The Modern Art Notes Podcast

Episode No. 756 features author Victoria Johnson and curator Emily A. Beeny.
Johnson is the author of "Glorious Country: How the Artist Frederic Church Brought the World to America and America to the World," the first major biography of the most important and influential painter in the US nineteenth century. The book will be published by Scribner next week. Johnson's book tells the story of Church's life, and especially his travels even as she explains how Church's work engaged with the scientific and political worlds of his time. It is likely to be the authoritative source on Church's life for decades to come. Amazon and Bookshop offer it for about $35.
Beeny is the curator of "Manet & Morisot," an exploration of the artistic exchange between Édouard Manet and Berthe Morisot, now at the Cleveland Museum of Art. The show particularly focuses on the 15 years between 1868 and 1883, when Manet and Morisot shared perhaps the closest relationship of any two impressionists. It's on view in Cleveland through July 5. A fine catalogue was published by the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco in association with Yale University Press. Amazon and Bookshop offer it for $57-70.
Instagram: Victoria Johnson, Tyler Green.

Episode No. 755 of The Modern Art Notes Podcast features artist Jess T. Dugan and author D.B. Dowd.
Radius Books is publishing "Jess T. Dugan & Charlotte Cotton: Love Pictures," a collaboration featuring Dugan's photographs and conversations with Cotton and members of Cotton's and Dugan's communities, such as Dawoud Bey, Kate Palmer Albers, and Michelle Millar Fisher. Radius, Amazon, and Bookshop offer the two-volume publication for about $75.
Dugan is a St. Louis-based artist whose work explores subjects such as personhood, relationship, desire, and love. Their work is in the collection of over 70 museums. The Pulitzer Arts Foundation, St. Louis, Saint Louis Art Museum, Minneapolis Institute of Art, and the University of New Mexico Art Museum are among the institutions that have presented solo exhibitions of Dugan's work. This is Dugan's sixth book.
Dowd is the author of "Reading Pictures: A History of Illustration," which was just published by Princeton University Press. "Reading Pictures" details how, for many centuries, illustration has often worked between written, published text and art history to advance ideas and ideologies. Princeton, Amazon, and Bookshop offer it for $52-60.
Instagram: Jess T. Dugan, D.B. Dowd, Tyler Green.
Air date: April 23, 2026.

Episode No. 754 of The Modern Art Notes Podcast features author Andrew Graham-Dixon and artist Rachel Burgess.
Graham-Dixon is the author of "Vermeer: A Life Lost and Found," which was just published by WW Norton. The book, a biography-ish of one of the most famous and elusive artists of the Dutch seventeenth century, offers exciting new ideas about Vermeer's life and presents new arguments about why and for whom Vermeer made most of his paintings. Amazon and Bookshop offer "Vermeer" for $35-42.
The Eleanor D. Wilson Museum at Hollins University is showing "Rachel Burgess: Particles and Waves" through June 6. The exhibition presents Burgess' recent large-scale works on paper, typically monotypes, that depict landscapes and domestic scenes. Burgess has been included in group shows at the Lower East Side Printshop, New York, at the Virginia Museum of Contemporary Art, and more.
Instagram: Andrew Graham-Dixon, Rachel Burgess, Tyler Green.
Air date: April 16, 2026.

Episode No. 754 of The Modern Art Notes Podcast features author Andrew Graham-Dixon and artist Rachel Burgess.
Graham-Dixon is the author of "Vermeer: A Life Lost and Found," which was just published by WW Norton. The book, a biography-ish of one of the most famous and elusive artists of the Dutch seventeenth century, offers exciting new ideas about Vermeer's life and presents new arguments about why and for whom Vermeer made most of his paintings. Amazon and Bookshop offer "Vermeer" for $35-42.
The Eleanor D. Wilson Museum at Hollins University is showing "Rachel Burgess: Particles and Waves" through June 6. The exhibition presents Burgess' recent large-scale works on paper, typically monotypes, that depict landscapes and domestic scenes. Burgess has been included in group shows at the Lower East Side Printshop, New York, at the Virginia Museum of Contemporary Art, and more.
Instagram: Andrew Graham-Dixon, Rachel Burgess, Tyler Green.
Air date: April 16, 2026.

Episode No. 754 of The Modern Art Notes Podcast features author Andrew Graham-Dixon and artist Rachel Burgess.
Graham-Dixon is the author of "Vermeer: A Life Lost and Found," which was just published by WW Norton. The book, a biography-ish of one of the most famous and elusive artists of the Dutch seventeenth century, offers exciting new ideas about Vermeer's life and presents new arguments about why and for whom Vermeer made most of his paintings. Amazon and Bookshop offer "Vermeer" for $35-42.
The Eleanor D. Wilson Museum at Hollins University is showing "Rachel Burgess: Particles and Waves" through June 6. The exhibition presents Burgess' recent large-scale works on paper, typically monotypes, that depict landscapes and domestic scenes. Burgess has been included in group shows at the Lower East Side Printshop, New York, at the Virginia Museum of Contemporary Art, and more.
Instagram: Andrew Graham-Dixon, Rachel Burgess, Tyler Green.
Air date: April 16, 2026.