New York Art Notes
I was lured to MoMA by the opening of “Vital Signs,” subtitled “Artists and the Body,” although it could more descriptively be called “Women Artists in our Collection and What they Thought of Themselves.” For most pieces, it seemed clear, the artist was more concerned with expressing something they felt than in communicating anything to […]
Siena at the Met
“Siena: The Rise of Painting, 1300-1350” confirmed the view arrived at on our recent trip to Italy, including Siena, that Sienese painting is a cul de sac in the history of art. The exhibition’s first gallery is centered on the Met’s prize Duccio and I cynically wonder if the show was not conceived as a […]
Italy ’24
Italian art, 1300-1500, was the unstated focus of our trip with the Santa Barbara Museum of Art to Hill Towns of Umbria and Tuscany from September 26 to October 9. Without notes, the stops blend together, but for the record we visited Montefalco, Todi, Spello, Spoleto, Bevagna, Clitunno, Orvieto, Assisi, Perugia, Sansepulcro, Monterchi, Siena, Pienza […]
New York Spring
Just as Broadway had, for us at least, an unexceptional spring, the art I saw in New York on this visit left few lasting impressions, which I will briefly highlight. Before we left for Africa we went to the Neue Galerie for the final days of its Klimt Landscapes show. There were a handful of […]
Black Art
We had a fortuitous 30-hour immersion in Black culture: the Brooklyn Museum’s exhibition of art from the collection of Alicia Keys and Swizz B; Hell’s Kitchen, the Alicia Keys musical on Broadway; and Harlem Renaissance at the Met. I reviewed the play elsewhere, but the two art shows were an interesting complement to each other. […]