The Easel

10th September 2024

The Coming of World Art at the Venice Biennale

Barry Schwabsky | The Nation | 4th September 2024

Among the most thoughtful assessments of this year’s Venice Biennale. Good literature can come from almost anywhere, so why don’t we think the same way about art? Our view of contemporary art still adheres to a European-centric story around modernism and abstraction. That narrative excludes Indigenous art that articulates “cultural continuity and an ineradicable connection to place”. Perhaps a perspective that embraces all forms of art will come in to focus, but that has yet to happen.

The weird reflections of Jean Cocteau

Craig Burnett | Apollo | 26th June 2024

Cocteau described himself as a poet but to that we can add playwright, novelist, filmmaker, visual artist and probably Nazi sympathiser. Prodigiously talented as a draughtsman, he often paired text and image in drawings, portraits and posters. Inspired by Greek mythology, he somehow introduced characters like Orpheus into many of his activities. He was “a polymath, a protean conjurer of worlds”. Said Cocteau, whose favourite motifs were the mask and the mirror, “I am nothing – “another” speaks in me.”

Rijksmuseum acquires controversial early botanic book on Suriname

Senay Boztas | The Art Newspaper | 3rd September 2024

Even as a teenager German-born Meriam was interested in science and art. In 1699, middle age and divorced, she travelled to Suriname and spent two years studying its insects. The resultant book, Metamorphosis insectorum Surinamensium, was her masterpiece, a scientific landmark and a high point of Dutch publishing. Its back story and 60 illustrations make it, says a Rijksmuseum librarian, “one of the most fascinating books in natural history”.  Background on Meriam and more illustrations are here.

Megan Rooney on painting: ‘You must dig it all up before you can find what it actually is’

Jessica Lack | Christie’s | 5th September 2024

This review illustrates the difficulty of assessing a new artist. Rooney had her first solo show just three years ago, meaning there is little existing work on which to base critical comments. Each new show carries a lot of “news” about her developing approach. She is a “thoroughgoing abstract artist”, says one writer, inspired by 1950’s abstract expressionism. A group of paintings in the show are “magnificent”. Is that critical or commercial enthusiasm? It should be clear within a decade.

Meiji Modern: Fifty Years of New Japan

Robyn Schiff | Artforum | 1st September 2024

Japan’s Meiji period (1868 to 1912) saw dramatic cultural change as international trade commenced. Consumers were drawn to “the idea” of European luxury in consumer goods, advertising and fashion. Japanese art suddenly depicted modern tableaux – a woman browsing a shopping catalogue or making a phone call. From there it was but a short step to propaganda, with European imperial pushiness being matched by Japanese aspirations to become a modern state, and global power.

Why ‘Art & Science Collide’ is a risky theme for the Getty’s new PST festival

Christopher Knight | LA Times | 29th August 2024

The wealthy Getty Foundation plans its PST art festivals big. These occur every five years or so and have previously focused on the art history of LA. This year’s “extravaganza”, involving over 70 exhibitions and innumerable supporting programs, addresses the “collision” of art and science. No-one is quite sure if all the events will address this theme, nor whether art and science are, in fact, colliding. Still, it’s a popular topic (think AI) at a time when museum attendances are still anaemic, post-COVID.

3rd September 2024

David Anfam, Leading Scholar of Abstract Expressionism Dies Aged 69

Staff | Artlyst | 24th August 2024

Obituaries for art historians are not the usual fare for The Easel, but David Anfam is a worthy  exception. He established his name with ground-breaking research on American Abstract Expressionism and its stars such as Rothko, Pollock and Still. He was a meticulous scholar who wrote in a jargon-free style. Anyone interested in the Ab Ex movement should read this discussion of its origins. His views on curators, the best of whom he considered “true thinkers”, is here.

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