The Easel

3rd December 2019

At the deCordova, unearthing a connection with the “beautiful and frightening flow of water”

Land art doesn’t get much attention. The classic work of the genre is probably Robert Smithson’s 1970 Spiral Jetty, a meditation on man’s relationship to the environment. Andy Goldsworthy is an eminent current land artist. His latest piece focuses on the relentless power of water. “[His] work, to me, has always been about letting go – accepting that for all our hallmarks of progress, we’re both temporary and vulnerable”.

“John Singer Sargent: Portraits in Charcoal” at The Morgan Library & Museum, New York

Sargent’s oil portraits brought him fame and fortune, but they took work. By 1907, after more than a thousand of them, he had had enough. Charcoal drawings were a compromise – single sitting pieces that would mollify insistent clients. Quick these pieces may have been, but they are portraiture “at its finest … [that] discloses and elaborates upon the human spirit.” More images are here.

26th November 2019