The Religious Experience of Mark Rothko
by Emily D. Crews, Executive Director, Marty Center
last edited on Mon. February 12 2024
Can art and the experience of art be divine? Mark Rothko’s No. 2 offers alternative ways to think about religion. A Smart Sightings reflection offered in collaboration with the Divinity School’s Martin Marty Center.
Caught Between Text and Image
by Erin Galgay Walsh, Assistant Professor at the University of Chicago Divinity School
last edited on Fri. February 2 2024
The juxtaposition of paintings by Il Pordenone and Noël Hallé reflects the conceit of the exhibition: the value and dangers of comparison. A Smart Sightings reflection offered in collaboration with the Divinity School’s Martin Marty Center.
Echoes and Cracks in Modernity
by Tatiana Jackson-Saitz
last edited on Thu. January 25 2024
Fourth-year undergraduate Tatiana Jackson-Saitz contextualizes Eve Sussman and the Rufus Corporation’s Tempelhof Tks 5 & 7 with its site, analyzing what the airport means for the film.
How to Fake a Josef Albers
by Sarah Thau
last edited on Tue. January 23 2024
Second-year undergraduate Sarah Thau investigates the materials, techniques, and provenance of Josef Albers’s Homage to the Square.
Unfurling Color
by Kristine A. Culp, Associate Professor of Theology at the University of Chicago Divinity School and Dean of the Disciples Divinity House
last edited on Thu. December 28 2023
In an often bloody and fiery world, we must ask how beauty and devastation are construed, how color and valuation are apprehended, and how these considerations will inform us. A Smart Sightings reflection on Sam Gilliam’s Rim, offered in collaboration with the Divinity School’s Martin Marty Center.
In Defense of “The Crucifixion”
by Walker Byrd
last edited on Thu. December 14 2023
Fourth-year undergraduate Walker Byrd reflects on a noteworthy object with a disputed and fragmented history.
Mary Magdalene’s Invitation to Redemption
by Karin Krause, Associate Professor of Byzantine Art and Religious Culture in the Divinity School
last edited on Sun. December 10 2023
This depiction of the Crucifixion is special in that its iconography focuses on St. Mary Magdalene, presenting her as a role model for the Christ-loving, repentant sinner seeking forgiveness—and finding it. A Smart Sightings reflection offered in collaboration with the Divinity School’s Martin Marty Center.
Embodying Religion in Rodin’s The Cathedral
by Lauren Pond
last edited on Tue. November 21 2023
In the first Smart Sightings reflection offered in collaboration with the Marty Center, Lauren Pond writes about the ways in which August Rodin’s sculpture speaks to ideas of embodied religion.
Keeping Upright
by Avery Echols
last edited on Tue. October 31 2023
An ekphrastic poem inspired by Whitfield Lovell’s Missoura, by gallery attendant and third-year undergraduate Avery Echols.
2023 Alum Sticker Commission
by Kathia Rodriguez, AB 2019
last edited on Wed. September 27 2023
Kathia Rodriguez reflects upon art as an experience, as a journey, and as a source of wonder, and shares a sticker design inspired by her UChicago student experience at the Smart Museum. The limited edition sticker will be available at the 2023 Student Activities and Resource Fair.