The Easel

22nd January 2019

Posing Modernity: The Black Model from Manet and Matisse to Today

Jason Rosenfeld | The Brooklyn Rail | 13th December 2018

Black women appear frequently in Impressionist art, reflecting a Paris that was becoming multi-racial. What has escaped everyone’s notice is that these women were depicted matter-of-factly, without racial tropes. This shift, radical for the time, is highlighted in a landmark show that is “singular in illuminating fully [this change] while pulling its theme … thrillingly into the present.”

Lynette Yiadom-Boakye’s Lovely, ‘Louder’ New Paintings

Piotr Orlov | Afropunk | 16th January 2019

Yiadom-Boakye is an artist in the ascendant. Many expect greater things to come. Her paintings feature imagined, handsome black figures – “because I am not white”. Her work, says this writer, has an emotional clarity and her figures, shown in relaxed, still poses, are vaguely reminiscent of the Old Masters. Or, as one critic expressed it “They say little, explicitly, but you hear much.”

Clyfford Still’s daughter curated his latest exhibit, and she has a lot of opinions on how to remember him

Ray Mark Rinaldi | The Denver Post | 8th December 2018

Still thought his art was beyond heroic. But what did it mean? He rejected suggestions that landscapes were part of his intended narrative. An exhibition curated by Still’s daughter brings a fresh emphasis on key works – those “marked by warm golds and organic browns”.  The reviewer, though, returns to a familiar question: “What do those stories say? Well, she isn’t exactly sure.”

Eye Candy: Bergdorf Goodman’s Holiday Windows and the Enduring Art of Selling

Glenn Adamson | Frieze | 10th December 2018

Psychology experiments show that our distaste for forgeries comes from a perception that originals gain “identity from their history”. We are also good at identifying genuine abstract works – “people see more than they think they see in abstract art – they see the mind behind the work “. Sadly, no evidence is found that looking at art is good for the soul.

Whys of Seeing

Ellen Winner | Aeon | 15th January 2019

Psychology experiments show that our distaste for forgeries comes from a perception that originals gain “identity from their history”. We are also good at identifying genuine abstract works – “people see more than they think they see in abstract art – they see the mind behind the work “. Sadly, no evidence is found that looking at art is good for the soul.

Pierre Bonnard review: monumental, monstrous – and rubbish at dogs

Adrian Searle | The Guardian | 21st January 2019

Bonnard’s claim to fame is his quiet interiors, sharply framed and with surprising colour juxtapositions. Very good, yes, but enough to make him truly great? The reception to his latest show is positive but few critics seem passionate. “All that colour, all that fidgety brushwork. There is a great deal of niggling about, and piling paint on.”  More images are here.

At Tate Britain

Tom Crewe | London Review of Books | 24th January 2019

Amidst numerous critics flinging insults at Burne-Jones’ work, one tries to be more specific. What exactly are the shortcomings of this member of the Pre-Raphaelite movement? Flawed technique is a big one; an unvarying style, “cumbersomely itself”; his figures tend to “lifelessness”. The verdict – “there are pleasures to be had. But love him? I’m trying to find a way.”

1st January 2019

Looking back: The top stories of 2018. Part 2

The Easel finishes each year by highlighting, from the more than 300 stories featured in the newsletter, those that were most widely read. Here is the second set of these articles.

A New Met Exhibit Shows That Mark Rothko Made Paintings As Good As The Quilts Of Gee’s Bend

Jonathon Keats | Forbes | 29th May 2018

Where does vernacular art – like quilt making – fit in the art world? Should it be compared directly to mainstream art? Or, does it belong in its own category, such as “outsider art”. Categorization seems beside the point if mainstream and self-taught artists have “converged on compositional commonalities that make many people’s eyes respond in equivalent ways.”

12 Masterful Portraits Leave Their Castle For The First Time

Wendy Moonan | 1stdibs | 29th January 2018

Velazquez was the greater painter but, still, Zurbarán was a star of the Spanish Baroque. Velazquez went off to the royal court but devout Zurbarán painted for churches and monasteries. Probably intended for churches in the New World these monumental portraits instead ended up in rural England, scarcely to be seen in 250 years. Zurbarán, it seems, “is about to be rediscovered yet again”. A discussion of the paintings is here.

Who’s Afraid of the Female Nude?

Michael Slenske and Molly Langmuir | The Cut | 18th April 2018

Should male artists still paint the female nude?  While #metoo suggests not, is it so straightforward? One artist frets “we could be living through “a new Victorian age”. Another observes “the human psyche is not politically correct” A female artist notes “I’ve always had the sense that women must be proud to be sexual beings”. A quiz at the end of the article is revealing.

Corot’s Immortal Women

Emily Ferguson | The Washington Free Beacon | 18th November 2018

We celebrate Corot for his landscapes. In later life, and more or less in secret, he pursued a sideline – portraits of women. Why he was so reticent is unknown. “Among the most beautiful and underappreciated of the 19th century” says one critic. Degas commented: ““I believe Corot painted a tree better than any of us but still I find him superior in his figures.” More images are here.

Georg Baselitz is an overrated hack. Art collectors fell for him – but you don’t have to

Sebastian Smee | The Washington Post | 24th June 2018

After positive reviews in Switzerland the Baselitz retrospective has opened in Washington to an absolute pasting. Decrying Baselitz’s “bloated reputation” and odd decision to display his works upside down, the writer continues: “[H]is sense of color is haphazard and his drawing weak … he has never quite managed to tie his influences … into taut and commanding art.” Ouch!

At the Gardner, the colors of heaven in Fra Angelico exhibition

Cate McQuaid | Boston Globe | 22nd February 2018

This show is a big deal. The Renaissance painter, Fra Angelico, painted four reliquaries depicting the life of the Virgin Mary. For the first time in centuries they have been reunited. “The pieces gleam with gold, ultramarine, and vermilion … they seem to pulse with centuries of accumulated attention and reverence. It’s an energy some would call holy.” Images are here.

The Ascetic Beauty of Brancusi

Hugh Eakin | The New York Review of Books | 28th July 2018

It’s odd to say Brancusi “exploded” onto the art scene in 1913. He could barely sell a work and, for decades, depended on a sole American patron. Such market indifference reflects “the extent to which Brancusi was operating wholly outside the temper of his time, including [radical] Paris.” Given his now revered stature, this is surely one of the more remarkable transformations in art history.

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