Art & Object's Favorite Stories of 2024

"Gustav Klimt (1862-1918) is remembered as one of the foremost Symbolist painters of Austria, renowned for his swirling, gold-leaf portraits of women that epitomize sensuality and mystique. Less known for his landscapes today, Klimt was dedicated to the genre for years, often spending his summer holidays in the countryside painting the rural terrain he inhabited."

— Rebecca Schiffman

Image: Gustave Klimt, Park at Kammer Castle, 1909

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"To visit The Harlem Renaissance and Transatlantic Modernism is to mosey your way through a house party at Jay Gatsby’s or the Cotton Club in the 1930s; but instead of dodging sweaty dancers and spilling drinks, you zigzag through a labyrinth of 160 glittering works."

— Natasha H. Arora

Image: Archibald J. Motley, Jr. (American, 1891–1981), Black Belt, 1934. Oil on canvas. Framed: 33 in. × 40 5/8 in. × 1 3/4 in. (83.8 × 103.2 × 4.4 cm). Collection of the Hampton University Museum, Hampton, Virginia

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"While renovating the French painter’s childhood home, a team of restorers peeled back the wallpaper to reveal a 64-foot-long work by Paul Cézanne, depicting a maritime scene of sky, water, ships, and a port."

— Rebecca Schiffman

Image: Close-up of a mural by Paul Cézanne found at his childhood home.

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"Ever a topical painter with unexpected ways of distorting and abstracting the human body, artist Nicole Eisenman has been commenting on politics, relationships, sexuality, and technology since her earliest explorations."

— Katy Diamond Hamer

Image: Nicole Eisenman (b. 1965, Verdun, France; lives in Brooklyn, NY), Beer Garden with Ulrike and Celeste, 2009. Oil on canvas; 65 × 82 in. (165.1 × 208.3 cm). Hall Collection. 

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"Celebrating its 15th anniversary, Independent returns to Spring Studios in Tribeca—New York’s liveliest arts district—for the 2024 edition of the art fair, featuring works by more than 130 artists presented by over 85 galleries and nonprofits."

— Paul Laster

Image: Independent New York, photography by Alexa Hoyer.

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"Upon opening the monumental tombs at the ancient city of Aegae, capital of the ancient Kingdom of Macedonia, archaeologists were quick to realize that they had found the final resting place of a royal family— Alexander the Great’s, to be specific."

— Danielle Vander Horst

Image: Entrance to the Royal tombs within the Great Tumulus at Aigai (Vergina), Greece, 2008. License

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"For centuries now, women in particular have been utilizing flowers to send secret messages to their lovers, friends, and even enemies without the interference of family members or guards. 

With the growing popularity of this innovative mode of communication, by 1810, French publishers started producing “flower dictionaries” that explained the correlation between plant and code. This language of flowers soon earned the term floriography."

— Abby Andrulitis

Image: Ambrosius Bosschaert's Flower Still Life

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"Considered America’s Ambassador for Craft around the world since the 1960s, Helen Drutt English has dedicated her life to amassing collections of the finest U.S. artisans and bringing them to new audiences in and out of the country."

— Cynthia Close 

Image: Beauty and the Unexpected – Modern and Contemporary American Crafts

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"Twenty years ago, Los Angeles-based high school painting teacher Jennifer Rochlin accepted a $10,000 grant to teach ceramics, despite one minor setback: she had never touched clay. Yet, this summer, Rochlin adorns Hauser & Wirth’s 22nd Street location with a series of memory-laden terracotta vessels, each a heap of unabashedly spirited, cinematic recollections and testaments to her own bohemian actualization."

— Natasha H. Arora

Image: Installation view, ‘Jennifer Rochlin. Paintings on Clay,’ Hauser & Wirth New York, 22nd Street, 2 May 2024 – 12 July 2024. © Jennifer Rochlin

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"The light in the room glows yellow. Sounds are muffled, except for the familiar four-note bass line. Pixelated aliens rain down from the top of the screen. I shoot, but am quickly defeated by Space Invaders. I am not in an amusement arcade, nor in a pub. I am in a museum surrounded by people whose ages range from 5 to 80 years old. 

Game On is the largest interactive video game exhibition currently on show at the National Museum of Scotland in Edinburgh. Curated by Barbican Immersive, the exhibition presents some of the most iconic games of the past 50 years."

— Caterina Bellinetti

Image: Game On at the National Museum of Scotland.

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"College applications are an exhausting, excruciating, and expensive process for most prospective students, but we believe rankings like this one can help them better plan and navigate their admissions experience. With that, we are thrilled to report our list of the 15 Best Art Schools in the U.S."

— Art & Object Staff

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