The Easel

21st December 2021

By Her Hand: Personal Thoughts and Reflections on an Exhibition

Oliver Tostmann | Art Herstory | 3rd September 2021

A new book about early art history shows how including female artists enriches the story. Up to about 1800, women artists were not as rare as is often thought. However, one has to look in different places to find their output – more miniature portraits, few grand “history” paintings. Their output was somewhat more sporadic as they toggled between part time and full time painting. Artemisia Gentilischi is the star of a current exhibition but the whole lineage, says one critic, calls for a re-think of what it means to be great.

14th December 2021

Van Gogh Experiences: Immersive Art in the COVID Era

Rachel Teukolsky | LA Review of Books | 11th December 2021

“Immersive Van Gogh” is a multimedia extravaganza of “projected visuals, animation, music [and] sound.” Such productions “are not art”, protests one museum director, “they are entertainment”, reflecting a view that beauty should not be judged on the basis of “primitive physical pleasure”. This logic has contributed to the elitism and “inhospitable gatekeeping” many associate with museums. The writer’s verdict – “It was … ideologically suspect in numerous ways, and — I won’t lie — I loved it.”

Francesca Woodman: The eerie images of a teenage genius

Andrew Dickson | bbc.com | 13th December 2021

Genius can announce itself early. In Woodman’s case, even as a teenager she was creating images of “sophistication and deliberation”. Critical discussion of her work has tended to obsess over her early death. Work newly released from her estate shows “just the right balance between control and improvisational freedom. Whatever Woodman’s photographs evoke … it’s not remotely straightforward”. A backgrounder by a former classmate is here.

The Hot Market for Toppled Confederate Statues

Kriston Capps | Bloomberg Citylab | 10th December 2021

Last year, US cities removed over 90 Confederate statues. It turns out that they are in considerable demand. Some become accoutrement – golf course decorations – or are melted down. Others, more interestingly, are wanted by curators precisely because of their odious symbolism – the “Lost Cause” of the Confederacy. They are being sought for use in juxtaposition to black contemporary art. Even after demolishing the object work is still needed to demolish the idea.

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