The Object

Latest Episodes:

Spirited Away: The Incredible Ghosts of Yoshitoshi Apr 13, 2020

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Yoshitoshi is poised to be the greatest artist of the Floating World, the semi-fictional universe of and style in old Japan. But when Japan opens to the West, in the 1850s, Yoshitoshi struggles to adapt. And the ghosts he conjures become colorful symbols of a vanishing way of life. If you're an anime enthusiast, a fan of old Japan, or just into beguiling beauty wherever you find it, you're going to love Yoshitoshi. Find him here: https://collections.artsmia.org/search/Yoshitoshi

Young, Gifted, and Gone: The Woman Who Never Came Back Mar 16, 2020

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Elizabeth Catlett, the granddaughter of enslaved African-Americans, is a struggling artist at the height of Jim Crow. But when she moves to Mexico City in 1946, she finds love, inspiration, and eventually fame. There's just one catch: she can't come home. Check out her work in the collection of the Minneapolis Institute of Art: https://collections.artsmia.org/art/7890/sharecropper-elizabeth-catlett

Miracles in Stone: The Curious Celebrity of God’s Sculptor Feb 17, 2020

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William Edmondson is a middle-aged laborer in Nashville, Tennessee, at the height of the Great Depression, when God tells him to carve a tombstone. Soon, he's the first African-American artist to have a solo show at the Museum of Modern Art. But his short-lived celebrity reveals the art world's problematic relationship with race. You can see one of his many sculptures of a ram, of the Dorset sheep variety local to Tennessee, in the collection of the Minneapolis Institute of Art: https://collections.artsmia.org/art/118808/ram-william-edmondson

Gone Girl: The Case of the Missing Rembrandt Aug 19, 2019

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In 1666, Rembrandt painted a masterpiece that disappeared almost as soon as he finished it. Where it went, and what it meant to its various owners, is as fascinating as the question it begs: how can people be so tender and also so cruel?

True Colors: The Truth About ”White” Classical Art Jul 10, 2019

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He was the ideal man. Handsome, strapping, with unreal proportions. But ancient statues like the Doryphoros originally looked much different, a revelation that is slowly upending long-held assumptions about race and art in the classical world. And not a moment too soon to confront the dangerous claims of white supremacists. You can see a 3D model of the Doryphoros statue here: skfb.ly/6KZOH. You can read more about it here: https://collections.artsmia.org/art/3520/the-doryphoros-italy. And read more here about the scholars cited in this episode, who are confronting the abuse of antiquity by hate groups: https://bit.ly/2YRG5GZ

Flying Too Close to the Sun Jun 10, 2019

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Kehinde Wiley, long before he painted President Obama's official portrait, went to Brazil. There, he was inspired by a monument to the great aviator Alberto Santos-Dumont, whose incredible, tragic life is as forgotten in the United States as it is celebrated almost everywhere else. You can see the monument here: https://biblioteca.ibge.gov.br/visualizacao/fotografias/GEBIS%20-%20RJ/rj39822.jpg And you can see the painting discussed in this episode here: https://collections.artsmia.org/art/107241/santos-dumont-the-father-of-aviation-ii-kehinde-wiley

Fast and Furious: The Car That Killed May 13, 2019

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When World War II began, nothing seemed capable of slowing the Third Reich. Except a very fast, very unusual Czech automobile called the Tatra. A poignant story of poetic justice, grace in wartime, and the utopian future that wasn't.

How to Stop an Assassin Apr 09, 2019

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Long ago, when everyone but your dog was a potential assassin, you needed to protect yourself by any means necessary. Starting with poison-proof silverware. A surprising story of art, myth, and the dangerous world that was.

Lord of the Dance: An Indian Icon Goes Global Mar 05, 2019

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In the 1920s, the sculptural image of Shiva Nataraja--the Hindu god Shiva as the cosmic dancer, ensuring the cycle of life--suddenly becomes a museum must-have. As India strives for independence, the image comes to symbolize something of the nascent nation itself.

X-ray Man and the Great Mummy Mystery Jan 08, 2019

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An assistant curator decides to x-ray a 3,000-year-old mummy case, to learn if anything’s in there, and sees more than he bargained for. The international mystery would change his life — and the fate of the mummy.

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