The Easel

15th October 2019

Gauguin Portraits review – a buttoned-up, nervous and nude-light cop-out of a show

Jonathon Jones | The Guardian | 4th October 2019

Gauguin’s reputation rests heavily on his Tahiti portraits. Why then are so few included in this major show? This writer suspects a “nervous cop-out” to avoid controversy coming from their evident misogyny. That’s a disservice to Gauguin. To his credit, these works show his respect for Polynesian culture, in the face of prevailing European colonialism. “If we can’t see art, we can’t debate it”.

8th October 2019

Kara Walker debuts monumental fountain in Tate Modern’s Turbine Hall

Leonidas Kalai | Art Critique | 1st October 2019

Kara Walker is having a moment in London. There is a survey of her acclaimed films that deal with slavery in America’s Antebellum South. A newly commissioned sculpture looks, at first glance, like British Empire bombast. Closer inspection shows it to contain figures that speak to Britain’s colonial past – “playful and inviting, yet brutal in its core.  A video (4 min) is here.

How Cuba’s Cold War graphic design found humour in propaganda

Henry Wong | Design Week | 5th September 2019

Russia’s Cold War propaganda sometimes used “muscular” socialist realist imagery. Without an equivalent homegrown style, Cuba’s artists improvised, often using the tools of advertising – strong images, simple slogans, bright colours, mimicking Pop art. Innovative, without a doubt, though in the fullness of time, it went the way of all Cold War propaganda. More images are here.

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