Featured Essay

On Imitation
It is difficult to add anything substantial to Quatremère de Quincy’s Essai sur la nature, le but et les moyens de l’imitation dans les beaux-arts (1823)1 and Dictionnaire Historique de l’Architecture (1823–33),2 for Quatremère excels in precision and comprehensiveness as well as in depth. His genius proves to be universal. Let me... More »
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Architects and artists see the world as image and build the world as image. As makers of images, they know that seeing and imagining are intimately related. Although seeing concerns objects that are external to the... More »
Geography and Loss
At the end of the natural history and anthropological displays of the NY State Museum in Albany, a long, narrow, dark grey gallery offers a gem of an exhibition. With sharp, bright colored images interspersed with maps... More »
Building Friendships
Unlike an unimaginative, soul-numbing work of art—a Damien Hirst pickled animal or a Koons kitschy puppy—we can’t completely ignore a piece of architecture simply because of its sheer scale. When a building enters the... More »