Photography is arguably the most popular medium for visual expression in the contemporary world. With the ever-increasing availability of digital cameras, billions of people have access to photographic technology. Millions of photographs are shared daily on social media detailing the…
Browsing: Michael Rose
The RISD Museum balances an unusual identity. It is an important community museum, but also serves as the university collection for the nation’s preeminent art and design college. Unlike many university museums, which opened during the life of a college…
On March 4, 2014, Ruin Lust opened at the Tate Britain. The show hosts a parade of famous artists from throughout the canon of art history who used scenes of architectural decay and environmental abandonment as central motifs in their…
At a recent speech in Wisconsin, President Obama drew the ire of many when he noted that a degree in art history are often less economically viable than some skilled trade jobs. While the economic facts behind his statement are…
The Providence Preservation Society recently released their annual list of the Most Endangered Properties in Rhode Island’s capital. The list is a tradition around which preservation efforts in the city coalesce, focusing the efforts of advocates for historic properties. Numerous…
Ah, the list. The end of the year always means that the reading public is beleaguered with lists, each purporting to tell us the best and worst contribution to culture over the past twelve months. I’m always torn with lists;…
In the opening scene Manhattan, Woody Allen’s 1979 romantic comedy, George Gershwin’s Rhapsody in Blue plays as the voice of the protagonist, played by Allen, describes the uniqueness of New York City. On the screen, the City is depicted in…
Memory and the built environment are inextricably linked, and most potently so in places where historic events—and the need to remember them—collide. The memorial, the time tested place-marker for moments of significance, is a particularly challenging form for architects and…
One of the many joys in New England living is the palpable sense of history in all of the region’s best urban spaces. The inconveniences of slender alleyways and tightly packed neighborhoods are forgiven because these features, seemingly anachronistic to…
Brutalism is arguably one of architecture’s most challenging styles. This mid century aesthetic is typified locally in buildings like Boston’s City Hall, built in 1968, and the campus of Southeastern Massachusetts University (now University of Massachusetts at Dartmouth), which…
The Great Gatsby, F. Scott Fitzgerald’s beautifully written story of the Jazz Age, details many aspects of the lost generation’s party life including the built environment. From Nick Carraway’s beat up cottage tucked in the shadow of his neighbor’s…
The photos that Francesca Woodman created during her short life (1958-1981) are at once striking and subtle, often provocative but also playful. There is a constant character of exploration that defines her production. Among all of the concepts Woodman plays…
In real estate, location counts. This importance, of the site on which a building stands and the neighbors it abuts, has never been lost on the art institutions of Manhattan. Henry Clay Frick started collecting art in his Fifth Avenue…