Michael Lobel
@mlobelart.bsky.social
Professor of Art History, Hunter College & CUNY Graduate Center. I look at things and then write about them.
Author of Van Gogh and the End of Nature, from Yale University Press: https://yalebooks.yale.edu/book/9780300274363/van-g
Author of Van Gogh and the End of Nature, from Yale University Press: https://yalebooks.yale.edu/book/9780300274363/van-g
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Michael Lobel
@mlobelart.bsky.social
· Jun 25
I'm excited to share that today is the official publication date for my new book, Van Gogh and the End of Nature, from Yale University Press, which more firmly grounds Van Gogh within the industrial era in which he lived & worked (thread)
yalebooks.yale.edu/book/9780300...
yalebooks.yale.edu/book/9780300...
Zohran at Hunter College- love to see it!!💗
Roosevelt House has long been a place where Hunter students, who represent the diversity and dynamism that define New York, prepare to rise into roles as tomorrow’s public service and civic leaders, making it the perfect setting for this pivotal moment for our city.
November 10, 2025 at 11:22 PM
Zohran at Hunter College- love to see it!!💗
Reposted by Michael Lobel
I know many of us are feeling deflated this morning, but I'm going to ask a favor: please follow the link below & sign the petition. It's simple, should take less than a minute, and is in the service of a very good cause, trying to preserve a historic federal building and its New Deal-era murals🙏
🚨HISTORIC PRESERVATION ALERT🚨: A concerted effort is underway by art historians & preservationists to save historic Wilbur J. Cohen building & its priceless New Deal artworks, threatened for sale by Trump administration. Please read, sign linked petition & repost! www.change.org/p/save-the-w...
Sign the Petition
Save the Wilbur J. Cohen Building — the “Sistine Chapel of the New Deal”
www.change.org
November 10, 2025 at 2:53 PM
I know many of us are feeling deflated this morning, but I'm going to ask a favor: please follow the link below & sign the petition. It's simple, should take less than a minute, and is in the service of a very good cause, trying to preserve a historic federal building and its New Deal-era murals🙏
If you want to read more about Franz Xaver Messerschmidt, this is as good a place as any to start: apollo-magazine.com/many-faces-f...
November 10, 2025 at 2:57 PM
If you want to read more about Franz Xaver Messerschmidt, this is as good a place as any to start: apollo-magazine.com/many-faces-f...
I know many of us are feeling deflated this morning, but I'm going to ask a favor: please follow the link below & sign the petition. It's simple, should take less than a minute, and is in the service of a very good cause, trying to preserve a historic federal building and its New Deal-era murals🙏
🚨HISTORIC PRESERVATION ALERT🚨: A concerted effort is underway by art historians & preservationists to save historic Wilbur J. Cohen building & its priceless New Deal artworks, threatened for sale by Trump administration. Please read, sign linked petition & repost! www.change.org/p/save-the-w...
Sign the Petition
Save the Wilbur J. Cohen Building — the “Sistine Chapel of the New Deal”
www.change.org
November 10, 2025 at 2:53 PM
I know many of us are feeling deflated this morning, but I'm going to ask a favor: please follow the link below & sign the petition. It's simple, should take less than a minute, and is in the service of a very good cause, trying to preserve a historic federal building and its New Deal-era murals🙏
Folks, this morning let me introduce you to 18th-century sculptor Franz Xaver Messerschmidt, best known for his series of so-called "character heads"
November 10, 2025 at 2:51 PM
Folks, this morning let me introduce you to 18th-century sculptor Franz Xaver Messerschmidt, best known for his series of so-called "character heads"
Ed Ruscha, OOF, 1962-63 www.moma.org/collection/w...
November 10, 2025 at 1:26 AM
Ed Ruscha, OOF, 1962-63 www.moma.org/collection/w...
Vincent van Gogh, Worn Out, 1882 www.vangoghmuseum.nl/en/collectio...
November 9, 2025 at 11:27 PM
Vincent van Gogh, Worn Out, 1882 www.vangoghmuseum.nl/en/collectio...
🚨HISTORIC PRESERVATION ALERT🚨: A concerted effort is underway by art historians & preservationists to save historic Wilbur J. Cohen building & its priceless New Deal artworks, threatened for sale by Trump administration. Please read, sign linked petition & repost! www.change.org/p/save-the-w...
Sign the Petition
Save the Wilbur J. Cohen Building — the “Sistine Chapel of the New Deal”
www.change.org
November 9, 2025 at 6:25 PM
🚨HISTORIC PRESERVATION ALERT🚨: A concerted effort is underway by art historians & preservationists to save historic Wilbur J. Cohen building & its priceless New Deal artworks, threatened for sale by Trump administration. Please read, sign linked petition & repost! www.change.org/p/save-the-w...
As antidote to current US government's reprehensible erasure of Black soldiers' WWII contributions, here's Jacob Lawrence's "Beachhead," 1947, a work in his larger War series. Lawrence himself served in WWII as an artist on the US military's first racially integrated ship whitney.org/collection/w...
November 9, 2025 at 2:35 PM
As antidote to current US government's reprehensible erasure of Black soldiers' WWII contributions, here's Jacob Lawrence's "Beachhead," 1947, a work in his larger War series. Lawrence himself served in WWII as an artist on the US military's first racially integrated ship whitney.org/collection/w...
For insight into current Republican policies look no further than these scathing 1980s panels by leading African-American cartoonist Brumsic Brandon Jr., highlighting Ronald Reagan's war against poor & needy. On recent archives visit came across these in African-American journal Freedomways (thread)
November 9, 2025 at 1:54 PM
For insight into current Republican policies look no further than these scathing 1980s panels by leading African-American cartoonist Brumsic Brandon Jr., highlighting Ronald Reagan's war against poor & needy. On recent archives visit came across these in African-American journal Freedomways (thread)
Adorable animal-themed public art on the NYC subway (5th Ave & 59th Street N/R/W station) by artist Ann Schaumburger to start off an early Sunday morning www.mta.info/agency/arts-...
November 9, 2025 at 1:00 PM
Adorable animal-themed public art on the NYC subway (5th Ave & 59th Street N/R/W station) by artist Ann Schaumburger to start off an early Sunday morning www.mta.info/agency/arts-...
Reposted by Michael Lobel
Early Florentine self-portrait by Artemisia Gentileschi on view at Christie's in New York, and up for auction in in February. I just saw it in August and it's very close to her Inclination in the Casa Buonarroti (c. 1615) and other early self-portraits in Florence (thanks, @pjeromack.bsky.social!)
November 8, 2025 at 12:28 AM
Early Florentine self-portrait by Artemisia Gentileschi on view at Christie's in New York, and up for auction in in February. I just saw it in August and it's very close to her Inclination in the Casa Buonarroti (c. 1615) and other early self-portraits in Florence (thanks, @pjeromack.bsky.social!)
Reposted by Michael Lobel
absolutely adored Bugonia…run! don’t walk!!!
(and felt inspired to draw it, such stunning performances)
(and felt inspired to draw it, such stunning performances)
November 7, 2025 at 11:29 PM
absolutely adored Bugonia…run! don’t walk!!!
(and felt inspired to draw it, such stunning performances)
(and felt inspired to draw it, such stunning performances)
Edward Hopper, Study of a Sunset, 1895-99 whitney.org/collection/w...
November 7, 2025 at 10:31 PM
Edward Hopper, Study of a Sunset, 1895-99 whitney.org/collection/w...
Reposted by Michael Lobel
Reposted by Michael Lobel
Claes Oldenburg, Giant BLT (Bacon, Lettuce & Tomato Sandwich), 1963
August 12, 2025 at 1:00 AM
Claes Oldenburg, Giant BLT (Bacon, Lettuce & Tomato Sandwich), 1963
Reposted by Michael Lobel
Tom Wesselmann, Still Life #33, 1963
November 4, 2025 at 4:37 PM
Tom Wesselmann, Still Life #33, 1963
Reposted by Michael Lobel
Because it's a good day, a thread of images from fantastic show I saw last week: African-American artist Allan Rohan Crite at Boston's Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum. First up, Crite's luminous "Streetcar Madonna," which resonates with incoming NYC mayor's pledge to make transit more affordable
November 5, 2025 at 2:01 PM
Because it's a good day, a thread of images from fantastic show I saw last week: African-American artist Allan Rohan Crite at Boston's Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum. First up, Crite's luminous "Streetcar Madonna," which resonates with incoming NYC mayor's pledge to make transit more affordable
Thanks to this morning's Bluesky discourse I'm suddenly thinking about this 1971 letter from artist Nancy Spero to critic Lucy Lippard www.si.edu/object/nancy...
November 6, 2025 at 4:05 PM
Thanks to this morning's Bluesky discourse I'm suddenly thinking about this 1971 letter from artist Nancy Spero to critic Lucy Lippard www.si.edu/object/nancy...
Richard Artschwager, The Book, 1973. Artschwager was an artist who consistently followed his own path, making it exceedingly difficult to classify his art within existing categories
November 6, 2025 at 12:31 AM
Richard Artschwager, The Book, 1973. Artschwager was an artist who consistently followed his own path, making it exceedingly difficult to classify his art within existing categories
The MetLife building (formerly the Pan Am building) on Park Avenue will be replaced by a massive melting Good Humor bar
November 5, 2025 at 10:08 PM
The MetLife building (formerly the Pan Am building) on Park Avenue will be replaced by a massive melting Good Humor bar
Reposted by Michael Lobel
Illustrations from Japanese fireworks catalogues (ca. 1880s) — https://publicdomainreview.org/collection/japanese-fireworks-catalogues #newyearseve #fireworks
November 5, 2025 at 5:45 PM
Illustrations from Japanese fireworks catalogues (ca. 1880s) — https://publicdomainreview.org/collection/japanese-fireworks-catalogues #newyearseve #fireworks
Reposted by Michael Lobel
More holiness in the everyday, in a scene I imagine some academics might treasure: choirs of yellow-robed angels appearing over a college campus. The show, at Gardner Museum through mid-January, is complemented by a concurrent Crite show at the Boston Athenaeum www.gardnermuseum.org/allan-rohan-...
November 5, 2025 at 2:01 PM
More holiness in the everyday, in a scene I imagine some academics might treasure: choirs of yellow-robed angels appearing over a college campus. The show, at Gardner Museum through mid-January, is complemented by a concurrent Crite show at the Boston Athenaeum www.gardnermuseum.org/allan-rohan-...
Andy Warhol, Hammer & Sickle, 1977 crystalbridges.emuseum.com/objects/3647...
November 5, 2025 at 4:58 PM
Andy Warhol, Hammer & Sickle, 1977 crystalbridges.emuseum.com/objects/3647...
Because it's a good day, a thread of images from fantastic show I saw last week: African-American artist Allan Rohan Crite at Boston's Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum. First up, Crite's luminous "Streetcar Madonna," which resonates with incoming NYC mayor's pledge to make transit more affordable
November 5, 2025 at 2:01 PM
Because it's a good day, a thread of images from fantastic show I saw last week: African-American artist Allan Rohan Crite at Boston's Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum. First up, Crite's luminous "Streetcar Madonna," which resonates with incoming NYC mayor's pledge to make transit more affordable