Art and Museums

The dream of Arcadia, a mythic place of beauty and repose where humankind lives in harmony with nature, has held an enduring appeal for artists since antiquity. With its promise of calm, simplicity, and order, it has served as both an inspiration and as an image of refuge, a place that is distant and seemingly protected from the vicissitudes of life. more »

Val Castronovo writes: "The one-of-a-kind exhibit of one-of-a-kind objects showcases some 35 gold and bejeweled snuffboxes (steinkabinetts), candy boxes (bonbonnieres), chains, buttons and other accessories decorated with colorful, Saxon gemstones (agate, carnelian, jasper, lapis lazuli), each rimmed in gold and numbered." more »

Since London will be the focus for the Summer Olympics, we thought we'd explore the British Museum Shop's offerings and, yes, there's no end of the intriguing and unusual.   more »

American artists of the Jazz Age struggled to express the experience of a dramatically remade modern world, demonstrating their faith in the potentiality of youth and in the sustaining value of beauty. They took as their subjects nudes and portraits that celebrated sexual freedom and visual intimacy, as if in defiance of the restrictive routines of automated labor and the stresses of modern urban life. more »