Rediscovering an art star

Editorial Staff Art

from The Magazine ANTIQUES, March/April 2013 | In recent decades, few provinces of human creativity have fallen into swifter or more thorough disrepute than the society portrait. So steeply have its fortunes declined that the latest generation might be surprised to learn that this genre once held a position of signal honor among the varied forms of painting. Indeed, a …

Monumental confidence: restored Roosevelt murals

Editorial Staff Art

from The Magazine ANTIQUES, January/February 2013 | One hundred years ago, even fifty years ago, the act of monumental commemoration was a relatively simple affair. A victory in battle or the founding of an institution was seen, at least as re­garded the monument in question, to be completely good. A massacre or natural catastrophe was assumed to be completely bad. Anyone deserving …