The Easel

30th January 2024

Stéphane Mandelbaum

Johanna Fateman | 4Columns | 26th January 2024

Mandelbaum was an outsider. He died an outsider too, shot having just committed an art burglary. In his short life he produced hundreds of portraits of the Brussels demimonde. Everyone looks tired, “swollen cheeks, greasy hair … The line between victim and oppressor, innocent and guilty, gets hopelessly blurred.” There is a churn of ideas – shifting identity, war guilt, self-doubt – that is ultimately “transfixing, bewildering”. The curator agrees; “This stuff is beyond edgy,” A bio piece is here.

Tiffany’s abstract window

Karen Azoulay | Maharam | 10th January 2024

In his studio, Louis Tiffany produced a variety of stained glass objects, often with Art Nouveau styling. For his own apartment, though, he installed a unique leaded-glass window. The window’s asymmetrical pattern partly reflected his interest in North African textiles. More obviously, though, the central S curve gives it a distinctly abstract feel. This was “shockingly modern” for 1880 and pre-dated the full emergence of abstraction in painting by decades. It perfectly expressed Tiffany’s ambition to “paint with glass.” 

How “Unnamed Figures” at the American Folk Art Museum Challenges Dominant Narratives of American History

Karla Méndez | Elephant | 4th January 2024

Portraits are intended to flatter, to elevate. They can tell other stories too. In the case of 18th century American folk art they reveal Black erasure. In some cases, the absence is literal but other times Black figures are simply placed in the shadows. Focusing on the “there but not there” tendency reveals new historical narratives: Black contributors to nation building; the presence of slavery in the north; successful Black property owners – in other words, a more complete American history.

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