The Old Ball Game… with Women?

To paraphrase Tennyson, in the spring, a young (or old) man’s fancy lightly turns to thoughts of baseball. It’s “love” in the original, or course. When I saw a notice for the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s current exhibition "A Sport for Every Girl": Women and Sports in the Collection of Jefferson R. Burdick, it felt like you could have both. Using trading cards from the late 19^th and early 20^th century, “A Sport for Every Girl” illustrates how women in sports were seen, or, more accurately, gawked upon, in those early days of American sports. It’s a fascinating glimpse backwards at what seem like grossly backwards times in terms of women’s rights and how sports in America reflected society itself. Please come over to Picture This at Big Think to read more of "The Old Ball Game… with Women?"

[Image: “Black Stocking Nine,” from the advertising card series Cabinet Photos, Allen & Ginter (H807, Type 1), issued by Allen & Ginter (American, Richmond, Virginia), 1884-1885. Albumen print, cabinet card. Dimensions: Sheet: 6 1/2 x 4 3/16 in. (16.5 x 10.6 cm). The Jefferson R. Burdick Collection, Gift of Jefferson R. Burdick.]  
[Many thanks to the Metropolitan Museum of Art for the image above and other press materials related to "A Sport for Every Girl": Women and Sports in the Collection of Jefferson R. Burdick, which runs through July 7, 2013.]

What Makes Art Critics Change Their Minds?

Nothing hurts like a blown call. Baseball’s bittersweet beauty owes much to moments such as Umpire Jim Joyce’s missing a call to rob Detroit Tigers’ pitcher Armando Galarraga of a perfect game, that rarest of baseball feats, in 2010. In baseball, calls are irreversible. In the world of art criticism, however, a blown call can be reversed, sometimes years and years later. In the February 2013 issue of Art News, Ann Landi chronicles cases of art critics changing their minds. Split Decisions: When Critics Change Their Minds gently, but firmly pulls away the curtain of infallibility from the world of art critics, whether they like it or not. But more important than documenting these moments of minds changed is raising the question of what makes art critics change their minds. Please come over to Picture This at Big Think to read more of "What Makes Art Critics Change Their Minds?"

[Image: Cy Twombly. Fifty Days at Iliam. Shield of Achilles, 1978. Oil, oil crayon, and graphite on canvas.]