November 4, 2011
by tlarkin
Comments Off on Out of the Darkness: Caravaggio on His Own Terms
A few months ago one of my colleagues, a professor of Renaissance art, was clearing out his office in preparation for retirement, an exercise that required some persistence as he had accumulated piles of books, periodicals, posters, and slides over … Continue reading
September 19, 2011
by tlarkin
Comments Off on “Smart enough to play it their way”: Lady Lou as Quiescent Ariadne and Resistant Sabine
Repeating the practice of releasing films from Hollywood’s golden age only at the end of a technology’s life cycle, Universal Studios recently released Lowell Sherman’s She Done Him Wrong (Paramount, 1933) on DVD. The plot centers on Lady Lou (played … Continue reading
August 4, 2011
by tlarkin
Comments Off on The Sybaritic Existence of the Executive Salesman: Donald Draper Meets Louis XVI and Marie-Antoinette
A torrid drama about New York City’s advertising industry in the early 1960s, Matthew Weiner’s Mad Men (which refers to Madison Avenue and the all-male executive elite) is currently enjoying high ratings on cable television. The series’ popularity is due … Continue reading