The Easel

11th July 2023

Reassessing European Decorative Arts

Delia Cruz Kelly and Daniëlle Kisluk-Grosheide | Perspectives | 5th July 2023

Why, asks a curator of decorative arts, do we distinguish between a painting on canvas and one on a silk fan or porcelain? Similarly, why distinguish between a silversmith and a sculptor? Decorative objects are often unsigned, sometimes because the artisans were women (usually not members of craft guilds). “Decorative art designs [often come from] fine artists, so the fields very often overlap. [They spark] joy and pleasure in different ways”.

Giorgio de Chirico: Horses: The Death of a Rider

Rob Horning | The Brooklyn Rail | 1st July 2023

Together with cubism, de Chirico’s early deserted cityscapes define “the mental landscape of modernism”. After WW1 his work became more classical – gladiators, temples, horses – and was widely criticised. De Chirico defended it as being not so different and a small show of later works does indeed contain symbols from his earlier period. The art market may have an adverse view but, says the writer, these later works are “marvelous and action packed”.

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