Dasal, curator of modern and contemporary art at the North Carolina Museum of Art and creator and host of the independent ArtCurious podcast (www.artcurious.com), curates a collection of stories that would enliven any art appreciation syllabus. In a dozen carefully compiled chapters, each either unexpected, slightly odd, or strangely wonderful, she presents the most arcane information in a lively, accessible, and engaging way. She asks, “Was British Painter Walter Sickert Really Jack the Ripper?" She traces “The Odyssey of an Oddity, or the Many Adventures of Salvator Mundi” and marvels in “Séances and Surprises: The Spiritualist Women Who Invented Modern Art.” But wait, there’s more! Each chapter also includes a handful of sidebars in the form of mini-essays related to the topic under discussion. This delightful compendium ends with a bibliography and list of recommended reading. As Dasal observes, “art isn’t (always) boring. Sometimes it’s exactly what we need to make our lives more colorful.” This volume will certainly do that for casual museum-goers, art aficionados, and the just plain curious.
ArtCurious: Stories of the Unexpected, Slightly Odd, and Strangely Wonderful Art History by Jennifer Dasal will be published on September 15, 2020 by Penguin Books in North America.
Jennifer Dasal is the curator of modern and contemporary art at the North Carolina Museum of Art in Raleigh, North Carolina, and the host of the independent podcast ArtCurious, which she started in 2016 and which was named one of the best podcasts by O, The Oprah Magazine and PC Magazine. She holds an MA in art history from the University of Notre Dame and a BA in art history from the University of California, Davis. She has also completed PhD coursework in art history at Pennsylvania State University. She lectures frequently on art both locally and nationally.