Is It Art Tho?

Episode 6 - Dada

We’re back dear listeners and this time we’ve decided to go all Modernist on you with an episode dedicated to the Dada art movement!
Join us on this weird and wonderful Dadaist trip through inter-war Europe and New York as we explore avant-garde art, sound poetry, performance, photomontage, and the mystery of the world’s most famous urinal.
Artworks:
Karawane – Hugo Ball
https://www.wisemusicclassical.com/news/3001/Salonen-premiere-of-Karawane-to-launch-Creative-Chair-position-at-Tonhalle-Zurich/
Voices of dada
https://open.spotify.com/album/3LuikTBq28HdPlK2DVuUCb?si=JRffH5zFTGKWjHR2hydW8w
Dada manifesto – Hugo Ball
https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Dada_Manifesto_(1916,_Hugo_Ball)
First International Dada Fair, Berlin 1920
http://www.cocosse-journal.org/2014/06/the-first-international-dada-fair.html
Cut with the Dada Kitchen Knife through the Last Weimar Beer-Belly Cultural Epoch in Germany – Hannah Hoch
https://www.artsy.net/artwork/hannah-hoch-cut-with-the-dada-kitchen-knife-through-the-last-weimar-beer-belly-cultural-epoch-in-germany
Staatshäupter - Hannah Hoch
http://cdn.artobserved.com/2014/03/Hannah-H%C3%B6ch_Whitechapel-Gallery_Staatsh%C3%A4upter-Heads-of-State-1930.jpg
Indian Dancer – Hannah Hoch
https://www.moma.org/collection/works/37360
Untitled (From an Ethnographic Museum), 1929 – Hannah Hoch
https://www.anothermag.com/art-photography/gallery/8183/dada-africa-dialogue-with-the-other/2
Fountain – Marcel Duchamp (Maybe)
https://www.artsy.net/article/artsy-editorial-duchamps-urinal-changed-art-forever
Bicycle Wheel – Marcel Duchamp
https://www.moma.org/collection/works/81631
Further reading:
https://www.britannica.com/event/World-War-I
https://www.dw.com/en/africa-and-world-war-i/a-17573462#:~:text=A%20million%20people%20died%20in%20East%20Africa%20alone%20during%20World%20War%20I.&text=Some%2010%2C000%20South%20African%20soldiers,Africa%20which%20honors%20their%20sacrifice.
https://www.tate.org.uk/art/art-terms/d/dada#:~:text=Dada%20was%20an%20art%20movement,satirical%20and%20nonsensical%20in%20nature
https://www.minniemuse.com/articles/musings/the-cabaret-volatire
https://www.theartstory.org/movement/dada/
https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2014/jan/09/hannah-hoch-art-punk-whitechapel
https://www.anothermag.com/art-photography/8931/hannah-hoch-reimagines-indigenous-african-artefacts
Further listening:
https://open.spotify.com/episode/6AUeo6HFPySTJWCjz2cvDX?si=k3KgycUNSCSegmPQl8otKg
https://open.spotify.com/episode/2LFk1IeayMcApEkVhuQfEG?si=sIrCG2QXRea_RoeiyVptaQ
Further viewing:
Documentary - Dada: The original art rebels (2016) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ed1NfFMkYmE
Documentary - Dada and Surrealism: Europe After the Rain (1978) -https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sdBaS8fgwNs
Marie Osmond reciting Karawane for Ripley's Believe It Or Not - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E87lHNl6HnE 

Episode 5 - Old Man Baby Jesus (aka The Homunculus 101) CHRISTMAS ART SPECIAL

Happy Festive Season listeners! We've just squeaked in a Christmas-themed episode for you to enjoy before the New Year. This time, we wanted answers to a question that has bothered the IIAT household for some time: what's the deal with Old Man Baby Jesus in early art? 
We discover why people couldn't get enough of balding / jacked / eye bags / combover portrayals of the little baby Jesus, via Netflix Christmas specials, some Medieval alchemy, and some strange ideas about animals. 
Artworks:
Jacopo Bellini - Madonna and Child with Angels (1440s)https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Jacopo_Bellini_-_The_Madonna_and_Child_with_angels,_6282010.jpg https://www.meisterdrucke.uk/fine-art-prints/Jacopo-Bellini/712673/Madonna-and-Child,-15th-century,-1926.html
Barnaba de Modena - Madonna Breastfeeding Child (active 1361-1383)https://www.agefotostock.com/age/en/details-photo/madonna-breastfeeding-child-by-barnaba-da-modena-active-1361-1383-pisa-museo-nazionale-di-san-matteo-art-museum/DAE-11175251
Unattributed - Madonna and Child, Madonna delle Vergini or Icon from Bitonto (1304)https://www.gettyimages.co.uk/detail/news-photo/italy-puglia-bari-pinacoteca-provinciale-corrado-giaquinto-news-photo/187388764
Nicola di Maestro Antonio - Mother and Child Enthroned (c 1490)https://collections.artsmia.org/art/2225/madonna-and-child-enthroned-nicola-di-maestro-antonio
Pacino di Bonaguida - Details from Tree of Life (1310)https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Pacino-di-bonaguida-florence-1310-1315.jpgDetail: https://www.akg-images.com/archive/The-tree-of-life-2UMEBMYDJL5QZ.html 
Jean Mancel - Illustration from Vie de Nostre Seigneur Jésus Christ (15th C)https://www.pinterest.com/pin/525091637798032930/
Unattributed - The Annunciation, The Holy Monastery of Saint Catherine, Sinai, Egypt (Late 12th C)https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Icon_of_the_Annunciation,_St._Catherine%27s_Monastery Further reading:
https://thedecodinghistory.wordpress.com/2020/11/06/story-behind-why-babies-in-medieval-art-look-like-creepy-adults/
https://blog.artsper.com/en/a-closer-look/history-of-art-ugliest-paintings-of-jesus/
https://www.mentalfloss.com/article/66691/why-do-babies-medieval-paintings-look-so-old-and-scary
https://www.thecollector.com/baby-jesus-in-medieval-religious-iconography/
https://wtfarthistory.com/post/7886097565/homunculus-n-a-little-human
https://artandtheology.org/tag/homunculus/
 

Episode 4 - Crazy for Witches HALLOWEEN SPECIAL

It is the season of the WITCH, baby!!! This time we have a Halloween special for you. From Lilith the OG, via Circe, Hekate and Europe’s early modern Witch Craze, we are giving you a whistle-stop tour of all things witchy and woo woo. Along the way we discuss crow armies, personal taxidermists, and whether Albrecht Dürer was a fan of the Curly Girl Method. 
The list of artworks we discuss in order are:
The Burney Relief, Old Babylonian 19th-18thC BC: https://www.britishmuseum.org/collection/object/W_2003-0718-1
Story of Circe on an Ancient Greek pot, c. 440 BC: https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/253627
John Collier, Lilith, 1889: https://artuk.org/discover/artworks/lilith-65854
Albrecht Dürer
The Witch, c. 1500: https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/391139
Four Witches, 1497: https://www.britishmuseum.org/collection/object/P_E-2-119
Self Portrait, 1500: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Self-Portrait_(D%C3%BCrer,_Munich)  
Hans Baldung Grien
The Witches, 1510: https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/416796
Bewitched Groom, 1544/45: https://www.royalacademy.org.uk/art-artists/work-of-art/bewitched-groom
Woodcuts 
A Rehearsall both Straung and True, of Hainous and Horrible Actes Committed by Elizabeth Stile,1579: https://www.bl.uk/collection-items/witchcraft-pamphlet-a-rehearsal-both-strange-and-true-1579
Title page of Matthew Hopkins’ “A Discovery of Witches”, 1647: http://www.bl.uk/learning/timeline/large107868.html
The History of Witches and Wizards in England, 1720: https://wellcomecollection.org/images?query=abkab8tq
Daniel Gardner, The Three Witches from Macbeth, 1775: https://www.npg.org.uk/collections/search/portrait/mw144816/The-Three-Witches-from-Macbeth-Elizabeth-Lamb-Viscountess-Melbourne-Georgiana-Duchess-of-Devonshire-Anne-Seymour-Damer
Henry Fuseli
Macbeth, Banquo and the Witches, 1793-4: https://artuk.org/discover/artworks/macbeth-banquo-and-the-witches-219771
The Weird Sisters, c. 1783: https://artuk.org/discover/artworks/macbeth-act-i-scene-3-the-weird-sisters-54899
Francisco Goya
Witches’ Flight, c. 1798: https://www.museodelprado.es/en/the-collection/art-work/witches-flight/5e44d19d-7cda-472b-b6d8-8868c599d252 
Witches’ Sabbath, 1797-8: https://artsandculture.google.com/asset/el-aquelarre/kAFyfuppyHHyBw?hl=en-GB 
Truth, Time and History, 1812: https://fundaciongoyaenaragon.es/eng/obra/la-verdad-el-tiempo-y-la-historia/165 
Witches’ Sabbath, or The Great He-Goat, 1820-3: https://www.museodelprado.es/en/the-collection/art-work/witches-sabbath-or-the-great-he-goat/09559184-cfeb-48fe-8acc-89b070b64d92
JW Waterhouse, The Magic Circle, 1886: https://www.tate.org.uk/art/artworks/waterhouse-the-magic-circle-n01572 
Dante Gabriel Rossetti, Lady Lilith, 1866-8: https://emuseum.delart.org/objects/6457/lady-lilith?ctx=7daa5724c2dab253a5696066e15664624303a27d&idx=5 
You can follow us on Instagram (@isit_arttho), Facebook (@isitarttho) or Twitter (@isitarttho1) to see the artworks we discuss. 
We also did a lot of research for this episode which we weren’t able to fit in, so if you want to get your witch on, check out these articles and other podcast episodes below: 
Lilith
https://www.learnreligions.com/legend-of-lilith-origins-2076660 
https://www.biblicalarchaeology.org/daily/people-cultures-in-the-bible/people-in-the-bible/lilith/ 
Medieval witches
https://theconversation.com/the-evolution-of-the-medieval-witch-and-why-shes-usually-a-woman-104861 
Gone Medieval, Royal Witches:  https://podfollow.com/gone-medieval/episode/bacf891c71399cabaaec98a5a4f0552e7a85aef9/view 
https://www.grunge.com/417990/royalty-who-dabbled-in-witchcraft/ 
https://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/women-making-beer 
The Witch Craze
You’re Dead To Me (BBC), The Witch Craze: https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/p07nx05j 
https://publicdomainreview.org/essay/woodcuts-and-witches#1-1
https://historycollection.com/12-shocking-beliefs-from-the-malleus-maleficarum-the-witchfinders-guidebook/12/
https://www.bloomsburycollections.com/book/abject-eroticism-in-northern-renaissance-art-the-witches-and-femmes-fatales-of-hans-baldung-grien/foreword [There’s a free sample you can read]
Goya: https://stevengambardella.medium.com/the-horror-is-real-51ba933efb5b 
JW Waterhouse and Circe: https://www.dailyartmagazine.com/waterhouse-circe/ 
General witchiness:
Art History Babes, Witches Bitches: https://podfollow.com/1123488172/episode/9d1cc1fc0f192c2ad5721e7563390c8b1b0e61f5/view 
Art Matters, The Art History of Witches: https://artuk.org/discover/stories/art-matters-podcast-the-art-history-of-witches

Episode 3 - Hieronymus Bosch, WTF??!

Sorry listeners, we’ve left a long gap since our last two episodes… but we’re making up for it with a truly bonkers painting. Oh, you’re in for a treat this time, because we are talking about Hieronymus Bosch’s wackiest of paintings, The Garden of Earthly Delights. It was Augustina’s turn to research this one and she ended up tearing her hair out trying to figure out what was going on. Turns out, most art historians feel the same way. The only thing we definitely know about Bosch is that his art is cray cray. 
This episode we’re also treating you to not one, but two Bosch-themed musical interludes. Thank you to composer Jim Spalink for allowing us to play his arrangement of The Butt Music From Hell and to brilliant comedian Harriet Braine (@harrietbraine) for her song based on the painting.
We’ll share the painting in all the usual places but for a really in-depth look, try this interactive tour that lets you zoom right in:
https://archief.ntr.nl/tuinderlusten/en.html
It’s a really dense and interesting piece of work so if you want some further reading / watching, we recommend:
Great Art Explained: The Garden of Earthly Delights https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vBG621XEegk
Renaissance Revolution - The Garden of Earthly Delights (BBC) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yx5M2um7zjM
15 Facts You Need to Know About the Delightfully Weird ‘Garden of Earthly Delights’ https://mymodernmet.com/garden-of-earthly-delights-bosch/
… And some freaky looking owls https://blogs.bl.uk/digitisedmanuscripts/2012/10/bad-news-birds.html  
 

Episode 2 - Frida Kahlo

This episode we cover the life, art and unbelievable drama of the one and only Frida Kahlo. Get ready for sex, gore, love, betrayal, jail, revolutionary communism and for some reason... a monkey. We also meet Ellie's cat Frida, the third podcast member and - probably - Kahlo's feline horcrux. 
To view all the paintings in this episode, visit our Instagram (@isit_arttho) or our Facebook page (@isitarttho). Please subscribe and leave us a review if you like what you hear :)

Episode 1 - The Pre-Raphaelites

Welcome to the podcast! We're here to look at great art and spill some historical tea along the way. In our first episode, we’re covering the Pre-Raphaelites and OMG THE GOSS. We're talking elopements, anti-establishment painting, pervy art critics, mega f**kboi Rossetti and why we stan Lizzie Siddall.
To view all the paintings in this episode, visit our Instagram (@isit_arttho) or our Facebook page (@isitarttho). Please subscribe and leave us a review if you like what you hear :)