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Marilyn MacGregor

Contributor

BSR Contributor Since April 13, 2012

Marilyn MacGregor is an artist, art historian, teacher and writer who has lived and worked on both coasts and in Europe. She now lives in Philadelphia.

Marilyn MacGregor is an artist, art historian, teacher, and writer who has lived and worked on both coasts and in Europe. She writes about art, culture and travel for local and national publications and on her award-winning blog ArtSmartTalk, teaches in Drexel University's Pennoni Honors College, and exhibits her art widely.

She also speaks about art and art history and leads tours, and offers online learning with Postcard Art History. Her lifelong love of drawing is the basis for her own work, which includes works on paper and artist books, as well as commercial illustration. As a relative newcomer to Philadelphia, she's excited by the city's vibrant contemporary art scene and by Philadelphia's great museums.

Visit her website at www.marilynmacgregor.com.
Contact Marilyn at {encode="[email protected]" title="[email protected]"}.

By this Author

32 results
Page 1
‘Bedouins’ (1905-06): Exotic to us, routine to them.

Sargent watercolors at Brooklyn Museum

Worlds apart from his portraits
A landmark exhibit at the Brooklyn Museum showcases the brilliant watercolors of John Singer Sargent. It's a rare opportunity to see an abundance of these rich intimate treasures by the 19th-Century master of fashion portraits.
Marilyn MacGregor

Marilyn MacGregor

Articles 4 minute read
'Gravity and Grace': Out of African exploitation, beauty.

El Anatsui at Brooklyn Museum

Lesson from Nigeria: The process matters more than the product
The extraordinary African artist El Anatsui crafts huge, richly beautiful works from ordinary but highly symbolic debris.
Marilyn MacGregor

Marilyn MacGregor

Articles 4 minute read
Peter Rabbit proved useful when Beatrix Potter dealt with her publishers.

Three shows at the Morgan in New York

J.P. Morgan's Cabinet of Curiosities
The Morgan Library can always be counted on for a rollicking good time, if your taste runs to the quietly magnificent and extravagantly obscure.
Marilyn MacGregor

Marilyn MacGregor

Articles 4 minute read
'Water Towers": A whimsical alien gift.

"Light': Longwood Gardens' first art piece

Some place that's not quite where you're supposed to be
As if Longwood Gardens wasn't already sufficiently spectacular, Bruce Munro's “Light” adds a magical combination of art, imagination and science.
Marilyn MacGregor

Marilyn MacGregor

Articles 3 minute read
‘Woman Surrounded by Dogs’ (1979-80): Unintentionally comic.

Eric Fischl's "Dive Deep' at Pennsylvania Academy (1st review)

A story-teller, maybe. But an artist?
Eric Fischl made a big splash in the '80s with his lush but facile narrative paintings of bored suburban white people. Has he grown or matured since then? Not to judge from “Dive Deep.”
Marilyn MacGregor

Marilyn MacGregor

Articles 4 minute read
Encounters at the intersection between life and death.

Bill Viola's "Ocean Without a Shore' at PAFA

A mythic underworld, coming at you
The characters in Bill Viola's video installation, soaking wet and fully fleshed, seem more real than real, as if they have pushed right through their screens into the room. It's a compelling experience of mythic human narratives.
Marilyn MacGregor

Marilyn MacGregor

Articles 3 minute read
Glackens’s ‘Street Cleaners, Washington Square’ (1910): Finding beauty in urban grit.

American painters in the Barnes

Those overlooked Americans at the Barnes
Notwithstanding all those Renoirs and Cézannes, the Barnes Collection also contains an important story of American artists who made significant contributions to modern art.
Marilyn MacGregor

Marilyn MacGregor

Articles 3 minute read
'Champagne Charlie': Drinks that did, and didn't, stand the test of time.

"Uncorked!': Wine history at Winterthur

Have a cup of caudle, or: The good old days of drinking
Winterthur's “Uncorked!” looks at drinking over the centuries with an abundance of fascinating objects that tell stories about a favorite pastime.
Marilyn MacGregor

Marilyn MacGregor

Articles 3 minute read
That same Barnes feeling, only dusted off. (Photo: Marilyn MacGregor.)

The new Barnes: Worth the wait (1st review)

The brilliance of Barnes, with more breathing room, too
In its new lodgings on the Parkway, the Barnes Collection looks reassuringly the same but wonderfully refreshed, and the art is as amazing as ever.
Marilyn MacGregor

Marilyn MacGregor

Articles 4 minute read
Rosenthal's 'You're Everything I Hoped For': Putting Romance novels to practical use.

"Narrative Thread' at Wexler Gallery

Women's work, overshadowed no more
Five artists who happen to be women tell intriguing stories using time-honored methods and materials once reserved for “women's work.”
Marilyn MacGregor

Marilyn MacGregor

Articles 3 minute read
Is the irregular façade (above) a metaphor for Albert Barnes’s philosophy?

The new Barnes: a sneak preview

First peek at the new Barnes: And the verdict is….
The Barnes Foundation's new home on the Parkway, set to open on May 19, barely resembles its previous Beaux Arts building in Merion. My sneak-preview tour last week convinced me that's not a bad thing.
Marilyn MacGregor

Marilyn MacGregor

Articles 3 minute read
'Untitled #466': One idea, plus an unlimited imagination.

Cindy Sherman retrospective at MOMA in New York

Vanity and insecurity, hand in hand
MOMA's Cindy Sherman retrospective is a tribute to one of the most intriguing stars of contemporary art. In her iconic photographs, Sherman casts herself as a character in the stories of our obsessions.
Marilyn MacGregor

Marilyn MacGregor

Articles 3 minute read
'Remnant' (2008): Life, dying and reborn.

Orit Hofshi's "Pharos' at Locks Gallery

A novel unfolding in her mind
Orit Hofshi is a printmaker on a grand scale, with a freedom of vision and execution that's exhilarating to witness.
Marilyn MacGregor

Marilyn MacGregor

Articles 2 minute read
Colke's 'Branded Iron': The drudgery of someone else's chores.

'After Tanner' at Pennsylvania Academy (1st review)

Of race prejudice and misunderstanding
Pennsylvania Academy's Henry O. Tanner retrospective is a rich experience, made richer with the accompanying exhibit of African-American Artists since 1940. Together they provide a timeline of struggle, complexity, inspiration and accomplishment.
Marilyn MacGregor

Marilyn MacGregor

Articles 3 minute read
Tin Wei Lin's 'Eastern Interior' (2010): Somewhere between photography and drawing.

"Here and Now' at the Art Museum (1st review)

Up-and-coming, or already arrived
Philadelphia's Art Museum does a better job of showcasing local young artists than most major museums. Not surprising, with so many top-class art schools within walking distance.
Marilyn MacGregor

Marilyn MacGregor

Articles 3 minute read