Textile sample with design of two old tortoises in grays and white on a brown ground, created by the yûzen technique.19th century, Japan. William Sturgis Bigelow Collection; gift of William Sturgis Bigelow to the MFA in August, 1898
William Sturgis Bigelow Collection
“Dazzling the eyes and intriguing the mind”
Read why The New York Times called Audubon to Warhol “an enthralling show.” Click here for the full article.
“Fishbowl Fantasy,” 1867, by Edward A. Goodes (Private Collection)
A balance between the patterns of nature and the formalism of human, abstract ideas like lines and circles. It is where my human characteristics meet the natural forces and patterns of the world – that is sort of the subject of my work.
–Richard Long, 1991
![matthen:
“ Connecting all points a varying distance apart along a triangular wave, revealing a variety of smooth curves. Inspired by Henry Moore’s mathematical sculptures. [code]
”](https://66.media.tumblr.com/933cb23e55b29ce14e7623089ae163b9/tumblr_nt5973850w1qfg7o3o1_400.gif)
Connecting all points a varying distance apart along a triangular wave, revealing a variety of smooth curves. Inspired by Henry Moore’s mathematical sculptures. [code]
Based in Wisconsin, Mike Winkelmann, better known under the pseudonym Beeple, challenged himself to design a new image every day using his talents for photo retouching and 3D creation.
Charlotte Evans (b. London, UK, Brooklyn, NY based) - Palms, 2014 Paintings: Oil on Canvas
‘Peacock and Peach Blossom’ (Edo period). Silk painting attributed to Kiyohara Yukinobu (1643–1682).
Image and text courtesy MFA Boston
been here before
bakingcathedrals
Below is a semi-finalized version of a paper I will be delivering in Santa Fe next week. Pincushion from Wikimedia Commons. This post has been updated as of October 14, 2014.
In The Wealth of Nations, Adam Smith bequeathed to the world two images, for which—if for nothing else—he seems doomed to be remembered. One, not relevant here, is the marketplace’s invisible hand. The other, which I would like to spend a little time revisiting, is a pin factory, Smith’s illustration of his ideal future, in which labor is divided and efficiency rules.
In Smith’s factory, the making of pins has been divided into eighteen separate steps. To draw the wire is one step, to cut it another, to make the head of the pin yet another, and so on, right down to sticking the pins into the paper and readying them for sale. The pin factory provides a model of work where one step equals one job for one man. If you want a vision of the future, Smith tells us, picture a man affixing a head to a pin—forever.
