Who Arted: Weekly Art History for All Ages

Diego Velazques was one of the most significant painters of Spain's Golden Age in the 17th century. He was a master of both portraiture and genre painting, Las Meninas is a sort of mix of both. We see people who seem rather formally dressed by today’s standards, but the subject is also, it was a peak behind the curtain of royal life. Withing the work, the first focal point would be the little girl, the infanta margarita, daughter of the king and queen of spain. She is dramatically lit from the side by light streaming in from the window. The top half of the composition is essentially in shadow, and we see her looking out at us, the viewers. Diego Velazquez included himself in the scene as he stands before his giant canvas. Within this oil on canvas painting, we see a representation of a painter working on canvas. Velazquez also seems to break the fourth as he looks out at the viewer. There is a figure standing in the doorway in the back of the composition. The strong light in the doorway pulls our focus there as a secondary focal point, and that figure seems to be caught in motion and again, he looks out at us, the viewers.In this episode, I referenced Jan van Eyck's Arnolfini Portrait. To learn more about that, check out my previous episode:Jan van Eyck | The Arnolfini PortraitArts Madness 2024 links: The Brackets Spotify Playlist Prediction Form Check out my other podcasts Art Smart | Rainbow Puppy Science LabWho ARTed is an Airwave Media Podcast. If you are interested in advertising on this or any other Airwave Media show, email: advertising@airwavemedia.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Faith Ringgold is a contemporary American artist. She studied art education and started as a painter, but she is best known for her story quilts. She has written and illustrated seventeen children's books. The most famous was Tar Beach which started as a quilt but later became an award-winning, best-selling book. In this episode I discussed her story quilt Dancing at the Louvre, which is one of the 250 artworks required for AP Art History courses across the US. For listeners prepping for the AP Art History test, check out my Spotify playlist (AP Art History Cram Session) with episodes about artworks and artists from that list.Arts Madness 2024 links: The Brackets Spotify Playlist Prediction Form Check out my other podcasts Art Smart | Rainbow Puppy Science LabWho ARTed is an Airwave Media Podcast. If you are interested in advertising on this or any other Airwave Media show, email: advertising@airwavemedia.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Maria Martinez belonged to the Tewa-speaking Pueblo people, known for their rich artistic heritage. Pottery-making was deeply rooted in Puebloan culture, serving as a means of artistic expression and a reflection of their close connection with the natural world. Maria grew up watching her family members create pottery, learning the traditional techniques. Of course, we seldom talk about those who simply carry on a tradition. Maria Martinez and her husband Julian revolutionized pottery production and shared their methods with their community. In doing so, they raised the profile of pottery as an art form while helping others understand and appreciate their cultural heritage.If you would like to learn more about modern clay production, check out the clay episode of my other podcast, Art Smart.Art Smart | ClayArt Smart | GlazeThis is one of the 64 pieces in this year's Arts Madness Tournament. Starting Feb 26, voting will begin in a series of head to head matches. For more information, go to https://www.whoartedpodcast.com/arts-madnessThis is also one of many episodes I have created covering artists and artworks required for AP Art History. Check out my Spotify playlist AP Art History Cram Session to learn more.Check out my other podcasts Art Smart | Rainbow Puppy Science LabWho ARTed is an Airwave Media Podcast. If you are interested in advertising on this or any other Airwave Media show, email: advertising@airwavemedia.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The Bay was painted in 1963 as Frankenthaler had refined her soak and stain process. While Mountains and Sea was made with diluted oil paints, The Bay is acrylic on unprimed canvas. She had found that using acrylics gave her greater control over the viscosity or how fluid the paint was. As I look at The Bay, the title indicates a landscape and the brightness, the organic shapes of blue and green give me a sense of a Bay, but it feels like it is more about a happy, contented sort of tone. There is movement, but it seems gentle like sitting out on a boat drifting in calm waters. The Bay represents a different sort of take on Abstract Expressionism. While many followed Jackson Pollock’s and Willem de Kooning’s aggressive and agsty style, Helen Frankenthaler’s color fields are more gentle and at peace. Her work was a breath of fresh air showing that painting could reduce art to fundamental elements in line with esoteric modernist philosophy and still be beautiful and joyous. Related episodes:Jackson PollockDiego RiveraThe Bay from 1963 is one of the required artworks for AP Art History. Check out my Spotify playlist, AP Art History Cram Session to learn about other artists and artworks from that curriculum.Check out my other podcasts Art Smart and Rainbow Puppy Science LabWho ARTed is an Airwave Media Podcast. If you are interested in advertising on this or any other Airwave Media show, email: advertising@airwavemedia.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Thomas Jefferson may be a surprising person to find in an art history podcast, but the writer of the Declaration of Independence, third president of the US was also a self-taught architect. Monticello is considered a UNESCO Heritage Site. Jefferson believed that great architecture could not only reflect the community, but also inspire the people to seek enlightenment. Monticello is a neoclassical masterpiece that illustrates the duality of Jefferson as a brilliant idealist who was also a flawed man failing to live up to his ideals. Check out my other podcasts  Art Smart | Rainbow Puppy Science LabWho ARTed is an Airwave Media Podcast. If you are interested in advertising on this or any other Airwave Media show, email: advertising@airwavemedia.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Jean-Michel Basquiat has created some of the most highly valued American paintings ever to go on auction. Basquiat sought to remake art history in his image, and I would say he was successful. His triptych, Horn Players, is one of the artworks required for the AP Art History curriculum studied by American high school students.In the middle of February 1981, a group exhibition opened at P.S.1 in New York. The show featured over a hundred different artists from the underground art scene. There were paintings, drawings, photographs, objects and graffiti all mixed together in an explosive portrait of the post-punk scene. The show was called New York/New Wave and many affectionately referred to it as the armory show of the 80s. The armory show was of course the famous exhibition from 1913 that introduced European modern art to the American audience. This time though, it wasn’t European artists upending the New York gallery scene. This time, the revolution was coming from inside the community. Among the artists on display was a 20 year old by the name of Jean-Michel Basquiat. He had previously made a name for himself as a graffiti artist. Basquiat and his friend Al Diaz created a text-based project SAMO spraypainting messages around new york. They were particularly active in the area where numerous gallery spaces were located. SAMO often sought to be a little bit humorous, but also gives an outsider’s perspective on the art world with phrases like “SAMO AS AN END TO PLAYING ART” or “SAMO FOR THE SO-CALLED AVANT-GARDE”. Check out my other podcasts Art Smart | Rainbow Puppy Science LabWho ARTed is an Airwave Media Podcast. If you are interested in advertising on this or any other Airwave Media show, email: advertising@airwavemedia.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Turner's painting of The Slave Ship from 1840 was originally titled "Slavers Throwing Overboard the Dead and Dying" and the event that inspired this work is exactly as horrific as it sounds. The captain of the ship was throwing men overboard in order to collect insurance money on those lost at sea, or to use a more accurate term, murdered. In this episode, I mentioned that one of my favorite fellow Airwave Media podcasts, The Constant, did an episode about how ships would be sent to sea to sink for the insurance money.Check out that episode here: The Constant | ShipwrecklessCheck out my other podcasts  Art Smart | Rainbow Puppy Science LabWho ARTed is an Airwave Media Podcast. If you are interested in advertising on this or any other Airwave Media show, email: advertising@airwavemedia.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

While Raphael sadly passed away just in his 30s his work has lived on for hundreds of years. Learn a bit about the great Renaissance painter and architect as well as his most famous work, The School of Athens.Other episodes to check out: Art Smart: The Renaissance Michelangelo Leonardo da Vinci (theft of the Mona Lisa), (The Last Supper) Arts Madness 2024I am once again posting daily mini-episodes ahead of my annual Arts Madness Tournament. I planned this year's tournament to make it valuable as a classroom resource/activity. 60 of the artists/artworks in this year's tournament are from the list of required works for AP Art History courses in the US. The other 4 are wildcard artists chosen from my most popular episodes. Beginning the week of February 26, listeners will be able to vote for their favorite artists in a series of head-to-head matchups. Every week half the artists will be eliminated and over 6 weeks, we will narrow the field from 64 down to just 1 ultimate artist/artwork. To make it a little more fun, I will be giving away some Amazon gift cards throughout the tournament. Here are some of the ways you can win: Fill out the prediction form stating which artist/artwork you think will win the tournament and why. At the end of February, I will send a $25 gift card to the person who makes the most interesting, unexpected, and compelling argument in favor of their chosen artist. At the end of the tournament, I will randomly select from those who correctly predicted the winning artist. Leave a kind rating/review on your favorite podcast app. Email a screenshot of a kind rating/review you left on your favorite podcast app to whoartedpodcast@gmail.com using the subject line "Five Stars" At the end of February, I will send a $25 Amazon gift card to a randomly selected listener as my way of saying thank you. (the review does not have to be recent, so if you left me a kind rating/review at any point, you can submit a screenshot for a chance to win).  I'll be using my ad money this month to buy gift cards, so the more you listen the more I can give away this spring. Check out the bracketsFill out the prediction form at www.whoartedpodcast.com/vote Arts Madness 2024 PlaylistCheck out my other podcasts Art Smart | Rainbow Puppy Science LabWho ARTed is an Airwave Media Podcast. If you are interested in advertising on this or any other Airwave Media show, email: advertising@airwavemedia.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Michelangelo was considered to be one of the greatest examples of a Renaissance man. He is also one of the worst examples of personal hygiene. Learn a little bit about the artist who painted the ceiling on the Sistine Chapel.Related episodes: Michelangelo | The Sistine Chapel Ceiling Art Smart: The Renaissance Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

One Leonardo da Vinci’s most famous works is not housed in a museum. It is in the Convent of Santa Maria in Milan Italy. It seems totally fitting for a depiction of the last supper was painted on the wall in the convent’s dining hall. Visitors today are often surprised by how enormous the work it. The People are life sized on this massive 15 by 29 foot painting. Another surprising fact is that while people flock to see Leonardo’s work on the wall of the convent, very little if any of what we see there today was actually painted by Leonardo.Check out my other podcasts Art Smart | Rainbow Puppy Science LabWho ARTed is an Airwave Media Podcast. If you are interested in advertising on this or any other Airwave Media show, email: advertising@airwavemedia.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices