Colombian artist Fernando Botero with his painting ‘After Velazquez’ at the Pera Museum in Istanbul, Turkey, on May 3, 2010.
Credit: © Prometheus72/Shutterstock

Copy the Mona Lisa, but make her twelve years old and comically disproportionate! Political, original, and always interesting, Colombian artist Fernando Botero’s pieces captured attention around the world. Botero died on Friday, September 15th, 2023, at the age of 91. Botero was known for his paintings and sculptures. Round figures with comparatively small faces define his work. Botero featured satirical portrayals of powerful subjects. Satire is the use of wit to attack human conduct or institutions. Satire is used in literature and art to expose and even reform such human failings as folly, greed, or vanity. His style, known as Boterismo, shows figures of exaggerated volume with bright colors. Botero painted and sculpted animals, people, and still-life scenes of food. Still-life paintings are close-ups of objects.

‘Horse Man’ sculpture by Colombian artist Fernando Botero in Botero Square in Medellín, Colombia.
Credit: © Oscar Espinosa, Shutterstock

Botero was born in Medellín, Colombia, on April 19, 1932. His father died when he was four years old. Botero began drawing and painting in watercolors at a young age. An uncle enrolled him in a training school for bullfighting when he was 12 years old. A man who sold tickets to bullfighting began selling Botero’s drawings and paintings. At the age of 16, Botero’s first illustrations were published in El Colombiano, a newspaper in Medellín. When Botero was 20 years old, he won second prize at Bogotá’s Salón Nacional de Artistas exhibition. He then traveled to Europe to study art.

Botero studied the paintings of the Old Masters of European art in Madrid, Spain; Paris, France; and Florence, Italy. After he returned to Colombia, he entered the Biblioteca Nacional exhibition in 1955, where his art was not well received. Botero moved to Mexico City in 1956. In 1960, he won the Colombian section of the Guggenheim international exhibition. That same year, he moved to New York City. In 1961, the Museum of Modern Art in New York City bought his painting Mona Lisa, Age 12, a tribute to the Old Masters.

In 1973, Botero moved to Paris, France. While in Paris, he began sculpting figures from his paintings. Museums and galleries around the world featured Botero’s work as his popularity grew. Botero’s bronze sculptures are displayed in public spaces in Colombia, France, Israel, Spain, and the United States. Botero addressed the subject of the Colombian drug cartel in Masacre de Mejor Esquina (1997) and Death of Pablo Escobar (1999). He addressed the abuse of Iraqi prisoners by American personnel in Abu Ghraib prison in a collection called Abu Ghraib (2005).

In 2003, the Japanese film Spirited Away (2001), by Hayao Miyazaki, became the first anime production to win the Academy Award as best animated feature film.
Credit: © Pictorial Press/Alamy Images

This Saturday, April 15 is National Anime Day, celebrating the distinct style of animation that developed in Japan in the 1960’s. Anime is short for animeshiyon, the Japanese word for animation. Anime stories may be original or based on popular children’s tales. Many of the stories, as well as the overall look of anime, are taken from Japanese comic books called manga that became popular in the 1950’s. Anime has a flat look and features colorful images and heroic characters. The plots are often action-filled, with fantastic, futuristic, or political themes. Many anime characters have large, saucerlike eyes, small mouths, and wild hair. The characters often display exaggerated emotions.

An action figure display features the superhero Deku from the series My Hero Academia.
Credit: © Morumotto/Shutterstock

Anime television series and motion pictures are watched around the world. “My Hero Academia”  is a popular manga and anime series of the 2010’s and 2020’s. It was created by the Japanese artist Kohei Horikoshi. The series takes place in a world where most people have a unique inborn superpower that individuals can develop to become heroes. “Attack on Titan” is among the most popular manga and anime series of the 2010’s. It is an action and fantasy series set in a world where humanity has been pushed to the brink of extinction by the mysterious Titans. The Titans are giant, humanoid monsters that attack and eat humans on sight.

A life-sized model of a Titan greets visitors to a Japanese theme park attraction based on the series Attack on Titan.
Credit: © MR. AEKALAK CHIAMCHAROEN/Shutterstock

Other popular anime TV series include “Dragon Ball” (1986-1989) by manga artist and writer Akira Toriyama, “Pokémon” (1997-2002), “Cowboy Bebop” (1998-1999), “Naruto” (2002-2007), and “Fullmetal Alchemist” (2003-2004). Notable anime feature films include Akira, Grave of the Fireflies, and My Neighbor Totoro (all 1988); Ninja Scroll (1993); Princess Mononoke (1997); Ponyo (2008); The Secret World of Arrietty (2010); and The Wind Rises (2013). In 2003, the Japanese film Spirited Away (2001), by Hayao Miyazaki, became the first anime production to win the Academy Award as best animated feature film.

The character Goku in the anime series “Dragon Ball Z”
Credit: © Fuji TV

There are many types of anime, including action, adventure, comedy, romance, science fiction, fantasy, and the supernatural. Shonen anime features action or adventure and is targeted toward adolescent boys. Shojo anime features character development and romance and is targeted toward adolescent girls. Mecha anime features giant robots with human traits. Some types of anime have more adult themes, often involving violence or sexual material. Anime may be subtitled or dubbed in other languages for release in countries outside of Japan.

Manga comics surged in popularity in Japan in the mid-1900′s. The “Naruto” (1994-2014) series by Masashi Kishimoto became one of the top-selling manga series of all time. It is about the adventures of a mischievous young ninja.
Credit: © Masashi Kishimoto, Shueisha Inc.

The Japanese animator and cartoonist Osamu Tezuka was a pioneer of manga and anime. He was greatly influenced by the animation of the American motion-picture producer Walt Disney. Tezuka created a number of popular manga series in the 1950’s that later became popular anime TV series. These include the TV series “Astro Boy” (1963-1966) and “Kimba the White Lion” (1965-1967). Anime often appears jerky because it typically uses fewer drawings than the animation of such major studios as Walt Disney and Warner Bros. Animated cartoons often appeal to children, but anime can be enjoyed by adults as well as younger viewers around the world.

Mr. Doodle doodles his entire mansion in Kent, England.
Credit: © Gareth Fuller, PA Images/Alamy Images

Do you ever doodle in your notebook? Do you pen in stars, flowers, or funny faces between your math problems and notes? Mr. Doodle took doodling to the extreme doodling the entire exterior and interior of his house! While most people doodle for a couple minutes to regain focus in class or while journaling, Mr. Doodle’s latest feat took two years to complete. Don’t go doodling on your walls without asking around if it is okay, though!

Mr. Doodle, whose real name is Sam Cox, covered his entire $1.5 million house in Kent in southeastern England with doodles. Cox grew up in Kent. The ceiling, walls, floors, and appliances are all cartooned! He started with his bedroom then moved down the halls throughout the six bedroom house. He doodled the bathtubs, sinks, and even the toaster! Cox didn’t stop there, he also got the car, sofa, and television.

He started with his childhood bedroom when he was just 15 years old. After covering the entire room with doodles, he decided someday he would live in a “completely doodled environment.” Cox went viral in 2017 when he posted a video of doodling with black paint. He surprised the art world when his pieces started selling for much more than expected at auctions.

Cox’s pieces are similar to American painter and sculptor Keith Haring’s works. Haring gained international recognition for his graffiti art. Graffiti art consists of paintings or inscriptions on public walls or other surfaces. Haring created cartoon-like images that often glorified the street culture of American inner cities. His playful images included barking dogs, crawling babies, dancing figures, spaceships, robots, crosses, and light bulbs.

Mr. Doodle mostly draws characters inspired by comic books and video games. He interlocks his design so they are all connected and touching. Cox calls this “graffiti spaghetti.” He didn’t use color in his house decor but he does use primary colors in some of his art pieces over or under the black doodles on a white background. He credits television shows like “Tom and Jerry” (1940-1968) and “SpongeBob SquarePants” (1999- ). Keep doodling and follow your dreams, they just might become a reality!

The Chihuly Garden and Glass Exhibit in Seattle, Washington
Credit: © Christian Heinz, Shutterstock

The United Nations named 2022 the international year of glass. Glass is one of the most useful materials in the world. Few manufactured substances add as much to modern living as does glass. Yet few products are made of such inexpensive raw materials. Glass is made chiefly from silica sand (silica, also called silicon dioxide), soda ash (sodium carbonate), and limestone (calcium carbonate).

Glass has countless uses. Food is preserved in glass jars. People drink from glass containers called glasses. Windows in homes, schools, and office buildings are glass. Motor vehicles have glass windshields and windows. People with vision problems wear eyeglasses. Glass optical fibers carry data all over the world at the speed of light over the Internet, the worldwide network of computers.

Besides being useful, glass is also ornamental. Ever since people learned how to make glass, they have used it as an art material. Glass can take many different forms. It can be spun finer than a spider web. Or it can be molded into a disk for a telescope lens or mirror weighing many tons. Glass can be stronger than steel, or more fragile than paper. Most glass is transparent, but glass can also be colored to any desired shade.

Glassmaking is a popular form of the decorative arts. Dale Chihuly is one of the leading glass artists in the United States. Some of Chihuly’s glass sculptures are shown in the background.
Credit: AP/Wide World

American artist Dale Chihuly is credited with bringing blown glass art back into fashion. Chihuly was born on Sept. 20, 1941, in Tacoma, Washington. He began glass blowing in 1965. Chihuly experimented with colors, layers, and organic forms. He quickly became the biggest name in glass blowing, teaching new artists how to challenge the norm of glass art. Much of Chihuly’s art is on display in public exhibitions. Glass baskets, bowls, chandeliers, orbs, and vases dominate Chihuly’s pieces.

One of Chihuly’s first public exhibitions was Chihuly over Venice, a project involving the installation of 15 chandeliers across Venice, Italy. His most notable works include DNA Tower (2003) in Indianapolis, Indiana, Citron Icicle Tower ( 2012) in Seattle, Washington, several displays at the Biltmore Estate in Asheville, North Carolina, and a colorful sculpture on the ceiling of the Bellagio Hotel in Las Vegas, Nevada.

Former United States President Barack Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama (both center) pose next to their portraits at their unveiling at the Smithsonian’s National Portrait Gallery in Washington, D.C., in 2018. Barack’s portrait was painted by Kehinde Wiley (far left). Michelle’s was painted by Amy Sherald (far right).
Credit: © Saul Loeb, AFP/Getty Images

February is Black History Month, an annual observance of the achievements and culture of Black Americans. This month, Behind the Headlines will feature Black pioneers in a variety of areas. 

Until recently, tracksuits, flatbill hats, jeans, Nike T-shirts, and puffer jackets did not appear in many portraits in museums. Now in the National Portrait Gallery and galleries across the world, American painter Kehinde Wiley has livened up modern-day portraits. Wiley is known for his large, highly detailed, brightly colored portraits. His style has been called urban Baroque, a reference to the Baroque art movement of the 1500′s and 1600′s. Baroque art is large in scale and filled with dramatic details.

In 2017, Wiley was selected to paint the presidential portrait of former United States President Barack Obama. Wiley became the first Black American artist to paint an official presidential portrait. Wiley’s portrait of Obama was unveiled in 2018. It hangs in the National Portrait Gallery in Washington, D.C.

Wiley was born on Feb. 28, 1977, in Los Angeles, California. He was interested in painting from a young age. Wiley received a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree from the San Francisco Art Institute in 1999. He received a Master of Fine Arts degree from Yale University in New Haven, Connecticut, in 2001.

Wiley served as artist-in-residence at the Studio Museum in Harlem in New York City from 2001 to 2002. It was in Harlem that Wiley developed his unique approach to portraiture. He approached strangers on the street, asking them to pose for him. He photographed the subjects in their street clothes and then painted them in a classical European style. He called this process “street casting.” Wiley continued this process in such places as Morocco, Haiti, and India. Wiley’s signature background depicts flowers and foliage or abstract shapes. The bright, detailed backgrounds are reminiscent of the Baroque style.

Sculptor Augusta Savage
Credit: National Archives

February is Black History Month, an annual observance of the achievements and culture of Black Americans. This month, Behind the Headlines will feature Black pioneers in a variety of areas. 

The Harlem Renaissance was a movement in Black American literature and arts during the 1920’s and early 1930’s, when writers and artists tried to explore Black life in the United States in a fresh way. This artistic “renaissance,” which means rebirth, was set in Harlem, an area in New York City that was the center of Black American cultural life during the period. Writers like Langston Hughes and Zora Neale Hurston built on Black American folk culture and addressed such themes as politics, gender, and heritage. Jazz musicians Louis Armstrong and Duke Ellington transformed music. One sculptor of the Harlem Renaissance who cast the reality of the Black experience into sculptures was Augusta Savage.

Augusta Savage was a Black American sculptor and influential art teacher. Savage typically worked in plaster, creating sculptures meant to be cast in bronze. However, Savage could not afford bronze. As a result, most of her sculptures went uncast, and the plaster originals have been destroyed or damaged. Savage’s talent has been recognized after her death, but most of her artwork remains missing.

Savage’s sculptures take their subjects from the Black American experience. Her most successful work was The Harp (Lift Every Voice and Sing), a tribute to the musical contributions of Black Americans. The Harp was a 16-foot (5-meter) tall painted plaster statue. Twelve singers stand in for the strings of the harp, with a man kneeling in front holding sheet music. The base of the harp, supporting the strings, was a large arm and hand. The sculpture was commissioned for and displayed at the 1939 New York World’s Fair.

Augusta Christine Fells was born Feb. 29, 1892, in Green Cove Springs, Florida, near Jacksonville. Her father, a Methodist minister, disapproved of her early creativity in art. The principal at her high school, in West Palm Beach, recognized Savage’s talent and asked her to teach a clay modeling class. She married James Savage in 1915, but they soon divorced. After winning an award at the West Palm Beach County Fair in 1919, Savage moved to New York City.

Savage was accepted into many renowned art programs and schools, but her lifelong struggle with poverty kept her from many opportunities. She worked at a steam laundry, an industrial laundromat, to provide for her family. Savage received a scholarship to the Cooper Union School of Art in New York City and graduated from the four-year program in three years. She was accepted to the Fontainebleau School of Fine Arts in France. However, her acceptance was rescinded (taken back) when the committee found out she was Black.

Savage was commissioned by New York City’s Harlem Library to make busts of W. E. B. Du Bois, the American sociologist and civil rights activist, and other notable civil rights leaders. In 1929, Savage was given funds and awarded a fellowship to study in France. There, Savage exhibited her work at the Grand Palais. In 1934, Savage became the first Black American elected to the National Association of Woman Painters and Sculptors. She started her own studio, where she gave free art classes. Savage died of cancer on March 26, 1962.

April 6, 2020

Today, April 6, marks 500 years since the death of the Italian painter Raphael in 1520. Raphael was one of the greatest and most influential painters of the Italian Renaissance. His graceful figures and skillful compositions influenced artists up to the early 1900′s. The period of his activity is called the High Renaissance. Raphael painted altarpieces, frescoes (paintings on damp plaster) of historical and mythological scenes, and portraits. His most popular works include his gentle paintings of the Madonna and Child. Raphael was also an architect. From 1514 until his death, he directed the construction of St. Peter’s Basilica in Rome.

Raphael’s School of Athens shows a gathering of ancient Greek philosophers and scientists in a Roman architectural setting. Standing in the center are Plato, left, and Aristotle, right. The harmony and balance of the composition are typical of the revival of classicism in the period called the High Renaissance. Credit: Fresco (1510-1511); The Vatican, Rome (The Art Archive)

To mark the quincentenary (500th anniversary) of Raphael’s death, the National Portrait Gallery at the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, D.C., is running an exhibition called “Raphael and His Circle” from February 16 through June 14. (Unfortunately, all museums at the Smithsonian Institution were closed temporarily beginning in March because of the COVID-19 pandemic.) The exhibition includes 26 prints and drawings by Raphael’s contemporaries—his “circle”—as well as four drawings by the master himself. In Italy, the Galleria Nazionale delle Marche ran a Raphael exhibition in the artist’s hometown of Urbino from October 2019 to January 2020. Other Raphael tributes are taking place at the Scuderie del Quirinale in Rome, the Veneranda Biblioteca Ambrosiana in Milan, and at the National Gallery and the Victoria and Albert Museum in London.

The Prophets Hosea and Jonah by Raphael. Credit: The Prophets Hosea and Jonah (1510), pen and brown ink with brown wash over black chalk, heightened with white and squared for transfer on laid paper by Raphael; National Gallery of Art

Raphael was born in Urbino on March 28 or April 6, 1483. His real name was Raffaello Sanzio. His father served as court painter to the Duke of Urbino. About 1494, Raphael went to Perugia to study with Perugino, an important painter. Perugino introduced Raphael to the latest ideas in Italian art and greatly influenced his student’s style.

Raphael settled in Florence in 1504. In Florence, Raphael studied the paintings of the great Italian artist Leonardo da Vinci. Leonardo da Vinci’s balanced compositions and idealized figures had a strong influence on all Renaissance painters, including Raphael.

Late in 1508, Pope Julius II asked Raphael to work for him in Rome. Julius wanted to rebuild and redecorate Rome to reflect its ancient glory. He gathered together the most illustrious architects, painters, and sculptors from all parts of Italy. Raphael created his finest work while in the service of Julius and his successor, Pope Leo X. With the assistance of a large workshop, Raphael produced religious paintings, tapestry designs, palace decorations, and portraits. He died in Rome at age 37 on April 6, 1520, after a short illness.

March 2, 2020

Yesterday, March 1, an exhibition on the French impressionist painter Edgar Degas opened at the National Gallery of Art (NGA) in Washington, D.C. The exhibition, called “Degas at the Opéra,” celebrates the artists’ many works set in the Paris Opéra. The exhibition includes about 100 of the artist’s most famous paintings, pastels, drawings, prints, and sculptures. “Degas at the Opéra” runs until July 5. Prior to its run at the NGA, the exhibition had been at the Musée d’Orsay in Paris since September 2019, shortly after the Opéra celebrated the 350th anniversary of its founding in 1669.

The Dancing Class by Edgar Degas
credit: The Dance Class 1874 by Edgar Degas. Oil on canvas/The Granger Collection

Like the other impressionists, Degas portrayed situations from modern life. However, he did not share his fellow impressionists’ concentration on light and color. Degas emphasized composition, drawing, and form more than did the other members of the movement. He is best known for his paintings of people in both public and unguarded private moments. He showed his figures in awkward or informal positions to free himself from what he felt were outmoded styles of portraying the human body. But, he composed his pictures carefully both for formal balance and to indicate the social interaction of his figures.

Hilaire Germain Edgar Degas was born on July 19, 1834, in Paris, of wealthy parents. From 1854 to 1859, he spent much time in Italy studying the great Renaissance painters to perfect his draftsmanship and style. Degas intended to become a painter of historical scenes, but he abandoned this career because he felt a need to paint modern subjects. Probably under the influence of the painters Gustave Courbet and Édouard Manet, Degas began to paint scenes from everyday life. He especially enjoyed painting pictures of race-track and theatrical life. Degas painted many pictures in oil, but he also excelled in pastel. In addition, he was a fine sculptor and made many clay or wax figurines. Degas died on Sept. 27, 1917.

January 3, 2020

Yesterday, January 2, was the 100th anniversary of the birth of the American author Isaac Asimov in 1920. Asimov wrote about 400 books for young people and adults, mostly nonfiction emphasizing science and technology. However, he became best known for his science fiction.

The author Isaac Asimov was born 100 years ago on Jan. 2, 1920. Credit: © Everett Collection/Alamy Images

Many of Asimov’s short stories and novels feature robots as characters. Several were collected in I, Robot (1950). His popular Foundation series of science-fiction novels includes Foundation (1951), Foundation and Empire (1952), Second Foundation (1953), Foundation’s Edge (1982), Foundation and Earth (1986), Prelude to Foundation (1988), and Forward the Foundation (published in 1993, after his death). He also wrote Fantastic Voyage (1966) and The Gods Themselves (1972).

Asimov’s nonfiction is notable for making complicated material understandable to the general reader. These works include Asimov’s New Guide to Science (1984). Asimov also wrote on such topics as history, humor, William Shakespeare, and the Bible. He wrote two volumes of autobiography, In Memory Yet Green (1979) and In Joy Still Felt (1980).

Asimov was born on Jan. 2, 1920, in Petrovichi, Russia, near Smolensk. When he was 3 years old, his family moved to New York City. Asimov became a United States citizen in 1928. He taught biochemistry at Boston University from 1949 to 1958 before becoming a full-time writer. He died on April 6, 1992.

December 2, 2019

Tomorrow, December 3, marks 100 years since the death of the celebrated French artist Pierre Auguste Renoir in 1919. Renoir, an Impressionist painter, was famous for his pictures of young girls and children and intimate portraits of French middle-class life. He loved to show lively groups in sensuous surroundings. He often used his friends as models and frequently painted his wife and children.

The French artist Pierre Auguste Renoir died 100 years ago on Dec. 3, 1919. Credit: National Library of France

Art museums around the world highlighted their collections of Renoir works to mark the centenary of the artist’s death. In the United States, a special exhibit, “Renoir: the Body, the Senses,” was held at the Clark Art Institute in Massachusetts during the summer. The exhibit then moved to the Kimbell Art Museum in Texas, where it is showing until January 2020.

Madame Georges Charpentier and her Children by Pierre Auguste Renoir. Credit: Madame Georges Charpentier and her Children (1878), oil on canvas by Auguste Renoir; Metropolitan Museum of Art

In the 1870′s, Renoir and Claude Monet together developed the broken color technique of the Impressionists. Instead of mixing paints completely, they left small dabs of color in a sketchy manner. But Renoir was more interested in rich color effects and a sense of volume than Monet. Renoir also preferred figure painting to landscapes. During the 1870′s, he painted a large number of portraits on commission. Perhaps his most famous is Mme. Charpentier and Her Children. Many Impressionists brought Japanese qualities into their work. However, Renoir revived the rococo style of such artists as Francois Boucher and Jean Honore Fragonard.

The Swing, an Impressionist painting by Renoir, shows the effects of sunlight on figures set against an outdoor background. Credit: Oil painting on canvas (1876), Musee d’Orsay, Paris; Giraudon/Art Resource

Renoir visited Italy in 1881 and 1882. His study of Renaissance painters there led him to a new appreciation of the importance of line. He returned to France, where he gave up his broad, coloristic manner and spent several years concentrating on drawing. Renoir painted a famous series, The Bathers, during this time.

The happy quality of Renoir’s later work does not show the agony he suffered from arthritis, which finally crippled his hands. He had brushes tied to his hands and developed a final style of painting in broad brush strokes and vivid colors.

Renoir was born in Limoges, France, on Feb. 25, 1841. He was apprenticed to learn porcelain painting after he showed an early talent for drawing. He painted window shades and fans in Paris. He studied at Charles Gleyre’s studio. There, he met Monet and other young painters who were to form the Impressionist group. He was influenced also by Édouard Manet and the color methods of Eugene Delacroix. Renoir’s three sons were also artists, the most famous of whom was the film director Jean Renoir.