FAQ

What is an art movement

What Is an Art Movement? How Styles Actually Form

Gavin Coates

What is an art movement really? A structural explanation of how movements form, why styles follow practice, and the institutional role behind art history.

What Is an Art Movement? How Styles Actually Form

Gavin Coates

What is an art movement really? A structural explanation of how movements form, why styles follow practice, and the institutional role behind art history.

Fine art vs decorative art

Fine Art vs Decorative Art: A Critical Distinction

Gavin Coates

Fine art vs decorative art explained: a structural distinction based on function, intention, and context, not taste, beauty, or elitism.

Fine Art vs Decorative Art: A Critical Distinction

Gavin Coates

Fine art vs decorative art explained: a structural distinction based on function, intention, and context, not taste, beauty, or elitism.

Why documentation is important in art history

How Documentation Determines Artistic Legacy

Gavin Coates

Artistic legacy isn’t inevitable. Why documentation, not talent alone, determines what survives, is studied, and enters art history.

How Documentation Determines Artistic Legacy

Gavin Coates

Artistic legacy isn’t inevitable. Why documentation, not talent alone, determines what survives, is studied, and enters art history.

Anthony van Dyck (1635-1636) Triple Portrait of Charles I

Portrait Paintings – A Showcase of 20 Masterpieces

Gavin Coates

Portrait painting explained: what defines true portraiture, why it still matters, and how great portraits resolve identity, power, and structure across history.

Portrait Paintings – A Showcase of 20 Masterpieces

Gavin Coates

Portrait painting explained: what defines true portraiture, why it still matters, and how great portraits resolve identity, power, and structure across history.

Is art history accurate or mythologized

The Difference Between Art History and Art Myth...

Gavin Coates

How art mythology simplifies history, and why institutions, repetition, and omission turn complex processes into familiar legends.

The Difference Between Art History and Art Myth...

Gavin Coates

How art mythology simplifies history, and why institutions, repetition, and omission turn complex processes into familiar legends.

do you need to go to college to be an artist

Do MFA Degrees Matter? (A Logical Answer, Not a...

Gavin Coates

Do MFA degrees matter? A structural analysis of what MFAs do—and do not—provide, and what actually gives artists historical and institutional legitimacy.

Do MFA Degrees Matter? (A Logical Answer, Not a...

Gavin Coates

Do MFA degrees matter? A structural analysis of what MFAs do—and do not—provide, and what actually gives artists historical and institutional legitimacy.