The Easel

15th October 2019

‘Art & Race Matters’: First Comprehensive Retrospective of Robert Colescott Opens at CAC Cincinnati This Week

Victoria L Valentine | Culture Type | 18th September 2019

Colescott didn’t mind tackling difficult topics like racism one little bit. Besides his use of saturated colours, he wielded another weapon – incisive wit. “The vibrancy of his works’ seduced from afar, eliciting an ‘Oh wow!’ from viewers who might then mutter ‘Oh shit!’ when [looking] up close.” He was, as one writer notes, “always playing for more than seems apparent.”

More Than 30 Acclaimed Collages By Legendary Black Artist Romare Bearden Reunited For First Time In Nearly 40 Years

Natasha Gural | Forbes | 8th August 2019

Having made it as an artist, Bearden decided to paint his own story. The resulting series of pictures does not yield a simple narrative. Bearden was a light-skinned African American, middle class and broadly accomplished. Although anchored in African American culture, his life was multi-layered. This series, says one writer, “undermines the exhausted premises of 21st century identity politics.”

8th October 2019

What the Hell Was Modernism? The Museum of Modern Art tries to open itself up

Jerry Saltz | Vulture | 3rd October 2019

Last rites for the monarchy of modernism. New York’s MoMA was founded on the view that modernism was the zenith of all art. Major changes in the display of its collection, about to be revealed, are a de facto admission that modernism is just one of many art movements. Expect art that is” less than a century old, less white, less male, and less [American] … the monolith of modernism is gone.” Expect more on this topic.

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