Art History
Beijing exhibition boosts understanding of art history
A total of 56 paintings from Russia’s State Tretyakov Gallery are now on exhibition at the Capital Museum in Beijing as this year marks the 75th anniversary of China and Russia establishing diplomatic ties.
The exhibition, titled The Soul of Russia, is running from September 15 to December 8. It features 56 masterpieces by prominent Russian artists such as Ilya Repin, Ivan Shishkin, Vasily Tropinin, Ivan Aivazovsky and Vasily Surikov, covering more than 500 years of Russian art history – from the 16th century to the present.
Read more: https://www.globaltimes.cn/page/202409/1320376.shtml
What an extraordinary year for the arts. Reflecting on it, there are countless threads to unravel, yet what stands out most is how the year unfolded as a less linear story of art—one with a willingness to embrace diverse narratives and alternative stories and realities. In doing so, it revealed a rich tapestry of pluralistic art histories, and with so much to discover.
Foreigners Everywhere/Stranieri Ovunque perfectly captured this spirit. Curated by Brazilian artist Adriano Pedrosa, the main art exhibition of the 60th la Biennale di Venezia seemed to divide opinion—loved and loathed in equal measure. For me, though, it was a treasure trove of ideas, introducing artists past and present with whom I had little or no prior connection.
Pedrosa bravely took on the realities of movement and migration, the diasporic experience, and the real or imagined concepts of émigré and exile, refugees and nomads, as well as forgotten and unheard voices, lost cultures, destroyed cultures. And it was energising walking through the Arsenale and Giardini and discovering all these voices in the arts who would otherwise be lost to us. Together with Personal Structures, which runs parallel to the Venice Biennale, it opened up an entire ocean of art and ideas.
Read more: https://www.forbes.com/sites/nargessbanks/2025/01/01/2024-art-year-in-review/
Art History
Investigations in Black Representation: with contribution from Art History and Cultural Practices lecturer
Alice Correia from the Department of Art History at Cultural Practices at The University of Manchester has contributed an essay to the catalogue for the current exhibition by Barbara Walker on display at the Whitworth Art Gallery.
Being Here is the first major solo exhibition from artist Barbara Walker. Charting the engagement with figuration and portraiture since the 1990s, the exhibition opened at the Whitworth Art Gallery in October 2024.
Read More:https://www.manchester.ac.uk/about/news/investigations-in-black-representation/
Earlier this month, Hyperallergic reported on a worrisome labour survey by the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, sending the art world into a spin. In 2022, art history majors had an unemployment rate of 8%, higher than any other undergraduate degree, and an underemployment rate of 62.3%.
The results are similarly discouraging in the U.K. According to the Higher Education Statistics Agency, while 2022 graduates in historical studies (which tends to cover history of art) had a 5% unemployment rate, matching the average across fields, fewer than half were in full-time employment over a year after graduation.
Read more: https://ocula.com/magazine/art-news/art-history-degrees-need-to-change/
