In the beginning of the Horror movie "1408" the jaded protagonist (played by John Cusack) has a fascinating little art survey and monologue of the room he sits in. The character is a writer traveling to hotels with supposed ghosts (mostly tourist traps) and writes about them. In Room 1408, however, the manager, Olin (played by Samuel Jackson) really DID plead with him not to go in that room.

Cusack thinks it's a clever ploy by the manager and as he settles in, remarks this in his tape recorder:

"$8 for Beer nuts... this room IS evil... [sits back on the bed] Olin said hotels are about fertile creature comforts. It's a good line, but I wonder whether they're really about reassuring platitudes, a prosaic sense of the familiar. Yes... I've been here before. It's safe. There's a sofa, writing desk, full antique armoire, floral wallpaper. The carpet is unremarkable except for a stain beneath a thrift store painting, "Schooner Lost at Sea." The work is done in the predictably dull fashion of Currier and Ives. The second painting is an old woman reading bedtime stories - Whistler knockoff - to a group of deranged children while another madonna and child watch from the background. It does have the vague air of menace. The third and final painfully dull painting is the ever popular "The Hunt". Horses, hounds and constipated British Lords. Some smart ass spoke about the banality of evil. If that's true, then we're in the seventh circle of hell. It does have its charms."

The reason this stood out because it's erudite quality seemed different from the rest of the movie. I checked the original script (at least what's available online) and sure enough, the passage isn't there. Someone, either Cusack himself or some other writer must have added it later. Maybe some frustrated Art history student.

Looking for advice from anyone who has done research at the Met Museum in NYC.

I'm trying to learn more about an exhibition they did in 1945 about Army Handicrafts (artworks made out of salvaged materials by WWII soldiers in their free time). We have a family picture of something my great uncle made in 1944 - the story was always told to us that this piece was taken to the 'Met Museum in NYC' and only recently did we discover that they had this exhibition in 1945, perhaps adding some truth to the story!

Information online is scarce, I'm wondering if they might have a list of objects or photos of the exhibition in their library... is that wishful thinking? Has anyone been to this library before? Will they help me research? I cannot find much in their online archives about the exhibition, other than a document saying it happened. Any advice is helpful, thanks to all!

I’m putting together a historyguesser map and could use a few good moments. Which one would be most interesting to see?

Gardner’s Art through the Ages 16th edition vs. 15th edition. I’m shocked by how poor the 16th edition is. Desaturated images and paper so thin text can be read through the other side. It’s disheartening

As the embroidery arrives in the UK for the first time in 950 years, experts say the women who created it were playing a strategic game of survival

Everyone always assumed this was a Polynesian depiction because family lore said it was by a student of Gauguin (it's not). What is the actual "subject" of this painting, and can someone tell me more about the style and technical details?

I believe I've identified it as a painting by Joza/Joseph Švasta/Belohorsky, an Austrian-born Czech artist who spent the latter half of his life in the UK (and had had a wife who "pulled a Gauguin"), and that tracks with its provenance. The little info about him lines up with it being dated Nice, 1927, far from Pont-Aven, and no suggestion he was ever anywhere near the Pacific. There's also *very* few images of his art to compare, especially in regards to oils and during this time frame. Supposedly he did some portraiture on the side.

So, what was going on in Nice around 1927 that could've inspired or led to this? And how would you define/describe the painting itself? Though it's never been cleaned, and l suspect was exposed to years of cigarettes, amongst other damage, there's still a halo fully around the subject and what appears to be some oddly geometric shading around the woman's belly button. Am I just seeing remnants of back-lighting? Can brush strokes really look like that?

I'm completely unsure on how to characterize the painting as well as what or who is behind the intention. I simply want to understand it better for my own appreciation.

Hi!

I'm a student in my last year in art history undergrad, and was wondering if any art history master students could answer some of my questions?

Thanks!

I used to have a bunch of the paperback taschen artist books but sold them when briefly moved into a small flat and I wasn’t going to many art things

Really getting back into art exhibits and cataloging what I’ve seen and have a larger house and am looking at getting a few good shelves full of artist or movement books (and harder of tracking down catalogues of shows and museums I was too poor to buy the books for)

I’m not totally hung up on having matching sets and I will be mainly looking second hand but wondered if I anyone had strong opinions on the taschen basic art series or the Thames and Hudson world of art ones or another similar series

Large colour illustrations would be the main draw and a reasonable level of coverage of works from different sources

As I said I used to have some of the taschen ones and the text was quite dry and characterless (almost certainly in translation) but the images were good

I have plenty of general history of art ones. I want to build up an artist by artist collection over a few years

Anyone got any thoughts or preferences.

title! the painting was of a few (maybe three? I could be wrong) girls swimming nude in a body of water. they had white hair and were wearing black tricorn hats. it had a very loose style to it. there was lots of green and flowers as well. I dont remember the year it was made, but if I had to guess it was probably modern

it was a very cute and cheeky painting, I dont need it for anything I just really like it and cant find it 😭

Johannes Vermeer's "Girl with a Pearl" has a lesser-known painting called "Study of a Young Woman". Painted around the same time, it features the exact same pose, a dark background, and an identical pearl earring.

Yesterday as I was finishing up my daily round of game play on a popular online art history game (the game is much in the news lately), I suddenly lost access to the website after a month of no problem access. Received a "Secure Connection Failed" message when I tried resume my game after a break.

Tried various workarounds and cleared cache, etc. Nothing got me back into the game. I cannot get into the website to start a new game today. I think there's a problem on the developer server side. Maybe the SSL certificate has expired?

Hope it gets fixed soon. I've learned a lot of art history and world history playing this game. Hope that the developer is working to fix the access issue. EDIT: Can access the site again as of yesterday.

I am a recent law graduate in Pakistan and want to explore options in Europe which are non-law-related. I took a course called Buddhist Art and Architecture and would love to learn more about niches like that. Please recommend universities in Europe where I can study something similar, where the programs are affordable or there are scholarships for International Students.

Hey there! Im looking for lists of artists from the impressionist and post-impressionist movements. I’m looking to expand my knowledge on the two subjects, so anything you want to share is also welcome! I’m newer to these periods of art, and am having a hard time making the distinction between the two when looking at a piece of art, unless it is very obvious.

Question about this painting, is the poem underneath the skull known? This is how gemini transcribed it. Not sure about its accuracy though and in its current state the second half isn't legible.

**​Original Spanish Text**

​Tú

O que me estás mirando

mira bien y verás

que no sabes cómo o cuándo

te verás así tan bien.

​Mira bien con atención

este retrato o figura:

tabla para el sepulcro...

(partially worn/abraded text)

**​English Translation**

​You

Oh you who are looking at me,

look closely and you will see

that you do not know how or when

you will see yourself like this as well.

​Look closely and with attention

at this portrait or figure:

a panel for the tomb...

This painting is titled A Perfumer's Shop, Bombay, created around 1890 by American Orientalist artist [Edwin Lord Week](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edwin_Lord_Weeks).

This painting was sold for approximately 40-60,000 GBP in London's prestigious [Sotheby's Orientalist Sale](https://www.sothebys.com/en/auctions/ecatalogue/2014/orientalist-sale-l15100/lot.11.html), currently held in private collection.

• Oil on canvas portrait layout painting, 65cm × 55 cm. Highly polished studio painting featuring brush finework typical of academic realism and orientation

• A bejeweled Nautch dancer wrapped in gold clothes is shown gently smelling a tiny perfume pot.

• The shop features glistening white and blue Chinese porcelain vases ,brass containers and reflective surfaces. Weeks uses these to demonstrate his exceptional ability to handle light reflections.

• Tucked inside the shaded alcove, the artisan is surrounded by his tools. Above the store hangs a dark chalkboard sign featuring elegant Nastaliq writing.

• Weeks explicitly noted the identity of the seated customer on the left. In his studio catalogue notes he specifically described him as an Afghan traveler, singling him out by what he termed an "immense red turban".

• Next to the Afghan sits another man in a differently styled red turban. They are closely examining a small booklet or accounts ledger, with their traditional juttis casually kicked off against the shop's stone ledge

• Hanging from the shops ceiling is a devotional nineteenth century painting apparently depicting Guru Gobind Singh on horseback, attended by Akali Nihang warriors. A very similar painting of Guru Gobind Singh is now held in the Government Museum and Art Gallery Chandigarh.

The piece and its foundational context are heavily tied to Weeks' travel memoir, [From the Black Sea Through Perisa and India ](https://archive.org/details/cu31924022898526/mode/1up) (published in 1895).

Weeks sketched a 26 × 20cm in situ sketch during his travels in 1880s. He took these back to his Paris art studio where he completed the painting. The initial miniature sketch was exhibited to the public at the 1895 Empire of India Exhibition in London.

Weeks was fascinated by architecture of Indian shops

\> "There is no amusement more fascinating than to wander aimlessly about and lose himself in the mazes of a new Oriental city... \[including\] the shallow shops, open to the street like alcoves, which line the cross-streets of Bombay and Ahmedabad."

[Mark Muray Fine Paintings ](https://www.markmurray.com/edwin-lord-weeks-paintings-for-sale)

Weeks understood social grammar, multi faith tradition and trading culture perfectly and even captured it beautifully in his paintings.

The top image is from Gandhara (a region corresponding to the Peshawar valley in Pakistan and Kabul valley in Afghanistan), sculpted around late 2nd to early 3rd century CE depicting the death of Buddha. The below image is from the Stavronikita monastery of Mount Athos, painted in mid 16th century, depicting the entombmemt of Jesus.

It doesn't needs to be said that these 2 pieces of art are vastly different by their time, content and context, but what catches my eye is the posture of the mourners. In both cases, we see one mourner raising up both hands, a second mourner grasping their cheeks in horror/disbelief and a third mourner turning away his/her face. And another extraordinary coincidence is that both pieces were created by Greeks. The stone panel depicting Buddha's ​death was sculpted by Greco-Buddhists, Greek soldiers from Alexander's army who settled down in the region & eventually converted into Buddhism. Amd the painting of Jesus' entombmemt was painted by the Greek Orthodox monk Theophanes the Cretan.

I will not say that every depiction of mourners in Buddha's death within Gandharan art parallels that of the 3 Mary's in Jesus' entombmemt drawn in Byzantine art, but what we are seeing is how unrecorded oral artistic traditions can pass down through centuries within the same ethnic group that can manifest at different contexts in different ages.

Well in this mini demo i am browsing through art movements i went for conceptual art and then i move to the work Physicromie of Carlos Cruz Diez i have so many things to improve but i think is taking the shape of a really good tool to explore, let me know your thoughts and if you guys thinks it is useful