Wassmann Foundation
@wassmannfoundation.bsky.social
Art historian Jeff Wassmann surveys the era of the pioneering, if apocryphal, Leipzig modernist and sewerage engineer Johann Dieter Wassmann (1841-1898).
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Johann_Dieter_Wassmann
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Johann_Dieter_Wassmann
Pinned
“The only true voyage of discovery . . . would be not to visit strange lands, but to possess other eyes, to behold the universe through the eyes of another, of a hundred others, to behold the hundred universes that each of them beholds, that each of them is.”
—Marcel Proust
—Marcel Proust
“While it is not fundamentally new that we can create fake photos, Farid said, we can now ‘do it at a speed and a scale and a level of sophistication’ as never before.”
@rijksmuseum.bsky.social
www.nytimes.com/2026/02/04/a...
@rijksmuseum.bsky.social
www.nytimes.com/2026/02/04/a...
A.I. Loves Fake Images. But They’ve Been a Thing Since Photography Began.
www.nytimes.com
February 6, 2026 at 8:15 AM
“While it is not fundamentally new that we can create fake photos, Farid said, we can now ‘do it at a speed and a scale and a level of sophistication’ as never before.”
@rijksmuseum.bsky.social
www.nytimes.com/2026/02/04/a...
@rijksmuseum.bsky.social
www.nytimes.com/2026/02/04/a...
"Cultural institutions have long had space on their walls for political leaders and wealthy patrons, but in the Cohen Building murals, it's ordinary American workers that star."
@kelseyables.bsky.social
@washingtonpost.com
www.washingtonpost.com/entertainmen...
@kelseyables.bsky.social
@washingtonpost.com
www.washingtonpost.com/entertainmen...
The stunning art trove hidden in a D.C. building marked by Trump for disposal
Packed with frescoes, paintings and reliefs, the federal government’s Cohen Building has been called “the Sistine Chapel of the New Deal.” Advocates fear these works could be at risk.
www.washingtonpost.com
January 22, 2026 at 4:42 PM
"Cultural institutions have long had space on their walls for political leaders and wealthy patrons, but in the Cohen Building murals, it's ordinary American workers that star."
@kelseyables.bsky.social
@washingtonpost.com
www.washingtonpost.com/entertainmen...
@kelseyables.bsky.social
@washingtonpost.com
www.washingtonpost.com/entertainmen...
Reposted by Wassmann Foundation
“In art history, meaning shifts over time, even if it was created for a specific intent or commissioned.... It is proof that, at some point, the power of the painting has nothing to do with the literal intent.” –Michael Berryhill
Beer With a Painter: Michael Berryhill
“You can’t think your way through a painting,” the artist said during our conversation at his home studio in the Catskills. “You can only act, mark, or feel your way through.”
hyperallergic.com
January 17, 2026 at 5:42 PM
“In art history, meaning shifts over time, even if it was created for a specific intent or commissioned.... It is proof that, at some point, the power of the painting has nothing to do with the literal intent.” –Michael Berryhill
George Orwell Diary
11 January 1939
"One egg."
(Orwell often recorded the egg count from his chickens, and sometimes not much else.)
11 January 1939
"One egg."
(Orwell often recorded the egg count from his chickens, and sometimes not much else.)
January 11, 2026 at 2:57 PM
George Orwell Diary
11 January 1939
"One egg."
(Orwell often recorded the egg count from his chickens, and sometimes not much else.)
11 January 1939
"One egg."
(Orwell often recorded the egg count from his chickens, and sometimes not much else.)
"If someone grew up with a Jackson Pollock hanging above her bed... and that painting was subsequently stolen from her family home, how would she feel about the resulting absence?"
—Sebastian Smee
www.washingtonpost.com/entertainmen...
—Sebastian Smee
www.washingtonpost.com/entertainmen...
The hunt for a stolen Jackson Pollock — and answers to a family’s pain
Decades after a brazen art theft drove Merry White’s father to despair, federal agents closed in on one last missing work. For White, the search is personal.
www.washingtonpost.com
January 10, 2026 at 2:53 PM
"If someone grew up with a Jackson Pollock hanging above her bed... and that painting was subsequently stolen from her family home, how would she feel about the resulting absence?"
—Sebastian Smee
www.washingtonpost.com/entertainmen...
—Sebastian Smee
www.washingtonpost.com/entertainmen...
“Marshall can be solemn, portentous, improbable, joyous and slyly funny, sometimes within the space of a single canvas, mixing registers and messages to the extent that his paintings escape any simple, narrative reading.”
The Royal Academy’s Kerry James Marshall show confirms that this strangest of contemporary painters has more than earned his place in the art historical canon, writes Digby Warde-Aldam
Kerry James Marshall rewrites the rules of history painting
The artist’s retrospective at the Royal Academy of Arts in London confirms the place of this strangest of contemporary painters in the canon, writes Digby Warde-Aldam
buff.ly
January 5, 2026 at 5:21 AM
“Marshall can be solemn, portentous, improbable, joyous and slyly funny, sometimes within the space of a single canvas, mixing registers and messages to the extent that his paintings escape any simple, narrative reading.”
“In an ultimate act of appreciation for the artist's practice, The House on Utopia Parkway itself becomes a shadow box, viewed only through the windows of Gagosian's softly lit storefront.”
@surrhealism.bsky.social
@surrhealism.bsky.social
Joseph Cornell longed for Paris, but ultimately never visited. A new devotional exhibition curated by Wes Anderson and Jasper Sharp recreates the late artist’s workspace at Gagosian gallery’s storefront in the city of love. buff.ly/Uf5ae5f
January 1, 2026 at 2:45 PM
“In an ultimate act of appreciation for the artist's practice, The House on Utopia Parkway itself becomes a shadow box, viewed only through the windows of Gagosian's softly lit storefront.”
@surrhealism.bsky.social
@surrhealism.bsky.social
“The Royal Academy galleries are the perfect venue for his paintings. Not only do they match the architecture’s scale, they resonate with a level of ambition that was once expected from figurative paintings but was long ago disavowed.”
www.washingtonpost.com/entertainmen...
www.washingtonpost.com/entertainmen...
Review | To see America’s greatest living painter, you’ll have to cross the pond
A Kerry James Marshall retrospective traveling across Europe reveals the extraordinary power of his art.
www.washingtonpost.com
December 28, 2025 at 7:23 AM
“The Royal Academy galleries are the perfect venue for his paintings. Not only do they match the architecture’s scale, they resonate with a level of ambition that was once expected from figurative paintings but was long ago disavowed.”
www.washingtonpost.com/entertainmen...
www.washingtonpost.com/entertainmen...
“These are substantial, engaging, compelling works, but they don’t feel particularly connected to the longer history of surrealism and its origins in violence, dreams and desire.” @philipkennicott.bsky.social
“Throughout much of the exhibition, you can hear a slightly befuddled, fuzzy-thinking voice lost in a marijuana fog, expressing all the reductionist, simpleminded political truths of the age.”
www.washingtonpost.com/entertainmen...
www.washingtonpost.com/entertainmen...
Review | It’s almost surreal how disappointing this surrealism show is
The Whitney Museum of American Art’s ambitious effort to rewrite art history is largely a grab bag of disparate stuff.
www.washingtonpost.com
December 25, 2025 at 5:13 AM
“These are substantial, engaging, compelling works, but they don’t feel particularly connected to the longer history of surrealism and its origins in violence, dreams and desire.” @philipkennicott.bsky.social
“Throughout much of the exhibition, you can hear a slightly befuddled, fuzzy-thinking voice lost in a marijuana fog, expressing all the reductionist, simpleminded political truths of the age.”
www.washingtonpost.com/entertainmen...
www.washingtonpost.com/entertainmen...
Review | It’s almost surreal how disappointing this surrealism show is
The Whitney Museum of American Art’s ambitious effort to rewrite art history is largely a grab bag of disparate stuff.
www.washingtonpost.com
December 24, 2025 at 5:49 PM
“Throughout much of the exhibition, you can hear a slightly befuddled, fuzzy-thinking voice lost in a marijuana fog, expressing all the reductionist, simpleminded political truths of the age.”
www.washingtonpost.com/entertainmen...
www.washingtonpost.com/entertainmen...
Reposted by Wassmann Foundation
‘Open his sketchbooks and Constable’s preoccupation with ploughs, carts and barges is impossible to ignore.’ Susan Owens explores how the artist’s brush with his family’s agricultural business made him the most practically minded landscape painter of his time
How Constable ploughed his own furrow
The painter abandoned his father's corn business to pursue his artistic training – but it was his real agricultural knowledge that set him apart from his contemporaries
buff.ly
December 22, 2025 at 7:00 AM
‘Open his sketchbooks and Constable’s preoccupation with ploughs, carts and barges is impossible to ignore.’ Susan Owens explores how the artist’s brush with his family’s agricultural business made him the most practically minded landscape painter of his time
Turner is regarded as a singular genius, but looking at his social and artistic milieu also reveals him as a product of his time.
‘Moving through the exhibition, the viewer feels distinctions between Turner and his contemporaries hardening and softening as new comparisons are introduced.’ Matthew Kerr on how to see Turner more clearly
Clearing the fog around Turner
Turner is regarded as a singular genius, but looking at his social and artistic milieu also reveals him as a product of his time, writes Matthew Kerr
buff.ly
December 17, 2025 at 5:15 AM
Turner is regarded as a singular genius, but looking at his social and artistic milieu also reveals him as a product of his time.
December 11, 2025 at 11:49 AM
For Martin Parr, ‘Showing Things as They Are’ Was Art www.nytimes.com/2025/12/08/a...
For Martin Parr, ‘Showing Things as They Are’ Was Art
www.nytimes.com
December 8, 2025 at 9:23 PM
For Martin Parr, ‘Showing Things as They Are’ Was Art www.nytimes.com/2025/12/08/a...
Reposted by Wassmann Foundation
“Berlin—as a temporary refuge for bohemians, and for those who need it even more—is over.”
Diedrich Diederichsen
Diedrich Diederichsen
The number of places in the world where someone can earn a living making serious-minded fine art has shrunk drastically—now the number of places where people go to prison for rigorous creative action is rising at an alarming speed. How did that happen? @artforum.com www.artforum.com/features/yea...
The War on Bohemia
Critic Diedrich Diederichsen on political repression and precarity in the arts sector.
www.artforum.com
December 5, 2025 at 12:42 AM
“Berlin—as a temporary refuge for bohemians, and for those who need it even more—is over.”
Diedrich Diederichsen
Diedrich Diederichsen
“Berlin—as a temporary refuge for bohemians, and for those who need it even more—is over.”
Diedrich Diederichsen
Diedrich Diederichsen
The number of places in the world where someone can earn a living making serious-minded fine art has shrunk drastically—now the number of places where people go to prison for rigorous creative action is rising at an alarming speed. How did that happen? @artforum.com www.artforum.com/features/yea...
The War on Bohemia
Critic Diedrich Diederichsen on political repression and precarity in the arts sector.
www.artforum.com
December 5, 2025 at 12:42 AM
“Berlin—as a temporary refuge for bohemians, and for those who need it even more—is over.”
Diedrich Diederichsen
Diedrich Diederichsen
The number of places in the world where someone can earn a living making serious-minded fine art has shrunk drastically—now the number of places where people go to prison for rigorous creative action is rising at an alarming speed. How did that happen? @artforum.com www.artforum.com/features/yea...
The War on Bohemia
Critic Diedrich Diederichsen on political repression and precarity in the arts sector.
www.artforum.com
December 4, 2025 at 1:05 PM
The number of places in the world where someone can earn a living making serious-minded fine art has shrunk drastically—now the number of places where people go to prison for rigorous creative action is rising at an alarming speed. How did that happen? @artforum.com www.artforum.com/features/yea...
Frankfurt to Dubai along the northern border of Iraq and Iran, 13 hours on to Melbourne and nearly the same bleary-eyed in the darkroom.
November 30, 2025 at 11:27 AM
Frankfurt to Dubai along the northern border of Iraq and Iran, 13 hours on to Melbourne and nearly the same bleary-eyed in the darkroom.
A rainy morning in Kassel but the sun shineth on Joseph Beuys’ ‘7000 Eichen’. Beuys ambition to plant 7000 oaks, each paired with a basalt stone, began with Documenta 7 in 1982. 40 years on, Beuys’ legacy of ‘social sculpture’ feels more relevant than ever.
November 17, 2025 at 12:55 PM
A rainy morning in Kassel but the sun shineth on Joseph Beuys’ ‘7000 Eichen’. Beuys ambition to plant 7000 oaks, each paired with a basalt stone, began with Documenta 7 in 1982. 40 years on, Beuys’ legacy of ‘social sculpture’ feels more relevant than ever.
Mushrooms in the Gespensterwald Nienhagen 🍄🟫
(that’s the Baltic peeking through on the left).
(that’s the Baltic peeking through on the left).
November 13, 2025 at 4:30 PM
Mushrooms in the Gespensterwald Nienhagen 🍄🟫
(that’s the Baltic peeking through on the left).
(that’s the Baltic peeking through on the left).
An acorn-fed pig is often described as an olive tree with legs. The fat is rich in healthy oleic acid, similar to that found in olive oil, making the olive tree a fair comparison.
Ivernack, Mecklenburg
Ivernack, Mecklenburg
November 8, 2025 at 5:02 PM
An acorn-fed pig is often described as an olive tree with legs. The fat is rich in healthy oleic acid, similar to that found in olive oil, making the olive tree a fair comparison.
Ivernack, Mecklenburg
Ivernack, Mecklenburg
Reposted by Wassmann Foundation
Wes Anderson will recreate Joseph Cornell’s New York studio in Paris this Christmas, with a dozen iconic shadow boxes displayed behind glass.
buff.ly/7wQ6tin
buff.ly/7wQ6tin
November 6, 2025 at 6:45 PM
Wes Anderson will recreate Joseph Cornell’s New York studio in Paris this Christmas, with a dozen iconic shadow boxes displayed behind glass.
buff.ly/7wQ6tin
buff.ly/7wQ6tin
Twelve-o’clock noon in the Jacobskirche Weimar bell tower.
October 31, 2025 at 4:54 PM
Twelve-o’clock noon in the Jacobskirche Weimar bell tower.
Back in Weimar… of course, Weimar.
October 30, 2025 at 10:18 AM
Back in Weimar… of course, Weimar.
‘War-ravaged’ Portland airport a couple weeks ago.
SOUND UP (the pianist singing I Can’t Tell You Why by The Eagles is pretty good… and apropos.)
SOUND UP (the pianist singing I Can’t Tell You Why by The Eagles is pretty good… and apropos.)
September 28, 2025 at 1:11 PM
‘War-ravaged’ Portland airport a couple weeks ago.
SOUND UP (the pianist singing I Can’t Tell You Why by The Eagles is pretty good… and apropos.)
SOUND UP (the pianist singing I Can’t Tell You Why by The Eagles is pretty good… and apropos.)