The Easel

13th October 2020

How Peter Carl Fabergé continues to inspire the Fabergé brand even 100 years after his death

Aliya Ladhabhoy | Luxebook | 24th September 2020

When Peter Fabergé took over the family business in 1882, he raised its artistry and craftsmanship to astonishing levels. His Imperial Eggs reflect the elegance of St. Petersburg’s Belle Époque society and almost flaunt their mastery of guilloché, a fiendishly difficult enamelling technique. Just as spectacularly, they demonstrate Fabergé’s own inventiveness and exquisite taste. Little wonder he enjoyed that most precious thing – the Tsar’s carte blanche.

The National Gallery offers a powerful but partial view of transgression

Prospero | The Economist | 7th October 2020

In the sixth century, Pope Gregory helpfully listed seven deadly sins. Are they still deadly? Sinfulness these days carries mild connotations – a second helping of chocolate cake. Most religious concepts of sin which permeate European art history no longer resonate. A London show reveals a single exception: the one such concept that resonates as much as ever is the scapegoat.

Robert Kobayashi at Susan Inglett Gallery

Jan Garden Castro | Whitehot Magazine | 1st October 2020

Kobayashi was a charming figure in New York’s art world. After trying painting, he began using strips of tin and nails to make portraits, still lifes and sculptures. The results were somewhat akin to pointillist paintings. Kobayashi avoided gallery representation and attention from critics was therefore sporadic. He put his whimsical works in a shopfront of his studio building; the neighbours complained if new pieces were slow to appear.

The art of the kimono

Staff | Asian Art Newspaper | 25th September 2020

For something quintessentially Japanese, the kimono has a surprisingly eclectic history. Indian cotton was the sought-after kimono fabric in the early 17th century. Later came French brocade. When Japan fully opened to trade in 1853, a fascination with Western tastes saw male demand for the garment collapse. Still, the kimono remains distinctive. Rather than accentuating body curves, it is “all surface”, perfect for flaunting expensive fabric and designs.

Nazi art on show: Is Germany ready to look again?

Anna Larkin | DW | 6th October 2020

Should we separate art from the deeds/misdeeds of the artist? What about art the Nazi’s commissioned from favoured artists? It’s a dilemma facing German museums, some of whom have extensive holdings of Nazi sponsored art. There is no clear public consensus on the matter, something that might be progressed by exhibiting the works. Procrastination looks tempting: the “younger generation … [has] a more neutral approach to the topic”.

How Caravaggio destroyed (and saved) painting

Jerry Saltz | Vulture | 24th September 2020

In praise of the emotional expressiveness of the Baroque and one of its stars, Caravaggio. Commissioned in 1600 to produce three paintings for a Rome church, he “shattered Renaissance wholeness, clarity and abstruse optical effects … [with] a new, unideal naturalism. The Baroque feels vital now in the way it refuses to accept … rule-bound theoretical art and instead probes deeper into the core of lived experience.”

A brief history of colour photography

Josh Bright | The Independent Photographer | 9th September 2020

Afficionados of colour photography will want more. For others, this piece usefully surveys who did what. Once Kodak developed Kodachrome film, pioneers in colour photography emerged. Some names are unfamiliar – Haas, Leiter, Christenberry. Eggleston looms large, widely seen as the person whose colour saturated images define the field. Missing is Vivian Maier whose reputation is skyrocketing, despite only recently being discovered (The Easel, Sept. 8).

6th October 2020

David Hockney’s Paintings Are World Renowned, But He Never Lost His Desire to Draw

David D’Arcy | Observer | 4th October 2020

While there may be some unevenness in Hockney’s overall output, when it comes to drawing he is a “master”. What jumps out from this current New York show is his variety – pencil, charcoal, Polaroid, iPad – the emotion he is able to convey about those he sketches, and an allegiance to the truth.  Enthuses one writer “the intensity of Hockney’s self-inspection, fag in mouth, bears comparison with Rembrandt.” Images are here.

The Later Work of Dorothea Tanning

Craig Morgan Teicher | The Paris Review | 1st October 2020

Art history’s coverage of Tanning is rather one dimensional. Recognition came more from her marriage to Max Ernst than her own “almost photo-realistic” surrealism. Beyond that, not much is said. In fact, she left surrealism behind. Her later works were “unprecedented creations as much about the paint itself as about what she painted. [She] accomplishes everything the abstract expressionists set out to do.” A recent biography is covered here.

Some of Edward Hopper’s Earliest Paintings Are Copies of Other Artists’ Work

Nora McGreevy | Smithsonianmag.com | 1st October 2020

New research has found that, in his formative years, Hopper copied the works of others. One curator concludes that this means he was not an “American original”. This sounds excessively critical – after all, Hopper’s enigmatic work helped define America’s sense of itself. More likely as a casualty is Hopper’s claim that his only formative influence was “myself”. “Young Hopper copied freely and regularly, which is to say, he learned to see.”

The Demolition of LACMA: Art Sacrificed to Architecture

Joseph Giovannini | The New York Review of Books | 2nd October 2020

Fierce controversy over the re-build of Los Angeles’ major museum stems from disagreements about how art should be displayed. The approved plan aims to avoid displays that are “Eurocentric” or that impose a “hierarchical narrative”. Opponents think the museum’s collection should provide context for items on display. An aggravation – the new plan diminishes gallery display space. The writer’s view: the plan is “a very expensive betrayal of the public trust”.

Four Museums Decided This Work Shouldn’t Be Shown. They’re Both Right and Wrong

Jerry Saltz | Vulture | 1st November 2019

A Philip Guston show has been postponed because of fears that his anti-racist imagery may be misunderstood. Major art institutions are terrified of being caught in the swirling debate about racial equality. Have they “caved in” to groups wanting to dictate how art is interpreted? Protests the writer “Is art to be defined exclusively by ideology? We can’t reduce art to woke or not woke.”

Bubbles, sheiks and the freeport frenzy: Georgina Adam reflects on 30 years of art market reporting

Georgina Adam | The Art Newspaper | 30th September 2020

A cataloguing of the things that have changed. Extreme levels of wealth (and low interest rates) explain much, especially the prices paid for ‘trophy’ art. Tastes have shifted dramatically, as evidenced by declining enthusiasm for antiques. Contemporary art, a “minor specialist area” in 1990, has now “carried all before it”. Auction houses are now “totally corporate” and art is a commodity, judged on its asset characteristics.

Gregory Crewdson’s photos reveal melancholy and mystery in small-town America

Jacqui Palumbo | CNN | 30th September 2020

Crewdson specializes in constructed images – photographs where he creates many aspects of the image. This practice may sound like contemporary movie-making but actually has a history in photography going back to Victorian times. His current work, set in a “dreary post-industrial town”, exudes a sense of malaise.  Says one writer, his are “half-stories, with no prelude and no denouement”.

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