The Easel

25th August 2020

Introduction: Lee Krasner, The Unacknowledged Equal

Art history has always treated Jackson Pollock as “heroic”. In particular, it credits the ‘allover’ painting of abstract expressionism to him alone. However, “scrupulous” new research shows that, as early as 1946, Pollock’s wife, the “supremely intelligent” Krasner, was also developing this approach. Clearly, they were influencing each other, thus making Krasner “an innovator on an equal footing with Pollock”.

Gauguin and the Impressionists review, Royal Academy: the dazzling spoils of a very canny collector

Living in neutral Denmark during WW1, Hansen could get French art on the cheap. He bought brilliantly – the best Impressionists, their eminent predecessors and, for good measure, Cezanne and Matisse. Reflecting his restrained Nordic character, many of the works are “understated, meditative”. And then, boom – his Gauguins – each “a stunner of colour, people, places”. In an exhibition of superstars, what emerges most clearly is the collector. Images are here.

6 Market Experts’ Top Takeaways from This Summer’s Virtual Auctions

This year’s marquee mid-year auctions were forced online. It was not the disaster some feared. Plenty was sold and technical innovation made the experience “visually interesting”. If seeing art in the flesh is now optional, the traditional six-month auction cycle may fade. On the other hand, these online auctions were “highly curated”, with carefully selected works in high demand. On balance, it sounds like a backward step for face to face sales.

Photos that should not be possible

LensCulture street photography awards are a major accolade in world photography. One of the 2020 winners was a series focused on the youth of Belfast. Collectively, it is a portrait of marginalized Protestant and Catholic communities that do not share a common vision. As the writer notes, “artless joy looks to be in short supply.”

Warm, lively, rough? Assessing agreement on aesthetic effects of artworks

Do we respond to artworks in similar ways? Art history says ‘yes’ – for example, blue colours are usually described as “cool” while yellows and reds are “warm” and “lively”. Scientists tested this idea using actual abstract paintings and found … no evidence of universal reaction patterns. In other words, we all read paintings differently. Having a training in art did not change this result. Hardly the last word on the matter, but interesting.

Periwinkle, the Color of Poison, Modernism, and Dusk

An ode to the colour purple, and its close cousins. “Few hues are more beguiling and more reviled than this grouping, the last stop on the rainbow. Violet is the shimmering, fugitive color of the sky at sunset, purple the assertive substantial color of imperial robes.” And periwinkle – “the color of grace … a dreamy word for a color that exists at the edges of the night.”

18th August 2020

Huh? Wow!

Three cheers for bewilderment! Prior to the 20th century art used a limited repertoire of forms, subjects and symbols. Since about 1950, however, art has taken to a wide array of ideas and materials. These days “anything goes”, literally. By all means ponder on one’s reaction (or non-reaction) to a work but embrace the feeling that “you have no fucking idea what it means … wisdom is born of wonder”.

The hidden toilet humour in a Titian masterpiece

A London show of Titian’s late works has prompted a closer look at his celebrated Bacchus and Ariadne. Right in the middle of the painting is a caper flower, traditionally a remedy for flatulence. The plant points to Bacchus’s rear end, hinting at a second reason for his odd mid-air pose. Ariadne inelegantly grabs her posterior. Intended for display in a private room, the work is a “trope of whiffiness … a rude and rawdy whoopee-cushion for the eyes.”

NOTFOREVER: Capturing the collective soul of the stagnation era

A “milestone” show of Soviet art from the “stagnation” era of 1968 – 85. Communism was discredited, leading to nostalgia for the “pre-Revolutionary past”. Official work now seems unexpectedly “diverse”, only a part being “neurotic, kitschy”. Unofficial “anti-Soviet” art was even more diverse, some focusing on the double lives of so many. Religious mysticism was another theme. Overall, a “somewhat overwhelming, art experience” (like the review itself).

Marvelous Millet, in St. Louis

So, here’s the issue – Millet mattered 100 years ago but does he matter now? His strongest works depicted peasants sympathetically, reminding city folk of the nobility of rural life. His influence was broad – Degas, Pisarro and van Gogh. Then, the rupture of modernism. Suddenly Millet looked dated, “part of the furniture of civic life … an artist whose great work sits passively on the sidelines, inspiring nothing beyond nostalgia.”

The modern African art of Malangatana

Malangatana was raised in rural Mozambique where witchcraft was part of daily life. That influence shone in his work, “allegorical, a dense assembly of phantasmagoric depictions of animals, humans” One might hesitate about claims that he helped define an “Africanist aesthetic” but Malangatana was undoubtedly a pioneer for contemporary African art. A review of his Chicago show is here.

Toyin Ojih Odutola’s Visions of Power

What would a civilization look like where “imperious” females ruled over subservient male drones? Ojih Odutola’s “magnificent” cycle of charcoal drawings, currently showing in London, provides an answer. Her women have the “muscular, dynamic allure of Greek warriors” and strike confident poses, while the males are featureless. Real life analogies abound, particularly the “mutual melancholy that pervades asymmetric relationships of power.” Images are here.

Looted landmarks: how Notre-Dame, Big Ben and St Mark’s were stolen from the east

Ignore the emotive headline. The glorious architecture of Europe’s gothic cathedrals drew heavily on Islamic designs, brought back by those returning from the Crusades. Notre Dame is just one example – its twin towers, ribbed vaults and pointed arches “come directly from Syria’s Qalb Lozeh fifth-century church.” Most cathedral glass in France and England used Syrian know-how. It was one-way traffic – “very little went the other way”.