The Easel

21st March 2023

‘The Ugly Duchess:’ How an unsettling Renaissance portrait challenges ideas of aging women and beauty

Marianna Cerini | CNN | 17th March 2023

At first glance, Massys’ famous portrait makes fun of its elderly female subject. Her odd face, ridiculous outfit and amorous intent certainly do that. Massys also had other intentions, though. He was riffing on a da Vinci drawing and tapping into Renaissance fascination with the grotesque. More subtly, Massys was subverting the uncritical praise of youth.  “[The painting’s subject] is not apologetic about herself. Elderly women in art [make] us look and think … There’s a lot of power in that”.

14th March 2023

David Hockney Is Not Afraid to Go High Tech

Mark Guidicci | British Vogue | 23rd February 2023

Moving to Tennessee in the early 1980’s to take up an academic post, Lee started photographing nearby communities. After seven years he abruptly stopped, due to his “minimal” interest in recognition. Decades later, a book and a first exhibition have stunned critics. Says one: ”he is one of the great overlooked luminaries of American picture-making. It’s not often that a body of photography is hoisted up from obscurity and straight into the canon”. Images are here.

Old and New Discoveries: Baldwin Lee Interviewed by Mark Steinmetz

Mark Steinmetz | Bomb | 25th January 2023

Moving to Tennessee in the early 1980’s to take up an academic post, Lee started photographing nearby communities. After seven years he abruptly stopped, due to his “minimal” interest in recognition. Decades later, a book and a first exhibition have stunned critics. Says one: ”he is one of the great overlooked luminaries of American picture-making. It’s not often that a body of photography is hoisted up from obscurity and straight into the canon”. Images are here.

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