artnet Magazine

Harvester Vase
Steatite, Neopalatial Period
Agia Triada, Minos
Herakleion Archeological Museum, Crete

THE BEST "ART 101"
by Thomas Hoving

Feb. 10, 2009
Ever since I dropped a pencil in the art survey course of western art during my freshman year and missed 500 years, I’ve wanted to rip apart Art 101. Instead of those unmemorable thousands of works I’d pick only the indelible masterpieces. I’d do one lecture, not the dozen or so. I’d choose the hot images that never go out of fashion. The pieces that changed my life forever. Those works in which I see something new every time I look at them and which get better and better each time I see them. The ones I have to visit to keep me alive.
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Thomas Hoving Archives

Jan. 20, 2009	RECALLING ANDY WYETH by Thomas Hoving Andrew Wyeth, 1917-2009.

Nov. 6, 2008	THE FATE OF THE $5 POLLOCK by Thomas Hoving ARTnews traces a tortuous tale of Pollock paintings and possibly pilfered fingerprints.

Oct. 31, 2008	THE GRAND ACQUISITOR by Thomas Hoving "The Philippe de Montebello Years" at the Metropolitan Museum of Art.

Oct. 21, 2008	A MIRACLE FOR MUSEUMS by Thomas Hoving The Arts and Artifacts Indemnity Program now has a $5-billion domestic component.

Oct. 16, 2008	KING TUT IS BACK! by Thomas Hoving "Tutankhamun and the Golden Age of the Pharoahs" opens at the M.H. de Yong Memorial Museum in 2009.

Oct. 2, 2008	"SMASHING" BLACK CYLINDERS by Thomas Hoving Dale Chihuly’s magical "Black Cylinders."

Sept. 17, 2008	A GLORY AT THE CURRIER MUSEUM by Thomas Hoving Curator Kurt Sundstrom discovers an overlooked masterpiece by Florentine sculptor Antonio Rossellino.

Aug. 18, 2008	A BILLET DOUX FOR THE MET by Thomas Hoving What the mighty Metropolitan Museum of Art ought to do next.

July 17, 2008	J.M.W. TURNER, ONE OF A KIND, ONCE AND FOREVER by Thomas Hoving Turner transformed grim and jejune reality into compelling fantasies of color, light and atmosphere.

Oct. 5, 2001	SUPER ART GEMS OF NEW YORK CITY by Thomas Hoving The Cloisters ivory cross -- what is its anti-Jewish message and where did it come from?

Sept. 27, 2001	SUPER ART GEMS OF NEW YORK CITY by Thomas Hoving Topic Mimara and the Bury St. Edmunds Cross, Part I.

July 16, 2001	SUPER ART GEMS OF NEW YORK CITY by Thomas Hoving The "Hot Pot" finale -- the truth is revealed.

July 13, 2001	SUPER ART GEMS OF NEW YORK CITY by Thomas Hoving The fifth in a new series by the former director of the Metropolitan Museum.

July 10, 2001	SUPER ART GEMS OF NEW YORK CITY by Thomas Hoving Part IV -- Irrefutable evidence for a good "Hot Pot" provenance.

July 5, 2001	SUPER ART GEMS OF NEW YORK CITY by Thomas Hoving The "Hot Pot" III -- the press screams scandal.

July 2, 2001	SUPER ART GEMS OF NEW YORK CITY by Thomas Hoving The hunt for the "Hot Pot," part two -- a money source opens up.

June 29, 2001	SUPER ART GEMS OF NEW YORK CITY by Thomas Hoving A new series by the former director of the Metropolitan Museum.

June 9, 2000	MY EYE by Thomas Hoving The Morgan Library’s knockout exhibition of the treasures from ancient Ur. Does this Sumerian gold beat "Tut"?

June 2, 2000	MY EYE by Thomas Hoving Isn’t it time for a world free-trade agreement for works of art?

May 26, 2000	THE RICH SPIRITUALITY OF DAN NAMINGHA by Thomas Hoving He has captured the land, the people and the sacred rituals of New Mexico better than anyone.

May 18, 2000	ANDREW WYETH AT 82 by Thomas Hoving Still Going with a Full Head of Steam.

May 19, 2000	MY EYE by Thomas Hoving The new hot, mix-master museum installations. Will they anger the public as well as the critics?

May 12, 2000	MY EYE: A BELLYFUL OF GREAT DRAWINGS FROM VIENNA’S ALBERTINA by Thomas Hoving Get your esthetic juices surging by a visit to the Frick’s Albertina show.

May 5, 2000	MY EYE by Thomas Hoving The Phillips Auctioneers highly vaunted Impressionist and Modern Art Evening sale on Thursday May 11th -- How good is the Art?

Apr. 28, 2000	MY EYE by Thomas Hoving The gloriously renovated Ringling Museum seems about to collapse -- yet again.

Apr. 24, 2000	MY EYE by Thomas Hoving The new Cypriot Galleries at the Met -- why so little out of so much? Do I detect a whiff of archaeological bigotry?

Apr. 14, 2000	MY EYE by Thomas Hoving Give Metropolitan Museum patron Mary Griggs Burke a tickertape parade, the keys to New York City and every other art honor of the decade. Plus some art alerts.

Apr. 7, 2000	MY EYE by Thomas Hoving Whatta Haacker! A frank appraisal of the controversial installation, plus what’s really great at the Biennial, a Met trustee blackballs a heavy hitter, hot, new, very old porn, Grünewald delights, Piero the Magnificent.

Apr. 3, 2000	MY EYE by Thomas Hoving The best early Chinese figures, last chance for Riemenschneider show (why bother?) and elephant art? Gimme a break!

Feb. 28, 2000	MY EYE by Thomas Hoving How to clean up Sotheby’s -- finally!

Jan. 17, 2000	MY EYE by Thomas Hoving All art is abstract.

Dec. 17, 1999	MY EYE by Thomas Hoving A fundamental change for the year 2000.

Oct. 29, 1999	MY EYE by Thomas Hoving A few further thoughts on the Brooklyn Museum mess.

Oct. 1, 1999	MY EYE by Thomas Hoving Who’s to blame for the Brooklyn mess?

Aug. 27, 1999	MY EYE by Thomas Hoving Kudos for the Boston MFA overhaul.

July 20, 1999	MY EYE by Thomas Hoving Art for Dummies and "The American Century."

Apr. 26, 1999	MY EYE by Thomas Hoving Time for the Lehman Collection Break-Out.

Mar. 18, 1999	MY EYE by Thomas Hoving Norman Rockwell comes to the Guggenheim Museum -- a My Eye Update.

Mar. 2, 1999	MY EYE by Thomas Hoving Wendell D. Garrett selects the single best piece of American furniture.

Jan. 19, 1999	MY EYE by Thomas Hoving Pieter de Hooch at the Wadsworth Atheneum.

Dec. 23, 1999	MY EYE by Thomas Hoving Recent acquisitions -- and proposed deaccessions -- at the Metropolitan Museum.

Dec. 1, 1998	MY EYE by Thomas Hoving Nothing but the best in the fine and decorative arts.