Who Arted: Weekly Art History for All Ages

Katsushika Hokusai | The Great Wave off Kanagawa

14 Jan 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Katsushika Hokusai is best known for The Great Wave off Kanagawa, part of his series of 36 Views of Mount Fuji. His family was in the mirror business,...

Ansel Adams | Monolith, the Face of Half Dome

13 Jan 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Ansel Adams (1902-1984) was an iconic American photographer renowned for his dramatic black and white landscapes, particularly of Yosemite National Pa...

The Alexander Mosaic in the House of Faun, Pompeii

12 Jan 2025

Contributed by Lukas

The Alexander Mosaic, also known as the Battle of Issus Mosaic, is a masterpiece of ancient Roman artistry that continues to captivate viewers with it...

Shiva Nataraja |Shiva as Lord of the Dance

11 Jan 2025

Contributed by Lukas

In this depiction of Shiva we see the natural rhythms to everything in the cosmos. Birth and death, creation and destruction are simply phases all thi...

Diego Velazquez | Las Meninas

10 Jan 2025

Contributed by Lukas

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 pain...

Henri Matisse | Goldfish

09 Jan 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Henri Matisse was born in Northern France on December 31, 1869. His father was a successful grain merchant. In 1887, Henri was well on his way to a su...

Emily Kame Kngwarreye | Earth's Creation

08 Jan 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Emily Kame Kngwarreye was born around 1910, a time when the Aboriginal people were not considered full citizens in their own country. Earth’s Creati...

Frank Lloyd Wright | Falling Water

07 Jan 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Frank Lloyd Wright was one of America's most famous and influential architects. He famously said, "No house should ever be on a hill or on anything. I...

Andy Warhol | Marilyn Diptych

06 Jan 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Andy Warhol's Marilyn Diptych is a commentary on the nature of fame, celebrity, and mass media. Warhol appropriated a well-known image of Monroe, usin...

Michelangelo | The Sistine Chapel Ceiling

05 Jan 2025

Contributed by Lukas

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...

Helen Frankenthaler | The Bay

04 Jan 2025

Contributed by Lukas

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...

Maria and Julian Martinez | Black on Black Pottery

03 Jan 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Maria Martinez belonged to the Tewa-speaking Pueblo people, known for their rich artistic heritage. Pottery-making was deeply rooted in Puebloan cultu...

Diego Rivera | Dream of a Sunday Afternoon in Alameda Central Park

02 Jan 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Today Diego Rivera is less of a household name than his wife Frida Kahlo, but in the early 20th century, he was the more established artist. In Dream ...

Paul Cezanne | Mont Sainte-Victoire

01 Jan 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Cezanne is widely celebrated today, but he struggled early on. He was rejected by Beaux Arts multiple times. He went back home to work at the bank for...

Kwakwaka’wakw artist | Eagle Transformation Mask

31 Dec 2024

Contributed by Lukas

The transformation mask is a carved and painted sculpture, a status symbol, a costume element and a simple machine all at once. Pulling the strings on...

Constantin Brâncuși | The Kiss & Bird in Space

30 Dec 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Constantin Brâncuși was a Romanian sculptor who made a significant impact on modern art through his abstract sculptures. His passion and dedication ...

Gustav Klimt | The Kiss

29 Dec 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Gustav Klimt's "The Kiss" is an iconic Art Nouveau painting, renowned for its use of gold leaf and intricate patterns. The painting depicts a couple e...

Leonardo da Vinci | The Last Supper

28 Dec 2024

Contributed by Lukas

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 fo...

Arts Madness 2025 and Xu Bing | A Book from the Sky

27 Dec 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Around 1040 CE Bi Sheng invented the first known moveable type system. Skipping ahead a few hundred years, the artist Xu Bing created Book from the Sk...

Artist Interview | Michael Weller

23 Dec 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Michael Weller is a painter based out of the UK known for his quiet and subtle paintings. He focuses on the shifts in color as he observes his subject...

Raku (encore)

20 Dec 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Raku bowls are humble. They are hand formed starting from a flat, circular base and coils built up around the sides. The process results in each piece...

Jeff Koons | Pink Panther

16 Dec 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Jeff Koons, born in 1955, displayed an early interest in art. As a teenager, he called Salvador Dali's hotel and arranged to meet the artist. He was i...

Pencils (encore)

13 Dec 2024

Contributed by Lukas

For today's mini episode, I thought it might be nice to change things up a little bit and cover the history of a medium rather than a specific artwork...

Julie Averbach | The Art of Trader Joe's

09 Dec 2024

Contributed by Lukas

I have always been interested in "fine art" that makes the leap from museum walls to popular culture. I also think there is a lot of brilliant design ...

David Lee Csicsko | Iconic Artists (part 2)

06 Dec 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Writer and Illustrator, David Lee Csicsko, talks about Sister Corita Kent, Tamara de Lempicka and Lee Godie. All three artists are included in Csicsko...

David Lee Csicsko | Iconic Artists (part 1)

02 Dec 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Writer and Illustrator, David Lee Csicsko, talks about Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec, Alexander Calder, and Keith Haring. All three artists are included i...

Home Alone

29 Nov 2024

Contributed by Lukas

"Home Alone" is a beloved holiday classic that blends slapstick comedy with genuine emotion and suspense. Writer John Hughes drew inspiration from his...

Introducing: Arts Educators Save the World

25 Nov 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Arts Educators Save the World brings together successful artists and their mentors for a conversation about arts education. The show features amazing ...

Machu Picchu (encore)

22 Nov 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Machu Picchu would translate to “old mountain” but it isn’t that old. While stone ruins are often associated with ancient civilizations thousand...

Nicolas de Staël | The Key

18 Nov 2024

Contributed by Lukas

My guest this week is Patrick Quéré who shared a fascinating insight into the work of Nicolas de Staël. Patrick's great grandparents got to know th...

Petra

15 Nov 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Petra, the ancient city carved into the sandstone cliffs of Jordan, is a testament to the ingenuity and artistry of the Nabataean civilization. Establ...

Maya Lin | Vietnam Veterans Memorial

11 Nov 2024

Contributed by Lukas

The Vietnam Veterans Memorial was established to honor those who died in the Vietnam War. Jan Scruggs, a veteran of the conflict, spearheaded the crea...

Max Beckmann | The Night (encore)

08 Nov 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Max Beckmann was a German painter born on February 12, 1884. While he is often associated with the expressionist movement, he actually rejected that l...

Rosie the Riveter

04 Nov 2024

Contributed by Lukas

The iconic image of "Rosie the Riveter" is often associated with female empowerment and the contributions of women to the war effort during World War ...

Hilma af Klint (encore)

01 Nov 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Hilma af Klint was a painter making abstract art years before men like Kandinsky and she was exploring automatic drawing long before the surrealists. ...

5 Impressionist and Post Impressionist Greats to Celebrate 5 Years of Who ARTed

28 Oct 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Who ARTed began five years ago. My love of art began with the Impressionists and Post Impressionists, and I thought there would be no better topic to ...

Spooky Fun Fact Friday: Ouija Boards and Bed Sheet Ghosts

25 Oct 2024

Contributed by Lukas

The Ouija Board was patented in 1891 by Elijah Bond, and that is an odd and interesting story. Bond filed a patent for the "Ouija or Egyptian luck-boa...

Maurizio Cattelan | Strategies, Comedian and America

21 Oct 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Maurizio Cattelan is an Italian artist known for his provocative and satirical sculptures and installations that challenge the norms of the art world....

The Radium Girls (encore)

18 Oct 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Starting in 1917, the US Radium Corporation hired a bunch of young women to paint watch faces with radium based paints that would glow in the dark. Fo...

Artist Interview | Reggie Laurent

14 Oct 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Reggie Laurent is a contemporary artist based out of Atlanta. Laurent is a largely self-taught artist working in a variety of media and often on unexp...

Hieronymus Bosch | The Garden of Earthly Delights

11 Oct 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Hieronymus Bosch was a 15th-century Dutch painter whose fantastical and often unsettling works continue to captivate viewers today. His most famous pa...

Mary Cassatt at Work

07 Oct 2024

Contributed by Lukas

My guest this week is Emily Beeny, the Curator in charge of European paintings for The Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco. She spoke with me about Mar...

The Treasures of King Tutankhamun's Tomb (encore)

04 Oct 2024

Contributed by Lukas

On November 26, 1922, Howard Carter prepared to enter the tomb of a little-known pharaoh. Nobody had set foot inside the space for over 3,000 years, b...

Author Interview: Carrie Rickey on A Complicated Passion: The Life and Work of Agnes Varda

30 Sep 2024

Contributed by Lukas

This week I spoke with Carrie Rickey, the author of a new biography of Agnes Varda. Varda is considered to be one of the greatest female directors in ...

Alfred Stieglitz | The Steerage (encore)

27 Sep 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Alfred Stieglitz is considered by many to be the father of modern photography. He looked at the camera as not simply a tool to document the world, but...

Edward Hopper | Nighthawks

23 Sep 2024

Contributed by Lukas

The brilliance of Edward Hopper is that he was able to be simultaneously specific and concrete yet vague and leave a lot up to the viewer to interpret...

Mark Rothko | The Seagram Murals

20 Sep 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Mark Rothko is one of the most famous painters of the Abstract Expressionist movement. While many look at his paintings as simple rectangles of variou...

Dr. Rosemary Lee | Art & AI

16 Sep 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Is an AI generated image really art? How might AI tools affect the way artists create their work? Will AI replace human artists? Rosemary Lee is an a...

Emily Kame Kngwarreye | Earth's Creation (encore)

13 Sep 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Emily Kame Kngwarreye was born around 1910, a time when the Aboriginal people were not considered full citizens in their own country. Earth’s Creati...

Sean Roschman | Niko8

09 Sep 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Sean Roschman is the creative director for Niko8, a dance company in Chicago. He has worked designing, choreographing and directing unique large scale...

Edgar Degas

06 Sep 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Degas is famous for his beautiful depictions of ballet dancers, but he was also giving a glimpse into the tough reality those dancers experienced. Edg...

Gustave Caillebotte | Paris Street; Rainy Day (encore)

02 Sep 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Many know the image of Paris Street; Rainy Day, but somehow far fewer know the artist who painted it, Gustave Caillebotte. He was born in Paris in the...

Georgia O'Keeffe (encore)

30 Aug 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Georgia O'Keeffe was one of the greatest American painters of the 20th century. She was among the most influential painters in developing modern abst...

Yves Klein | Leap Into the Void (encore)

26 Aug 2024

Contributed by Lukas

This week we are looking at Yves Klein and his famous photograph, Leap Into the Void, from 1960. Klein had a short but highly influential career as he...

Angkor Wat

23 Aug 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Angkor Wat is the largest religious structure in the world, located in Siem Reap, Cambodia. Built in the 12th century by King Suryavarman II, it is de...

Artist Interview | Ephraim Urevbu

19 Aug 2024

Contributed by Lukas

I interviewed Ephraim Urevbu a contemporary artist based in Memphis Tennessee. He shared his life experiences growing up in Nigeria then coming to the...

Fallen Astronaut, 1971 (encore)

16 Aug 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Fun fact: almost as soon as people started walking on the moon, they started to put art on the moon. In 1969, NASA landed the first astronauts on the ...

Chris Boylan | The Laiagam Stone

12 Aug 2024

Contributed by Lukas

For this episode, I interviewed Chris Boylan, an expert on Oceanic Art. He explained a little bit of history about The Laiagam Stone, an incredible ca...

The Longmen Caves (encore)

09 Aug 2024

Contributed by Lukas

China's Longmen Caves or Longmen Grottos are a UNESCO world heritage site. Starting in the 5th century CE, artists chiseled away at the limestone carv...

The Alexander Mosaic in the House of Faun, Pompeii

05 Aug 2024

Contributed by Lukas

The Alexander Mosaic, also known as the Battle of Issus Mosaic, is a masterpiece of ancient Roman artistry that continues to captivate viewers with it...

Rene Magritte | The Son of Man (encore)

02 Aug 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Rene Magritte's painting, Son of Man, is among the most famous images of the Surrealist Movement. It is one of the few artworks that transcends the mu...

Gustav Klimt | The Kiss

29 Jul 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Gustav Klimt's "The Kiss" is an iconic Art Nouveau painting, renowned for its use of gold leaf and intricate patterns. The painting depicts a couple e...

Roberto Matta | The Earth Is a Man (encore)

26 Jul 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Roberto Matta was a Chilean born artist whose life and work transcended boundaries. He was always looking to explore new ideas, push his work further ...

Pierre de Coubertin & Other Artists Winning Medals at the Olympics

22 Jul 2024

Contributed by Lukas

From 1912 to 1948, medals were awarded for artistic creations inspired by sport, alongside those for athletic prowess. This unique fusion of disciplin...

Hahn v Duveen | The Case of the American Leonardo (encore)

19 Jul 2024

Contributed by Lukas

An artist’s skillful application of paint will make an artwork good, but a good story makes that artwork great. In 2010, a painting went on auction ...

Arthur Boyd | Nebuchadnezzar on Fire Falling over a Waterfall (encore)

15 Jul 2024

Contributed by Lukas

This episode is about Arthur Boyd the Australian painter known for his use of symbols from mythology to express his philosophical views. My guest this...

Andrew Wyeth | Christina's World

12 Jul 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Andrew Wyeth was the son of a successful illustrator. Wyeth is best known for his painting "Christina's World" which is among the few artworks to leap...

Artist Interview | Bosko Hrnjak

06 Jul 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Bosko Hrnjak is a multidisciplinary artist best known for his tiki inspired wood carvings and ceramics. In this episode, he was kind enough to sit dow...

Shigeru Miyamoto (encore)

05 Jul 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Shigeru Miyamoto has developed some of the most popular games of all time including Mario which is the most successful game franchise ever. Mario has ...

Peirre-Auguste Renoir | Luncheon of the Boating Party (encore)

01 Jul 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Today, Renoir is remembered as one of the greatest painters of the Impressionist movement. His paintings are soft and delicate, but his life and his w...

Victor Vasarely and Op Art (encore)

28 Jun 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Victor Vasarely was a Hungarian-French artist known for his innovative style and contributions to the Op Art movement. One of Vasarely's most famous w...

The Nettie J McKinnon Art Collection

24 Jun 2024

Contributed by Lukas

In LaGrange Illinois just a bit West of the city of Chicago, The Nettie J McKinnon Art Collection consists of around 120 artworks and today it is valu...

Diego Velazquez | Las Meninas (encore)

21 Jun 2024

Contributed by Lukas

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 pain...

Fun Facts about Colors and Rainbows

17 Jun 2024

Contributed by Lukas

June is pride month and I thought it might be nice to make a little episode covering some fun facts about rainbows and different colors. Links to rela...

Amedeo Modigliani

14 Jun 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Amedeo Modigliani, a rebellious Italian painter, left a lasting mark on the art world with his distinctive style and captivating portraits. Born in Li...

Amrita Sher-Gil | Bride's Toilet

10 Jun 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Amrita Sher-Gil, born in 1913 to a Sikh aristocrat and a Hungarian-Jewish opera singer, was a trailblazing artist who blended European and Indian infl...

Heinrich Campendonk (encore)

07 Jun 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Heinrich Campendonk may not be a household name, but he was a part of some of the most influential groups of 20th century modernism. He was a part of ...

Wolfgang Beltracchi - The Art of Fraud (encore)

03 Jun 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Wolfgang Beltracchi is possibly the most artful forgers ever to have gotten into the game. While most would create a forgery by meticulously copying e...

Kawaii and Hello Kitty (encore)

31 May 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Kawaii is a Japanese word translating to something like "cute" or "adorable" but it is much more than that. While kawaii figures tug at the heartstrin...

Jim Davis | Garfield (encore)

27 May 2024

Contributed by Lukas

This is an encore presentation of my episode about Jim Davis, the creator of Garfield. My guest for this episode was Lindsey Little, creator of the On...

The Stockholm Heist (encore)

24 May 2024

Contributed by Lukas

It was early evening just a few minutes from closing time at the National Museum when suddenly the normally peaceful museum took on the aesthetic of a...

Sandro Botticelli | The Birth of Venus

20 May 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Sandro Botticelli, born Alessandro di Mariano di Vanni Filipepi, was a renowned Florentine painter during the Renaissance. By the 1470s, Botticelli es...

Disney's Folly (encore)

17 May 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Walt Disney started making silly fun cartoon shorts, but he had a vision to elevate animation to the status of a feature film capturing the full scope...

Berthe Morisot | The Cradle (encore)

13 May 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Berthe Morisot was among the most successful French Impressionist painters during her lifetime. Today she is less well known than her peers like Clau...

Akira Yoshizawa and Origami (encore)

10 May 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Origami is the Japanese art of folded paper sculpture. It is a tradition that is basically as old as paper. In the 6th century CE, Buddhist monks brou...

Frank Stella

06 May 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Frank Stella first rose to prominence with his black paintings in 1959. He was a leader of the minimalist movement and at the age of just 23, Stella s...

Neil Harbisson | Cyborg Artist

03 May 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Neil Harbisson is a contemporary artist who hears colors. He deliberately chose to hear colors and to make that happen, he underwent surgery which has...

Caravaggio | The Calling of Saint Matthew

29 Apr 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Michelangelo Merisi, born in 1571 amidst the darkness of the plague, would come to be known not by his christened name but by the name of his birthpla...

DayGlo Colors (encore)

26 Apr 2024

Contributed by Lukas

This is an encore presentation of my episode about how DayGlo colors work and how they were developed by a pair of brothers in the 1930s. Check out m...

Steven Seidenberg | The Architecture of Silence (Encore)

22 Apr 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Steven Seidenberg is an incredible photographer and in this episode, I spoke with Steven Seidenberg and the writer, Carolyn White about a little-known...

Claes Oldenburg

19 Apr 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Claes Oldenburg (1929-2022), the Swedish-born American sculptor, wasn't your typical artist. He wasn't interested in grand figures or historical scen...

Artist Interview | Jess Phoenix

15 Apr 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Jess Phoenix is a designer based out of Seattle, Washington. She is known for making bright, bold floral patterns. She was nice enough to sit down wit...

Utagawa Hiroshige

12 Apr 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Utagawa Hiroshige (1797-1858) stands as a titan in the realm of Japanese woodblock prints of the ukiyo-e period. His tranquil landscapes, meticulousl...

Arts Madness 2024 Winner

08 Apr 2024

Contributed by Lukas

It is time to announce the winner of this year's Arts Madness Tournament. Thank you all for taking the time to share your opinions and insights about ...

Peter Paul Rubens International Man of Mystery

05 Apr 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Peter Paul Rubens wasn't your typical 17th-century artist. He produced magnificent Baroque masterpieces, his canvases overflowing with vibrant colors ...

Artist Interview | Tom DesLongchamp

01 Apr 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Today I have another artist interview. I have been a big fan of Tom DesLongchamp since I first encountered his drawings while I was researching an epi...

Betty Woodman

29 Mar 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Betty Woodman was an artist who started as a conventional potter but through her career began making creative connections that elevated the form. She ...

Mondrian, Neoplasticism and the Upside Down Artwork

25 Mar 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Piet Mondrian is considered an icon of modern art, but he didn't start off that way. While he always loved art, he got his degree in education. Mondri...

The Forbidden City

22 Mar 2024

Contributed by Lukas

In this episode of Who ARTed: Weekly Art History for All Ages, we delve into the captivating world of The Forbidden City, a monumental complex in Beij...

The Mona Lisa Vanishes (encore)

18 Mar 2024

Contributed by Lukas

In what many would consider a major upset last week, Leonardo da Vinci was knocked out of our Arts Madness Tournament. I love the stories surrounding ...