Episode 24: A Place to Rest

Episode 24: A Place to Rest

Author: Allyson Healey June 8, 2020 Duration: 26:18
Lots of food for thought in this episode as Allyson discusses a Shona headrest from Zimbabwe in the Met’s collection: how do such objects come…

You don't need a degree or even a particular fondness for museums to find a point of connection with the stories behind the images that shape our world. That’s the simple, compelling idea behind Art History for All, where host Allyson Healey acts as your curious and approachable guide. Rather than delivering dry lectures, each episode focuses deeply on one specific artwork, unraveling its creation, its historical context, and the often surprising reasons it continues to resonate. Healey consistently pushes past the standard "who and when" to explore the more vital question: why does this piece matter? This means the conversation might travel from a Renaissance fresco to a contemporary street mural, always seeking the human impulses that bridge centuries. The goal isn't to tell you what to think, but to provide the tools and narratives that help you hear what art might be saying, on your own terms. Whether you're a seasoned enthusiast or someone who feels art has never spoken to you, this podcast offers a fresh, thoughtful entry point. It’s about finding the unexpected links between a canvas and our current lives, making the history of visual culture feel less like a sealed textbook and more like an ongoing, fascinating conversation you’re suddenly a part of.
Author: Language: en-us Episodes: 30

Art History for All
Podcast Episodes
Episode 19: The Casco and the Yacht [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 29:24
Allyson discusses Filipina artist Anita Magsaysay-Ho’s Girls with Baskets (1966), and how colonialism, class, and global politics affect even the most sentimental of art. ©…
Episode 18: As Much Worker as Woman [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 30:09
Allyson discusses Myra Albert Wiggins's The Lacemaker (1899, Portland Museum of Art), workin' hard for the money, and types of labor that we might not see as labor. This one's for you, needleworkers!
Episode 17: First Lady to Travel Over Sea [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 29:38
Esther Mahlangu's Untitled, 2008 has simple geometry, but a complex context--Allyson talks about its connections to commerce, soccer, and... BMWs?
Episode 16: Invasion of the Night [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 29:02
It's a mind-bending episode as Allyson guides you through Roberto Matta's surreal mental landscape, Invasion of the Night (1941), and explores its connections to physics and psychology.
Episode 15: Compared to Rocks and Mountains [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 29:25
Allyson guides you through the eleventh-century Chinese handscroll painting Summer Mountains, (北宋 傳屈鼎 夏山圖 卷) by little-known painter Qu Ding (屈鼎). © 2019 Allyson Healey…
Episode 14: Happiness and Color [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 25:26
Allyson teaches you all about québécoise painter and stained glass artist Marcelle Ferron, whose windows at the Champ-de-Mars Métro station in Montréal are a unique…
Episode 13: Namatjira’s Creek [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 29:02
In this episode, Allyson goes down under and discusses the life of Albert Namatjira, his watercolor painting Catherine Creek, Northern Territory (circa 1950), and the…
Episode 12: Wrecked [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 31:58
Théodore Géricault’s 1819 painting The Raft of the Medusa is part of a larger tangled web of colonialism, incompetence, and disaster. In this episode we get…
Episode 11: Suspended on a Golden Chain [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 32:16
Hagia Sophia has had many lives over the centuries: from church, to mosque, to secular museum, it’s always taken center stage in its city, whether…
Episode 10: A Sketch of Native American History [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 31:32
This episode gets a bit obscure and focuses on a single woodcut from David Cusick’s 1828 book Sketches of Ancient History of the Six Nations, the…