The Easel

14th July 2026

Through Graciela Iturbide’s Eyes: Ritual, Identity, and the Poetry of Mexico

Cornelia Feye | Vanguard Culture | 4th March 2026

Iturbide a prominent Mexican photographer, often portrays her country from the viewpoint of indigenous communities. Indigenous culture is, of course, very different to western culture. Myth and death, for example, are central elements of indigenous Mexican culture. How can they be shown authentically? For Iturbide, it requires slow photography that is an “act of attention … … allowing images to form through proximity rather than pursuit. Says one writer she produces “haunting and haunted visions”.

Controversial Costumes at the Met’s Newest Galleries

Suzanne Stephens | Architectural Record | 13th May 2026

New York’s Met reasons that because the human body is everywhere in art, fashion deserves a place in the museum. Interspersing artworks among the 200 garments on show brings to life the curator’s view that “the dressed body becomes a prism through which we view [art]”. Some go along with the argument while others state the obvious – “fashion gets people through the doors”. And one writer bells the cat: “it isn’t about the body but about the clothes. It’s an infomercial for the fashion industry.” Images are here.

Who gets to be an American artist?

Robert Rubsam | Apollo | 6th July 2026

Many American cultural traditions at the turn of the 20th century were embodied in ‘folk art’. Mostly created by “uncredentialled’ artists, it was soon swept aside by Europe-based modernism, relegated to a lesser class of vernacular or outsider art. Although some work shows the influence of immigrant groups, it collectively displays “distinctly American qualities” and tells half-forgotten stories, Says a curator “folk art is an equally essential facet of the American artistic tradition”.

7th July 2026

Willem de Kooning: The Breakthrough Years, 1945–50

John Elderfield | Princeton University Art Museum | 5th March 2026

De Kooning was classically trained but living in New York alongside abstractionists like Pollock, his “personal vocabulary” changed. Some works that started as figurative ended up abstract; others went the other way. Leading up to his first solo show in 1948, a mature style was emerging – abstract shapes, made with his characteristic bold and heavy brushstrokes yet carefully assembled. A few years later the ever restless de Kooning started his semi-figurative “Women” series.  Pollock shouted “betrayal”.

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