129.6 × 127 cm) “The motif on the back of the garment is known as koi no takinobori (“carp ascending a waterfall”), which was an immensely popular design. It references a…
Happy #WorldOrangutanDay! There are currently three living species of Orangutan recognized in the genus Pongo, all of which are unfortunately critically endangered: the Bornean Orangutan (P. pygmaeus, with three subspecies), the Sumatran Orangutan (P. abelii), and the Tapanuli Orangutan (P tapanuliensis). Andy Warhol selected the orangutan as one of ten…
Here’s another piece from the Ancient Americas gallery at the Reading Public Museum…“Owl Supernatural Decapitor” needs to be someone’s new goth metal band name In Moche art, birds of prey are sometimes depicted as Supernatural Decapitators who sever the heads of sacrificial victims. This Decapitator Owl has a face with…
Minneapolis Institute of Art: The Object Podcast42. Seeing Ourselves in Animals: An Unnatural History“As long as people have told stories, we have told stories about animals. Stories of slow turtles and fast rabbits, sly foxes and cunning monkeys, that are really stories about ourselves. But why? What can animals tell…
