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firstamendmentgirl.bsky.social
First Amendment Girl
@firstamendmentgirl.bsky.social
1.8K followers 1.5K following 3K posts
Retired librarian, lifelong Democrat, 2nd Wave Feminist, living in Land of Enchantment. Art soothes my political anxiety.
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firstamendmentgirl.bsky.social
Standing Dignitary, Precolumbian, c. 600-1000, Kimbell Art Museum (Fort Worth, TX)

#ArtHistory #WariCulture

For more on Wari culture, see: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wari_cu...
This rare Wari freestanding figurine composed of intricate and densely patterned inlays of mother-of-pearl, purple and orange spondylus shell, mussel shell, turquoise, pyrite, greenstone, lapis lazuli, and silver (for the headdress) on a wood matrix. The torso is cloaked in a long ceremonial tunic decorated in an interlocking tapestry weave with three rows of a simplified and abstracted zoomorphic motif, which can be read as feline (jaguar or puma) heads or as standing llamas. The wearing of a court tapestry tunic identified one's rank in the Wari empire, and the emphasis on the elaborateness of this costume suggests that the figure represented was a dignitary of some status. In life, tunics were worn as ceremonial garb, and in death they were placed over the wearer's mummy bale. In shell and stone inlay, the complex textile patterns of the tunic are inevitably simplified. The corpus of Wari inlaid material is very small. This is the only known example of a freestanding figurine entirely covered in the inlaid shell technique. The refined craftsmanship and wide range of materials used in its manufacture indicate the presence in Wari society of an elite that could afford and appreciate such a luxury item, which probably served to convey the social status of the owner. In this piece, the greenstone arms are drilled at each shoulder, possibly for suspension as a pendant.
December 3, 2025 at 3:49 PM
firstamendmentgirl.bsky.social
Pink Mississippi by Jack Tworkov, 1954, The Rockefeller University Collection (New York City, NY)

#ArtHistory #ContemporaryArt #AbstractExpressionism
December 3, 2025 at 1:03 AM
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Bridges across the Seine at Asnières by Vincent van Gogh, 1887, Van Gogh Museum (Amsterdam, Netherlands)

#ArtHistory #ModernArt #NeoImpressionism
This painting depicts a bustling scene along the Seine River at Asnières, a suburb of Paris. It shows two bridges, one railway bridge and one road bridge, with boats and figures populating the river and its banks. The composition is characterized by van Gogh's use of vibrant colors and energetic brushstrokes, capturing the movement and atmosphere of the industrial landscape. The painting is notable for its high horizon line and flattened perspective, creating a sense of immediacy and dynamism. It's one of a series of paintings van Gogh made of the Seine Asnières during his time living with his brother Theo in Paris. This work reflects the influence of Impressionism and Post-Impressionism and marks a transition in his style, moving away from the darker, more realistic Dutch paintings of his earlier career towards a brighter palette and more expressive brushwork. It predates his move to Arles and the development of his signature style. The painting is part of a broader movement of artists depicting modern life and industrial landscapes.
December 2, 2025 at 4:28 PM
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Rainbow Shabbat by Judy Chicago, 1992, Brooklyn Museum (Brooklyn, NY)

#ArtHistory #ContemporaryArt #FeministArt
"Rainbow Shabbat" is the concluding image in "The Holocaust Project: From Darkness into Light," a traveling exhibition that Chicago created in collaboration with her husband, the photographer Donald Woodman. Their eight-year collaboration on this project began in 1985 as a journey through Europe and the Middle East to explore the meaning of the Holocaust in a contemporary context. It was a journey of self-discovery through which Chicago came to understand the strength of her Jewish identity and its influence on her ideas about the artist’s role and the need to create art that aims to transform the world. It was also a journey into darkness that was, needless to say, immensely disturbing on many levels. The result was an exhibition that combined painting and photography, with additional work in tapestry and glass by selected artisans. To conclude the exhibition, Chicago wanted an image of hope, a vision for a future in which people are joined together across differences in age, gender, race, faith and culture to live in harmony with one another and the natural world. She chose to represent this vision in a large stained glass installation, "Rainbow Shabbat: A Vision for the Future," because in her words, "Light is Life." The idea for the Rainbow Shabbat as an image and message of hope came to Chicago during a memorable Shabbat dinner at the home of friends during a visit she and Woodman made to Israel. As she later wrote: "There were twelve people there: men and women from four different countries, of different ages, and mostly strangers. We all went around the table and told stories, and everyone listened for hours. For me the evening brought up not just feelings about my childhood but also the incredibly warm moments Donald and I had shared with Jews around the world. Being welcomed into Jewish homes during our travels gave us a profound sense of a global community and provided me with an idea for the last image of the project, an image of optimism and hope."
December 2, 2025 at 12:57 AM
firstamendmentgirl.bsky.social
The Negotiations at Angoulême by Peter Paul Rubens, 1621, Louvre Museum (Paris, France)

#ArtHistory #Baroque
This painting depicts the negotiations between Marie de Medici, the Queen Mother of France, and the Huguenot leader Benjamin de Rohan, Duke of Soubise, at Angoulême in 1621. The scene shows the signing of the Peace of Angoulême, which temporarily ended the Huguenot rebellions. Rubens portrays the event with a sense of grandeur and diplomatic formality, emphasizing the power and authority of the Queen Mother while also acknowledging the importance of the Huguenot representatives. The composition is dynamic, with figures arranged in a complex interplay of gestures and gazes, conveying the tension and complexity of the negotiations. The rich colors and dramatic lighting are characteristic of Rubens' Baroque style.
December 1, 2025 at 3:13 PM
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Julie Daydreaming by Berthe Morisot, 1890, Private Collection

#ArtHistory #ModernArt #Impressionism
This painting depicts a young girl, Julie Manet (Morisot's niece), seated and lost thought. She is shown in a three-quarter view, her gaze directed downwards and slightly to the side, suggesting a private reverie. The composition is characterized by soft, diffused light and a delicate palette of pastel colors, primarily blues, pinks, and whites. The background is loosely rendered, hinting at an interior space without providing specific details, which further emphasizes she girl's introspective state. The brushwork is fluid and impressionistic, capturing a fleeting moment of quiet contemplation. Julie Daydreaming was created during late Impressionist period, a time when artists were increasingly focused on capturing subjective experiences and the effects of light and atmosphere. Morisot, a key figure in the Impressionist movement, moved towards more intimate and personal style in her later works, focusing on domestic scenes and portraits of women and children. This painting reflects the shift away from the strict realism of earlier art towards a more expressive and psychological portrayal of the subject.
December 1, 2025 at 1:05 AM
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Running Wild by Logan Maxwell Hagege

#ArtHistory #ContemporaryArt #StylizedRealism

For more on this artist, see www.loganmaxwellhagege.com
November 30, 2025 at 4:52 PM
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Skeletons Warming Themselves by James Ensor, 1889, Kimbell Art Museum (Fort Worth, TX)

#ArtHistory #ModernArt #Expressionism #Symbolism
Ensor was one of the most original painters of the late 19th century. Populated with masks and skeletons, his macabre images are morbid commentaries on the human condition, his hometown of Ostend on the North Sea, Belgian history, and his own mortality. Human bones were regularly uncovered in Ostend well into the 20th century, residue the carnage there during early 17th-century warfare, and Ensor retained childhood memories of their exhumation. In 1888 he made a little etching of himself as a reclining skeleton slippers, entitled My Portrait in 1960 (that is, at age 100). Belonging to a group of closely related paintings from the late 1880s, the enigmatic "Skeletons Warming Themselves" is among the artist's masterpieces. He has placed three dressed-up skeletons in foreground around a stove on which is written "Pas de feu" and under it "en trouverez vous demain?" - "No fire. Will you find any tomorrow?" The skeletons are accompanied by a palette and brush, a violin, and a lamp. Presumably Ensor intended these items to symbolize art. music, and literature. If so, the probable implication is that artistic inspiration, or patronage to support it has expired. Understood as a scene in an artist's studio, "Skeletons Warming Themselves" resembles a vignette from the popular medieval and early Renaissance print cycles of the Dance Of Death, each print portraying skeletons as an allegorical comment on the vanities of a particular profession or social type.
November 30, 2025 at 12:54 AM
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Fishing Port by Maurice de Vlaminck, 1911, Private Collection

#ArtHistory #ModernArt #PostImpressionism
Vlaminck's "Fishing Port" depicts a bustling harbor scene characterized by bold, expressive brushstrokes and a vibrant, almost Fauvist color palette. The painting focuses on the energy of the port, with boats clustered together, figures working, and a sense of lively activity. The composition is dynamic, with strong diagonals and a somewhat flattened perspective, emphasizing the visual impact over realistic representation. The colors are intense and often non-naturalistic, used to convey emotion and atmosphere rather than accurate depiction. The work exemplifies Vlaminck's approach to landscape painting, prioritizing subjective experience and expressive power.
November 29, 2025 at 3:01 PM
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Veronica Veronese by Dante Gabriel Rossetti, 1872, Delaware Art Museum (Wilmington, DE

#ArtHistory #ModernArt #PreRaphaeliteBrotherhood
Interior. Seated female figure facing right.Green dress, red hair, red lips. Lush green velvet dress with feathered purse at waistband. Figure strokes the strings of a violin hanging on the wall with her left hand while holding the bow in her right. Arms resting upon a table. Yellow flowers on and beneath table. Yellow canary in upper left corner.
November 29, 2025 at 1:15 AM
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Mosaic of a Double-Headed Serpent, Artist Not Known, 1400, British Museum (London, UK)

#ArtHistory #AztecArt #PostClassicPeriod

For more on this piece see: www.bmimages.com/preview.asp?...
The mosaic dates to the Postclassic period of Mesoamerican art (approximately 900-1521), specifically the Aztec Empire. It presents a high point in Aztec craftsmanship and artistic expression, preceding the Spanish conquest. It is representative of the sophisticated artistic traditions that flourished in Central Mexico before European contact, and stands alongside other examples of Aztec featherwork, sculpture, and monumental architecture. It reflects a continuation of earlier Mesoamerican artistic traditions, particularly those of the Olmec and Maya civilizations, but with a distinct Aztec style.
November 28, 2025 at 3:14 PM
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Slave Ship (Slavers Throwing Overboard the Dead and Dying, Typhoon Coming On) by J.M.W. Turner, 1840, Museum of Fine Arts, Boston (Boston, MA)

#ArtHistory #Romanticism
At once beautiful and horrific, Slave Ship seduces the eye with its striking pinks, purples, blues, and yellows within layers upon layers of paint, and then strikes the viewer with a scene of unspeakable brutality. At lower right, an enchained limb is devoured by nightmarish fish. In the center, hands grasp for the surface in a futile attempt to stay above the water. Turner asks viewers not just to look but to bear witness to slavery’s horror; its drowning victims, and the cold cruelty of the enslavers who sail away into the night. The painting refers to a notorious incident aboard the Zong, a British ship whose captain forced 133 Africans overboard in 1781 to collect insurance money for those “lost at sea.”
November 27, 2025 at 2:43 PM
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Perspective with a Portico by Canaletto, 1765, Galleria dell'Accademia (Venice, Italy)

#ArtHistory #Rococo
The artwork is a masterful depiction of an architectural scene, characterized by grand columns and an elevated portico leading to an intricate courtyard. The artist employs a meticulous application of light and shadow, accentuating the three-dimensional depth of the structure. The interplay of architectural elements and the detailed foreground figures convey a dynamic interplay of perspective, drawing the observer’s gaze into the scene. The painting’s composition, filled with ornate detailing and delicate brushwork, epitomizes the elegance and grandeur synonymous with the Rococo era.
November 27, 2025 at 1:08 AM
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Grand Hotel Semiramis by Joseph Cornell, 1951, Private Collection

#ArtHistory #ContemporaryArt #Surrealism #Assemblage
This shadow box evokes a nostalgic and melancholic atmosphere. It features a faded postcard of the Grand Hotel Semiramis n Cairo, Egypt, set within a wooden box. Cornell layered the postcard with other elements, including a small ball of twine, a printed image of a dancer, and fragments of sheet music. The box is painted a deep blue, enhancing the sense of mystery and distance. The arrangement suggests a fragmented memory or a dreamlike recollection of a past journey or experience. The overall effect is one of quiet contemplation and longing.
November 26, 2025 at 3:18 PM
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Italo-American Celebration, Washington Square by William James Glackens, c. 1912, Museum of Fine Arts, Boston (Boston, MA)

#ArtHistory #ModernArt #Impressionism #AmericanImpressionism

For more on this painting, see: collections.mfa.org/objects/3364...
November 26, 2025 at 1:01 AM
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York Harbor, Coast of Maine by Martin Johnson Heade, 1877, The Art Institute of Chicago (Chicago, IL)

#ArtHistory #ModernArt #Luminism
This painting represents Heade’s mature style from the 1870s and contains many of the compositional elements that have led modern scholars to celebrate the artist as a proponent of Luminism. A 20th-century term, Luminism has consistently been linked to the 19th-century philosophical doctrine of transcendentalism. Stylistically, it is characterized by a horizontal format; tight, invisible brushwork; and pervasive light emanating from an unseen source. Together these qualities embody the intellectual spirit of the American writer and philosopher Ralph Waldo Emerson, who found transcendental unity in the contemplation of nature’s stillness.
November 25, 2025 at 2:56 PM
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Woman in a Striped Armchair by Pablo Picasso, 1941, Currier Museum of Art (Manchester, NH)

#ArtHistory #ModernArt #Cubism ##Surrealism
This painting depicts a woman seated in a boldly patterned armchair. The figure is rendered in a Cubist style, characterized by fragmented forms and multiple perspectives. The woman's body is broken down into geometric shapes, and her features are stylized rather than realistically portrayed. The armchair itself is a dominant element, with strong vertical and horizontal lines that contrast with the curves of the figure. The color palette is relatively subdued, with blues, greens, and browns predominating, punctuated by the vibrant stripes of the chair. The overall effect is one of dynamic tension and visual complexity. The artwork reflects a post-war societal shift, with a renewed focus on domesticity and the role of women. While not explicitly a commentary on these themes, the depiction of a woman in a domestic setting (the armchair) can be interpreted within this context. The painting also subtly addresses the changing perceptions of the female form in art, moving away from traditional representations towards more fragmented and abstract portrayal.
November 25, 2025 at 1:22 AM
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Bridge over the Stour by Childe Hassam, 1897, Philbrook Museum of Art (Tulsa, OK)

#ArtHistory #ModernArt #Impressionism #AmericanImpressionism
November 24, 2025 at 3:29 PM
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Extra Paper by Archibald Motley, 1946, DuSable Museum Of African American History (Chicago, IL)

#ArtHistory #ModernArt #ArtDeco
Bustling street scene featuring a large group of people on a red brick surface. A streetlamp at left bears a yellow street sign marked "STATE." In the foreground, a boy in front of a newsstand hands a newspaper to a man in a beige suit. A blonde woman in a short green dress and red heels stands behind him, opening her purse. Behind them, a police officer in a blue uniform directs traffic, including a black car and several pedestrians. In the background, a red trolley marked "STATE" passes by, with several passengers visible through its windows. Motley's signature appears in the painting's lower left-hand corner.
November 24, 2025 at 2:01 AM
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Absheron Still Life by Sattar Bahlulzade, 1973, Azerbaijan State Museum of Art (Baku, Azerbaijan)

#ArtHistory #ContemporaryArt #NeoImpressionism
Bahlulzade's "Absheron Still Life" is a vibrant and expressive oil painting depicting a collection of everyday objects - a teapot, fruit, and a patterned tablecloth - set against a backdrop suggestive of Absheron Peninsula in Azerbaijan. The painting is characterized by its bold colors, dynamic brushstrokes, and a sense of warmth and intimacy. Bahlulzade masterfully uses light and shadow to create depth and texture, imbuing the still life with a lively and almost a celebratory atmosphere. The composition is not merely a representation of objects, but a reflection of the artist's emotional connection to his homeland and its simple pleasures. Bahlulzade was a key figure in Azerbaijani modernism, and his work emerged during a period of significant artistic experimentation and national identity formation within the Soviet Union. His still lifes, while rooted in traditional genres, demonstrate a move towards expressive color and form, aligning with broader trends in post-impressionism and fauvism. He bridged the gap between traditional Azerbaijani art and modern European styles. The 1960s in Azerbaijan saw a 'severe style' art, but Bahlulzade's work, while not directly opposing it, offered a more lyrical and colorful alternative.
November 23, 2025 at 4:02 PM
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Woman (Opera Singer) by Joan Miro, 1934, Museum of Modern Art (New York City, NY)

#ArtHistory #ContemporaryArt #Surrealism
November 22, 2025 at 2:47 PM
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944 Blue Blues by Friedensreich Hundertwasser, 1994, KunstHausWien (Vienna, Austria)

#ArtHistory #ContemporaryArt #Transautomatism
"944 Blue Blues" is a vibrant and complex painting characteristic of Hundertwasser's signature style. It features undulating lines, irregular shapes, and a rich palette of blues, greens, yellows, and reds. The composition is densely packed with organic forms that resemble plants, houses, and abstract figures. The painting lacks a clear focal point, inviting the viewer to explore the entire surface and discover hidden details. It exemplifies Hundertwasser's rejection of straight lines and right angles, which he considered unnatural and oppressive. The work is a celebration of organic growth, individuality, and the beauty of imperfection.
November 22, 2025 at 12:43 AM
firstamendmentgirl.bsky.social
Jesus Hezekiah Christ
November 21, 2025 at 3:40 PM
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Ritratto di Hanka Zborowska by Amedeo Modigliani, 1917, La Galleria Nazionale d'Arte Moderna e Contemporanea (Rome, Italy)

#ArtHistory #ModernArt
November 21, 2025 at 3:22 PM
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Fishing Near The Fjord By Moonlight by Marcus Larson, 1862, Private Collection

#ArtHistory #Romanticism
This painting depicts a serene nocturnal scene of fishermen small boats on a calm fjord, bathed in the soft glow of moonlight. The composition is characterized by a dark, atmospheric palette with subtle reflections on the water. The figures are silhouetted against the luminous sky, creating a sense of tranquility and the quiet rhythm of rural life. The painting exemplifies Larson's skill in capturing the mood and atmosphere of the Scandinavian landscape. Larson was a prominent figure in the development of Swedish Realism and Naturalism during the late 19th century. His work emerged during a period when artists were increasingly interested in depicting everyday life and the natural world with accuracy and objectivity, moving away from the Romanticism that preceded it. The painting reflects the broader European trend towards plein air painting and the study of light and atmosphere. It also aligns with the rise of national romanticism in Scandinavian art, celebrating the unique beauty of the Nordic landscape and culture.
November 21, 2025 at 1:01 AM