Museums

221 results
Page 21
At the National Constitution Center, Jefferson’s statue is set against a backdrop bearing the names of his slaves.

Philadelphia's Jeffersonian summer

The man behind the Declaration of Independence

Together, Slavery at Jefferson’s Monticello and Jefferson, Philadelphia, and the Founding of a Nation offer a comprehensive view of one man’s intellect, privilege, ambition, accomplishment, and limitations. Despite his failings, it is impossible not to admire what Jefferson did. Given his many gifts, it is also impossible not to wish he had done more.

Pamela J. Forsythe

Articles 7 minute read
Art Deco grandeur: Cincinnati's Museum Center is a repurposed train terminal. Photo by wrightbrosfan, via Flickr/Creative Commons.

Wheeling to Columbus to Cincinnati

Road trip to art

Venture beyond the Boston-to-D.C. axis for your next art-lovers' road trip.
Joanna Rotté

Joanna Rotté

Articles 5 minute read

The gift shop at the 9/11 Museum

It has been said that America is exceptional. It is: It's exceptionally disrespectful. The 9/11 Memorial Museum, including its store, should never have been built.

Tara Lynn Johnson

Articles 3 minute read

Musée de l'Orangerie and the Barnes Foundation

A tale of two museums

There are a variety of similarities, and differences, between Paul Guillaume and Albert Barnes, and between the museums housing their respective collections.
Richard Carreño

Richard Carreño

Articles 6 minute read
Il Ponte Vecchio at sunset

A solo visit to Florence

Sorrows of a Florentine traveler

Nestled in the cradle of the Tuscan hills, this city of light, good food, and tiny medieval streets has a history as extraordinary as its beauty. Florence is the birthplace of the Renaissance, secularism, liberalism, rationalism, and the pagan world.
Thom Nickels

Thom Nickels

Articles 5 minute read
A religious symbol? Heaven forbid.

That cross at the 9/11 Memorial

God and propaganda at Ground Zero

The new 9/11 Memorial Museum is planning to exhibit, among other artifacts, a pair of girders recovered from Ground Zero in the shape of a cross. It’s a bad idea for several reasons.
Robert Zaller

Robert Zaller

Articles 4 minute read
South view, Renzo Piano Pavilion, September 2013. Kimbell Art Museum, Fort Worth, Texas. Photo by Robert Polidori

Renzo Piano Pavilion at Kimbell Art Museum

What if they built an art museum and forgot the art?

These days, the buildings in which art museums are housed seem to get more attention than the art within.
Richard Carreño

Richard Carreño

Articles 6 minute read
'The Night Watch': Holland's Golden Age, in a  single painting.

Amsterdam: The city as museum

Rembrandt would recognize this place (and so would John Adams)

Yes, Amsterdam remains a Mecca for aging hippies, hash parlors and whores. But hold the snarky jokes. The city is an architectural wonderland of the 17th and 18th Centuries, full of dozens of remarkable museums.
Richard Carreño

Richard Carreño

Articles 7 minute read
Princess and young prince: Do clothes make the woman?

Searching for Grace Kelly at the Michener Museum

Will the real Grace Kelly please stand up?

An exhibit that promises to reveal the real Grace Kelly does little more than cater to her gorgeous myth.
Alaina Johns

Alaina Johns

Articles 4 minute read
Diego's heroic workers: This time, up against the politicians.

Diego Rivera's ghost in Detroit

Where art and ideology meet: Can a dead Communist artist save Detroit?

The city of Detroit may be broke, but the Detroit Institute of Arts owns $2 billion worth of art works. Its most valued pieces, by the Communist Diego Rivera, portray heroic workers triumphing over stoic managers. In the best capitalist tradition, Rivera’s frescoes are now being held hostage by a pair of union-busting Republican politicians.
Richard Carreño

Richard Carreño

Articles 5 minute read