Jo Lawson-Tancred

5 days ago | news.artnet.com | Jo Lawson-Tancred

A man broke into the terracotta army museum in Xi’an, China last Friday, damaging two of the ancient clay warriors—some of China’s most prized archaeological treasures—before being detained by security. The terracotta army is one of China’s foremost archaeological treasures. It is protected by a roofed museum complex in Lintong District, Xi’an, in the province of Shaanxi, and has been a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1987. The man visited the museum in the afternoon of Friday, May 30.

1 week ago | news.artnet.com | Jo Lawson-Tancred

The dramatic life story of Artemisia Gentileschi easily captures the imagination. This may be why many of her most famous paintings—including Judith Slaying Holofernes and Jael and Sisera—are those in which women overpower and kill men. Her particularly gruesome interpretations of these classic biblical scenes are understood as protofeminist revenge fantasies.

1 week ago | news.artnet.com | Jo Lawson-Tancred

“I am self-taught and ignorant, but my knowledge is that of a magician,” the Italian artist Bona de Mandiargues once said. In her hands, the avant-garde experiments of Surrealism took on darker, more subversive, and self-exposing edge. She was known and admired by leading Surrealists of her day, but she also stood apart for her highly idiosyncratic practice, characterized by disturbing, monstrously erotic works that are rich with symbolism, esoterica, and references to the occult.

1 week ago | news.artnet.com | Jo Lawson-Tancred

In the shadow of Vesuvius, Pompeii has long offered an unparalleled window into ancient Roman life—but the view has been skewed. For centuries, women’s roles in the city have been overlooked or obscured, filtered through histories written almost exclusively by men, creating a glaring gap in our understanding of classical society that modern historians have struggled to fill. Now, a groundbreaking exhibition at the Pompeii Archaeological Park is working to change that.

1 week ago | news.artnet.com | Jo Lawson-Tancred

How much do we really know about Hiroshige? Thanks to the medium of mass-produced woodblock prints, his masterful, uniquely exquisite designs spread rapidly, becoming widely beloved throughout his native Japan and, towards the end of the 19th century, the rest of the world. Hiroshige’s enduring popularity and his huge influence on Western modern art cannot be overstated, but the full range and complexity of his practice is too often overlooked.