Moroni was a big talent in a small town. The era’s famous names – Titian, Bronzino – competed for clients in glamourous Venice. Moroni enjoyed a quieter regional market where he could get away with painting what he saw, rather than glossy fictions. His naturalistic portraits, not especially celebrated at the time, now look like a “remarkable achievement.” A video (4 min) is here.
Urban turmoil in Germany and Austria led artists to seek inspiration from within. Then, the horrors of WW1 created a new imperative – to objectively depict the crumbing Weimar republic. The self-portraits from these two periods are among the most memorable of 20th century art, from introspective Schiele to Beckmann’s dark realism. Unsettled faces, as far as the eye can see.
Lately, KAWS has been selling for millions at auction. His paintings and sculptures of cartoonish figures are attention-grabbing and Instagram-friendly – perhaps he is the next Basquiat or Haring. Naysayers think this is absurd. His early street art had vitality, but endless repetition since shows up the real issue – the “sheer conceptual bankruptcy of KAWS work.”
Sultan was adept at all forms of photography but is celebrated for Pictures From Home, a decade-long study of his retired parents. Using both staged and spontaneous images, he created a narrative about family and suburban life. “Photography is instrumental in creating family not only as a memento, … but also a kind of mythology.” More images are here.