Art History Geeks

The Sphinx of Naxos The Archaeological Museum of Delphi, Greece   

This colossal statue of the mythical Sphinx came as an offering to Apollo of Delphi from the island of Naxos. The daemonic creature with the female face, the body of a lioness and the wings of an eagle, was supposed to be warding off the evil. The enormous (2 m) figure was seated on the top of a tall (10 m) marble ionic column.

Got art Qs? We’ve got art As. Join us on Twitter tomorrow for #AskACurator Day. 

9:00 a.m.  Hyunsoo Woo, The Maxine & Howard Lewis Curator of Korean Art

10:00 a.m. Kristina Haugland, The Le Vine Associate Curator of Costume & Textiles and Supervising Curator for the Study Room

11:00 a.m. Peter Barberie, The Brodsky Curator of Photographs, Alfred Stieglitz Center

12:00 p.m. Amanda Sroka, Assistant Curator of Contemporary Art

1:00 p.m. Kathy Foster, The Robert L. McNeil, Jr., Senior Curator of American Art & Director, Center for American Art

2:00 p.m. John Vick, Collections Project Manager

3:00 p.m. Chris Atkins, The Agnes & Jack Mulroney Associate Curator of European Painting & Sculpture & Manager of Curatorial Digital Programs & Initiatives

“DON‘T GET BLOOD ON THE ART”

“Well you see, the reason we have this is because murder”

“STOP POINTING THAT AT ME”

“King Henry VIII’s armor fits me best, but his thighs are strangely skinny”

*hits an antique gun several times with a hammer*

“You see, I brought this here in several pieces over many weeks so I wouldn’t be brought to jail if someone caught me with a full 19th century rifle on the subway”

“If someone points this one at you, run”

“I would’ve brought the swords out but I was worried you might cut each other’s limbs off”

Every time its final image pops up on my phone unexpectedly, I go “WAUGH!” and then giggle like a drunken hyena laugh in a cool and collected manner.

Y’see, I got to see a lot of impressionism on this trip, included some lovely Van Goghs.

That said, though… every artist has their strong suit.

Some are masters of the human form, or of light, or of color. The surreal, the cerebral, the gentle or the bold. Some can apply their unique perspective to anything.

Some, however, just shouldn’t paint babies.