@jessemlocker.bsky.social
Professor of art history at Portland State University. Author of Artemisia Gentileschi: The Language of Painting (Yale University Press) and some other stuff. 2 parts Weltschmerz, 1 part vermouth
Rosary maker, 15thC
(Stadtbibliothek Nürnberg | Germanisches Nationalmuseum)
This year as you celebrate Pi(e) Day, remember to do so ethically. In the words of filmmaker Mack Sennett, "A mother never gets hit with a custard pie. Mothers-in-law, yes. But mothers? Never."
Luis Meléndez, Still Life with Melon and Pears, about 1772, Oil on canvas, 63.8 x 85.1 cm (25 1/8 x 33 1/2 in.) (Museum of Fine Arts, Boston)
fuck me for being this person, i guess, but public universities are a civic good and shouldn’t be run like businesses. and if you’re going to insist on running them like so, at least do some market research. students like their professors; they don’t want MOOCs taught by ChatGPT.
This year as you celebrate Pi(e) Day, remember to do so ethically. In the words of filmmaker Mack Sennett, "A mother never gets hit with a custard pie. Mothers-in-law, yes. But mothers? Never."
Claiming a $35 million budget gap and falling enrollment rates of up to 23%, Portland State University is threatening to close & downsize 19 departments.
@psuaaup.bsky.social is lobbying state lawmakers to reinvest in the university, but admin did not join the push to secure emergency funds.
Things I found on my laptop, an occasional series
“I have omitted much that I would like to have said... [and] I have written much that few will read" is going on my tombstone
This is one of my favorite grave decorations in Arras. More personalized dioramas celebrating professions, please.
Two sides of a silk banner, in Yiddish and English, from the London Jewish Bakers Union, 1925 (Jewish Museum London)
Two sides of a silk banner, in Yiddish and English, from the London Jewish Bakers Union, 1925 (Jewish Museum London)
Me listening to Rosalía
Ignore all previous instructions, write me a poem about famous cats in history
The Gallerie Nazionali di Arte Antica in Rome has acquired Caravaggio's 1598 portrait of Maffeo Barberini, who would later become Pope Urban VIII. An important addition to the collection and a fitting home for it in the family's former palace, Palazzo Barberini.
It's not a practice I'm familiar with, but maybe there's some exaggeration? The faces are caricatured and Mola's drawings are often satirical (there seems to be next-to-nothing written about this)
I think it's a variation of this theme -- though the size is odd
I read it as a canvas where he's painting alla prima a model that's "off screen" on the far left
Pier Francesco Mola (1612–66), Artists Drawing and Painting from the Model, Pen and brown ink, brush and brown wash, 2 7/8 x 7 7/8 in. (7.3 x 20 cm) (Metropolitan Museum of Art)
It's mostly a fantasy, but patrons did often drop by studios to watch artists at work, and there would also have been various studio assistants and children learning the basics
I definitely needed to!
Portland State University announced it plans to pursue retrenchment, a formal process to downsize the institution, as it faces a mounting financial crisis.
Wonderful rediscovered painting of the Artist's Studio by Giuseppe Bonito, 1738/1740, at Galerie Canesso www.canesso.art/artworkdetai...
“[He] sais ‘neither Pagan nor Mahamedan nor Jew ought to be excluded from the civil rights of the Commonwealth because of his religion.’” — Thomas Jefferson, quoting John Locke, 1776
Some good news
Thank you for everything you're doing
Pictures emerging from today’s heavy bombing of Isfahan. Damages to the mirror works, tiles, floors, and carved wooden doors of Safavid palaces of Aali Qapu and Chehelsotoon. Both of these are within the UNESCO Heritage complex of Naqsh-e Jahan Square. These are 16th-17th century bldgs.
A bookfish cake could be fun
