The Easel

21st July 2020

Who Was Giorgio Morandi, Master Painter and Perfecter of the Meditative Stare?

Andy Battaglia | ARTnews | 17th July 2020

Morandi lived in a modest Bologna apartment, for decades painting pale still-lifes of bottles and tins. No bright colours or brand names, no dramatic shapes, yet these works stand out. Explaining this, Robert Hughes referenced the Japanese aesthetic of wabi – “the clarity of ordinary substance seen for itself, in its true quality.” John Berger, in an old but excellent piece, thought similarly – “precise and sharp observation … monastic”.

Revisiting a Revolution of Mexican Art in America

Anna Schapiro | The New York Review of Books | 20th July 2020

A personal take on an important, previously reviewed, show. Mexican artists who came to the US in the late 1920’s were innovators, cognizant of modernism but charting a different course. Little wonder they inspired Jackson Pollock, among others. Many enjoyed early success but, due to their communist politics, ended up with lives “of unexpected obscurity”. The social justice ideals that animated their art are now glossed over, seeming “quaint or merely pretty”.

Wheel of fortune – the life and achievements of Bernard Leach

Isabella Smith | Apollo | 18th July 2020

Leach’s advocacy of Japanese techniques shook up “dowdy” English ceramics and revitalized its studio pottery. However, his mantra of “truth to materials” was unsympathetic to modernist ceramic artists like Lucie Rie. And did it really capture the essence of Japanese ceramics practice? Did Leach himself lack “aesthetic ambition”? Says the author, a legacy that “irritates and inspires in equal measure”.

The Art World’s Erasure of a Revolutionary Japanese-American Artist

John Yau | Hyperallergic | 18th July 2020

In its excitement about abstract expressionism and Pop, the US art world for a while neglected other goings on. One of those neglected was Amino, a sculptor working in resin and wood. In a career full of experimentation, his most distinctive works were coloured shapes held within a transparent block. Completely unnoticed, Amino had entered “wholly new sculptural territory.”

Horse Power

Amy Hood | The Iris | 15th July 2020

Horses feature often in Western art. Not only are they a succinct indicator of social rank or valour but artists enjoy the challenge of portraying their complex forms. Here, Getty features some notable horse portraits from their collection. The rationale for the article, it seems, is nothing more than an offering of equestrian eye candy.

There’s a reason great artists are assholes

Chason Gordon | Spiked | 16th July 2020

An explanation of bad behaviour, or just excuse-making? An “irrational career” in art requires an “eggs-in-one-basket type of person”. Often, the result is total self-obsession and a belief that one is on a “higher moral plane”. “Often, great art made by a bad person does more good for the world than the alternative … the pain they caused was an unfortunate byproduct of the masterpieces they left behind.”

14th July 2020

Damien Hirst: Colour Space Paintings

Blake Gopnik | Gagosian Quarterly | 22nd June 2020

A blizzard of name dropping in this piece makes one wonder – is it just marketing? The 19th century Pointillists thought dots “the fundamental unit of representation”. Hirst’s dot paintings are representational – they show a world of “tiny details”. Except, all that detail doesn’t convey extra information. In that sense these paintings “fail – [and] failing, grandly, is modern art’s best recipe for success.” Convinced?

First There Was Zombie Formalism—Now There’s Zombie Figuration

Alex Greenberger | ARTnews | 9th July 2020

For decades, art buyers have wanted art that is contemporary – especially abstract painting. The flood of art produced to meet this demand was of variable quality – hence the tag ‘zombie formalism’. Now figurative works are hot and the writer laments we are seeing ‘zombie figuration’. The artists are good but “they combine several unlike things and call it a picture … [no] sense of subtlety or nuance”. Rather depressing.

The pandemic has shown us what the future of architecture could be

Philip Kennicott | The Washington Post | 13th July 2020

Is the pandemic a “transformational” moment for architecture? Modernist ambition is not the problem so much as the image of what a building should be. Architecture has thought of a building as a machine. However, “[many] buildings offer little sense of comfort, safety … the built environment is threatening us.” A new paradigm might be buildings as “living organisms” – after all, “breathing is an architectural and spatial problem.”

State vs. Church: Uffizi Director Provokes Controversy Over Who Owns Sacred Art?

Lucy Gordan | La Voca di New York | 4th June 2020

The Uffizi Gallery director has proposed returning some religious artworks to the churches they came from. Unsurprisingly, not everyone agrees. However, the Uffizi’s collection is larger than can be displayed. Current visitor restrictions reduce further how much art can be seen. Behind the proposal is the idea of the diffused museum, where artworks are shown in their original context. Says one church official “a very positive provocation”.

Sophie Taeuber-Arp

Joe Lloyd | Studio International | 8th July 2020

Taueber-Arp helped start the small but influential Zurich Dada. It gave her the impetus for a diverse career of sustained creativity. A “great artistic polymath”, her work spanned painting, sculpture, textiles and interior design. Despite an early death and the eclectic nature of her output she is recognised, along with Kandinsky and Malevich, as one of the great geometric abstractionists. A short bio piece is here.

Eight odd details hidden in masterpieces

Kelly Grovier | bbc.com | 10th July 2020

If new art is unavailable, then find something new in the old favourites. The curl of hair that Botticelli placed on the shoulder of Venus mimics the logarithmic spiral of a nautilus shell. Turner placed a rabbit in front of a speeding train. And the motifs that Klimt put on the woman’s dress in The Kiss represent petri dishes “pulsing with cells”. “Beauty always contains a touch of strangeness.”

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