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News, stories, features, videos and podcasts by The Huntington.

Beyond All Earthly Power

Tue., Aug. 30, 2022 | Olga Tsapina, Ph.D.

In the predawn hours of May 24, 1861, the 11th Regiment of New York Infantry disembarked from steamers in Alexandria, Virginia. The men, commanded by Col. Elmer E. Ellsworth (1837–1861), who was only 24 years old, met no resistance.

Verso

A Gasteria by Any Other Name

Tue., Aug. 16, 2022 | Sandy Masuo

Gasteria species were included in the genus Aloe until 1809, when French physician and botanist Henri August Duval proposed they be moved into the new genus Gasteria, named for the slightly bulbous, stomach-like shape of the flowers.

Verso

The Allure of Aroids

Tue., July 26, 2022 | Sandy Masuo

When you step into The Rose Hills Foundation Conservatory for Botanical Science at The Huntington, you are instantly transported to another world. Consistently warm and humid conditions create a pocket of the tropics that houses a grand display of plant adaptations.

Verso

Family Archive Related to Jane Austen

Tue., July 19, 2022 | Vanessa Wilkie, Ph.D.

In 1736, just four days before Christmas, 5-year-old Mary “Molly” Leigh wrote a formal letter to her father, Theophilus Leigh, Master of Balliol College, Oxford. The first page of the letter is ruled with straight lines to serve as guides for the novice hand, but the second page lacks them. Molly’s carefully shaped letters gently brush the lines in some places and float just above them in others, giving a subtle movement to her focused penmanship.

Videos and Recorded Programs

The Medium Is the Message: Drawing in Britain, 1750-1950

Wed., July 13, 2022

Ann Bermingham, professor emeritus at UC Santa Barbara, uncovers the methods used to create British drawings between the 17th and 19th centuries.

As a process of visual thinking, drawing is an art of discovery. This is true both for the artist who uses drawing to create an image and for the viewer who can see in the drawing that process of creation. For both, discovery depends on the technical manipulation of media. In drawing, the medium is the message, whether pencil, watercolor, ink, or charcoal. This talk looks at the materials and techniques of drawing and their role in the creative process.

This is the Wark Lecture in Art History.

Frontiers

Excursions of Imagination

Tue., July 12, 2022 | Ann Bermingham

Stretching from the 17th to the 20th century, the range of drawings and watercolors in Excursions of Imagination: 100 Great British Drawings from The Huntington’s Collection testifies not only to the richness of The Huntington’s acquisitions but also to the breadth of British graphic art.

News

News Release - The Huntington Acquires the Archive of Leading Early 20th-Century LA Architects John and Donald Parkinson

Tue., July 12, 2022

The extensive, little-known collection documents the development of LA’s City Hall, Union Station, Memorial Coliseum, and other landmarks.

Videos and Recorded Programs

A William Blake Hand Printed Drawing (1795)

Fri., July 8, 2022

There is a unique print found in our exhibition “100 Great British Drawings” that was almost not included. Not strictly a drawing, William Blake’s Hecate or The Night of Enitharmon’s Joy was made using a complex mix of printing techniques, drawing, and watercolor to create a hand-printed work on paper. Melinda McCurdy, our curator of British art, discusses why this is one of the most important pieces in our British drawings collection.