Jezebel: Painting

People Mad at Cafe for Not Showing Enough Nudity

Cassie Murdoch — Mon, 23 Jan 2012 10:20:00 EST

Usually it's people complaining that art shows too much skin and trying to bring more censorship into the picture. But there's a been a refreshing—if somewhat ridiculous—reversal at one Brooklyn cafe. The Tea Lounge, which is in the very child-friendly neighborhood of Park Slope, attempted to make itself less offensive to the kids in the neighborhood by covering up the nipples on a series of nude paintings that were on display in the coffee shop. But the mothers who frequent the coffee shop with their kids—and often breastfeed openly while there—cried foul. More »

Woman Rubs Her Butt on $30 Million Painting

Margaret Hartmann — Thu, 05 Jan 2012 23:24:00 EST

You probably made an ass of yourself the last time you were drunk, but as long as you didn't rub your ass on any expensive artwork there's someone out there who's more mortified than you are. Yesterday 36-year-old Carmen Tisch was charged with felony criminal mischief for punching, scratching, and sliding her butt against a painting worth $30 million. Police suspect that Tisch was drunk when she assaulted "1957-J no.2" by Clyfford Still in a Denver museum devoted to the late artist, causing $10,000 worth of damage. A spokeswoman for the D.A.'s office says, "You have to wonder where her friends were," and that's an important message: Friends don't let friends go on a drunken rampage in an art gallery. More »

Color Field Painter Helen Frankenthaler Dies At 83

Anna North — Tue, 27 Dec 2011 13:25:00 EST

Helen Frankenthaler, an artist who helped develop a style of painting known as Color Field, has died at the age of 83. Though she was one of the most famous female artists of her generation, she said she never thought of herself as a "lady painter." More »

Feminist Artist Sylvia Sleigh Dies At 94

Anna North — Tue, 26 Oct 2010 18:32:00 EDT

Sylvia Sleigh, an artist who often painted male nudes in odalisque-style poses, has died at 94. She once said of her art, "I wanted to give my perspective, portraying both sexes with dignity and humanism." More »

11-Year-Old Raises $110,000 For Oil Cleanup

Katy Kelleher — Fri, 18 Jun 2010 10:20:00 EDT

11-year-old Olivia Bouler wanted to help clean up the oil spill, so she contacted the Audubon Society with an idea. They approved, and soon after, AOL signed on. Bouler has so far raised $110,000 selling her paintings. [CNN, AOL] More »

Encounters At The End Of The World

Anna Holmes — Sat, 23 Jan 2010 11:15:00 EST

[Berlin, January 22. Image via Getty]

Mona Lisa's Smile Due To Too Much Bacon?

Katy Kelleher — Wed, 06 Jan 2010 11:20:00 EST

An Italian scientist is arguing that Mona Lisa's facial expression reveals signs of "very high cholesterol." Vito Franco also claims this mannerist masterpiece and this renaissance painting both depict subjects with Marfan syndrome. [Telegraph] More »

Stars: They're Just Like Us! Except For, You Know, The Giant Life-Sized Portraits Of Themselves.

Sadie Stein — Thu, 19 Feb 2009 13:40:00 EST

The recession has not hurt Hollywood's booming terrible-portrait business, although the stars make a big show of finding the likenesses embarrassing. They should. More »

Last Impressions

Sadie Stein — Tue, 13 Jan 2009 18:15:00 EST

When Claude Monet's beloved wife and muse Camille died at 32, the artist responded the only way he knew how: a vivid, evocative painting that would hang over his own deathbed 47 years later. [Obit] More »