Art History

Art dealers - many now call themselves gallerists - rarely become legendary. A new biography of Leo Castelli by Annie Cohen-Solal reconstructs in loving detail the life and times of one who did. Castelli not only created an international market for American contemporary art, he became as integral to the art history of the last half of the last century as the artists he championed, especially Jasper Johns and Robert Rauschenberg. The publication of Leo and His Circle intersects with a Philadelphia event honoring a beloved and respected local dealer who, in her own way, was largely responsible for instigating a fertile and exciting period in the local art community.

John Walker McCoubrey, 86, an emeritus professor in the department of art history at the University of Pennsylvania, died of kidney failure Tuesday at his home in University City. Dr. McCoubrey was awarded a Lindback Foundation Award for Distinguished Teaching just four years after joining Penn's faculty in 1964. That same year he received a Guggenheim Fellowship to study in London. He had previously studied in Paris on a Fulbright Fellowship. He was also recipient of fellowships from the National Endowment for the Humanities.

Part of the fun of "Cezanne and Beyond" - the Philadelphia Museum of Art exhibition demonstrating how the 19th-century master Paul Cezanne directly inspired a century's worth of artists - is that a visitor can see art history happen. The links between the generations of artists and their work are so clear that you don't need an audio guide or wall text to get it. All you have to do is look from picture to picture to picture. If I were a child, this show might get me hooked on art for life.

Lee Rosenbaum is an art commentator and blogs as "CultureGrrl" for ArtsJournal.com If Anne d'Harnoncourt, who died last Sunday, had any enemies, I never heard of them. She had the rare ability to defuse political and cultural controversies with irresistible charm, intelligence and good humor. There were two reasons for her ability to remain largely above the fray. She had a sympathetic appreciation for the sincerity and legitimacy of different viewpoints. And she made her administrative decisions for all the right reasons: to serve the art-driven mission of the Philadelphia Museum of Art, the institution she had so ably directed since 1982; and to enhance the cultural life of the city she loved.

Bobbye James Burke, 79, of Center City, who worked to preserve Rittenhouse Square as a vibrant and vital neighborhood, died of complications from heart surgery Friday at Hahnemann University Hospital. In 1972, Mrs. Burke became the first woman elected president of the Center City Residents' Association, which was founded in 1947 to stop Rittenhouse Square from being dug up for an underground parking lot. As president, she lobbied for improving the transit system, developing open space, and enforcing the zoning code.

Phyllis Lyon Clemenko, 91, of Haverford, who guided groups through the treasured galleries of the Philadelphia Museum of Art for 34 years, died of heart failure April 1 at home. Mrs. Clemenko was a volunteer guide at the museum from 1969 to 2003, conducting diverse audiences including school groups and people with special needs. A volunteer's training includes 18 months of weekly sessions in art history, art appreciation, and the museum's collections; a yearlong internship; and attendance at continuing-education programs.

Whimsical, colorful papier-m?ch? sculptures crowd the tiny yellow kitchen in Romaine Samworth's Frazer home. However, Samworth has never seen her own pieces. She's blind. One of Samworth's artworks, Circus Hounds, recently won second prize for sculpture in Art Abilities, an exhibit now at the Bryn Mawr Rehab Hospital in Malvern for artists with disabilities. The work has been purchased for $450, the most she's ever been paid for her art. Terry Cippola, the hospital's director of special events and special gifts, calls Samworth's creations "phenomenal.

'Gross Clinic' is an organic part of Philadelphia Marie Maber's commentary piece, "Phila. can afford to relinquish 'The Gross Clinic' " (Dec. 1), raises important questions about the provenance of great art, the property rights of those who are the trustees of major art works, and the conflicting rights of the public to its cultural heritage. Her phrases, such as "relocation of major works of art" and the " 'Elgin Marbles' are under the care of the British Museum" sanitizes what is well known in art history: Many of the world's great museums are filled with the cultural artifacts from plundered and conquered nations.

"Why have there been no great women artists?" Linda Nochlin asked this explosive question in 1971 and changed the study of art history. Then and now, her seminal essay, published in Art News, posed a question that still provokes debate. Do the names Peeters, Neel, Frankenthaler and Lin - all accomplished women artists - trip off your tongue like Van Gogh, Picasso, Eakins and Calder? If challenged to name the top 10 best-known or contemporary artists, how often would you include a woman on the list?

Glass is all around us, so much a part of everyday life that it sometimes gets overlooked. The American Philosophical Society aims to change that this weekend with a free, five-stop, self-guided walking tour through Old City that will put the spotlight on the many facets of glass and its importance in the worlds of art, archaeology, science and history. "People can start out looking at historical Russian and American glass and end up watching glass being blown," said Mary Teeling, the society's curator of museum education, who organized the family-oriented event.