Art history, like most histories, contains different movements. Yet within these movements we see even more flux and diversity. For example, the Baroque period begins in the late 16th century, and over its one-hundred-plus year stretch, transforms in content, style, and, of course, context. However, some patterns remain, for a...

The two works seen were chosen almost by random, or by an immediate attraction to the qualities and intensity of each. The first painting is Vermeer's Study of a Young Woman, and Vermeer is certainly representative of personal style, or the artist's unique and consistent expression of an individual viewpoint...

Artistic rebirth refers to the renewal of classical art. Whereas the Renaissance period unmistakably owed its awakening to the rediscovery of antiquity, the Renaissance artists merely never duplicated the art of Greece but sought different inspiration to guide their artistry. Whereas antique artists strived to picture the highest attainable strengths...

The painting I have chosen to describe and interpret is Éxodo Cubano (Cuban Exodus) by Asilia Guillén. It was completed in 1963 and is oil on canvas. According to the painting’s formal description, Guillén had been an embroider all her life before turning to painting at the age of 63,...

Whereas intuitive definitions of avant garde would tend to emphasize its experimentality as well as its break from traditional conceptions of art, a more precise definition from an aesthetic perspective is perhaps best summarized by Greenberg, who categorizes avant garde art in terms of its “formal self-awareness.” In other words,...