The Lonely Palette
Tamar Avishai
Welcome to The Lonely Palette, the podcast that returns art history to the masses, one painting at a time. Each episode, host Tamar Avishai picks a painting du jour, interviews unsuspecting museum visitors in front of it, and then dives deeply into the object, the movement, the social context, and anything and everything else that will make it as neat to you as it is to her. For more information, visit thelonelypalette.com | Twitter @lonelypalette | Instagram @thelonelypalette.
TLP Interview with Annea Lockwood, Artist and Composer
"It's the close focus that draws me into a sound. And then it sort of spreads out and spreads through my body. And I let that happen, and I'm listening in a different way." - Annea Lockwood The artist and composer Annea Lockwood is not just any musician. She is an artist of sound. She is a composer of art. Her music is performance art, and her art is always, always audio-rich and musical. She sends her microphones into the elements – fire, here, and rivers, in a recent series called Sound Maps,
Mar 6, • 1:06:21
Ep. 68 - Felix Gonzalez-Torres' "Untitled (March 5th) #2" (1991)
"The only thing permanent is change." - Felix Gonzalez-Torres There is no way around it. The work of Felix Gonzalez-Torres, a gay, Cuban-American artist who responded to - and died during - the AIDS crisis of the 1980s and 90s, is sad. His work is a memorial, both to a lost generation and to his own partner, Ross. Yet it is through these seemingly banal, industrial, or every day materials, and the powerful metaphor that they represent, that we can best get to the root of what loss can mean. And,
Feb 18, • 31:14
TLP Interview with Sebastian Smee, Art Critic, The Washington Post
“In the end, what interests me is the way art connects with life. Because otherwise, I don’t quite understand what it’s for.” - Sebastian Smee Sebastian Smee has been the art critic for the Washington Post since 2018, but has written extensively about art for every publication you can think of, from here to his native Australia, and winning a Pulitzer prize for criticism along the way. Both his prose and his love of the work leaps off the page and into your lap, offering a guiding hand past the
Feb 9, • 1:00:18
Ep. 67 - Cy Twombly's "Second Voyage to Italy (Second Version), 1962"
"My line does not illustrate. It is the sensation of its own realization." - Cy Twombly Critics have described the work of consummate scribbler Cy Twombly as at once "barely there" and overly academic, but what about us art civilians? What is it about these half-baked scraps, scratch, and scrawl that speaks to our own creative impulses, our own inner children dying to grab the crayon and crush the tip in an ecstatic series of fat, juicy loopdeloops? See the images: https://www.thelonelypalette
Jan 27, • 26:28
Official Trailer: The Lonely Palette's Upcoming Season
**Update! Norovirus has entered the chat. The episode will be released on Monday, January 27. Thank you for your patience! Mark your calendars! The new season of The Lonely Palette drops Thursday, January 23rd! This season, we've got a stellar line-up: Cy Twombly, Lawren Harris, Käthe Kollwitz, and Felix Gonzalez-Torres, to name just a few. We've got interviews with the Washington Post's Sebastian Smee, the artist and composer Annea Lockwood, and more. We've got a whole National Gallery residen
Jan 18, • 3:06
BonusEp. 18 - A TLP Announcement! And Introducing The Rabbis Go South
Tamar is alive! The Lonely Palette is alive! But in the year since we last spoke, she's been elbow-deep in audio projects galore - good for the pocketbook, but bad for independent art history podcast productivity. But your patience will be rewarded! And in the meantime, a few announcements: - Join me and my fellow H&S colleagues at the PRX Podcast Garage in Allson, MA on Wednesday, November 6 for an evening of audio camaraderie. Register here: https://bit.ly/3Cd05fB - Explore our Hub & Spoke Ex
Nov 1, 2024 • 23:09
Ep. 66 - Bringing Monuments Home (from PRX's Monumental)
In this special episode of The Lonely Palette, I’m sharing the episode I made for the PRX limited-run podcast series "Monumental," which interrogates the state of monuments across the greater U.S. and what their future says about where we are now and where we’re going. This was the concluding episode, exploring how some monuments are larger than life, dwarfing us, making us feel small relative to the grandness of history. But what if a monument was human-scaled? What if it made us aware of our
Mar 7, 2024 • 1:00:18
BonusEp. 17 - The Hub & Spoke Radio Hour
The Lonely Palette, as you've heard so often, is an enormously proud founding member of the Hub & Spoke Audio Collective, a group of fiercely independent, story-driven, mind-expanding podcasts. Since 2017, we've supported each other while forging our own paths, prioritizing craft and humane storytelling above all else. Now, if you haven't noticed, media in general, and podcasting in particular, is in a space some may generously call post-apocalyptic. But an incredible silver lining is that the
Feb 14, 2024 • 50:22
BonusEp. 16: Tamar Avishai interviews Lucy R. Lippard, Art Writer
Since her arrival on the art scene in the 1960s, legendary art writer Lucy Lippard’s work - searing, novelistic, crisp, and endlessly curious - as well as her insights, activism, entrenchment in the art world, and friendships have secured her role as one of the most important minds in art criticism of her generation. Now, at 86 years old, all of the stuff that she’s collected along the way – photographs, drawings, relationships, grandchildren – is the subject of her new memoir, or, actually, wh
Dec 29, 2023 • 45:11
BonusEp. 15: Tamar Avishai interviews Prudence Peiffer, Author and Content Director, MoMA
In the 1950s and 60s, Coenties Slip—an obscure street on the lower tip of Manhattan overlooking the East River—was home to some of the most iconic artists in history, and who would define American Art during their time there: Robert Indiana, Ellsworth Kelly, Agnes Martin, James Rosenquist, Delphine Seyrig, Lenore Tawney, and Jack Youngerman. As friends and inspirations to one another, these artists created a unique community for unbridled creative expression and experimentation. Prudence Peiff
Oct 13, 2023 • 55:13
BonusEp. 14: The Lonely Palette Reads Tom Wolfe's The Painted Word
Taking a break from writing about astronauts, Tom Wolfe donned his white suit and strolled to the art museums of New York City, letting the incomprehensible literary works of the movement wash over him like a warm bath of clam broth, and producing what, in the words of art critic Rosalind Krauss, "hit the art world like a really bad, MSG-headache-producing, Chinese lunch." For you, dear listeners, here is the headache-inducing introduction to "The Painted Word," read aloud, as was always inte
Oct 3, 2023 • 7:02
BonusEp. 13: The Lonely Palette Reads Giorgio Vasari on Sandro Botticelli
Giorgio Vasari (1511-74) may have gone down in history as the very first Western art historian, but he is also a messy bench who loves drama, and we are here for it. Listen to his take on Sandro Botticelli from “The Lives of the Artists” (Bondanella trans., 1991), particularly his practical jokes, from which no friend or neighbor escaped unscathed. This is a free edition of The Lonely Palette Reads, a perk that will be going out exclusively to Patreon patrons in the future. To become a patron
Sep 12, 2023 • 21:21
Ep. 65 - Sandro Botticelli's "The Birth of Venus" (1485-86)
The neoplatonic ideal of beauty, the girl on the half-shell, the naked chick riding a clam. Her tilted head and fluttery hair are recognized by everyone and their grandma, but no one - experts included - can explain just why in the heck this painting is so iconic. Shell we take on the challenge? See the images: https://bit.ly/3LeIwxu Music used: Django Reinhardt, “Django’s Tiger” Joan Baez, “Diamonds and Rust” The Blue Dot Sessions, “TwoPound,” “Coulis Coulis,” “Delmendra,” “No Smoking,” “Bell
Sep 12, 2023 • 35:40
Ep. 64 - Barbara Kruger's "Untitled (Your Body is a Battleground)" (1989)
In April 1989, Barbara Kruger - an artist, activist, and former magazine layout editor - created a flyer for a pro-choice women’s march in Washington, DC to protest the Supreme Court’s potential overturning of Roe vs. Wade. But this flyer was never meant to be a picket sign. Instead, it has become a timeless artwork all its own: directly addressing any viewer from any era, demanding they confront their own politics, and drawing the battle lines between all the external - and internal - tension
Aug 4, 2023 • 30:17
Ep. 63 - James Abbot McNeill Whistler's "Symphony in White No. 1: The White Girl" (1861-62)
Whether for his critics, his friends (...?), or his canvases, the Victorian-era, Gilded-age Aesthetic ex-pat painter James Abbott McNeill Whistler had one motto: float like a butterfly, sting like a bee. See the Images: https://bit.ly/3PMpK3o Music Used: Django Reinhardt, “Django’s Tiger” The Andrews Sisters, "Bei Mir Bist Du Schoen" The Blue Dot Sessions, “Slate Tracker,” “Laser Focus,” “The Griffiths,” “Crumbtown,” “Discovery Harbor,” “Leave the TV On,” “Pickers,” “Caraval, “Lady Marie” Sup
Jul 5, 2023 • 32:40
Ep. 62 - Helen Frankenthaler's "Madame Butterfly" (2000)
Splotches, spills, and stains. They can evoke shapes, moods, energy, even music. Yet no one seemed to appreciate their very beauty with the same intuitive, delicate flair as Helen Frankenthaler, who created something fiercely new "between cocktails and dinner," or, more accurately, between the broad shoulders of a relentlessly masculine movement. Not bad for a saddle-shoed girl a year out of Bennington. See the images: https://bit.ly/3ChhuAE Music used: Django Reinhardt, “Django’s Tiger” Th
Jun 7, 2023 • 27:08
BonusEp. 12 - The Lonely Palette presents Rumble Strip
The new season of The Lonely Palette is achingly close to starting up on Wednesday, June 7, but in the meantime, this week and next we're giving our feed over to some fellow Hub & Spoke shows that might pique your eardrums. Hub & Spoke, as you know, is our mighty audio collective of proudly independent podcasts. We aim to expand minds, viewpoints, knowledge, understanding. We have zero corporate interests or expectations, which means we are offbeat, unexpected, formidable, and really poor, so p
May 26, 2023 • 16:52
BonusEp. 11 - The Lonely Palette presents Out There
The new season of The Lonely Palette is achingly close to starting up on Wednesday, June 7, but in the meantime, this week and next we're giving our feed over to some fellow Hub & Spoke shows that might pique your eardrums. Hub & Spoke, as you know, is our mighty audio collective of proudly independent podcasts. We aim to expand minds, viewpoints, knowledge, understanding. We have zero corporate interests or expectations, which means we are offbeat, unexpected, formidable, and really poor, so
May 19, 2023 • 23:36
BonusEp. 10 - The Lonely Palette Live at On Air Fest (and an update!)
Happy 7th birthday, The Lonely Palette! We're ringing in our itch with an quick update on next season, which starts in June, and a recording of our live show at On Air Fest, which was held in Brooklyn this past February. Please enjoy this revamped and refreshed episode of Mary Kelly's "Post-Partum Document," smash that subscribe button, and we'll see you next month. See the episode images: https://bit.ly/411KA0F Support the show: www.patreon.com/lonelypalette
May 4, 2023 • 39:29
Re-ReleaseEp. 36 - Behold The Monkey
We're in THE HOME STRETCH of our Patreon Listener Challenge! This is indeed the time to pull up your socks and start supporting the show, all to the dulcet tones of a re-release of our second and most lauded Patreon listener-supported episode from 2019 on the Ecce Homo restoration fiasco, wherein a well-intentioned, though, uh, untrained parishioner in a small Spanish town decided to take it upon herself restore a crumbling fresco and inadvertently birthed the meme of our young century. And if
Jan 13, 2023 • 40:41
Re-ReleaseEp. 26 - C.M. Coolidge's "Dogs Playing Poker" (1903)
Our Patreon Listener Challenge is ongoing! And if you're on the fence about supporting the show, why not sit back with a re-release of our first-ever Patreon listener-supported episode from 2018 on C.M. Coolidge's "Dogs Playing Poker," where we dive into the trials and tribulations of kitsch, the battle between the Sams and Dianes of the world, and what it means to appreciate art at a frequency that we all can hear. And if you're so moved, please consider making us happy little trees by becomi
Jan 6, 2023 • 39:28
BonusEp. 09 - Tamar Avishai interviews Avery Trufelman, Design and Fashion Podcaster
A number of years ago, my Twitter pinged. Then it pinged again. All of a sudden, a whole host of people were following the show, and when I giddily found the source, it was the soulful and stylish Avery Trufelman, longtime 99% Invisible producer, currently of Articles of Interest, and fashionista tastemaker, who had pronounced The Lonely Palette her favorite art history podcast. Bestill my heart! It was the beginning of a beautiful friendship, a kinship between co-founders of a mutual admira
Dec 30, 2022 • 1:10:26
Ep. 61 - Under the Midnight Sun
They say that those who can do and those who can’t teach. But “they” don’t seem to have ever met a proper teacher. In honor of the Norwegian town of Bodø’s recognition as a 2024 European Capital of Culture, we dive into Bodø’s most famous artist, Adelsteen Normann, the teacher you’ve never heard of, the picture-postcard modernist who introduced us to the scream that is Edvard Munch, and, eclipsed though he may have been, the painter who illuminated both the town he loved and the students he nu
Dec 16, 2022 • 29:12
Ep. 60 - Caravaggio's "The Crucifixion of St. Andrew" (1607)
Light and dark. Frozen action. Angels with dirty faces. Infamously both a hothead punk and one of the most extraordinarily potent and virtuosic painters in the canon, Caravaggio is nothing if not a man of contrasts. See the images: https://bit.ly/3iNqpTY Music used: Django Reinhardt, “Django’s Tiger” The Andrews Sisters, "Bei Mir Bist Du Schoen" Charles Daab, “Irish and Scotch melodies (take 2)” The Blue Dot Sessions, “Highway 430,” “Angel Tooth,” “Di Breun,” “Rainy Day Drone,” “No Smoking,
Dec 9, 2022 • 37:36
BonusEp. 08 - Tamar Avishai interviews Dar Williams, Singer-Songwriter
Dar Williams has been described by The New Yorker as “one of America’s very best singer-songwriters,” but to thirteen-year-old Tamar she was, quite simply, a personal hero: a songwriter whose poetry, poignancy, and humor could capture at once the authentic voices of an inner child, a searching young adult, and a wizened sage. We met in person in 2013 at Dar’s songwriting retreat, and our friendship has been evolving ever since, exploring together the rigors of writing and storytelling through so
Oct 7, 2022 • 1:13:26
Preview: "Death of an Artist: Ana Mendieta and Carl Andre Split the Art World"
Hello, friends to art podcasts! I'm giving my feed over today to a preview of a new podcast from Pushkin Industries, Somethin’ Else, and Sony Music Entertainment: "Death of an Artist". The show examines a tragedy in the art world. For more than 35 years, accusations of murder shrouded one of the art world’s most storied couples: was the famous sculptor Carl Andre involved in the death of his up-and-coming artist wife Ana Mendieta? Host Helen Molesworth revisits Mendieta’s death, taking a c
Sep 23, 2022 • 10:05
BonusEp. 07 - Tamar Avishai interviews Adam Gopnik, Critic, The New Yorker
There isn’t a single subject that Adam Gopnik’s prose can’t bring to life. As staff writer at the New Yorker since 1986, he has written about almost everything, including, just in the last year, Proust, gun control, the Beatles, and the Marquis de Lafayette. But it’s when he starts writing about art that things get particularly delectable: “the runny, the spilled…the lipstick-traces-left-on-the-kleenex” life and style of Helen Frankenthaler; “the paint, laid on with a palette knife, that delic
Sep 2, 2022 • 1:07:59
BonusEp. 06 - Tamar Avishai interviews Dr. Charlotte Mullins, Art Critic and Broadcaster
Art history textbooks, so excellent for flattening curled-up rug corners and holding open doors, are expected to tell us the entire story of our civilization, one painting at a time. It's more than any book, even one that weighs a spine-crunching twenty-five pounds, should be expected to do. And it opens our eyes to the way that history is narrated, and taught, and even, it follows, to how paintings are displayed, and museums are curated. So much is touched on; so much is left out. It's too
Aug 26, 2022 • 57:15
Re-ReleaseEp. 49 - Claes Oldenburg's "Giant Toothpaste Tube" (1964)
“I am for the art of underwear and the art of ice cream cones dropped on concrete. I am for an art that is heavy and coarse and blunt and sweet and stupid as life itself.” Today, the art world - and, as he would attest, the world world too - lost a giant, and we're re-releasing our episode from September 2020 in his honor. RIP, Claes Oldenburg, and thank you for plucking art from its spotless frame and returning it to our messy, magnificent plane. Hope you're enjoying that great big floor pi
Jul 18, 2022 • 34:31
Ep. 59 - Sarah Sze's "Fallen Sky" (2021)
What goes up into the sky must come down into the earth, and fortunately for us we’ve got Sarah Sze, mistress of materials, memory, and meaning, helming the journey. This episode was produced with support from Storm King Art Center. See the images: https://bit.ly/3NRnGmr Music used: Django Reinhardt, “Django’s Tiger” The Andrews Sisters, "Bei Mir Bist Du Schoen" The Blue Dot Sessions, “Plate Glass,” “Leatherbound,” “The Onyx,” “Silent Ocean,” “ZigZag Heart,” “Curious Case,” “On Top of It” Eva
Jun 3, 2022 • 31:28
Ep. 58 - Odili Donald Odita's "Cut" (2016)
Betcha never realized how deeply color colored your world - and the world - until you found yourself dancing down the diagonal of this showstopping print. This episode was produced in partnership with the Harvard Art Museums. The exhibition "Prints from the Brandywine Workshop and Archives: Creative Communities" is on view until July 31, 2022. Music used: The Andrews Sisters, "Bei Mir Bist Du Schoen" The Blue Dot Sessions, “Valley VX,” “Forgot His Jam,” “Dear Myrtle,” “Lakeside Path,” “Param
Apr 28, 2022 • 27:05
Ep. 57 - Juno, A Colossal Roman Statue (late 1st c. BCE)
We stan a queen. This episode was produced in partnership with the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. See the images: https://bit.ly/3tXx80o Music used: The Andrews Sisters, "Bei Mir Bist Du Schoen" The Blue Dot Sessions, “Pigpaddle Creek,” “Temperance,” “Highway 94,” “Floating Whist,” “Danver County,” “Mr. Graves,” “Willow Belle” Joe Dassin, “Les Champs-Elysees" Support the show: www.patreon.com/lonelypalette
Mar 31, 2022 • 32:43
Re-ReleaseEp. 46 - Patty Chang's "Melons (At A Loss)" (1998)
The Lonely Palette is on maternity leave until early March, which means that we've been turning to the archives to feature episodes specific to the many shades of motherhood. This episode, from March 2020, tackles the noble melons, jugs, and knockers that nourish the gazes and stomachs of the world. So why are we so disgusted when a woman – and specifically performance artist Patty Chang - saves a little bit for herself? See the images: bit.ly/33DsB4P Music used: The Andrews Sisters, "Bei Mir
Feb 24, 2022 • 28:22
Re-ReleaseEp. 30 - Donatello's "Madonna of the Clouds" (c. 1425-1435)
The Lonely Palette is on maternity leave until early March, which means that for the next few weeks, we'll be turning to the archives to feature episodes specific to the many shades of motherhood. This episode, from May 2018, looks at the Virgin Mary and her baby Jesus, and explores how their gentle, intimate relationship - as she gathers her diaphanous skirts to sit with her little nugget on the probably Cheerio-strewn floor of heaven - helps us understand the Renaissance. See the images: htt
Feb 4, 2022 • 26:48
Re-ReleaseEp. 51 - Mary Kelly's "Post-Partum Document" (1973-79)
The Lonely Palette is on maternity leave until early March, which means that for the next few weeks, we'll be turning to the archives to feature episodes specific to the many shades of motherhood. This episode, from February 2021, speaks not just to the hazy, cozy, time-out-of-joint space that Tamar is currently in, but also to the state of the pandemic, which, unfortunately, doesn't feel much sunnier today than it did a year ago. But what good is a mom if not to help us see our way out of the
Jan 19, 2022 • 37:47
Ep. 56 - Memorials (Collaboration with Hi-Phi Nation)
When tragedy strikes an individual, a nation, or an entire people, artists and architects are tasked with designing a public display that memorializes the event and its victims. But how do you do that? In this episode, we explore the Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe in Berlin, the Vietnam Veterans’ Memorial in DC, the 9/11 Memorial, and others, to look at how respecting and remembering loss collides with the demands of history and politics. Why do abstract, rather than representational, m
Dec 22, 2021 • 50:49
Ep. 55 - Harriet Powers' "Pictorial Quilt" (1895-98)
Quilts, and textiles in general, have a funny way of being overlooked by the fine art world. They’re dismissed as craft, as outsider, as “women’s work,” or as potentially uninteresting museum exhibits. But some quilts, and some quilters, tell their stories, explain our histories, and simply refuse to be denied. This episode was produced in partnership with the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. The exhibition “Fabric of a Nation: American Quilt Stories” is on view until January 17, 2022. See the
Oct 29, 2021 • 28:52
Ep. 54 - Grant Wood's "American Gothic" (1930)
A man. A woman. A window. A pitchfork. It’s the most seemingly straightforward double portrait to come out of rural America - and certainly the most famous - yet it’s become synonymous with ambiguity and mystery, parody and polarization. Amazing how hungry we are to turn a portrait of an artist’s hometown spirit into a portrait of a larger American cultural moment, both then and now. See the images: https://bit.ly/2WuV2CQ Music used: Django Reinhardt, “Django’s Tiger” The Andrews Sisters, "Bei
Sep 30, 2021 • 31:21
Re-ReleaseEp. 48 - Anselm Kiefer's "Margarete" and "Sulamith" (1981)
A year ago today, we released our most ambitious episode yet: an exploration of postwar German artist Anselm Kiefer's layered, dense, enormous canvases that themselves respond to the enormity of Holocaust survivor Paul Celan's layered, dense poem, "Todesfugue." In honor of it taking the gold in podcasting at the American Alliance of Museums' MuseWeb awards, we're re-releasing the episode, and with it the layers of metaphor and materials, texture and text, golden straw and blackened ash, that
Aug 4, 2021 • 55:42
BonusEp 0.5 - Tamar Avishai interviews Dr. Rachel Saunders, Harvard Art Museums
Like so many of us, Dr. Rachel Saunders had a tough 2020. As the curator of Asian art at the Harvard Art Museums, she was thrilled to co-curate, with professor Yukio Lippit, the exhibition "Painting Edo: Japanese Art from the Feinberg Collection," the largest single exhibition the museum had ever mounted. And then, a month after its opening, it was shuttered by Covid, and remained closed until the entire exhibition came down early last month. But what could have been a bitter disappointment a
Jul 23, 2021 • 59:13
LookWithYourEarsEp. 0.3: The Urban Sublime
The Lonely Palette is collaborating with the Addison Gallery of American Art in celebration of the museum's 90th anniversary! In this episode, we're using the Addison's collection to explore the American city in the same way that art history has been looking at landscape since time immemorial: what it represents, what stories it tells us about ourselves, what stories it leaves out, what it replaces, and how its relationship to the human figure is as fraught and dramatic as any relationship you'l
Jun 15, 2021 • 23:17
Ep. 53 - Painting Edo, Post-Pandemic
The world is reopening just as Harvard's special exhibition "Painting Edo: Japanese Art from the Feinberg Collection" is permanently closing, having been open to the public for one heartbreakingly short month. But the exhibition, which documented the Edo period in all its diverse, aesthetic richness, doesn't have to be in front of you to describe its uncannily Buddhist and modernist moment, or to share in the strange lightness of ours. This episode was produced with support from Harvard Art Mu
Jun 8, 2021 • 31:43
LookWithYourEarsEp. 0.2: The Figure
The Lonely Palette is collaborating with the Addison Gallery of American Art in celebration of the museum's 90th anniversary! In this episode, we're using the Addison's collection to explore the figure, which, in art history, is almost exclusively the object of the gaze. But what does it mean when the body – that is, the multi-dimensional person who inhabits it – steps behind the lens as well to take back control? Artists Explored: Lalla Essaydi, Laurie Simmons, Cindy Sherman, Lorna Simpson, S
Jun 1, 2021 • 21:33
LookWithYourEarsEp. 0.1: Abstraction
The Lonely Palette is collaborating with the Addison Gallery of American Art in celebration of the museum's 90th anniversary! In this episode, we're using the Addison's collection to explore abstraction, i.e. the one guaranteed way to alienate your visitor. Or...maybe not? Maybe, when it comes to art without a fixed meaning, our presence is requested, and even required? Artists Explored: Agnes Martin, Jackson Pollock, Mark Bradford, Jasper Johns, Donald Judd See the Images: https://bit.ly/3
May 18, 2021 • 22:52
TeaserEp 0.3 - Look With Your Ears (in partnership with the Addison Gallery of American Art)
In honor of the Addison Gallery of American Art's 90th anniversary, we've teamed up to release a three-part podcast series! We'll be taking a thematic view of their diverse and world class collection, exploring abstraction, the figure, and the urban sublime. New episodes will be released on The Lonely Palette feed every two weeks beginning Tuesday, May 18th. For more information on the exhibition, visit: https://addison.andover.edu/Exhibitions/90/Pages/default.aspx. Music used: The Blue Do
May 12, 2021 • 1:55
Re-ReleaseEp. 37 - Ansel Adams' "The Tetons and Snake River" (1942)
In honor of Earth Day 2021, we're re-releasing our episode on quintessential dorm room photographer Ansel Adams, and re-exploring how his own travels around, and documentation of, this complicated, contradictory, beautiful country inspired him to want to preserve it - from the mountains to the prairies to the oceans white with foam - in the most exquisite way possible. Music used: The Andrews Sisters, "Bei Mir Bist Du Schoen" The Blue Dot Sessions, “Vibrant Canopy”, “Bridgewalker”, “The Yards”,
Apr 22, 2021 • 27:18
Ep. 52 - Ólafur Elíasson's "Untitled (Spiral)" (2017)
The Danish-Icelandic artist Ólafur Elíasson is understandably inspired by the natural elements. But what we might not necessarily glean at first glance - of, say, a gallery pumped full of precipitation, or a simple spinning spiral - is that these elements can inspire us to change the world. Music used: The Andrews Sisters, "Bei Mir Bist Du Schoen" The Blue Dot Sessions, “Daymaze,” “Plate Glass,” “Discovery Harbor,” “Wahre,” “Checkered Blue,” “Quarry Clouds,” “Enter the Room” See the images: h
Apr 1, 2021 • 31:06
Re-ReleaseEp. 28 - Yoko Ono's "Cut Piece" (1964)
In honor of International Women's Day, we're re-releasing our love letter to the inimitable Yoko Ono, who once fell for a musician and has become inextricably - and involuntarily - linked with his band's undoing. But she made some truly exceptional art, both in the years since and particularly the years before she met him. And that art is, ironically, an exploration of all the messy, complex power dynamics of a woman giving up control. See the images: http://www.thelonelypalette.com/episodes/
Mar 8, 2021 • 25:27
Ep. 51 - Mary Kelly's "Post-Partum Document" (1973-79)
The pandemic, motherhood, and me. See the images: http://bit.ly/3uaWHta Music used: The Blue Dot Sessions, “La Inglesa,” “Eggs and Powder,” “Paper Feather,” “Arizona Moon,” ”Lowball,” “Palladian,” “Simple Vale” Joe Dassin's “Les Champs-Elysees" via music box, ft. Calvin giggles Support the show: www.patreon.com/lonelypalette
Feb 18, 2021 • 36:24
Re-ReleaseEp. 20 - Henryk Ross's Photographs of the Lodz Ghetto (1940-44)
In honor of Holocaust Remembrance Day on January 27, and to commemorate a year saturated in grief, we're re-releasing our deeply personal episode on Henryk Ross's photographs of the Lodz Ghetto. We should all be so moved to explore the beauty of individual stories of the lives lived that get swept away in statistics and tribalism. And perhaps we should allow ourselves to feel their loss all the more by doing so. Memory Unearthed: Henryk Ross's Photographs of the Lodz Ghetto was on view at t
Jan 28, 2021 • 24:54
BonusEp 0.4 - Tamar Avishai interviews Ralph Steadman
You’ve seen the work of 84-year-old Welsh artist and illustrator Ralph Steadman, even if you haven’t realized it. His searing political caricature and trademark flying ink spatter have illustrated major works of literature and journalism for the past half-century – and most notably the hallucinogenic writing of Hunter S. Thompson, resulting in an alchemic collaboration that wove together journalism and illustration to create what history has described as Gonzo, and what Steadman calls the meeti
Dec 18, 2020 • 36:57
Ep. 50 - Carrie Mae Weems' "Not Manet's Type" (1997)
To appreciate art history is to appreciate that there is a canon: it is constructed by art historians, it guides what is taught, bought, and collected by art museums, it can’t allow people in without keeping other people out. Let's take advantage of this milestone episode (50!!) to explore both this canon and our current moment through the extraordinarily nuanced, compassionate, and revolutionary eye of Carrie Mae Weems. See the images: https://bit.ly/3omDroO Music used: Django Reinhardt, “Dj
Dec 4, 2020 • 34:26
BonusEp 0.3 - Tamar Avishai interviews The Guerrilla Girls
The Guerrilla Girls, the self-professed "Conscience of the Art World," are a band of feminist activist artists, who have been wearing gorilla masks in public and using facts, humor, and outrageous visuals to expose gender bias, ethnic bias, and corruption in the art world since the mid-1980s. Join Tamar for a conversation with two of their founding members. [2:29]: Introductions. [3:41] Why choose these artists as your pseudonyms? [5:37]: The origin story of the Guerrilla Girls (and their font
Nov 13, 2020 • 46:51
Ep. 49 - Claes Oldenburg's "Giant Toothpaste Tube" (1964)
Somewhere between the life of the mind and the boots on the ground sits Pop artist Claes Oldenburg, who wants us to see that both of those worlds are one and the same, and that there's value, and even beauty, to our joy-sparking stuff (and maybe we can finally let ourselves admit it.) See the images: https://bit.ly/3hcHjVq Music used: Django Reinhardt, “Django’s Tiger” The Andrews Sisters, "Bei Mir Bist Du Schoen" The Blue Dot Sessions, “Cradle Rock,” “Sylvestor,” “A Little Powder,” “Our Only
Sep 10, 2020 • 36:15
Ep. 48 - Anselm Kiefer's "Margarete" and "Sulamith" (1981)
The art of postwar German artist Anselm Kiefer and the poetry of Holocaust survivor Paul Celan have a lot in common. They’re both layered, dense, hard to read, and most of the time you’re not quite sure if you get it. And while this might seem like an onerous way to understand history, sometimes the best starting point is through the layered, dense, and idiosyncratic ways that an individual processes trauma. So grab a spelunking hardhat and together we'll mine these layers of metaphor and mat
Aug 3, 2020 • 55:42
Re-ReleaseEp. - Keepers of the Culture: an Evening with Ekua Holmes and Dr. Barry Gaither
In honor of Juneteenth, we're re-releasing the audio of a live event from January 2018 at the PRX Podcast Garage, titled "Keepers of the Culture: A Celebration Of Maduna And Holmes." The evening was a celebration of two award-winning artists, collaborators, and friends, whose work was on display at the garage's exhibition space. Their sculptures, masks, and collage-based works are an exploration of ancestral voices, family histories, and the power of hope, faith and self-determination. The e
Jun 19, 2020 • 35:48
TeaserEp 0.2 - The Raw Material Summer Mixtape (in partnership with SFMOMA)
I'm thrilled to share the teaser for the upcoming season of Raw Material from SFMOMA, which I have the privilege of guest hosting. The season is a curated "mixtape" of art and art-adjacence podcasts (including episodes from 99% Invisible, Everything Is Alive, Recording Artists, and others, including a bonus new episode of The Lonely Palette), all of which explore the idea of The Beholder's Share: why an audience is so necessary for an artwork to become its most fully-realized self. This is an
Jun 1, 2020 • 4:08
Re-ReleaseEp. 31 - Hiroshi Sugimoto's "Byrd Theater, Richmond, 1993" (1993)
The Lonely Palette is currently the podcast-in-residence at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, and we're partnering up to bring the museum to you during its closure due to Covid-19 by spotlighting both the rock star and the lesser-known objects from the museum's permanent collection. So relax into your PJs, put your feet up, and let's #MuseumFromHome together. This week: Trying to capture time in art is like trying to pin a wave upon the sand or hold a moonbeam in your hand. So leave it to Japan
May 28, 2020 • 29:35
Re-ReleaseEp. 16 - Vincent Van Gogh's "Postman Joseph Roulin" (1888)
The Lonely Palette is currently the podcast-in-residence at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, and we're partnering up to bring the museum to you during its closure due to Covid-19 by spotlighting both the rock star and the lesser-known objects from the museum's permanent collection. So relax into your PJs, put your feet up, and let's #MuseumFromHome together. This week: You've just had a manic break, cut off a piece of your ear, and gifted it to a prostitute. Who ya gonna call? Your get-a-grip
May 21, 2020 • 22:36
Re-ReleaseEp. 9 - Ernst Ludwig Kirchner's "Reclining Nude" (1909)
The Lonely Palette is currently the podcast-in-residence at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, and we're partnering up to bring the museum to you during its closure due to Covid-19 by spotlighting both the rock star and the lesser-known objects from the museum's permanent collection. So relax into your PJs, put your feet up, and let's #MuseumFromHome together. This week: German Expressionists get hot. Nazis get bothered. See the images: http://www.thelonelypalette.com/episodes/2016/9/28/episode
May 14, 2020 • 21:59
Re-ReleaseEp. 15 - El Anatsui's "Black River" (2009)
The Lonely Palette is currently the podcast-in-residence at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, and we're partnering up to bring the museum to you during its closure due to Covid-19 by spotlighting both the rock star and the lesser-known objects from the museum's permanent collection. So relax into your PJs, put your feet up, and let's #MuseumFromHome together. This week: one man's trash is Ghanian artist El Anatsui's treasure. See the images: http://www.thelonelypalette.com/episodes/2017/3/1/epi
May 7, 2020 • 21:44
Ep. 47 - George Seurat's "A Sunday Afternoon on La Grande Jatte" (1884-86)
Grab a parasol, put your monkey on a leash, and come spend Sunday in the Park with George, exploring how a canvas this monumental and as frozen as Dippin' Dots can help us better understand the world in his day, in Cameron Frye's, and in our own. See the images: https://bit.ly/2L0qPCg Music used: Django Reinhardt, “Django’s Tiger” The Andrews Sisters, "Bei Mir Bist Du Schoen" The Blue Dot Sessions, “Feisty and Tacky,” “Stack Me Up,” “Base Camp,” “Thannoid,” “PolyCoat,” “Slow Rollout” Joe Dassi
May 4, 2020 • 32:26
Re-ReleaseEp. 39 - Rembrandt van Rijn's "Portrait of Aeltje Uylenburgh" (1632)
The Lonely Palette is currently the podcast-in-residence at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, and we're partnering up to bring the museum to you during its closure due to Covid-19 by spotlighting both the rock star and the lesser-known objects from the museum's permanent collection. So relax into your PJs, put your feet up, and let's #MuseumFromHome together. This week: it isn't 17th century Dutch art if we're not going so deep into Rembrandt's soul and so close to the meticulous details of his
Apr 30, 2020 • 29:31
Re-ReleaseEp. 40 - Frida Kahlo's "Dos Mujeres (Salvadora y Herminia)" (1928)
The Lonely Palette is currently the podcast-in-residence at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, highlighting five objects from the ongoing exhibition "Women Take the Floor." This week: we go beneath the flowers, the unibrow, the broken body, and the shadow of her marriage, to reframe the fame of Frida Kahlo: the Cult Icon of Humanness. See the images: https://bit.ly/39qX739 Music used: Django Reinhardt, “Django’s Tiger” The Andrews Sisters, "Bei Mir Bist Du Schoen" The Blue Dot Sessions, “Jat Po
Mar 29, 2020 • 36:21
Ep. 46 - Patty Chang's "Melons (At A Loss)" (1998)
The Lonely Palette is currently the podcast-in-residence at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, highlighting five objects from the ongoing exhibition "Women Take the Floor." This week: you know TFW you’re rooted in place in front of a video screen, feeling unbearably uncomfortable yet unable to look away, and questioning everything you thought you knew about femininity, self-nourishment, and a woman’s relationship with her own body? Yeah, Patty Chang’s got you right where she wants you. See the i
Mar 22, 2020 • 28:52
Ep. 45 - Georgia O'Keeffe's "Deer's Skull with Pedernal" (1936)
The Lonely Palette is currently the podcast-in-residence at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, highlighting five objects from the ongoing exhibition "Women Take the Floor." This week: there's no better way to combat a world holding its breath than with a deep lungful of fresh Southwestern air, care of America's most misattributed painter of vagina flowers, Georgia O'Keeffe. See the images: http://bit.ly/39QXvsJ Music used: Lobo Lobo, “Old Ralley” The Blue Dot Sessions, “Cold and Hard,” “Georgia
Mar 15, 2020 • 28:24
Ep. 44 - Louise Bourgeois' "Pillar" (1949-50)
The Lonely Palette is currently the podcast-in-residence at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, highlighting five objects from the ongoing exhibition "Women Take the Floor." This week: you’ve never noticed the carnality of the body you live in, and the rawness of the emotions that live inside that body, until you find yourself spun into French-American sculptor Louise Bourgeois’s web. See the images: http://bit.ly/3axRwIY Music used: Lobo Lobo, “Old Ralley” The Blue Dot Sessions, “Tiptoe Treadl
Mar 8, 2020 • 24:32
Ep. 43 - Carmen Herrera's "Blanco y Verde (no. 1)" (1962)
The Lonely Palette is currently the podcast-in-residence at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, highlighting five objects from the ongoing exhibition "Women Take the Floor." This week: let's join 104-year-old Cuban-American Hard Edge painter Carmen Herrera in celebrating the straight line: not just the shortest distance between two points, but the most infinitely beautiful as well. See the images: http://www.thelonelypalette.com/episodes/2020/2/5/episode-43-carmen-herreras-blanco-y-verde-no-1-196
Mar 1, 2020 • 23:22
TeaserEp 0.1: The Series "Women Take the Floor" (in partnership with the MFA Boston)
The Lonely Palette is the first podcast-in-residence at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston! Our partnership is focused on their ongoing exhibition, "Women Take the Floor," a daring and unflinching effort to bring the women artists - that is, artists - out from the shadows of their permanent collection and onto the floor. The series will focus on five women over five weeks, beginning Sunday, March 1st. Please enjoy! Music used: Lobo Loco, "Old Ralley" Exhibition site: https://www.mfa.org/exhibi
Feb 28, 2020 • 4:12
Ep. 42 - Katsushika Hokusai's "The Great Wave off Kanagawa" (c. 1829-1832)
Sure, you've seen it a million times in a million memes, but when was the last time you actually stopped to contemplate the incredible power of this Japanese ukiyo-e print? Or for that matter, the incredible power of a wave itself? See the images: http://www.thelonelypalette.com/episodes/2020/2/5/episode-42-katsushika-hokusais-the-great-wave-off-kanagawa-18301831 Music used: The Andrews Sisters, "Bei Mir Bist Du Schoen" The Blue Dot Sessions, “Falaal,” “Dirty Wallpaper,” “Ghost Byzantine,” “M
Feb 26, 2020 • 36:33
Ep. 41 - Jan Van Eyck's "Arnolfini Portrait" (1434)
Whoever said the devil was in the details clearly had a thing for Northern Renaissance portraiture. See the images: http://www.thelonelypalette.com/episodes/2019/11/17/episode-41-jan-van-eycks-arnolfini-double-portrait-1434 Music used: Django Reinhardt, “Django’s Tiger” The Andrews Sisters, "Bei Mir Bist Du Schoen" The Blue Dot Sessions, “Our Son the Potter,” “Bundt,” “Pacing,” “Secret Pocketbook,” “Oriel,” “Floretin Interlude” Poddington Bear, “Clay” Joe Dassin, “Les Champs-Elysees" Support
Nov 30, 2019 • 26:30
HiatusEp 0.5 - Hub & Spoke Presents: Culture Hustlers
The Lonely Palette is on break until November 2019, so every Wednesday in October, a different Hub & Spoke producer will take the host's chair to present an episode of their show that Tamar is especially fond of. Enjoy this month's podcast petri dish of art, culture, history, and society, and subscribe to any and all Hub & Spoke shows at www.hubspokeaudio.org. This week: Lucas Spivey's Culture Hustlers is a podcast for artists who mean business. This episode takes us to Art Prize in Grand Rapi
Oct 30, 2019 • 34:31
HiatusEp 0.4 - Hub & Spoke Presents: Ministry of Ideas
The Lonely Palette is on break until November 2019, so every Wednesday in October, a different Hub & Spoke producer will take the host's chair to present an episode of their show that Tamar is especially fond of. Enjoy this month's podcast petri dish of art, culture, history, and society, and subscribe to any and all Hub & Spoke shows at www.hubspokeaudio.org. This week: Zachary Davis's Ministry of Ideas is a small show about big ideas, presented as punchy secular sermons. This episode tackle
Oct 23, 2019 • 33:39
HiatusEp 0.3 - Hub & Spoke Presents: The Constant
The Lonely Palette is on break until November 2019, so every Wednesday in October, a different Hub & Spoke producer will take the host's chair to present an episode of their show that Tamar is especially fond of. Enjoy this month's podcast petri dish of art, culture, history, and society, and subscribe to any and all Hub & Spoke shows at www.hubspokeaudio.org. This week: The Constant is a podcast about our history of getting things wrong. In this episode, host Mark Chrisler introduces us to La
Oct 16, 2019 • 29:42
HiatusEp 0.2 - Hub & Spoke Presents: Open Source
The Lonely Palette is on break until November 2019, so every Wednesday in October, a different Hub & Spoke producer will take the host's chair to present an episode of their show that Tamar is especially fond of. Enjoy this month's podcast petri dish of art, culture, history, and society, and subscribe to any and all Hub & Spoke shows at www.hubspokeaudio.org. This week: Open Source with Christopher Lydon is a local conversation with global attitude. "The Bauhaus in Your House," which origina
Oct 9, 2019 • 50:54
HiatusEp 0.1 - Hub & Spoke Presents: Iconography
The Lonely Palette is on break until November 2019, so every Wednesday in October, a different Hub & Spoke producer will take the host's chair to present an episode of their show that Tamar is especially fond of. Enjoy this month's podcast petri dish of art, culture, history, and society, and subscribe to any and all Hub & Spoke shows at www.hubspokeaudio.org. This week: Charles Gustine's Iconography, a podcast about icons, real and imagined. Just in time for New England leaf-peeping, this e
Oct 2, 2019 • 1:01:10
BonusEp. 0.3 - Tamar Avishai interview with Artists of Camberville
On July 29, 2019 (the day after the birth of my son!), host and producer Danielle Monroe posted this interview we had recorded the week before for her podcast "Artists of Camberville." This was one of best conversations I've ever had about the origins of "The Lonely Palette" and the trials and tribulations of art-viewing, meaning-making, script-writing, audio podcasting about the visual, and, like, a little bit about The Bachelorette. Enjoy! 00:10: Introduction. 00:41: Laying the groundwork f
Aug 9, 2019 • 32:43
Ep. 40 - Frida Kahlo's "Dos Mujeres (Salvadora y Herminia)" (1928)
In which we go beneath the flowers, the unibrow, the broken body, and the shadow of her marriage, to reframe the fame of Frida Kahlo: the Cult Icon of Humanness. See the images: http://www.thelonelypalette.com/episodes/2019/7/14/episode-40-frida-kahlos-dos-mujeres Music used: Django Reinhardt, “Django’s Tiger” The Andrews Sisters, "Bei Mir Bist Du Schoen" The Blue Dot Sessions, “Jat Poure,” “Li Fonte,” “Clouds at the Gap,” “Master,” “When the Guests Have Left,” “Curiously and Curiously,” “Thre
Jul 19, 2019 • 37:52
Ep. 39 - Rembrandt van Rijn's "Portrait of Aeltje Uylenburgh" (1632)
It isn't 17th century Dutch art if we're not going so deep into Rembrandt's soul and so close to the meticulous details of his virtuosic portraiture that we make the guards nervous. See the images: http://www.thelonelypalette.com/episodes/2019/5/23/episode-39-rembrandt-van-rijns-portrait-of-aeltje-uylenburgh-1632 Music used: Django Reinhardt, “Django’s Tiger” The Andrews Sisters, "Bei Mir Bist Du Schoen" The Blue Dot Sessions, “Lovers Hollow” “Tailrunner,” “Entwined Oddity,” “Lupi,” “Thannoid,
Jun 7, 2019 • 31:43
BonusEp. 0.2 - Tamar Avishai interviews Dan Byers, Director of Harvard's Carpenter Center
Tamar met Dan when she was a worshipful high school freshman and he was (to her) an übercool junior who was not only the arts editor of Thoughtprints, the school's art/lit mag, but also spent his free time in the fine art studio, bending the charcoal like Beckmann. Now he's the Director of the Carpenter Center of Visual Arts at Harvard University, she's an art history podcaster, and they reconnected in the Busch-Reisinger galleries in front of Max Beckmann's "Self-Portrait in a Tuxedo" from 19
Apr 4, 2019 • 22:33
Ep. 38 - Wassily Kandinsky's "Untitled" (1922)
The later work of Russian ex-pat turned German Expressionist turned indispensable Bauhaus faculty member Wassily Kandinsky is a lot like the Bauhaus itself: a disparate collection of pieces parts that ends up assembling itself into a transparent, efficient, powerfully cohesive, form-follows-function whole. This episode was a collaboration with WBUR's Radio Open Source: check them out at radioopensource.org, and listen to their show on the Bauhaus Centennial on April 11, 2019 at 9:00pm EDT on 90
Mar 28, 2019 • 30:42
Ep. 37 - Ansel Adams' "The Tetons and Snake River, Grand Teton National Park, Wyoming" (1942)
Let's explore America the Beautiful, the Complicated, and the Contradictory, where a purple mountain has no sense of its own majesty, through the lens of the quintessential dorm room poster photographer Ansel Adams. See the images: http://www.thelonelypalette.com/episodes/2019/3/8/episode-37-ansel-adams-the-tetons-and-snake-river-grand-teton-national-park-wyoming-1942 Music used: Django Reinhardt, “Django’s Tiger” The Andrews Sisters, "Bei Mir Bist Du Schoen" The Blue Dot Sessions, “Vibrant Ca
Mar 15, 2019 • 31:10
Ep. 36 - Behold the Monkey
The fruits of the Second Annual Year-End Patreon Listener Challenge has us staring directly into the cold dead eyes of the beast! How could this restoration of a forgotten 19th century Spanish fresco have gotten so grotesquely botched, and what does it tell us about the challenges of art restoration, religious iconography, and iconoclasm? And more importantly, Jesus, why you look like a shark? See the images: http://www.thelonelypalette.com/episodes/2019/1/25/episode-36-behold-the-monkey-the-
Jan 31, 2019 • 40:06
BonusEp. 0.1 - Tamar Avishai interviews artist Cecilia Vicuña
On October 10, 2018, both the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, and Cecilia Vicuña herself were generous enough to give me the opportunity to take a few moments away from the installation of "Disappeared Quipu" and interview Vicuña. We talked about bridging the masculinity of Land Art and the femininity of Fiber Art, the origins of Vicuña's life as an artist, and how her own awareness has evolved throughout her career.
Dec 14, 2018 • 19:10
Ep. 35 - Cecilia Vicuña's "Disappeared Quipu" (2018)
Thick woolen knots, suspended from the ceiling, alive with projections and immersed in sound. You might not realize that Chilean artist Cecilia Vicuña has woven together your awareness of your own awareness, but maybe you just needed some help translating it. See the images: http://www.thelonelypalette.com/episodes/2018/12/1/episode-35-cecilia-vicuas-disappeared-quipu-2018 Music used: Django Reinhardt, “Django’s Tiger” The Andrews Sisters, "Bei Mir Bist Du Schoen" The Blue Dot Sessions, “The
Dec 14, 2018 • 31:43
Ep. 34 - Dance Dance Revolution
We're trying a little something different today: what happens when Disney scares the pants off you as a kid, and then, in mining the roots of your existential dread, you realize that Henri Matisse and Igor Stravinsky both had their respective pants scared off too, and that this communal pants-scaring explains a whole heck of a lot about early 20th century modernism? See the images: http://www.thelonelypalette.com/episodes/2018/10/27/episode-34-dance-dance-revolution Music used: Django Reinhard
Nov 14, 2018 • 41:58
Ep. 33 - Jean-Honoré Fragonard's "The Desired Moment" (c. 1770)
Powder those wigs and ungird those loins: today we're diving deep into the curves, pastels, and licentious yearnings of a ridiculously saucy little style known as Rococo. See the Images: http://www.thelonelypalette.com/episodes/2018/9/8/episode-33-jean-honor-fragonard-the-desired-moment-c-1770 Music Used: Django Reinhardt, “Django’s Tiger” The Andrews Sisters, "Bei Mir Bist Du Schoen" The Blue Dot Sessions, “Mknt”, “The Big Ten”, “Vernouillet”, “Swapping Tubes”, “Line Etching”, “Fern and Andy”
Sep 13, 2018 • 30:24
Ep. 32 - René Magritte's "The Son of Man" (1964)
Ever have a day when you just feel a little... blocked? Well, sure as God made little green apples, Surrealist René Magritte feels you. See the images: http://www.thelonelypalette.com/episodes/2018/8/24/episode-32-ren-magrittes-son-of-man-1964 Music used: Django Reinhardt, "Django's Tiger" The Andrews Sisters, "Bei Mir Bist Du Schoen" The Blue Dot Sessions, "Roundpine", "Borough", "Building The Sled", "Rate Sheet", "Lick Stick", "Pull Beyond Pull" Joe Dassin, “Les Champs-Elysees" Sponsors: h
Aug 28, 2018 • 29:12
Ep. 31 - Hiroshi Sugimoto's "Byrd Theater, Richmond, 1993" (1993)
Trying to capture time in art is like trying to pin a wave upon the sand or hold a moonbeam in your hand. So leave it to Japanese photographer Hiroshi Sugimoto to do it so effectively by taking us to the Golden Age of Cinema. "Seeking Stillness" is on view at the MFA, Boston until September 3, 2018. See the images: http://www.thelonelypalette.com/episodes/2018/7/5/episode-31-hiroshi-sugimotos-byrd-theater-richmond-1993-1993 Music used: The Andrews Sisters, "Bei Mir Bist Du Schoen" The Blue D
Jul 12, 2018 • 31:58
Ep. 30 - Donatello's "Madonna of the Clouds" (c. 1425-1435)
Join the OG Ninja Turtle as he guides you into the Renaissance by way of an exquisite tour of heaven. See the image: http://www.thelonelypalette.com/episodes/2018/5/28/episode-30-donatellos-madonna-of-the-clouds-c-1425-1435 Music Used: The Andrews Sisters, "Bei Mir Bist Du Schoen" Lobo Loco, "Piano Cora Theme" The Blue Dot Sessions, "UpUpUp and Over", "Slow Line Stomp", "Lakeside Path", "Perspiration", "Threads and Veils", "Moon Bicycle Theme" Joe Dassin, “Les Champs-Elysees" Support the show
May 31, 2018 • 26:48
Ep. 29 - Egon Schiele's "Nude Self-Portrait" (1910)
Welcome to the cult of the punk: where the skin is flayed, the contortions are twisty, and the struggle is real. So why can't we get enough? See the image: http://www.thelonelypalette.com/episodes/2018/4/23/episode-29-egon-schieles-nude-self-portrait-1910 Music used: The Andrews Sisters, "Bei Mir Bist Du Schoen" The Blue Dot Sessions, "Taoudella", "Fifteen Street", "Smooth Stone", "Scraper", "Then A Gambling Problem", "Warm Fingers", "Chrome and Wax" Support the show: www.patreon.com/lonely
Apr 27, 2018 • 29:53
Ep. 28 - Yoko Ono's "Cut Piece" (1964)
Yoko Ono. You may have heard of her. She hooked up with that musician that time. Just under the wire, we end Women's History Month with a peek beneath Ono's art and reputation - and why we need to reconsider both. See the image: http://www.thelonelypalette.com/episodes/2018/3/29/episode-28-yoko-onos-cut-piece-1964 Music used: The Andrews Sisters, "Bei Mir Bist Du Schoen" The Blue Dot Sessions, "Plaster Combo", "Valantis", "Strange Dog Walk", "Hundred Mile", "Down at the Bank"" Joe Dassin, “
Mar 30, 2018 • 28:54
Ep. 27 - Roy Lichtenstein's "Ohhh... Alright..." (1964)
Can a comic strip be elevated to fine art? Or is Pop artist Roy Lichtenstein just plain dotty? See the image: http://www.thelonelypalette.com/episodes/2018/3/5/episode-27-roy-lichtensteins-ohhhalright-1964 Music used: The Andrews Sisters, "Bei Mir Bist Du Schoen" The Blue Dot Sessions, "Le Marais", "The Molerat", "Lemon and Melon", "Via Verre", "Lord Weasel", "Entrap" Joe Dassin, “Les Champs-Elysees" Support the show! www.patreon.com/lonelypalette Thanks to our sponsors: https://audioboom.c
Mar 7, 2018 • 26:59
Ep. 26 - C.M. Coolidge's "Dogs Playing Poker" (1903)
Your Listener Patreon Challenge has been accepted! And now, let's dive together into kitsch: the frequency low enough for us all to hear. See the images: http://www.thelonelypalette.com/episodes/2018/2/13/episode-26-cm-coolidges-dogs-playing-poker-1903 Music used: The Andrews Sisters, "Bei Mir Bist Du Schoen" The Blue Dot Sessions, "Rose Ornamental," "Flattered," "Arizona Moon," "Laser Focus," "Alchemical," "Two in the Back," "Maisie Dreamer," "Gullwing Sailor," "Maldoc" Joe Dassin, “Les Cham
Feb 15, 2018 • 38:56
SpecialEp. 0.3 - Keepers of the Culture (Live Event at the PRX Podcast Garage)
In this special episode, we listen to the audio from the live event at the PRX Podcast Garage, "Keepers of the Culture: A Celebration of Meduna and Holmes," which I had the privilege of participating in at the end of January. In it I chat with collage artist Ekua Holmes, play her some audio I produced on her work, and then we listen to art historian Barry Gaither give the curator talk to end all curator talks on art, artists, viewers, and why we do what we do. Special thanks to PRX, the PRX Po
Feb 7, 2018 • 36:33
Ep. 25 - Mission: Mona Lisa
Our lady of the hour, muse of Dan Brown, satisfier of bucket lists, those eyes, that smile, La Gioconda, El Hefe. Just in time for the holidays, we bring you a super-sized episode on a super-sized love affair with a dinky little portrait. See the images: http://www.thelonelypalette.com/episodes/2017/12/17/episode-25-mission-mona-lisa Music used: The Andrews Sisters, "Bei Mir Bist Du Schoen" The Blue Dot Sessions, "Tar and Spackle", "Welcome Home Sonny", "Caprese", "Tiny Putty", "Festering", "I
Dec 22, 2017 • 47:57
Ep. 24 - Meditations on Mark Rothko
Whether you think Mark Rothko is the portal to spiritual transcendence or emotional-ambulance-chasing bunk, let's take the necessary time to explore his work without feeling like our souls are at stake. See the images: http://www.thelonelypalette.com/episodes/2017/11/20/episode-24-meditations-on-mark-rothko Music used: The Andrews Sisters, "Bei Mir Bist Du Schoen" The Blue Dot Sessions, "A Simple Blur", "Thematic", "Cases to Rest", "Plate Grayscale", "Drone Thistle," "Sage the Hunter" Dar Will
Nov 21, 2017 • 29:56
Ep. 23 - Umberto Boccioni's "Unique Forms of Continuity in Space" (1913)
At the intersection of past and future sits a pack of hormonal dudes punching each other and making beautiful art. See the image: http://www.thelonelypalette.com/episodes/2017/10/30/episode-23-umberto-boccionis-unique-forms-of-continuity-in-space-1913 Music used: The Andrews Sisters, "Bei Mir Bist Du Schoen" Podington Bear, "Kaleidoscope" The Blue Dot Sessions, "Chase and We Follow", "The Telling", "Trelaga", "Thirteens" Joe Dassin, “Les Champs-Elysees" Support the show! www.patreon.com/lonel
Oct 31, 2017 • 25:02
SpecialEp. 0.2 - Introducing Hub & Spoke (by way of Soonish)
The Lonely Palette is thrilled to announce that we're a founding member of Hub & Spoke, a brand spanking new collective of Boston-centric, idea-driven podcasts. To kick things off, we're proud to present an episode of Soonish, the podcast about the future, hosted by veteran technology journalist Wade Roush. This episode, "Can Technology Save Museums?" not only asks some important questions about the future of art museums, but features me telling The Lonely Palette's origin story (spoiler: I sa
Oct 25, 2017 • 37:48
Ep. 22 - Jasper Johns' "Target" (1961)
Ceci n'est pas un target, and other bewildering and profound pronouncements by conceptual neo-Dadaist (with abstract Pop Art sensibilities) Jasper Johns. See the image: http://www.thelonelypalette.com/episodes/2017/9/21/episode-22-jasper-johns-target-1961 Music used: The Andrews Sisters, "Bei Mir Bist Du Schoen" The Blue Dot Sessions, "Soothe", "Helado", "Chapel Donder", "The Summit" Jason Leonard, "Ritual Six" Joe Dassin, “Les Champs-Elysees" Support the podcast! www.patreon.com/lonelypalett
Sep 27, 2017 • 23:03
Ep. 21 - Mary Cassatt's "In the Loge" (1878)
So. It appears that art history has a woman problem. See the image: http://www.thelonelypalette.com/episodes/2017/9/5/episode-21-mary-cassatts-in-the-loge-1878 Music used: The Andrews Sisters, "Bei Mir Bist Du Schoen" The Blue Dot Sessions, "Waterborne", "Pat Dog", "Partly Sage", "Illway", "Turning to You", "Horizon Liner", "Soothe" Joe Dassin, “Les Champs-Elysees” Support the show! www.patreon.com/lonelypalette
Sep 5, 2017 • 25:45
Ep. 20 - Henryk Ross's Photographs of the Lodz Ghetto (1940-44)
In this special episode, we look at the exhibition Memory Unearthed: Henryk Ross’s Photographs of the Lodz Ghetto, and explore the Lodz ghetto specifically, Holocaust photography more generally, and the role our need for a good story has played in shaping our understanding of both. Memory Unearthed is on view at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston until July 30, 2017 See the images: http://www.thelonelypalette.com/episodes/2017/6/29/episode-20-henryk-rosss-photographs-of-the-lodz-ghetto Music Use
Jul 4, 2017 • 24:54
Ep. 19 - Guanyin, Bodhisattva of Compassion (Song Dynasty, 12th c. CE)
Take a load off as you relax into this Song Dynasty masterpiece. You're going to be here for a while. See the image: http://www.thelonelypalette.com/episodes/2017/6/13/episode-19-guanyin-bodhisattva-of-compassion-song-dynasty-12th-c-ce Music used: The Andrews Sisters, "Bei Mir Bist Du Schoen" The Blue Dot Sessions, "Masonry", "Exceter Lask", "Hickory Interlude", "Copper Halls", "Feathering", "Inside the Paper Crane", "Doghouse" Joe Dassin, “Les Champs-Elysees”
Jun 13, 2017 • 23:56
Ep. 18 - JMW Turner's "The Slave Ship" (1840)
Because it's hard to look directly into the sun. Or yourself. See the image: http://www.thelonelypalette.com/episodes/2017/5/22/episode-18-jmw-turners-the-slave-ship-1840 Music used: The Andrews Sisters, "Bei Mir Bist Du Schoen" The Blue Dot Sessions, "Sunday Lights", "Town Market", "Rapids", "Liptis", "Ballast", "Masonry" Joe Dassin, “Les Champs-Elysees”
May 23, 2017 • 23:46
MiniEp. 0.1 - Happy Birthday, Lonely Palette!
The Lonely Palette is ONE! And what a year it's been. We here at One Lonely Palette Plaza are celebrating with the launch of our own Patreon Campaign! Please consider checking it out, and supporting the podcast. All the information can be found at: www.patreon.com/lonelypalette Thank you for an artful, soulful, paint and cathedral and electric chair and torqued ellipse and apple and Pollocky-spatter and Aunt Fanny-ful year, and here's to the next! Music used: The Blue Dot Sessions, "Hela
May 4, 2017 • 7:21
Ep. 17 - Marcel Duchamp's "Fountain" (1917)
On the occasion of its hundredth birthday, we dive into the art world's greatest joke (splash!). See the images: http://www.thelonelypalette.com/episodes/2017/4/17/episode-17-marcel-duchamps-fountain Music Used: Podington Bear, "A1 Rogue", "In My Head" The Andrews Sisters, "Bei Mir Bist Du Schoen" The Blue Dot Sessions, "In The Back Room", "Rafter", "FasterFasterBrighter", "Nesting", "Lamplist" Joe Dassin, “Les Champs-Elysees”
Apr 18, 2017 • 27:20
Ep. 16 - Vincent Van Gogh's "Postman Joseph Roulin" (1888)
You've just had a manic break, cut off a piece of your ear, and gifted it to a prostitute. Who ya gonna call? Your get-a-grip postman friend, of course! See the image: http://www.thelonelypalette.com/episodes/2017/3/27/episode-16-vincent-van-goghs-postman-joseph-roulin-1888 Music used: The Andrews Sisters, "Bei Mir Bist Du Schoen" The Blue Dot Sessions, "Step In Step Out", "Scratcher", "Over the Fence", "Scalloped", "On Belay" Lee Rosevere, "Curiosity" Joe Dassin, “Les Champs-Elysees” Po
Mar 29, 2017 • 22:52
Ep. 15 - El Anatsui's "Black River" (2009)
One man's trash is Ghanaian fiber artist El Anatsui's treasure. See the image: http://www.thelonelypalette.com/episodes/2017/3/1/episode-15-el-anatsuis-black-river-2009 Music used: Podington Bear, "Down and Around" The Andrews Sisters, "Bei Mir Bist Du Schoen" The Blue Dot Sessions, "Coronea", "Mercurial Vision", "Stipple", "Our Quiet Company", "Step In Step Out" Joe Dassin, “Les Champs-Elysees”
Mar 7, 2017 • 22:31
Ep. 14 - Paul Gauguin's "Where Do We Come From? What Are We? Where Are We Going?" (1897-98)
The gospel according to Gauguin is basically an existential hodgepodge that you and I were never supposed to understand. See the image: http://www.thelonelypalette.com/episodes/2017/1/25/episode-14-paul-gauguins-where-do-we-come-from-what-are-we-where-are-we-going-1897-98 Music used: The Andrews Sisters, "Bei Mir Bist Du Schoen" The Blue Dot Sessions, "Flagger", "Pacing", "Open Flames", "One Quiet Conversation" Mathieu Lamontagne & Emmanuel Toledo, "Point de vue" Joe Dassin, “Les Champs-Elyse
Jan 25, 2017 • 24:06
Ep. 13 - Edward Hopper's "Room in Brooklyn" (1932)
Welcome to Edward Hopper's specific, yet schematic, love letter to the alienation of the modern American city. See the image: http://www.thelonelypalette.com/episodes/2016/12/28/episode-13-edward-hoppers-room-in-brooklyn-1932 Music used: The Andrews Sisters, "Bei Mir Bist Du Schoen" The Blue Dot Sessions, "Lacquer Groove", "In Passage", "Cats Eye", "Tranceless", "Simple Melody", "Flagger" Joe Dassin, “Les Champs-Elysees”
Jan 3, 2017 • 21:16
Ep. 12 - Jackson Pollock's "Number 10, 1949" (1949)
Dust off your verbs, it's time to make sense out of chaos. See the image: http://www.thelonelypalette.com/episodes/2016/11/30/episode-12-jackson-pollocks-10-1949-1949 Music used: Eric Dolphy, "Out To Lunch" The Andrews Sisters, "Bei Mir Bist Du Schoen" The Blue Dot Sessions, "Parade Shoes", "Inessential", "City Limits", "Lacquer Groove" Joe Dassin, “Les Champs-Elysees”
Dec 13, 2016 • 21:15
Ep. 11 - John Singer Sargent's "The Daughters of Edward Darley Boit" (1882)
The darlings, the crown jewels, the moneymakers. Just what the heck is it about these girls?! See the image: http://www.thelonelypalette.com/episodes/2016/11/14/episode-11-john-singer-sargents-the-daughters-of-edwards-darley-boit-1882 Music used: The Andrews Sisters, "Bei Mir Bist Du Schoen" The Blue Dot Sessions, "Brass Buttons", "Heliotrope", "Vittoro", "Filing Away" Lobo Loco, "White Shapes Beauty" Joe Dassin, “Les Champs-Elysees” Eric Dolphy, "Out To Lunch"
Nov 15, 2016 • 22:22
Ep. 10 - Piet Mondrian's "Composition with Red, Yellow, and Blue" (1927)
Think abstraction is totally inaccessible? Pull up a chair. See the image: http://www.thelonelypalette.com/episodes/2016/10/6/episode-10-piet-mondrians-composition-with-red-yellow-and-blue-1927 Music used: The Andrews Sisters, "Bei Mir Bist Du Schoen" The Blue Dot Sessions, "The Provisions", "A Certain Lightness", "A Rush of Clear Water", "Brass Buttons" Lee Rosevere, "Puzzle Pieces" Tamar Avishai, "Grid (after Sol LeWitt's Drawing Series)"
Oct 25, 2016 • 21:38
Ep. 9 - Ernst Ludwig Kirchner's "Reclining Nude" (1909)
The German Expressionists get hot. Nazis get bothered. See the image: http://www.thelonelypalette.com/episodes/2016/9/28/episode-9-ernst-ludwig-kirchners-reclining-nude-1910 Music used: The Andrews Sisters, "Bei Mir Bist Du Schoen" David Szeszlay, "Night Surfing" Michael Howard, "The Tallest Man in Idaho (Instrumental)" Jason Leonard, "Ritual Twelve" The Blue Dot Sessions, "Stilt", "Manele", "The Provisions" Joe Dassin, “Les Champs-Elysees”
Oct 4, 2016 • 20:51
Ep. 8 - Richard Serra's "Torqued Ellipses" (1996)
This big bully is about to give you a lesson in contrasts you won't soon forget. Featuring Dar Williams! See the image: http://www.thelonelypalette.com/episodes/2016/9/19/episode-8-richard-serras-torqued-ellipses-1998 Music used: The Andrews Sisters, "Bei Mir Bist Du Schoen" The Blue Dot Sessions, "Turning", "Downhill Racer", "Cloud Line" Lee Rosevere, "Reflections" Dar Williams and the WASTM Good Times House Choir, "The Water is Wide"
Sep 20, 2016 • 18:41
Ep. 7 - Claude Monet's "Rouen Cathedral" Series (1892-94)
After centuries in the shadows, it's light's turn to shine. See the image: http://www.thelonelypalette.com/episodes/2016/9/5/episode-7-claude-monets-rouen-cathedral-series-1892-94 Music used: The Andrews Sisters, "Bei Mir Bist Du Schoen" The Blue Dot Sessions, "The Spinnet", "Lahaina", "Discovery Harbor", "Santre" Joe Dassin, “Les Champs-Elysees”
Sep 6, 2016 • 18:08
Ep. 6 - Pablo Picasso's "Portrait of a Woman" (1910)
You think your seven-year-old could paint this indecipherable abstract Cubist painting? Well, it's not abstract, it's totally understandable, and... he couldn't. See the image: http://www.thelonelypalette.com/episodes/2016/7/19/episode-6-pablo-picassos-portrait-of-a-woman-1910 Music used: Paolo Pavan, “Blue Night Dance” The Andrews Sisters, "Bei Mir Bist Du Schoen" The Blue Dot Sessions, "Balti", "The Rampart", "Steadfast", "Beast on the Soil" Joe Dassin, “Les Champs-Elysees” Heftone Banjo O
Jul 20, 2016 • 15:47
Ep. 5 - Andy Warhol's "Red Disaster" (1962)
Elbow-deep in trauma, Andy Warhol plays with repetition and bores us into action. See the image: http://www.thelonelypalette.com/episodes/2016/7/5/episode-5-andy-warhols-red-disaster-1962 Music used: Chris Zabriskie, “Cylinder Four” The Andrews Sisters, "Bei Mir Bist Du Schoen" Ketsa, “Catching Feathers” The Blue Dot Sessions, “Drifting Spade” Joe Dassin, “Les Champs-Elysees” Paolo Pavan, “Blue Night Dance”
Jul 5, 2016 • 12:12
Ep. 4 - Edgar Degas' "Duchessa di Montejasi with Her Daughters, Elena and Camilla" (c. 1876)
Hey! You there! Don't walk by this seemingly-boring painting. You might miss the 19th century. See the image: http://www.thelonelypalette.com/episodes/2016/6/21/episode-4-edgar-degas-duchessa-di-montejasi-with-her-daughters-elena-and-camilla-c-1876 Music used: Reynold Philipsek, "Intro and Nuages" (Django Reinhardt cover) The Andrews Sisters, "Bei Mir Bist Du Schoen" The Blue Dot Sessions, “A Burst of Light”, “The Silver Hatch” Lee Rosevere, “Wandering” Joe Dassin, “Les Champs-Elysees” C
Jun 21, 2016 • 12:30
Ep. 3 - John Singleton Copley's "Portrait of Samuel Adams" (1772)
While John Singleton Copley is busying himself with past and present art historical styles, Samuel Adams is getting all up in your biz. See the image: http://www.thelonelypalette.com/episodes/2016/6/2/episode-3-john-singleton-copleys-portrait-of-samuel-adams-1772 Tri-Tachyon, “Little Lily Swing” The Blue Dot Sessions, “Decompression”, “Turning on the Lights” Velella Velella, “Hard Egg Timer” The Andrews Sisters, "Bei Mir Bist Du Schoen" Joe Dassin, “Les Champs-Elysees” Reynold Philipsek, "Int
Jun 7, 2016 • 15:14
Ep. 2 - Christian Boltanski's "Lumieres (blue square - Sylvie)" (2000)
Christian Boltanski tackles memory and death. We tackle Christian Boltanski. See the image: http://www.thelonelypalette.com/episodes/2016/5/18/episode-2-christian-boltanskis-lumieres-blue-square-sylvie-2000 Music used: The Blue Dot Sessions, “That Horse Ithica”, “The Terrarium”, “That River Wide” The Andrews Sisters, "Bei Mir Bist Du Schoen" Joe Dassin, “Les Champs-Elysees” Tri-Tachyon, “Little Lily Swing”
May 24, 2016 • 11:57
Ep. 1 - Paul Cezanne's "Fruit and Jug on a Table" (c. 1890-94)
Just how did Cezanne keep that fruit from tumbling all over the place? We have theories. See the image: http://www.thelonelypalette.com/episodes/2016/5/10/episode-1-paul-cezannes-fruit-and-jug-on-a-table-c-1890-94 Music Used: Django Reinhardt, "Dinah" The Andrews Sisters, "Bei Mir Bist Du Schoen" The Blue Dot Sessions, “Stale Case”, “Tripoli”, “Andelo”, “This Horse Ithica” Joe Dassin, “Les Champs-Elysees”
May 11, 2016 • 16:38
