The Easel

26th July 2022

Henry Moore: The sculptor who achieved the impossible

Laura Gascoigne | Country Life | 17th June 2022

A nice bio piece on the perennially popular Moore. The themes of his career were evident from the outset – mother and child figures, the influence of pre-Columbian sculpture, elemental human and landscape forms. Picasso’s “dominance” in art prior to WW2 shows in Moore’s emphasis on abstraction but, post-war (and by then a family man), he moved toward figuration. This writer’s indicator of Moore’s talent – he could break for lunch every day without losing his creative impulse.

19th July 2022

Milton Avery: conversations with colour

Kelly Grovier | Royal Academy | 11th July 2022

Avery came to art late – he made his “breakthrough” work at 60 – but then produced work of “astonishing resplendence”. Was he a quirky follower of Matisse or someone who saw more radical uses of colour? The above piece definitely thinks the latter but other opinions vary. Avery only painted “things seen”, observes one critic. The more radical step – using colour to “evoke thoughts and feelings rather than to describe the visible world” – had to await the next generation.

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