The goal of Neglected Canvases is to acknowledge artists and artistic movements that I believe are under appreciated, relatively obscure, and/or largely forgotten. I appreciate art for art’s sake while also considering the historical context and legacy of each work and creator.
The idea behind this site first came to me in my senior year of high school. I had taken an art history class and loved it greatly. I learned a lot, and much of what I’d learned has since been applied in many ways I would’ve never expected. At the same time, however, there was a lot that I did not learn. At the end of the year, my art teacher was giving out copies of the textbook that he no longer used, Gardner’s Art Through the Ages. Interested, I took a copy and brought it home. I skimmed through it and saw many works I recognized and remembered learning about. I also noticed, however, many works I didn’t learn about.
Seeing the works that my teacher didn’t teach (which was decided by the AP curriculum) made me wonder why certain works were left out. To me, it was disappointing to see many great works be relegated to pages of a textbook that most students wouldn’t even glance at. Such works of art were just as interesting and beautiful as the ones I learned about; it felt wrong that they didn’t even get a mention or place in the classroom.
Such thinking made me think about the works that didn’t even make it into the textbook, a lamentable situation which was decided by a few academics who deemed such works not worthy.
Now, I firmly believe that not all artworks and artists are created equal; but, lots of a great and worthwhile art often gets left in the overlooked textbooks of history due to a mixture of pure chance and modern arbitrary fashions. I feel the need to at least address this tragedy, and hopefully bring to light some works that otherwise would’ve been relegated to esoteric art historian knowledge. Art should not be obscure, gate kept, or made inaccessible for anyone. We shouldn’t be satisfied only knowing a few major artists. Many have left their marks in ways too few know.
Thank you for finding the time to read some of my articles, and I hope you find something of value from the creators highlighted on this blog.
Ray
Neglected Canvases 