History Archives — Colossal

a square-format portrait in oil of three football players in blue uniforms that read "Lincoln," standing on a football field and looking directly at the viewer

In ‘Flying High,’ Tyler D. Ballon’s Portraits Parallel Sports, History, Identity, and Patriotism

February 21, 2025

a painting by Wayne Thiebauld of a meal spread with dishes of fish, ham, chicken, appetizers, and desserts in pastel oil paint

Wayne Thiebaud’s Passion for Art History Shines in ‘Art Comes from Art’

February 20, 2025

a detail image of a colorful mural divided into eight parts depicting women in various professions

A New Documentary Traces How a Faith Ringgold Mural at Rikers Island Helped Women Break Free

February 13, 2025

a still from the short documentary film 'I Am the Nature' featuring an Indigenous Achuar woman with traditional face paint and textile headband, with the subtitle text reading "We are in the place that we have to be"

Deep in the Amazon Rainforest, ‘I Am the Nature’ Celebrates Indigenous Cultural Philosophy

February 12, 2025

an extravagantly decorated house in New York, home to Prophet Isaiah Robertson, who turned the entire structure into an artwork in myriad colors with large pinwheel-like sculptures and paintings

Visit Dozens of Incredible Artist-Built Environments, Homes, and Studios Around the U.S.

February 6, 2025

Green-tinted woven wood covers the corners and leads to the middle where a woman in an orange cloak made from various wooden objects such as a wagon wheel holds a candle and looks to her right at a man entering into the room from a door. The man is wearing a blue cloak and is also comprised of wooden objects. In his right hand, he holds a white flower. Behind them, a clock hangs on the wall, and in the left corner, a blackbird perches on a chair.

From Remedios Varo to Laurie Simmons, a New Exhibition Forwards a Feminist View of the Uncanny

February 4, 2025

a bead-and sequin-embellished fabric artwork of a lively scene of numerous people dancing and gathering around a fire in a "Caiman Wood Ceremony"

Embellished Vodou Flags by Myrlande Constant Spotlight ‘The Spiritual World of Haiti’

January 28, 2025

an embossed page of crustacean shapes from a collection of pictures for the blind (tactile graphics), created by M. Kunz, Director of the Illzach School near Mulhouse, France

Turn-of-the-Century Tactile Graphics Illustrate Nature for People Who Are Blind

January 23, 2025

an excerpt in cursive handwriting of an application for a Revolutionary War soldier named Charles Hart

Practice Your Cursive as a Citizen Archivist and Preserve Thousands of Historic Documents

January 21, 2025

a collection of images (posters, illustrations, prints) in a grid

A New Searchable Public Domain Archive Collects 10,000+ Images Free for Use

January 15, 2025

the interior of a kiln tomb in Saqqara of a doctor named Tetinebefou, with brightly colored walls and relief carvings in stone

In Saqqara, Archaeologists Uncover the Sumptuous 4,100-Year-Old Tomb of a Royal Physician

January 15, 2025

a still from an animated short of two canvas sneakers with flowers blossoming out of them, set against a black background

Empty Sneakers Dance in a Stop-Motion Film Honoring the 20th Anniversary of a Buenos Aires Tragedy

January 14, 2025

an installation view of abstract crocheted wire sculptures by Ruth Asawa

‘Doing Is Living’ Highlights Five Decades of Ruth Asawa’s Biomorphic Wire Sculptures

January 7, 2025

a surreal oil painting of a woman in a pink dress, standing in a gray room holding a string, connected to an owl, with a painting in the background of a castle tower in a landscape

Gertrude Abercrombie’s Autobiographical Surrealism Traverses Dreams and Reality

January 6, 2025

the interior of Ron Gittins' apartment in Birkenhead, England, featuring a very ornate, hand-sculpted fireplace of a bull's head with murals all around on the walls

Near Liverpool, a One-of-a-Kind Art Environment by Ron Gittins Is Saved

January 3, 2025

a quilted figurative portrait of a group of Black women lounging in the sun on a sandy riverbank

In Paintings and Quilts, Stephen Towns Spotlights Black Leisure in the Jim Crow South

January 2, 2025