The original selfie
Alexander Korda’s 1936 film “Rembrandt” ends with Charles Laughton, looking remarkably like a Rembrandt self-portrait, winking at the camera and saying, “Vanity of vanities, all is vanity.” That is from [...]
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Posted January 20, 2016in Art News
Posted December 23, 2015in Art News
Restorations, expansions and horrors
Renaissance and expansion dominated the local art scene in 2015. The most impressive new architectural achievements were restorations. American Enterprise Group (AEG) reopened its historic Sixth Avenue headquarters thanks to [...]
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Posted November 18, 2015in Art News
Red Fox out of hibernation
Bill Ludwig is a well-known architect but a little-known artist. He says his heart was always in art, but after nearly earning a fine arts degree at Iowa State in [...]
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Posted October 21, 2015in Art News, Featured Story
Three new shows
Moberg Gallery opened an exhibit of the works of Gary Kelley, TJ Moberg, Derrick Breidenthal and Midwest Pressed. Kelley’s paintings usually hang around with historical figures of American history, Greek [...]
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Posted September 16, 2015in Art News, Featured Story
Iowa finds its niche
Some geographical coincidences are odd enough to make people wonder about genetic connections or if there’s “something in the water.” How else can you explain the number of baseball’s greatest [...]
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Posted August 19, 2015in Art News
Sixth Avenue renaissance
Earlier this decade, rumors floated that American Enterprise Group (AEG) might leave its historic Sixth Avenue headquarters and move to the western suburbs. Des Moines City Councilwoman Christine Hensley recalled [...]
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Posted July 15, 2015in Art News
Road trip!
Kansas City museums are all in this summer with remarkable exhibitions targeted at specific interests. The magnificently restored Union Station (the nation’s second-largest train terminal after Grand Central in New [...]
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Posted June 17, 2015in Art News
What’s next for Des Moines?
The Des Moines Social Club celebrated its first anniversary in its permanent home recently. Nearly 10,000 people showed up one night as part of that anniversary. The next day the [...]
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Posted May 27, 2015in Art News
Changing attitudes
Fiber Sculpture 1960-Present, at the Des Moines Art Center (DMAC) through Aug. 2, includes contributions from 32 artists from four continents. Reassembled painstakingly in three different galleries at the DMAC, [...]
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Posted April 15, 2015in Art News
The Messenger
The Des Moines Art Center recently brought Nick Cave to town for a public conversation. An overflow turnout at Levitt Auditorium made one wonder if some folks thought it was [...]
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