Von Heyl is very specific – her paintings do not carry narrative, in the classical sense. Each work is an object, “a new image that stands for itself as fact.” The months it takes to finish a work are spent “finding ways to lure the eye into the picture.” Von Heyl thinks that when she gets it right, her paintings have “liveliness … something that seduces more than it angers”.
Moroni was a big talent in a small town. The era’s famous names – Titian, Bronzino – competed for clients in glamourous Venice. Moroni enjoyed a quieter regional market where he could get away with painting what he saw, rather than glossy fictions. His naturalistic portraits, not especially celebrated at the time, now look like a “remarkable achievement.” A video (4 min) is here.
Urban turmoil in Germany and Austria led artists to seek inspiration from within. Then, the horrors of WW1 created a new imperative – to objectively depict the crumbing Weimar republic. The self-portraits from these two periods are among the most memorable of 20th century art, from introspective Schiele to Beckmann’s dark realism. Unsettled faces, as far as the eye can see.
Duveen wasn’t the world’s greatest art dealer just because of expertise in art. He had abundant other talents including deal-making (including of the shady kind) and knowing who owned what. His dealings still underpin many major public collections – Washington’s National Gallery alone has 2464 of his pieces. Nearly a century later Duveen influence on art in the US is “nearly impossible to overstate”.
A wonderful phrase describes Toulouse-Lautrec – “argonaut of the boulevards”. Celebrities, cabaret lowlife, the street – that was his milieu. Toulouse-Lautrec’s eye for the characteristic gesture and instinct for attention-grabbing colour brought instant success. His work resonates still with today’s celebrity obsession. “One of the creators of modernism itself”.
There are calls for the removal from a San Francisco school of a 1930’s mural depicting slaves and a slain Native American. Some see it as “traumatic” and/or glorifying oppression. Others argue that it portrays, without approval, those violent parts of American history – it is “a historic mural by a renowned artist”. The school head says “I do understand the sensitivity about it being art. It’s difficult”.
Sultan was adept at all forms of photography but is celebrated for Pictures From Home, a decade-long study of his retired parents. Using both staged and spontaneous images, he created a narrative about family and suburban life. “Photography is instrumental in creating family not only as a memento, … but also a kind of mythology.” More images are here.