The Metropolitan Museum is showing sixty drawings from the sixteenth century Florentine artist Agnolo Bronzino. A painter, poet, teacher and draftsman, Bronzino was court artist to the Duke Cosimo de'Medici and known as well for his wit.

The Minneapolis Institute of Arts has two fine online presentations. First they are showing the work of Josef Sudek and Czech Photography, including roughly 75 photographs. Sudek and his modernist contemporaries added to the rich cultural tradition of twentieth century photography in Europe.

The second is a video titled "In Pursuit of a Masterpiece". The Institute invited several of their curators to present a work that they considered a masterpiece and explain why. See if you agree.

Enter Jackson Pollock dot org at the arrow and create your own drip painting. Named one of the fifty niftiest websites by Time Magazine, you can lift your mouse to change colors and vary the mouse/stylus pressure to alter line thickness. (Note: Steve Jobs cited it as a perfect site for the new iPad.)

The New York Times reports on recent discoveries in the lower Danube Valley that have unearthed artifacts from a civilization existing more than five thousand years B.C. Treasures found include a huge cache of gold pieces, pottery indicating a a complex visual iconography, and figurines that suggest the power of women in the society. At the Institute for the Study of the Ancient World,, part of New York University, you will find a list of papers and other media events describing the archaeological finds.

For those of you interested in comics and caricatures, The Bezalel Academy of Art and Design in Jerusalem presents papers on the subject in their January, 2010, issue. Their first section deals with academic papers, and the second with impressions of artists who produce these works. Arising from a conference called "Between the Personal and the Political: local Comics and Caricatures", the materials have not been published anywhere else, according to Editor Ben Barch Blich.

In the past, photographer Shirin Neshat has predominantly dealt with her native Iran in her images and films. Her new exhibition, titled "Games of Desire" focuses on older women and men in Laos as they engage in the ancient ritual of courtship songs.

Look closely at this photograph taken by Peter Kun Frary, Professor of Music at the University of Hawaii and tell me what you see. Then look again: this is a model, painted to resemble a late 19th century painting.

It is fascinating to read about the fifty-year friendship between artists Philip Pearlstein and Al Held. Stylistically very different, they were yet alike in their preoccupation with space, according to Roberta Smith of the New York Times. More of Smith's observations can be found at "Friends for Whom Space was the Place".

Watch Bobby McFerrin demonstrate the "Power of the Pentatonic Scale" at the 2009 World Science Festival. McFerrin uses the audience as his orchestra in his presentation entitled "Notes & Neurons: In Search of the Common Chorus."

The fashion world is full of creative energy, but this season has produced some spectacular designs. Look, for example, at the outfits of the French Designer Jean Paul Gaultier. I'm not sure I could wear any of them to the supermarket, but in terms of sheer inventive genius they are stunning.

Another, and very sad, set of designs comes from the mind of the late Alexander McQueen. The hats were a tribute to his mentor and friend Isabella Blow, who also committed suicide, three years ago.

Chloe Piene's drawings are fluid, elegant, and eccentric - #28 is one of my favorites. You can see her work at MOMA, the Walker Art Center in Minneapolis, and MOCA Los Angeles. In 2007, the Locks Gallery in Philadelphia showed them in a two-person show called "Bodies of Desire: Works on Paper by Willem de Kooning and Chloe Piene".

Late note: Did you know that you can listen to hundreds of foreign-language radio stations on the Internet? I tried Googling Greek Radio Stations and found a treasure trove. Here's one of my favorites - Epigee, a "non-profit music internet broadcasting radio with live quality music".