Arts Mar 31 This artist’s work encompasses centuries of art history and his own feelings, energy He’s not a magician, but artist Shen Wei is very good at disappearing — losing himself as he creates, conjuring ethereal lands and reimagining the human body. His work is now on view at the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum in…
Arts Feb 24 Boston restores monument to Black Civil War troops In a time when statues and monuments around the country are being removed for what they represent, the Shaw Memorial in Boston is receiving attention of a different sort. It is being fully restored, with pride that the monument depicting…
Arts Oct 27 Program putting artists to work during pandemic takes leaf from the past The arts have been devastated by the pandemic, with consumer spending in the sector dropping significantly this year. Now, a pilot program in the mountains of western Massachusetts is looking to ideas from the past to ensure artists’ futures. Special…
Arts Sep 11 The unveiling of painter John Singer Sargent’s unsung muse When John Singer Sargent was commissioned to paint a series of gods and goddesses at Boston’s Museum of Fine Arts, he turned for inspiration to Thomas McKeller, a young black model. Little has been known about the pair’s relationship --…
Arts Jul 24 A Boston artist paints the backdrop to national conversation on racism As protests and rallies against racism continue throughout the country, one Boston artist says he’ll paint the backdrop to the momentous national conversation. Robert “ProBlak” Gibbs has been creating street art for years, teaming with Boston’s Museum of Fine Arts…
Arts Mar 11 Memory, meaning and mortality are at the heart of this migration exhibit Nearly 71 million people have been forcibly displaced worldwide, including nearly 30 million refugees. How does that movement shape migrants' understanding of where they belong? The current exhibit “When Home Won’t Let You Stay” uses art and found objects to…
Arts Mar 04 How painter Jacob Lawrence reframed early American history with ‘Struggle’ Amid the McCarthy hearings and the launch of the civil rights movement in the 1950s, painter Jacob Lawrence, the most famous black artist of his era, sought to reframe early American history the way he saw it. His ensuing work,…
Arts Jan 21 How Polaroid pioneered the instant photography revolution The Polaroid camera bypassed the entire process of film development, thus providing photographers an immediate look at their work. Released for sale in 1948, the first version was an “instant” hit. Now, the museum at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology…
Arts Jan 14 The ‘Little Women’ family of Oscar fame originated in the author’s actual home This year’s film version of “Little Women” received six Oscar nominations, including one for best picture. Author Louisa May Alcott was inspired to write her landmark novel, which was based on her own family, at Orchard House in Concord, Massachusetts.
Arts Dec 26 At rare J.M.W. Turner show, the watercolors are as fragile as they are many British painter J.M.W. Turner was both prolific and peripatetic, producing more than 30,000 watercolors during a lifetime in which he traveled throughout Europe. But these works are extremely susceptible to light damage and can be shown only once in a…