Category Archives: Museums

Art POV

Posted on January 20, 2015 by Brian D. Butler

After spending an afternoon at New York City’s magnificent Metropolitan Museum of Art this week, I had the odd experience of stumbling across artist/filmmaker Masashi Kawamura’s new blog “What They See”, which invites an encounter with the museum from a … Continue reading →

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In Praise of Rarity

Posted on December 19, 2014 by Brian D. Butler

In case you needed another reason to visit Paris this holiday season, the Bibliothèque Nationale has opened a special exhibition to showcase treasures from its enormous collection. E’loge de la rareté: Cent trésors de la Réserve des livres presents one … Continue reading →

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A New Light on Michelangelo

Posted on November 22, 2014 by Brian D. Butler

After five centuries, the magnificent frescoes on the walls and ceiling of the Vatican’s Sistine Chapel can now be seen in all of their glory thanks to a new LED lighting system. The unobtrusive 7,000 LEDs provide a surprisingly subtle, … Continue reading →

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Set the art free

Posted on November 7, 2014 by Brian D. Butler

French artist and filmmaker Julien de Casablanca has created a brilliant interactive project for art lovers everywhere. Participants in Outings are encouraged to visit museums and use their phones to photograph “small, secondary and forgotten” paintings and to print out … Continue reading →

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London Obsessions

Posted on November 4, 2014 by Brian D. Butler

I’m a fanatical museum goer, and I’ve visited all of London’s important cultural institutions, but I’m a lazy slacker compared to Jo Hunt, Mary Rees and Linda Smither. These three Londoners share an obsession to visit every museum in London. … Continue reading →

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Fall of the Wall

Posted on November 2, 2014 by Brian D. Butler

Germany’s capital city is commemorating the 25th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall with numerous events both solemn and celebratory. I particularly like the planned trail of thousands of luminous white balloons that will follow the route of the … Continue reading →

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Paris Museums

Posted on October 21, 2014 by Brian D. Butler

There’s good news for Paris museum visitors; starting in 2015 some of the most popular attractions are expanding opening times to seven days a week. Instead of closing one day each week on Mondays or Tuesdays, the Louvre, Musée d’Orsay … Continue reading →

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Luncheon in the Grass

Posted on September 4, 2014 by Brian D. Butler

The always witty Spanish street artist known as Pejac recently made a brief visit to Paris where he created this marvelous painting on a wall in the 13º arrondissement. Within the “splat”, he placed a nice copy of Édouard Manet’s … Continue reading →

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Do Libraries Float

Posted on August 30, 2014 by Brian D. Butler

I love libraries and I love boats; what could be better than a library on a boat ? The Floating Library is a new pop-up project that will open at New York City’s Hudson River Pier 25 on the Lilac Museum … Continue reading →

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Moving Pictures

Posted on August 16, 2014 by Brian D. Butler

As a collector and seller of antiquarian books, late at night I sometimes get the feeling that the illustrations are stirring. Now I have proof. The Smithsonian Libraries blog is teeming with gifs based on illustrations based on historical books and publications. … Continue reading →

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