Collecting Moments

День 120. Лондон Tate Modern Claude Monet and Abstract Expressionism Claude Monet's semi-abstract late paintings were not widely appreciated until the 1940s, a time when critics began to recognise their affinities with Abstract Expressionism. American abstract painting of the late 1940s and 1950s was initially considered radically new, emerging from the aftermath of the Second World War and provoking a rupture with all that went before. However, there were important precedents for the innovations of this younger generation in Monet's paintings of the water lily pond in his garden at Giverny. In these large-scale works, which occupied Monet from around 1916 onward, he seemed less concerned to depict a particular motif in the landscape than to capture particular qualities of light and atmosphere. Of especial significance was Monet's 'all-over' technique, in which he rejected traditional means of organising space such as perspective, or providing points of referenc...

День 119. Лондон British Museum. Renaissance drawings exhibitions. Greek marble. Pre-historic art. Ain Sakhri lovers figurine This is the oldest known representation of a couple making love in the world. It was found in a cave in the Judean desert. The pebble depicts a couple face to face. One person has wrapped their arms around the shoulders of their lover in an embrace. The knees of one of the figures bend up over the legs of the other. The pebble has been ingeniously carved so that, whichever way you look at it, the shape of the figurine is phallic but the genders of the couple are not revealed. What was the sculpture used for? The people who made the figurine are known as Natufians and are among the first people to domesticate sheep and goats. Selectively breeding animals required an understanding of the male role in reproduction and the sculpture's phallic shape may reflect their interest in fertility. Was this work of art used for rituals focussed on fertility or is it...