Art
May 10, 2026 — John Hinderaker
I haven’t written anything for a couple of days, which as regular readers know is highly unusual. My wife and I have been in New York for a few days, mostly offline. The occasion was a symposium on antisemitism on the right, which I participated in yesterday. The event was off the record, but I can say that one of the speakers (along with me and two others) was Princeton’s
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March 10, 2026 — Scott Johnson
The New York Post covers the story of Mayor Mamdani playing host to Hamas fan Mahmoud Khalil and his family at Gracie Mansion for Ramadan. Mamdani released the photo below including his supposedly private-figure Hamasnik wife. Posting a celebratory photo of an anti-Israel college protester who should be deported next to your “non public figure” wife, who cheered the rape and murder of Jews on 10/7, the day after two
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July 31, 2025 — Scott Johnson
In college I wrote for the daily college student newspaper — The Dartmouth — from early in my freshman year through my senior year. I interviewed visiting lecturers, reviewed movies and books, and covered arts-related events, usually working late in the paper’s office on a beat-up typewriter to scratch out copy to a midnight deadline. Copy would be taken to the paper’s printing plant in a nearby town that must
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March 22, 2024 — Scott Johnson
The Pulitzer Prize-winning cartoonist Michael Ramirez posts his daily cartoons on Substack at the Michael Ramirez Newsletter. He is a conservative whose genius cannot be denied. Thus the Pulitzer. Readers can subscribe here. Michael has also been writing weekly essays for his newsletter that I have posted in our Picks as each one was made freely accessible. Today Michael has posted an 18-minute video essay that is keyed to his
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March 15, 2024 — John Hinderaker
Cambridge University’s Fitzwilliam Museum has an excellent collection that includes, among others, paintings by John Constable, one of my favorite artists. Like this one: A lovely image of the British countryside, right? Not according to the museum. It now comes with a warning: The Fitzwilliam Museum has suggested that paintings of the British countryside evoke dark “nationalist feelings”. You might think England is a pretty country–I do–but how is that
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February 28, 2024 — John Hinderaker
The Venice Biennale is one of the world’s biggest art shows. The show has a national focus: Held since 1895 and considered the world’s top art event, the Venice Biennale, which starts in April, gives nations the chance to show off their best artists at national pavilions. That is the hook for pro-mass muder artists to try to boot Israel out: A petition to kick Israel out of the Venice
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August 18, 2023 — John Hinderaker
The Walker Art Center is a modern art museum in Minneapolis. Alpha News reports that the Walker has just hosted a family-friendly demon summoning event: The Walker Art Center held a pagan ritual geared toward families last weekend, with a performance called “Lilit the Empathic Demon.” “Demons have a bad reputation, but maybe we’re just not very good at getting to know them,” an event description reads. The event, which
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April 19, 2023 — Scott Johnson
As the Babylon Bee frequently proves, reality is catching up with satire. In November 2019 South Park anticipated the case of JayCee Cooper v. USA Powerlifting. Ramsey County District Judge Patrick Diamond has required USA Powerlifting to recognize Cooper’s self-identification as a woman so that Cooper can compete with the ladies who are weaker than he is. Judge Diamond has found USA Powerlifting liable under the Minnesota Human Rights Act
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March 11, 2023 — John Hinderaker
The news is doing nothing for me today, so here is something I have done once or twice before. The following are 14 propositions that I believe to be true. Or at least, I think I do. Each is intended to be fodder for disagreement. Feel free to say “Amen, brother” or “You can’t be serious” in the comments. If this gets a good reception, maybe next time I will
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February 12, 2023 — John Hinderaker
I’m going to be in New York for a few days next week. Normally I would spend an afternoon at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, whose vast collection requires many visits. This time, perhaps not: check out Heather Mac Donald’s brilliant City Journal essay on the Met’s current exhibit, Fictions of Emancipation. The exhibit purports to show, among other things, that Western art that until now has been understood as
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December 11, 2022 — Scott Johnson
The New York Post has developed something of a niche in covering Hunter Biden and the Biden family business. I wonder if the Post will be a target in the offensive maneuvers Biden plans to undertake with a little help from his friends. Hunter is of course not only a piece of work, he is a creator of pieces of work. Most recently, the Post reports that Hunter has unveiled
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May 2, 2022 — John Hinderaker
The Metropolitan Museum’s annual Gala, superintended by Vogue’s Anna Wintour, is taking place tonight. The event’s theme is “Gilded Glamour,” and as usual celebrities major and minor are being photographed on the red carpet in more or less ridiculous outfits. The Gala is being widely abused in conservative media as out of touch, in view of the fact that Americans are suffering due to Bidenflation and other liberal maladies. It
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November 28, 2021 — Scott Johnson
I probably learned from reading William F. Buckley as a teenager that a farrago is a confused mixture. I learn from reading New Criterion managing editor James Panero’s Spectator column “Hunter Biden: portrait of the scam artist” that New York Times critic at large Jason Farago gave Biden’s first solo exhibition the full review treatment. The exhibition is entitled The Journey Home: A Hunter Biden Solo Exhibition. Farago reviewed it.
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November 1, 2021 — John Hinderaker
William Hogarth, the 18th-Century British painter and printmaker, was a critic of the milieu in which he lived. In particular, his paintings and etchings satirized the privileged classes of his time. So you might expect him to be popular with contemporary liberals. But only if you didn’t understand contemporary liberals. Hogarth is now being canceled: [A] new exhibition at Tate Britain has suggested that [Hogarth’s] pictures are no laughing matter,
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December 1, 2019 — Paul Mirengoff
A few years ago, as I understand it, a group of feminists took over the Manchester Art Gallery. As part of their takeover, they placed new explanatory plaques in some of the exhibition rooms. The plaques, which are still there, riff on the existing ones, but provide a snarky radical feminist spin. Here is an example: In the wake of the Industrial Revolution in Britain, male merchant manufacturers increasingly bought
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November 3, 2019 — Scott Johnson
We went to the current arthouse smash Parasite last week. It is a South Korean film written and directed by Bong Joon Ho. It won the top prize in Cannes earlier this year. The New York Times has raved about Ho and the film in five reviews and articles or features accessible here. Unlike the Times crew, I don’t recommend the film for its insight or uplift. I don’t recommend
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June 1, 2019 — John Hinderaker
I follow a number of museums on Instagram, including Boston’s Museum of Fine Arts. That is how I learned about an incident involving the Helen Y. Davis Leadership Academy. MFA posted this on its account: Throughout the past week, the MFA has implemented some immediate action steps in response to the recent incidents involving students from the Helen Y. Davis Leadership Academy. We are actively examining our visitor services protocols,
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