Ben Street is a writer, educator and art historian based in London. www.benstreet.co.uk

The history of artists’ signatures is a secret history of art

For painters from Jan van Eyck to Philip Guston, the act of signing a finished work is much more than a simple assertion of authorship

22 Sep 2023
Joseph Cornell with visitors to ‘A Joseph Cornell Exhibition for Children’ at the Cooper Union, New York in 1972. Photo: Denise Hare

All art is for children – and great art can make children of us all

Modern masters from Joseph Cornell to Paul Klee have produced works expressly for children, writes Ben Street – but perhaps all great art is a type of child’s play?

1 Jun 2021
The mail gaze: museum postcards in Amsterdam.

The unruly life of museum postcards

We’re all building miniature museums at home, and postcards of paintings have taken on a life of their own

8 Feb 2021
Art History drops off the school curriculum in England.

Make no mistake, art history is a hard subject. What’s soft is the decision to scrap it

Exam board AQA is to scrap art history A-level. It’s a crazy decision to take just as public perception of the subject is changing

15 Oct 2016

Inquiry: Learning Lessons

Can museum education programmes have a more radical purpose?

27 Mar 2015

Look closer: what art historians can learn from museum education

Have we forgotten how to look properly at art?

14 Apr 2014