Two National Geographic Explorers enter the Mayan Pyramid, El Castillo, in search of a hidden entrance to an underground cave. While inside they explain the significance of jaguar throne and human sacrifice.
Category Archives: History
Travels With A Curator: “Grasse” In The South Of France (The Frick Video)
In this week’s episode of “Travels with a Curator,” journey to Grasse on the French Riviera with Deputy Director and Peter Jay Sharp Chief Curator Xavier F. Salomon as he explores the birthplace of Jean-Honoré Fragonard and the Villa-Musée Fragonard. Once a private residence owned by Fragonard’s cousin, Alexandre Maubert, the villa was home to the Frick’s beloved “Progress of Love” series for about 100 years before the paintings were sold and eventually acquired by Henry Clay Frick in the early 20th century.
Jean-Honoré Fragonard was a French painter and printmaker whose late Rococo manner was distinguished by remarkable facility, exuberance, and hedonism. One of the most prolific artists active in the last decades of the Ancien Régime, Fragonard produced more than 550 paintings, of which only five are dated.
Art Video: “American Gothic” By Grant Wood (Art Institute Chicago)
On this episode of Art Institute Essentials Tour, take a closer look at American Gothic, painted by Grant Wood in 1930. One of the most famous American paintings of all time, this double portrait by Grant Wood debuted at the Art Institute in 1930, winning the artist a $300 prize and instant fame. Wood intended this Depression-era canvas to be a positive statement about rural American values during a time of disillusionment.
Grant DeVolson Wood (1891-1942) was an American painter best known for his paintings depicting the rural American Midwest, particularly American Gothic, which has become an iconic painting of the 20th century.
Archaeology: “The First Egyptian Pyramid” (Video)
The first pyramid ever built was constructed more than 4,500 years ago, and designed by Imhotep. Archaeologists are looking for answers as to how he came up with this design.
About Lost Treasures of Egypt: An immersive, action-packed and discovery-led series following International teams of Egyptologists as they unearth the world’s richest seam of ancient archaeology – Egypt’s Valley of the Kings. For a full season of excavations and with unprecedented access to the teams on the front line of archaeology, we follow these modern-day explorers as they battle searing heat and inhospitable terrain to make the discoveries of a lifetime.
Using innovative technology and age-old intuition in their quest to uncover the secrets of these ancient sites, can the team’s discoveries re-write ancient history?
Transportation History: “The Rise And Fall Of Hertz” (CNBC Video)
Hertz was a pioneer in car rental and a highly recognized brand nearly as old as the American auto industry itself. Decimated by coronavirus, Hertz tried in mid-2020 to take advantage of an odd Robinhood-driven spike in its share price and sell stock to pay off its debts. At the time, the company admitted the shares it was selling could end up worthless. Will Hertz be able to emerge from bankruptcy in some form, or will this be the end of its century-long story.
Cocktails With A Curator: “Vase Japon” (Frick Video)
In this week’s episode of “Cocktails with a Curator,” examine one of the Frick’s recent acquisitions, the Sèvres “Vase Japon,” with Deputy Director and Peter Jay Sharp Chief Curator Xavier F. Salomon. A unique interpretation of a Chinese (not Japanese) bronze vase from the Han Dynasty, the object represents the 18th-century influence of China on European porcelain design. This week’s program is paired with a Long Island Iced Tea.
To view this object in detail, please visit our website: https://collections.frick.org/objects…
CLASSIC CAR HISTORY: “1963 CORVETTE STING RAY COUPE”
The 1963 Corvette Sting Ray Coupe received a total restyling, and with its rear split window, became one of our most sought-after vehicles. Take a look at a beautiful piece of Chevy history.
Classic German Cars : “1972 Porsche 916” (Video)
Built as a more powerful variant of the 914, only 10 of these pre-production 916s were built. Each of the prototypes wore a fixed steel roof, a double grilled engine lid, seven-inch Fuchs wheels, and flared fenders from the 914-6 GT cars.
Fitted with a 2.4-liter flat-six engine from the 911 S model, the example on offer was originally owned by Louise Piëch, Ferdinand Piëch’s sister. It later went on to be the centerpiece in several prominent collections and is offered today from single ownership since 2008 in concours condition following a comprehensive two-year, bare-metal restoration.
ARTWORK VIDEO TOUR: Gustave Caillebotte’s “Paris Street; Rainy Day”
On this episode of Art Institute Essentials Tour, take a closer look at Paris Street; Rainy Day, painted by Gustave Caillebotte in 1877. This complex intersection represents in microcosm the changing urban milieu of late nineteenth-century Paris. Considered the artist’s masterpiece, Caillebotte strikingly captured a vast, stark modernity, complete with life-size figures strolling in the foreground and wearing the latest fashions.
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