The Easel

6th February 2018

Philip Pearlstein: Paintings 1990 – 2017

Emily Spicer | Studio International | 30th January 2018

His friendship with Warhol is marketing catnip but far from the most interesting thing about Pearlstein. He championed realism when it was not popular to do so. Further his paintings feature nudes which are posed, factual and remote – almost the opposite of the erotic pin-up. This is strange art leaving the viewer to wonder – focus on the bodies, the objects around them or the “rules” that give rise to such a deliberate tableau?

Down with blockbusters! James Bradburne on the art of running a museum

Richard Holledge | ft.com | 22nd January 2018

A reforming museum director bemoans the scarcity of passion about art and wants museums to change this. Excluding temporary exhibitions “permanent collections are, in fact, losing business. [Don’t] confuse an excellent collection with an excellent museum. We need a Copernican revolution in which you put the museum at the heart of the community and visitors at the centre of the museum.” (You may have to click on “Skip Survey” to bypass the FT paywall)

30th January 2018

Andreas Gursky, master of the contemporary sublime

IW | The Economist | 26th January 2018

Gursky is widely acclaimed because he reveals a world that we know and yet still takes us by surprise. He composes images where “all the pictorial elements are as important as each other”. Confronted with so much detail the eye defaults to a summary impression – “a kind of abstract expressionism, painterly in scale and epic in intention”. An excellent commentary by the curator (5 min) is here.

Charles I – King And Collector at Royal Academy review: A show fit for a king

Matthew Collings | The Evening Standard | 23rd January 2018

A visit to the Hapsburg court made Charles 1 want what they had – a stonking art collection. Over his 25 year rule he acquired just that – and it was promptly sold after his beheading. Magnificent though they are, these paintings were flattery. “Everything that looks good in a Van Dyck picture of Charles on horseback 10 feet high supports the idea that the king actually is good, the almost ultimate good next to God”. More images are here.

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