There are times when we need to be reminded of the crucial role played by commercial galleries and private collectors in correcting the errors-especially errors of omission and indifference-of our leading museums. This is not a new problem on the New York art scene. It was the problem that Alfred Stieglitz addressed nearly a century Read More
There are works of art so spellbinding in their beauty that they transport us beyond the mundane and often dismaying exigencies of day-to-day existence and prompt the kind of experience-uplifting, expansive, profound -that we expect from art. I was transported in this way when I visited Cultivated Landscapes: Reflections of Nature in Chinese Painting , Read More
Joan Miró (1893-1983) enjoyed one of the longest, most productive and provocative careers in the history of 20th-century art, and even now-nearly two decades after his death-he hasn’t lost the power to surprise his many admirers with something new. The exhibition called The Shape of Color: Joan Miró’s Painted Sculpture , which is currently on Read More
I’ve been trying to avoid writing about Summer in the City: High in the 60′s , an exhibition currently on view at Ameringer/Howard/Yohe. It’s a show that has a lot going against it. First of all, there’s the title: I don’t mind the Lovin’ Spoonful reference, but alluding to the era’s drug culture is too Read More
It can sometimes be a chastening experience for a critic to
read the work of his predecessors. It can also at times be exhilarating, even
inspiring. Examples of high intelligence, shrewd judgment and excellent prose
command respect as well as envy. They may even serve as models to emulate. But
the all-too-frequent instances of parochial Read More
In the first room of the Mark Rothko retrospective at the National Gallery of Art in Washington, the paintings all date from the 1930′s. They are not the paintings of a young artist-Rothko, who was still using the name Marcus Rothkowitz, was 33 when he painted his Self-Portrait of 1936-yet they remain the work of Read More
