Alex Zivkovic

@alexzivkovic

art, architecture, and media historian incoming Asst Prof @ Hunter College, CUNY postdoc @ Lauder Center, Met thinking about modernism, ecology, queer surrealism

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Alex Zivkovic@alexzivkovic· 20d

nevertheless, loved Tom Holland’s performance (and many others), and recently drew it in my first attempt at a faster/simpler style

Alex Zivkovic@alexzivkovic· 23d

Paul Alexis Reading to Émile Zola (1869-70) & Paul Alexis Reading at Zola's House (1870) two double portraits, very different moods—love how peaceful and intimate the first is, but the second is way too theatrical

Alex Zivkovic@alexzivkovic· 24d

increasing moody self-portraits by Odilon Redon, ages 27–45: 1867, 1875, 1880, 1885 love the way the shadowy background comes in more and more into the face

Alex Zivkovic@alexzivkovic· 27d

before the iconic full beard: Monet age 25 and 27, painted by Gilbert de Séverac and Carolus-Duran

dark portrait of a man in a blue striped shirt, leaning over the back of a chair, labeled Monet

Portrait of a man with a patchy beard in a suit, looking at the camera

Alex Zivkovic@alexzivkovic· 28d

and with regard to the depiction of women here—especially a certain goddess—I have to plug Madeline Miller’s Circe, which I devoured last year in a few sittings

Alex Zivkovic@alexzivkovic· Jul 12

some art about media I recently consumed and loved: - Cormoran Strike book 1 show - Widow’s Bay - Backrooms

Alex Zivkovic@alexzivkovic· Jun 25

another beautiful portrait — spent the morning looking through his amazing photographs. Unidentified man, c. 1934

Alex Zivkovic@alexzivkovic· Jun 25

lovely portrait of Jean Cocteau by Man Ray, c. 1922

Photograph of Jean Cocteau, illuminated, casting a big shadow against a wall with a model of a ship in the background

Alex Zivkovic@alexzivkovic· Jun 19

Marcel Duchamp at the 1942 First Papers of Surrealism exhibit

Man posing in a corner, with twine arranged in front of him

Alex Zivkovic@alexzivkovic· Jun 12

Courbet's wide-eyed self-portrait (The Desperate Man) has never been my favorite...but I love these two self-portraits I just came across c. 1850-3 (30s) c. 1873 (age 54)

Sketchy self-portrait against a landscape background, of verdant green hills and a hint of sky. A bearded man in a white collared shirt, with the lower half of the canvas a hazy dark color

A portrait of a man leaning at a window ledge, holding a pipe to his mouth, with a street scene below

Alex Zivkovic@alexzivkovic· Jun 9

two summer garden pendants: John Singer Sargent's Carnation, Lily, Lily, Rose (1885-6) and Édouard Manet's Le Linge (1875)

two children carrying lanterns, in a purple-hued garden, with large Lillies and other flowers growing around them

a mother and child in a garden, with hanging laundry behind them, orange hued dappled light

Alex Zivkovic@alexzivkovic· Jun 8

wow—the three existing self-portraits of Claude Monet: ages 44, 46, and 77! each is so distinctive (+ a younger throwback: Carolus-Duran's portrait of a far less-bearded Monet at age 27)

a rough oil sketch of a seated bearded man, with a more resolved scene in the background, with a cigarette in the mouth of the artist

An oil paint self-portrait of a bearded man in a beret against a light blue background

An oil sketch of a man with a white beard, surrounded by a black outline, against canvas

A portrait of a young man with a patchy beard

Alex Zivkovic@alexzivkovic· May 26

ft. some brilliant details

Woman's face covered in a translucent veil, with patterned embroidery

Man in a grey topcoat against green, rendered in thick brushstrokes swirling around the smooth grey

Alex Zivkovic@alexzivkovic· May 26

Manet, Music in the Tuileries, 1862

Painting of a crowded scene under the trees, with numerous people standing and seated

Alex Zivkovic@alexzivkovic· May 26

beautiful pendant to Manet's more famous portrait of Zola, here showing Zacharie Astruc (and here together at the start of Georges Bataille's Manet book) (competing art for art, beard for beard)

Painting of a seated man, with a figure in the distance, appearing like a painting, with a still life in the foreground

Spread of two pages from an old book, showing color illustrations of Manet's two portraits of famous writers

Alex Zivkovic@alexzivkovic· May 21

a new way to visualize my research output: published and on-going projects arranged by date and methodology, sortable by key themes aleksazivkovic.com/academic-int...

Grid with a bunch of squares showing snippets of various projects

Alex Zivkovic@alexzivkovic· May 11

my favorite (surprise!) airport experience was stumbling onto James Brooks' mural of the Marine Air Terminal at Laguardia, now empty due to Spirit's demise gothamist.com/news/histori...

James Brooks with his sleeve rolled up, painting the wings of a figure in a mural at the terminal

Painting of various flying devices, rendered abstractly, with Leonardo da Vinci and others depicted

Mural showing a variety of surreal scenes, including an angel flying, the same figure as in the photograph of Brooks painting

Alex Zivkovic@alexzivkovic· May 4

I went to this party and was not disappointed!!

Marcel Duchamp lookalike contestant, wearing a long fur coat, top hat, and holding a cane and pipe

The top five finalists in the lookalike contest with the host in drag, standing in MoMA’s atrium with audience members looking through the glass

Alex Zivkovic@alexzivkovic· Apr 24

🚨if you look like Duchamp, be at MoMA next week!🚨 there'll be a Duchamp & Rrose Sélavy lookalike context next Thursday at their party! www.moma.org/calendar/eve...

Alex Zivkovic@alexzivkovic· Apr 21

atmospheric photography — Dieter Appelt, The Mark on the Mirror Breathing Makes (1978)

Photograph of a man standing before a mirror, his breath leaves condensation, obscuring his reflection

Alex Zivkovic@alexzivkovic· Apr 20

reading a new article --> wikipedia hopping --> more fantastic 19th-c portraits the playwright Georges Feydeau by Carolus-Duran, c. 1900

Painting of a man with curly hair and a mustache, set against a rich red background, that darkens and merges with his dark suit in the foreground

Alex Zivkovic@alexzivkovic· Apr 13

Banksy for Greenpeace, "Save or Delete" (2002)

Alex Zivkovic@alexzivkovic· Apr 7

such a compelling comparison—state five vs. state one for a print by Tissot Hollis Clayson argues "the rigging-heavy milieus of the works convey a skepticism about imperially and commercially triumphant Britain by obscuring its identifying signs." OA essay here: muse.jhu.edu/pub/331/arti...

A comparison of two prints, one of which shows a woman and child on a ship with a lot of detail and masts in the background. The other shows just her and the child and a handful of other characters, with a largely blank white background behind her

Alex Zivkovic@alexzivkovic· Apr 2

love how impossible it is to make out the wallpaper/mirrors(?) in the background of this painting Émile-Othon Friesz's Scene in a Parisian Brasserie, ca. 1905/06

A painting with thick outlines, showing three people seated at a café table, with another man int he back. The background features a plant, chandelier, and awning, and possibly murals, wallpaper, and mirrors

Alex Zivkovic@alexzivkovic· Apr 2

love the "related artworks" feature on the @metmuseum.org's website—just stumbled upon this lovely little etching Édouard Manet's The Smoker (Le Fumeur), 1866–7

illustration of a bearded man smoking a pipe, wearing dark clothes

Alex Zivkovic@alexzivkovic· Mar 31

excited to check out the latest issue of NCAW—incredibly intrigued by this image of a coral vitrine... www.19thc-artworldwide.org/spring26/win...

Watercolor of a glass-case, full of coral and glass beads

Alex Zivkovic@alexzivkovic· Mar 31

@jamesleocahill.bsky.social first room, one of the first things you see is Painlevé’s stickleback egg + Dalí

Alex Zivkovic@alexzivkovic· Mar 30

loved “New Humans” at the New Museum! incredible pairings of art and science images, ~1920s-today. provocative and powerful, particularly the rooms on reproduction, prosthetics, and robots

photo of an art gallery with pink carpet, showcasing a series of robots and other human-like forms

Photograph of a dance costume featuring disjointed fabrics and prosthetics

Photograph of a long-exposure photograph showing a worker in front of a grid, with lights streaking capturing their movement

Photograph of a tube filled with white liquid, attached to four breast milk pumps

Alex Zivkovic@alexzivkovic· Mar 25

love the video they included of the dancer appearing — something about the architecture of the gallery (and someone with their suitcase in the back) feels so playful and surprising

Video still of a go go dancer walking through a gallery

Alex Zivkovic@alexzivkovic· Mar 24

the video essay tackles the poetics of underwater seeing, from the 1880s to 1920s: from chronophotography to early cinema and the cinema of "distractions" and then to "photogénie" in the era of surrealist films