The art: Kerry James Marshall, Our Town, 1995.
The news: “‘Black Eden,’ the Town that Segregation Built,” by Amy Robinson for NPR News.
The source: Collection of Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art, Bentonville, Ark.
Bonus: Don’t miss what Marshall said to Art21 about Our Town.
The art: Charles Ray, Fall ‘91, 1992.
The news: “Why Women Still Can’t Have It All,” by Anne-Marie Slaughter on The Atlantic and as discussed on NPR’s Fresh Air.
The source: Collection of the Broad Art Foundation, Santa Monica, Calif.
The art: Deborah Luster, Ebony Ellis from the “One Big Self: Prisoners of Louisiana” project, 1998.
The news: “How Louisiana Became the World’s Prison Capital,” on NPR’s Fresh Air.
The source: Collection of the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art. More information at DeborahLuster.com.
The art: Lewis Baltz, Organisation Europénne pour la Recherche Nucléaire (CERN), Geneva, 1989-1991.
The news: Today’s guest on NPR’s “Fresh Air” is Andrew Blum, whose new book, “Tubes,” explores the physical infrastructure that enables us to store and share data.
The source: From the first German retrospective of Baltz’s work, presented earlier this year at the Kunstmuseum Bonn.
The art: Kehinde Wiley, Willem van Heythuysen, 2006.
The news: “Baratunde Thurston Explains How to be Black,” on NPR’s Fresh Air. Thurston is the director of digital at The Onion and the author of the new book, “How to Be Black.”
The source: Collection of the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, Richmond.
Note: Wiley’s paintings, which put contemporary sitters in poses borrowed from Old Master paintings, play with questions of self-identity and projected identity in ways that aren’t that different from Thurston’s comedy…
The art: Wang Guangyi, Great Castigation Series: Coca-Cola, 1993.
The news: “China’s Businesses Boom, But Its Brands Don’t,” by Rob Gifford for NPR’s Morning Edition.
The source: Included in the 1998 exhibition “New Chinese Art: Inside Out” at the Asia Society, New York and PS1, New York.
The art: Bruce Nauman, Floating Room (Light Outside, Dark Inside), 1972. The work is made of painted wallboard, wood, and fluorescent light fixtures. It’s 10 x 16 x 16 feet; and is suspended six inches above the floor.
The news: “The ‘Top Secret America’ Created After Sept. 11,” on NPR’s Fresh Air. Terry Gross interviews Dana Priest, the co-author of “Top Secret America: The Rise of the New Security State.” The reporting done by Priest and co-author William Arkin was also the subject of this PBS Frontline program.
The source: Collection of the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York.
The art: Matt Johnson, Breadface, 2004. The work is made of cast plastic and oil paint.
The news: This week NPR’s Fresh Air is featuring a week of programs on food. Food is one of Western art’s classic subjects, so MAN will feature a special food post each day. Today: Slices of bread. Think of them as post-war American art’s take on the classic, food-packed Dutch or French still-life. For more on the subject — and some of the artworks featured here today, see this post on Modern Art Notes and a smart response from Kriston Capps.
The source: Hammer Museum, which featured Breadface in the 2005 exhibition “Thing: New Sculptures from Los Angeles.” The show was curated by James Elaine, Aimee Chang and Christopher Miles.
Note: An apparent, er, cousin of Breadface appeared in a Nissan commercial the year after the work was on view at the Hammer…
The art: Wayne Thiebaud, Peanut Butter Sandwich, 2009. See a great detail here.
The news: This week NPR’s Fresh Air is featuring a week of programs on food.Food is one of Western art’s classic subjects, so MAN will feature a special food post each day. Today: Slices of bread. Think of them as post-war American art’s take on the classic, food-packed Dutch or French still-life. For more on the subject — and some of the artworks featured here today, see this post on Modern Art Notes and a smart response from Kriston Capps.
The source: Paul Thiebaud Gallery.
The art: Jasper Johns, Bread, 1969. The work is a lead relief in an edition of 60, plus 10 artists’ proofs. It’s 23 inches by 17 inches.
The news: This week NPR’s Fresh Air is featuring a week of programs on food.Food is one of Western art’s classic subjects, so MAN will feature a special food post each day. Today: Slices of bread. Think of them as post-war American art’s take on the classic, food-packed Dutch or French still-life. For more on the subject — and some of the artworks featured here today, see this post on Modern Art Notes and a smart response from Kriston Capps.
The source: Collection of many museums, including the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco, the National Gallery of Art, Washington, National Gallery of Australia, Canberra and the Sheldon Museum of Art, Lincoln, Nebraska.
The art: James Rosenquist, White Bread, 1964.
The news: This week NPR’s Fresh Air is featuring a week of programs on food. Food is one of Western art’s classic subjects, so MAN will feature a special food post each day. Today: Slices of bread. Think of them as post-war American art’s take on the classic, food-packed Dutch or French still-life. For more on the subject — and some of the artworks featured here today, see this post on Modern Art Notes and a smart response from Kriston Capps.
The source: Collection of the National Gallery of Art, Washington.
The art: Abraham van Beyeren, Banquet Still Life, 1667.
The news: This week NPR’s Fresh Air is featuring a week of programs on food. Food is one of Western art’s classic subjects, so MAN will feature a special food post each day.
The source: Collection of the Los Angeles County Museum of Art.
Special note: LACMA makes many images of artworks in its collection available as high-resolution images free of copyright restrictions. This means you can make a t-shirt from this image and sell it, distribute it to your students, or use it in literally any other way you choose. Click here to see — or use! — the high-resolution image of this van Beyeren.
The art: Imogen Cunningham, Banana Plant, c.1929.
The news: It’s food week on NPR’s Fresh Air, so I’m celebrating one of my favorite public radio programs by featuring art that shows artists’ fascination with Fresh Air’s topics this week. Today’s program features Dan Koeppel, author of “Banana: The Fate of the Fruit That Changed the World.”
The source: Collection of the George Eastman House, Rochester, NY.
The art: Harold Edgerton, Bullet through Banana, 1964, printed 1965.
The news: It’s food week on NPR’s Fresh Air, so I’m celebrating one of my favorite public radio programs by featuring art that shows artists’ fascination with Fresh Air’s topics this week. Today’s program will be all about bananas.
The source: Collection of the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, San Francisco Museum of Modern Art.
The art: Henri Matisse, Still Life with Oysters, 1940.
The news: This week NPR’s Fresh Air is featuring a week of programs on food. Food is one of Western art’s classic subjects, so MAN will feature a special food post each day.
The source: Collection of Kunstmuseum Basel.
