Dr. Jeanne S. M. Willette – 3/12/19
Dr. Jeanne Willette unfortunately passed away in early 2019. She supported thousands of students in their exploration of art history during her career and was a valued colleague. This site, Art History Unstuffed, was one of her major contributions to those studying this field. Without Dr. Willette this site is not being updated with new content. While her web master, with support from her two sons, continues to maintain the site for the time being, a new generation of Art Historians is needed to carry the site into the future. If you are interested in participating or have other suggestions for this site, please click here to leave a note.
On line. At your convenience. In your own time. On your own terms.
For too long art history has been held hostage by scholars speaking to scholars and not to people. The purpose of this site is to educate and to inform and to do so with respect to the intelligence of the readers. Designed as a site for serious students of art history in need of solid substantive material, Art History Unstuffed is written for Twenty-First-century learners who prefer reading “text-bytes” and “sound-bytes” of targeted information.
Written by Dr. Jeanne S. M. Willette, a published scholar who has researched and consolidated both well-respected classical sources and vetted the latest research, this site creates a middle ground between arcane scholarly jargon and informed discourse and presents a detailed account of Modern, Postmodern, Philosophy and Theory that is accessible to all readers interested in the history of the modern and contemporary periods.
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Art History Unstuffed is listed on the ACI Scholarly Blog Index.
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Episode 61: Pablo Picasso and Guernica – The Creation
Pablo Picasso, Part Three
Much has been written about Picasso’s masterwork, Guernica, and most of the art historical accounts focus on the iconography and the style of the mural. This podcast examines the meaning of the mural within the cultural context of the Spanish Civil War. The small town of Guernica was the testing ground for aerial bombardment of a civilian population. Faced with an unprecedented assault on humanity, Pablo Picasso was forced to give up the safety of his easel painting and was driven by the tragedy to confront the toll of “total war.”
Episode 60: Pablo Picasso and the Women
Pablo Picasso, Part Two
Few artists were as renowned for their appetites for women as Pablo Picasso. The paintings of his middle years were veritable diaries of conquest. This podcast presents the women in Picasso’s life – Olga, Marie-Thérèse and Dora Maar – and their impact on his art. Each woman had different personalities and Picasso developed different styles for his wife and for each of his mistresses. It could be argued that his relationships with these women revived his waning art and stimulated his middle age endeavors.
Episode 59: Pablo Picasso and the Making of the Art Market
Pablo Picasso, Part One
Although we accept Picasso as one of the great artists of the twentieth century, he was not born a famous artist, he was “made.” This podcast discusses the role of the Great War and the creation of the post-war market in buying and selling avant-garde art. In order to be successful, Picasso had to be polished as an artist and Cubism had to be tamed as an art market suitable for collectors.
The Construction of a Discourse, 1910-1914
Creating a Culture of Cyber Criticism
Volume One: Blindness (Volume 1)
Dr. Willette is currently completing an entirely new kind of book on design, a book that is multi-modal. Offering multiple modes of output, this book offers the readers several ways of receiving information, slide shows, podcasts, texts and images. The interactive book, Design and the Avant-Garde, 1920-1940, will be divided into several volumes. Volume One will focus on the interconnections between art and design at the fine-de-siècle period, leading up to the creation of “modern” design.