Art and Real-life

Stone-Ferrier studied paintings depicting 17^th-century Dutch neighborhoods and her findings highlight the cultural information that art can convey.  A press release related to Stone-Ferrier’s work reports that “The importance of knowing what’s going on in your neighborhood and upholding its honor is at least as old as comparable societal expectations in 17^th-century Netherlands, according to a new book by a University of Kansas art historian. Numerous Dutch paintings of an array of subjects — scenes of streets, domesticity, professions and festivity — conveyed and reinforced those values to contemporary viewers. That is Linda Stone-Ferrier’s conclusion after analyzing a range of 17^th-century Dutch Golden Age paintings in a new context: that of the neighborhood. . . . And it’s clear, from an analysis of that art and an array of documents, that what was going on down the street and around the corner was important to Dutch people of that time – just as it is to people in neighborhoods around the world today.”

“Neighborhood Provides New Understanding of 17^th– Century Dutch Art.”  2022.  Press release, University of Kansas, http://news.ku.edu/2022/09/08/neighborhood-provides-new-understanding-17…