Prior to Thomas Edison’s groundbreaking invention of sound recording and playback technology in 1877, the ephemerality of sound meant that it only existed in the moment of its creation. To “record” sound before this time meant it appeared as oral or written descriptions or musical scores. In 2008, Patrick Feaster, a researcher and educator […]
What does an image sound like? This is the question that Northwestern University students sought to answer in an experimental workshop earlier this month. Students in computer science, engineering, sound arts, and art theory and practice joined together for a day-long session with artist Dario Robleto and media historian Patrick Feaster to delve into the […]
Title: Constellation Exhibit 1959 Artist: Joan Miró Nationality: Spanish Date: 1959 Medium or technique: Color lithograph Credit: Mary and Leigh Block Museum of Art, Northwestern University, 1993.49, Copyright: © Successió Miró / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York / ADAGP, Paris In 1919, Joan Miró relocated from his native Spain to France, where he became associated with […]
The intact portrait mummy now on view at the Block within the Paint the Eyes Softer: Mummy Portraits from Roman Egypt has traveled far and wide on her journey to the exhibition. This fall, the ancient artifact became the site of a groundbreaking new study that brought together researchers at the McCormick School of Engineering, the […]
The Block Museum was thrilled to serve as one of many partners for the 2017 Northwestern University Black Arts Initiative conference “Black Arts International: Temporalities and Territories (October 9-13). This week-long event focused on art and scholarship of the black diaspora around the world. Conference presenters considered notions of time, space, and place and the ways in […]
Unique fellowship puts interdisciplinary scholar in Block Museum The Block Museum of Art and The Graduate School announce the creation of an annual interdisciplinary fellowship enabling graduate students from any school or department across Northwestern University to work within the museum for a full academic year. The fellow will serve alongside the Block’s art history fellow, appointed annually from […]
A stunningly illustrated look at how Blake’s radical vision influenced artists of the Beat generation and 1960s counterculture The Block Museum of Art at Northwestern University is proud to partner with Princeton University Press on the exhibition catalog William Blake and the Age of Aquarius, edited by exhibition curator Stephen F. Eisenman, with contributions by Mark […]
The Block Museum presents “Looking Life Right Straight in the Face”: The Art of Purvis Young from September 23 – December 10, 2017. On October 19th, 2017 Lisa Corrin Ellen Philips Katz Director of the Block Museum was joined in conversation by Debra Kerr, Director of the Intuit Art Center, for a gallery talk about the exhibition and the life of […]
On Tuesday November 8th, 2017 Block Museum’s Ellen Philips Katz Director Lisa Corrin joined New York’s Bard Graduate Center for Museum Conversations Seminar talk entitled “The University Art Museum as a ‘State of Mind.’” About the Lecture Since 2012, The Block Museum of Art at Northwestern University has been developing a new model for how a campus […]
Artist: Purvis Young (America, 1943-2010) Title: Untitled (Angel, Boats and Horse) Date: ca.1988 Medium: Painting on found board Dimensions: 69 x 38 x 3.5 inches Credit Line: Gift of Selig and Angela Sacks, 2014.6.1 The first thing I noticed about Purvis Young’s Untitled (Angel, Boats, and Horses) (ca. 1988) was that it was huge. Even propped […]