In the corner of a French Renaissance painting, a child blows soap bubbles beside a circle of joyous dancers. Because the painting is titled The Dance of Human Life, a viewer might easily recognize the four dancers as the four Seasons,... Read More

A canvas covered with bright spatters of paint, by Jackson Pollock. Warhol’s famous image of Marilyn Monroe. “The Spiral Jetty,” by Smithson, a massive curl of heaped rocks extending into the Great Salt Lake. The glaring... Read More

A photograph of the vivid octagonal ceiling of the Cathedral of Ely graces the cover of this imposing book. One notices first the colors, exploding outward from a central point: elaborate, even riotous, yet somehow contained by the... Read More

“There is no possibility on earth that I can go to Italy,” the author begins, and from there unrolls an unusual travel narrative. Perhaps no other modern tourist has traveled so reluctantly, yet written so affectionately. That... Read More