Art History

Are you passionate about art or eager to expand your knowledge of iconic artists and movements? Explore our Art History section for in-depth insights, fascinating stories, and expert tips. Start your journey to becoming an art expert today!

An early and a late work by … Gerhard Richter

On the occasion of the sale of his work Wand (Wall) at Sotheby's London on 12 February 2014, and after Boltanski, Artsper looks this week at the case of the German painter Richter. His incessant returns between abstraction and figuration, his technical mastery of the pictorial material, make him one of the most expensive living artists on the market, although absent…

17/01/2014

Top Auction Houses: Artcurial

New year - new section for our blog. Artsper presents the history of the most important fine art auction houses in the world and explains how they work. We’re not nationalists, but we’ll start with French house Artcurial though. Hotel Marcel Dassault, 7 rond-point des Champs Elysées Artcurial is formed of three auctioneers: Maitre Briest, Maitre Poulain et Maitre F.…

11/01/2014

An Early and a Late Work by... Christian Boltanski

How do artists evolve? Do they have a philosophy that they are trying to follow, in a more or less unconscious way? Explore works by Christian Boltanski to find out!

24/11/2013

Art Foundations

Cartier, Louis Vuitton, Ricard … you’ve surely heard of these names. But did you know these companies are also patrons of the arts? Artsper is here to guide you. The patrons of the arts – a little bit of history and three examples. 10 years ago there were less than 2000 firms that were sponsoring the arts. In 2003 though,…

06/11/2013

10 Things you should know about Anselm Kiefer

Artsper is your guide in discovering the work of the geniuses of contemporary art. This warm autumn will be the occasion to explore an ambiguous personality: the German artist Anselm Kiefer, who confronts History and makes it his material, revisiting “the spirit of the matter”. He is a genius who makes the memory of his contemporaries confront the painful and…

13/10/2013

6 curators you should absolutely get to know

The curator is the author of the exhibition. Thanks to Artsper, you will find out who today’s 6 most influential curators are and will not miss their work anymore.

11/10/2013

Anecdotes about R.Mutt

This week, Artsper takes a look at the most controversial artwork of the 20th century, Fountain by Marcel Duchamp (1917). We’ll decipher it for you and tell you a few anecdotes we’ve heard about it. Fountain is a readymade of the French artist Marcel Duchamp (1887-1968) submitted in 1917 for the show of the Society of Independent Artists in New…

29/09/2013

A Guide to Prizes for Contemporary Artists

The FIAC and the ceremonies for several awards for artists are approaching, so Artsper made a (non-exhaustive) list of the prizes for contemporary art that you should know about. The Marcel Duchamp Prize Vue de l'exposition de Marguerite Humeau, FOX P, Palais de Tokyo, 2016 Courtesy de l'artiste © André Morin Created in 2000, the Marcel Duchamp prize is an…

10/09/2013

Interview with Walter Schels

The German duo Walter Schels and Beate Lakotta collaborate in 2004 for the making of a series of unique images, entitled «Life Before Death», launched in Germany. Terrified by death, the German photographer Walter Schels, born in 1936, decided to realize this minimal series of portraits of people, before and after their death. His partner, the journalist Beate Lakotta, born…

20/08/2013

10 Street Artists You Should Know

Humourous, captivating, disturbing and heavily engaged urban frescoes adorn the walls of cities worldwide. However, with street art's increasing presence in galleries, many believe that the street-art is “domesticating” itself, and is losing its urban identity. Artsper takes to the streets to find the 10 street artists you simply must know.

14/08/2013

10 Things to know about... Maurizio Cattelan

Provocative and playful, Maurizio Cattelan draws inspiration from the world around him and contemporary art criticism to comment on society.

06/08/2013

A short guide to Arte Povera

While two exhibitions are taking place simultaneously at the Louvre and Versailles with symbolic artists of that movement, Artsper offers you to focus on Arte Povera, artistic movement born a little less than a century ago in Italy. “Attitude” more than a real artistic movement, Arte Povera was born in September 1967 when art critic Germano Celant chose to present…

28/07/2013

A Short Guide to the Young British Artists

In 1988, an exhibition named “Freeze” is organized in the Docklands district, South London. This exhibition shows the works of sixteen students from the Goldsmiths College of Art, an londoner art school. Since no gallery wanted to expose their works, they took the decision to create their own exhibition. © Angus Fairhurs In this small group we can find Angus Fairhust,…

22/07/2013

In the Office: Being a Gallery Owner with Baudoin Lebon

Today Artsper is meeting Baudoin Lebon, founder and director of the Baudoin Lebon Gallery in Paris. What is the job of gallery owner? How does it progress and to what new challenges is it today facing? Focus on an evolving and often unknown profession. Artsper: What did you want to do when you were a child and why did you…

17/07/2013

10 Things you need to know about Andreas Gursky

Andreas Gursky is one of the most famous photographers in the world. His photographs are the result of an enormous amount of work, of great precision and technical skill.

07/07/2013

A Short Guide to Bad Painting

If you have never heard about the “Bad Painting”, you are certainly familiar with some of its famous representative people’s works. The name of Jean-Michel Basquiat must indeed be familiar to you, especially since the retrospective that the musée d’art moderne de Paris gave him during Spring 2011. Kenny Scharf - Palm Springs Vacation - 1978 What are the characteristics…

03/07/2013

10 things to know about Roy Lichtenstein

We turn our attention to the artwork of Roy Lichtenstein, one of the major figures of Pop-Art, exploring 10 anecdotes about his life.

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