A newsletter of art criticism, art comment & occasional political comment. Estab. 1996. Published in hard copy 5-7 times a year. (For new shows, see "events;" for hard-copy rates, see "works.")
Walter Darby Bannard. Dragon Water, 1977. Acrylic on c on canvas, 65 x 65 in. (165.1 x 165.1 cm.). Photo courtesy Berry Campbell, New York NY
Walter Darby Bannard is a hedonist, and proud of it. He believes that the role of art is to give pleasure. It’s not meant to be an intellectual exercise, or political propaganda, or even an illustration of something that it’s not (though he has plenty of room in his lexicon for representational painters, past and present, whose work pleasures the eye, regardless of what else it may or may not do). (more…)
Emil Nolde. Phantasie (Drei Köpfe) (Imagination (Three Heads)), 1931-35. Watercolor, graphite and ink on Japan paper, 16.14 x 12.01 inches (41 x 30.5 cm). ENo 106. Courtesy of Van Doren Waxter and Beck & Eggeling
This bloody winter has gotten everybody down. I am so sick of snow I could scream, and, because I can't be sure of my footing in all the ice and slush, I've gotten out to only a few shows. However, one was “Emil Nolde: Expressions in Watercolor” (through February 28). And I don't regret that. (more…)
Ed Clark, "Untitled," 2004. Acrylic on canvas, 77 x 51 1/4 inches. EC 110. Photo Courtesy the Artist and Tilton Gallery, NY.
Having been busy with domestic activities, I’ve let 4 worthy shows go until they were over, or nearly over. Now I must catch up. The 4 I’ll discuss are “David Smith: The Forgings” at Gagosian (Madison Avenue) (closed January 11); “Hans Hofmann” at Ameringer McEnery Yohe (closed January 25); “Larry Poons: New Paintings” at Danese Corey (closing February 8) and “Ed Clark: Big Bang” at Jack Tilton, now at 8 East 76th Street (through February 22). (more…)
Antonio Canova (Italian, Possagno 1757–1822 Venice) The Creation of the World 1821–22 Plaster Gipsoteca, Possagno (Inv. 292)
The Metropolitan Museum of Art currently has two truly rewarding boutique shows. One is “Piero della Francesca: Personal Encounters” (through March 30) and the other is “Antonio Canova: The Seven Last Works” (through April 27). Piero is the greater artist; Canova’s exhibition is the more comprehensive display of his art. (more…)
Once again, Richard Timperio has mounted his show of shows at Sideshow in Williamsburg. This year, the 13th in the series, it is entitled “Sideshow Nation II: At the Alamo,” and includes work by more than 550 artists (through March 3). (more…)
Franz Kline. "Ninth Avenue Elevated RR Station at Christopher Street," 1940-41. Oil on board, 16 x 22 inches. Private Collection. (c) 2012 The Franz Kline Estate/Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York.
Not infrequently exhibition catalogs come my way. Here are four that I found of more than ordinary interest. The first three are of single artists: Noland, Frankenthaler & Kline. The third is a group show: Jens Jensen, David Evison, & John Griefen. The first three are of interest to me because of their attempts to find imagery in abstraction; the fourth is simply a handsome tribute of its own. (more…)
Venus and Adonis. Titian (Tiziano Vecellio) (Italian, Venetian, born ca. 1488, died 1576) Oil on canvas; 42 x 52 1/2 in. (106.7 x 133.4 cm) Metropolitan Museum of Art, The Jules Bache Collection, 1949 (49.7.16)
Well, and so it is time to report on the doings at The Metropolitan Museum of Art this autumn--both what I enjoyed & what I skipped (they have so many shows, it's impossible to take them all in). Their largest special exhibition, I believe, was textiles, but they’re also staging shows of jewelry and (more…)
Vassily Kandinsky. Composition V. 1911. Oil on canvas. Private Collection.
Another grand show with extra appeal for modernists is “Vassily Kandinsky: From Blaue Reiter to the Bauhaus, 1910-1925” at the Neue Galerie (through February 10).
As organized by Dr. Jill Lloyd (an art historian who has already organized several shows for the Neue Galerie), this exhibition includes over 80 works, including paintings, drawings, watercolors and decorative objects. (more…)
Giovanni Antonio Canal, called Canaletto. 1697 Venice 1768. Architectural Capriccio. Pen and brown ink, gray wash, over graphite and traces of black chalk. The Morgan Library and Museum. Gift of Janos Scholz; 1973.48
One of the things that separates your true modernist from your postmodernist (at least when one is talking about contemporary artists and critics of the contemporary scene) is that true modernists go for the best art of the past as much as the best art of the present. The philosophy is that greatness doesn’t age or go out of style.
Your true postmodernist, on the other hand, is apt to dismiss any really good contemporary art that s/he doesn’t like as “old-fashioned,” and, when s/he is dealing with the art of the museums, there is an ever-so-slight hangover from the dadaists of World War I, who felt that museums were only repositories for “dead art,” the next thing to mausoleums, in fact. Any time a contemporary critic, on the NY Times or elsewhere, wants to cast aspersions on the Met, for example, s/he sneers at how it doesn't pay enough attention to contemporary art. (more…)
Robert Motherwell. Personage (Autoportrait), December 9, 1943. Gouache, ink, and pasted colored paper and Japanese paper on paperboard, 103.8 x 65.9 cm. The Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation, Peggy Guggenheim Collection, Venice 76.2553.155. (c) Dedalus Foundation, Inc./ Licensed by VAGA, New York. Photo: Sergio Martucci (c) 2013 The Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation, New York
Also for your holiday pleasure, a sterling show that I can especially recommend for modernists (though postmodernists seem to like it, too) is “Robert Motherwell: Early Collages” at the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum (through January 5). On view here are approximately 50 artworks done between 1941 and 1951; most are collages, although a selection of related drawings and other works paper are also on view. (more…)
