Whether experienced in a museum, on a city street, via social media, in a classroom or anywhere else, what paintings, sculptures, photos, illustrations or other works of visual art have most affected you?
Are you attracted to visual art? Do you go to exhibits? Stop on the street to admire murals, graffiti or public sculpture? Scroll through artistic photos on social media? Or even make your own?
If so, what kind of work most frequently catches your eye? What individual pieces have you found most meaningful or influential over the years? Why?
Even if you don’t think of yourself as an art lover, are there works of visual art that have made a strong impression on you, whether from childhood or only recently? How would you describe them? Why do you think you remember them? If you were to seek out visual art that would interest you right now, where might it be found?
To help you think about these questions, you might scroll through the New York Times Art and Design section. Below, we’ve chosen a few recent pieces and posed some related questions, but we encourage you to find your own, too.
We’ll start with the multisensory piece shown at the top of this post, from the exhibit “Tomás Saraceno: Particular Matter(s).” Here is how an article about it begins:
“You need to check out this installation in NYC,” reads the title card of the TikTok post.
“Must love spiders,” adds a qualifier in the caption.
The video opens onto the mouth of a white globe, 95 feet in diameter, inside the McCourt space of the Shed, a cultural center in the Hudson Yards neighborhood, where an interactive exhibition by the Argentine artist Tomás Saraceno opened in February. Overhead, 40 feet above the ground, scattered people clamber across wire mesh netting. Twenty-eight feet below, visitors sprawl out on their backs, limbs outstretched.
If you could, would you want to experience this piece, or other “interactive and experience-based art” similar to it?
Next, here is a slide show about work you can see on the streets of the Bronx:
Alfredo Oyague, a well-known graffiti artist, wanted to promote peace through his work. Although diabetes forced him to stop painting murals in 2018, he hoped to bring together two crews to paint a wall in the Bronx.
Here’s what happened →
A Graffiti Master’s Final Mural
David Gonzalez???? Reporting from the Bronx
David Gonzalez
Oyague, seen here with his arm raised at a BBQ in the South Bronx in 2017, was known as Per One. He was also known for having a temper as big as his talent. Over the years he had clashed with other artists, including members of his own crew.
A Graffiti Master’s Final Mural
David Gonzalez???? Reporting from the Bronx
David Gonzalez
As complications from diabetes made him sicker, Oyague wanted to unite his FX Crew — with members coming from as far as Latin America and Europe — with the Bronx’s TATS Cru, whom he fell out with nearly three decades ago, to paint the mural.
A Graffiti Master’s Final Mural
David Gonzalez???? Reporting from the Bronx
David Gonzalez
He was eager to reconcile with TATS, whose members had been his friends at James Monroe High School. “They hadn’t really been speaking,” said Mayra Carty, Oyague’s girlfriend. “He wanted them to come together.”
A Graffiti Master’s Final Mural
David Gonzalez???? Reporting from the Bronx
David Gonzalez
He had spent the first part of 2022 planning for last weekend’s event, lining up sponsors and artists and tapping a new head of FX. But days before the event, Oyague died at home of a major heart attack. He was 56.
A Graffiti Master’s Final Mural
David Gonzalez???? Reporting from the Bronx
David Gonzalez
The reunion and reconciliation became an outdoor wake. Then on Wednesday, artists converged on Close Avenue under somber skies as Oyague’s funeral cortege stopped by the mural, leaving flowers before heading to the cemetery.
Do you like graffiti and other kinds of street art? What are some of the more memorable works you have seen, in any artistic genre?
Maybe you’re a fan of some of the masters of 19th- or 20th- century painting, like J.M.W. Turner, whose works you can see at the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston right now, or Winslow Homer, whose paintings are on view at the Metropolitan Museum in New York.
Winslow Homer’s “The Gulf Stream” (1899/reworked by 1906) is the centerpiece of a revelatory exhibition at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. The Metropolitan Museum of Art
Have you ever seen the painting above, which many consider Homer’s greatest work? What other famous paintings do you know and admire?
If you’d like to see a range of contemporary works in many genres, there may be an exhibit near you like the Whitney Biennial. Here is a piece from the current show, a survey of recent American art, which, a Times critic writes, is “freighted with three years of soul-rattling history marked by social divisiveness, racist violence and relentless mortality.”
At the Whitney Biennial, center, the Indigenous artist Rebecca Belmore’s sculpture, “ishkode (fire),” 2021, made from clay and bullet casings. In the background, Guadalupe Rosales’s photographs of East Los Angeles, 2022.Charlie Rubin for The New York Times
What visual arts have you seen over the last few years that speak especially well to the political and social issues of our world today? Another collection that tries to address such questions is the annual New York Times photojournalism roundup, called The Year in Pictures. Here are the Year in Pictures collections from 2020 and 2021. Which images stand out for you?
Finally, maybe you’re interested in nonfungible tokens, or NFTs, even if the question of whether or not they are art is still an open one. What do you think of the piece below?
Fewocious, a teenage NFT sensation, released “Year 2, Age 15 – My Mama’s Dream,” 2021, as a single-channel video nonfungible token.Fewocious
What kinds of visual art most appeal to you? Why do you think that is?
What works first came to mind when you saw the question at the top of this post? Did you think of more examples as you read on?
Describe at least one memorable work of art in as much detail as you can. How did it affect you when you first saw it? How does it affect you now?
Do you seek out visual art, via museums, social media, studios, walks on city streets or in any other way? Do you create it yourself? What inspires you most?
Did anything you found in this post or by scrolling through the Art and Design section surprise you, inspire a strong reaction, or challenge you in some way? What? Why?
Want more writing prompts? You can find all of our questions in our Student Opinion column. Teachers, check out this guide to learn how you can incorporate them into your classroom.
Students 13 and older in the United States and Britain, and 16 and older elsewhere, are invited to comment. All comments are moderated by the Learning Network staff, but please keep in mind that once your comment is accepted, it will be made public.
LONDON (AP) — With a few daubs of a paintbrush, the Brontë sisters have got their dots back.
More than eight decades after it was installed, a memorial to the three 19th-century sibling novelists in London’s Westminster Abbey was amended Thursday to restore the diaereses – the two dots over the e in their surname.
The dots — which indicate that the name is pronounced “brontay” rather than “bront” — were omitted when the stone tablet commemorating Charlotte, Emily and Anne was erected in the abbey’s Poets’ Corner in October 1939, just after the outbreak of World War II.
They were restored after Brontë historian Sharon Wright, editor of the Brontë Society Gazette, raised the issue with Dean of Westminster David Hoyle. The abbey asked its stonemason to tap in the dots and its conservator to paint them.
“There’s no paper record for anyone complaining about this or mentioning this, so I just wanted to put it right, really,” Wright said. “These three Yorkshire women deserve their place here, but they also deserve to have their name spelled correctly.”
It’s believed the writers’ Irish father Patrick changed the spelling of his surname from Brunty or Prunty when he went to university in England.
Raised on the wild Yorkshire moors, all three sisters died before they were 40, leaving enduring novels including Charlotte’s “Jane Eyre,” Emily’s “Wuthering Heights” and Anne’s “The Tenant of Wildfell Hall.”
Rebecca Yorke, director of the Brontë Society, welcomed the restoration.
“As the Brontës and their work are loved and respected all over the world, it’s entirely appropriate that their name is spelled correctly on their memorial,” she said.
In a case that has sent shockwaves through the Vancouver Island art community, a local art dealer has been charged with one count of fraud over $5,000. Calvin Lucyshyn, the former operator of the now-closed Winchester Galleries in Oak Bay, faces the charge after police seized hundreds of artworks, valued in the tens of millions of dollars, from various storage sites in the Greater Victoria area.
Alleged Fraud Scheme
Police allege that Lucyshyn had been taking valuable art from members of the public under the guise of appraising or consigning the pieces for sale, only to cut off all communication with the owners. This investigation began in April 2022, when police received a complaint from an individual who had provided four paintings to Lucyshyn, including three works by renowned British Columbia artist Emily Carr, and had not received any updates on their sale.
Further investigation by the Saanich Police Department revealed that this was not an isolated incident. Detectives found other alleged victims who had similar experiences with Winchester Galleries, leading police to execute search warrants at three separate storage locations across Greater Victoria.
Massive Seizure of Artworks
In what has become one of the largest art fraud investigations in recent Canadian history, authorities seized approximately 1,100 pieces of art, including more than 600 pieces from a storage site in Saanich, over 300 in Langford, and more than 100 in Oak Bay. Some of the more valuable pieces, according to police, were estimated to be worth $85,000 each.
Lucyshyn was arrested on April 21, 2022, but was later released from custody. In May 2024, a fraud charge was formally laid against him.
Artwork Returned, but Some Remain Unclaimed
In a statement released on Monday, the Saanich Police Department confirmed that 1,050 of the seized artworks have been returned to their rightful owners. However, several pieces remain unclaimed, and police continue their efforts to track down the owners of these works.
Court Proceedings Ongoing
The criminal charge against Lucyshyn has not yet been tested in court, and he has publicly stated his intention to defend himself against any pending allegations. His next court appearance is scheduled for September 10, 2024.
Impact on the Local Art Community
The news of Lucyshyn’s alleged fraud has deeply affected Vancouver Island’s art community, particularly collectors, galleries, and artists who may have been impacted by the gallery’s operations. With high-value pieces from artists like Emily Carr involved, the case underscores the vulnerabilities that can exist in art transactions.
For many art collectors, the investigation has raised concerns about the potential for fraud in the art world, particularly when it comes to dealing with private galleries and dealers. The seizure of such a vast collection of artworks has also led to questions about the management and oversight of valuable art pieces, as well as the importance of transparency and trust in the industry.
As the case continues to unfold in court, it will likely serve as a cautionary tale for collectors and galleries alike, highlighting the need for due diligence in the sale and appraisal of high-value artworks.
While much of the seized artwork has been returned, the full scale of the alleged fraud is still being unraveled. Lucyshyn’s upcoming court appearances will be closely watched, not only by the legal community but also by the wider art world, as it navigates the fallout from one of Canada’s most significant art fraud cases in recent memory.
Art collectors and individuals who believe they may have been affected by this case are encouraged to contact the Saanich Police Department to inquire about any unclaimed pieces. Additionally, the case serves as a reminder for anyone involved in high-value art transactions to work with reputable dealers and to keep thorough documentation of all transactions.
As with any investment, whether in art or other ventures, it is crucial to be cautious and informed. Art fraud can devastate personal collections and finances, but by taking steps to verify authenticity, provenance, and the reputation of dealers, collectors can help safeguard their valuable pieces.
