"Duchamp's Boîte 'unpacked' in such a way that certain sections slid out to become free-standing display boards, whilst a sheaf of folders and black mounts bore other reproductions of works from his output. In all, it contained 69 items....
"This is the painting Dali took to show Freud in London. It belonged formerly to Edward James." (Caption); "At Zürs […] Dali embarked on a new experiment: the composition, in French, of a 'paranoaic' poem, The Myth of Narcissus,...
Paintings; Body parts; Genitals; Urination; Obscenity; Censorship; Corruption; Political issues; Politics & government
"The exposed genitalia in Baselitz's uncompromising paintings and graphics of this period are essentially attempts to bring into the open, to make public, the effects of official 'cover-ups' and repressed emotions in post-Holocaust West...
"Venus is represented rising out of the water in accord with the conventions of the Aphrodite Anadyomene type. The triton and dolphin, which recall the maritime setting, were sometimes depicted alternately with two cupids accompanying the...
Discovered in Pompeii.
"With its fluted shaft and slightly flared bottom, the candelabrum rests on a tripod shaped like lion's paws, partially covered by a double plant-motif sheath. Three palmettes, one broken, ornament the space between the...
"The ever-present, brooding presence of Lorca [Federico García Lorca]." (Caption); "That Lorca continued to be on Dali's mind as he worked on Bacchanale is confirmed by a painting done during these months at La Pausa, The Great...
Sculpture; Bas-reliefs; Men; Military personnel; Soldiers; Military officers; People associated with military activities; Guards; Bodyguards; People associated with health & safety; Clothing & dress; Military uniforms; Uniforms; Belts...
"This piece depicts three soldiers in high relief in the foreground and two others, accompanied by a standard bearer, in bas-relief behind. The plaque's original upright is preserved in the lower right; the upright on the left is modern. As...
"The painting belonged to Edward James. The 'paranoiac-critical town' is composed of elements principally from Cadaqués and Palamós." (Caption); "The reference was to Outskirts of the Paranoiac-Critical Town, one of Dali's finest...
Performance art; Performances; Women; Artists; Painting; Brooms & brushes; Blood; Bodily functions; Anatomy; Genitals; Human body
"Retrospectively this performance reads as a proto-feminist riposte to Yves Klein's usurpation of the female 'trace' of five years earlier [Anthropometries of the Blue Age, performance, 9 March 1960]." (Caption, p.105); "[…] Fluxus...
Paintings; Acrylic paintings; Abstract paintings; Abstract works
"In Louis's enormous 'veils' of the 1950s the physical operations of pouring paint or tilting a canvas so that the paint floods down it are powerfully implied." (Caption, p.28); "[Clement] Greenberg's conception of 'Modernism' as...
"Where Do We Come From? offers a flowing composition divided into three main figure groupings set in a jungle clearing with the sea in the background. In the center a Polynesian Eve, reminiscent of Botticelli's Giuliano de' Medici in the...
"Where Do We Come From? offers a flowing composition divided into three main figure groupings set in a jungle clearing with the sea in the background. In the center a Polynesian Eve, reminiscent of Botticelli's Giuliano de' Medici in the...
Paintings; Oil paintings; Civil wars; War; Politics & government; Political issues; Dictators; Nazis; Fascism; Civilization; Bombings; Military tactics; War destruction & pillage; Death; Dismemberment; Body parts; Mental states; Despair;...
"In this monumental work of 1937, Guernica, Picasso combined Analytic and Synthetic Cubist forms with several traditional motifs, juxtaposing them in a new Surrealist way. The combination serves the political message of the painting - namely,...
"The outstanding preserved example of early Sumerian temple architecture is the 5,000-year-old White Temple at Uruk, the home of Gilgamesh. Usually only the foundations of early Mesopotamian temples can still be recognized. The White Temple is...
Architecture; Buildings; Temples; Religious facilities; Walls; Drawings; Reconstructions; Architectural drawings
Reconstruction drawing (after S.E. Piggott). "The outstanding preserved example of early Sumerian temple architecture is the 5,000-year-old White Temple at Uruk, the home of Gilgamesh. Usually only the foundations of early Mesopotamian temples...
"For their palace walls the Assyrian kings commissioned extensive series of narrative reliefs exalting royal power and piety. The sculptures record not only battlefield victories but also the slaying of wild animals. […] The degree of...
With the Middle Kingdom mortuary temple of Mentuhotep II at left; "If the most impressive monuments of the Old Kingdom are its pyramids, those of the New Kingdom are its grandiose temples, often built to honor pharaohs and queens, as well as...
"Just inside the Lion Gate, [Heinrich] Schliemann uncovered what archaeologists now designate as Grave Circle A. It predates the Lion Gate and the walls of Mycenae by some three centuries. Grave Circle A encloses six deep shafts that had...
Sculpture; Coins; Money; Medals; Jewelry; Necklaces; Goldwork; Metalwork; Effigies; Portraits; Men; Emperors; Rulers; People associated with politics & government; Upper class; Military officers; Military personnel; People associated with...
"In this medallion, a gold coin is set within the center of a gold disc. A ring for hanging it projects from the top. The coin is a double solidus with an imperial effigy on the front [...]. In bust view, the emperor is seen in left profile,...
"The crepis of the Philippeion, the circular building erected by the kings of Macedonia, ready for the restoration of three of its columns and part of the epistyle. Two blocks of the crepis were returned from the Museums in Berlin to which...