Figuring the Black Body in European Decorative Arts
BY ADRIENNE L. CHILDS
The new book “Ornamental Blackness: The Black Figure in European Decorative Arts” addresses the implications of the depiction of Black bodies in luxury objects from the Baroque period through the 19th century.
Promoting Long Island: New Book Investigates the Art of Edward Lange
BY LAUREN BRINCAT AND PETER FEDORYK
In February of 1893, Edward Lange (1846–1912) penned a four-page letter from Olympia, WA—one of the few extant documents by his hand—to his longtime friend on Long Island, Carll S. Burr (1831–1916), offering an odd reflection on the nearly 20 years he spent in New York.
Summer Reading Recommendation: Ceramic Art
BY JESSIE DEAN
‘Ceramic Art’ is the first volume in Princeton University Press’s ART/WORK series, which invites readers to reconsider a section of art history through the lens of materials and conservation. The eight essays in this anthology, edited by Caroline Fowler and Ittai Weinryb, demonstrate the enchanting and elusive nature of ceramics across time and cultures.
The Finest Regency Porcelain Painter: Thomas Baxter in Worcester
BY CHARLES DAWSON
There is no greater name in the history of English Regency porcelain painters than that of Thomas Baxter. His whole life was given to the art of porcelain painting, and his work at the Worcester Flight & Barr factory, the subject of a new book, is among the choicest of the era.
Historic Odessa Collections Published
BY PHILIP D. ZIMMERMAN
One hundred of the objects in the Delaware’s Historic Odessa Foundation’s Wilson-Warner House and the Corbit-Sharp House are addressed in detail in the new book 𝘈 𝘚𝘵𝘰𝘳𝘪𝘦𝘥 𝘗𝘢𝘴𝘵: 𝘊𝘰𝘭𝘭𝘦𝘤𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯𝘴 𝘰𝘧 𝘏𝘪𝘴𝘵𝘰𝘳𝘪𝘤 𝘖𝘥𝘦𝘴𝘴𝘢, with four chapters exploring the town’s early settlement, families, craftsmen, and preservation.
Global Objects: Towards a Connected Art History
BY JESSIE DEAN
The concepts of material, function, and meaning guide a thorough and nuanced review of the world of decorative arts in ‘Global Objects: Toward a Connected Art History’ by Edward S. Cooke, Jr.
Sculpture at the End of Slavery
BY CAITLIN MEEHYE BEACH
A new book interrogates how a wide range of objects—from antislavery medallions to statues of bondspeople bearing broken chains—gave visual form to narratives about abolition in the 18th and 19th centuries.
