A Critic's View

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Articles in A Critic's View

Cuban Tomás Sánchez: In His Epic Paintings, Meticulous Metaphysics

An epic vision: Tom
An epic vision: Tom

It’s not often that an experienced critic finds himself confronting the work of an “unkn  read more »

Cuban Tomás Sánchez: In His Epic Paintings, Meticulous Metaphysics

An epic vision: Tom
An epic vision: Tom

It’s not often that an experienced critic finds himself confronting the work of an “unkn  read more »

Cuban Tomás Sánchez: In His Epic Paintings, Meticulous Metaphysics

It’s not often that an experienced critic finds himself confronting the work of an “unknown” p  read more »

Cuban Tomás Sánchez: In His Epic Paintings, Meticulous Metaphysics

It’s not often that an experienced critic finds himself confronting the work of an “unknown” p  read more »

Painter Bluemner Defeated By History And Styles of Times

There are artists who, despite their abundant gifts, seem destined to endure a melancholy fate, and  read more »

Painter Bluemner Defeated By History And Styles of Times

Too
Too

There are artists who, despite their abundant gifts, seem destined to endure a melancholy fate, and  read more »

Charles Burchfield: In Macabre Painting, Dark Introspection

The hand of a master: Charles Burchfield
Private Collection, Courtesy DC Moore Gallery
The hand of a master: Charles Burchfield

The American painter Charles Burchfield (1893-1967), whose work is the subject of a splendid exhibit  read more »

Charles Burchfield: In Macabre Painting, Dark Introspection

The American painter Charles Burchfield (1893-1967), whose work is the subject of a splendid exhibit  read more »

Nicolas Carone Shows He’s Still Unsurpassed On the Female Nude

Charged with an expressive intensity: Nicolas Carone
Courtesy Lohin Geduld Gallery
Charged with an expressive intensity: Nicolas Carone

It was not to be expected that a great many people in the New York art world would recognize the nam  read more »

Nicolas Carone Shows He's Still Unsurpassed On the Female Nude

It was not to be expected that a great many people in the New York art world would recognize the nam  read more »

Painter Pousette-Dart, An Enchanting Mystic, Merged Seen, Unseen

Richard Pousette-Dart in his studio in Suffern, N.Y., in the late 1960
Courtesy of the Estate of Richard Pousette-Dart
Richard Pousette-Dart in his studio in Suffern, N.Y., in the late 1960

The American painter Richard Pousette-Dart (1916-1992), whose very large late paintings are the subj  read more »

Painter Pousette-Dart, An Enchanting Mystic, Merged Seen, Unseen

The American painter Richard Pousette-Dart (1916-1992), whose very large late paintings are the subj  read more »

Fra Angelico Elicits Astonishing Piety At Met Exhibition

Evidence of a spiritual vocation: Fra Angelico
Allan Macintyre, HUAM
Evidence of a spiritual vocation: Fra Angelico

The modern mind doesn’t easily accommodate itself to the idea that the art of painting may som  read more »

Fra Angelico Elicits Astonishing Piety At Met Exhibition

The modern mind doesn’t easily accommodate itself to the idea that the art of painting may sometim  read more »

Painter Hans Memling: Superhuman Style In Exhibition at Frick

Almost superhuman perfection: Hans Memling
Courtesy of the Frick Collection
Almost superhuman perfection: Hans Memling

The Flemish painter Hans Memling (circa 1435-1494) is primarily remembered today for his meticulousl  read more »

Caution to Viewers: Murray’s Paintings May Induce Vertigo

Herky-jerky flailing: Elizabeth Murray
Dallas Museum of Art,
Herky-jerky flailing: Elizabeth Murray

For devotees of the shaped-canvas aesthetic, the exhibition of paintings by Elizabeth Murray at the  read more »

Caution to Viewers: Murray's Paintings May Induce Vertigo

For devotees of the shaped-canvas aesthetic, the exhibition of paintings by Elizabeth Murray at the  read more »

Van Gogh’s Drawings: A Precise Draftsman, Emotional Cauldron

A faithful depiction of the observed subject: Vincent van Gogh
Courtesy of Vincent van Gogh Foundation
A faithful depiction of the observed subject: Vincent van Gogh

Fame hasn’t always been kind to the reputation of Vincent van Gogh (1853-1890), whose drawings  read more »

Van Gogh's Drawings: A Precise Draftsman, Emotional Cauldron

Fame hasn’t always been kind to the reputation of Vincent van Gogh (1853-1890), whose drawings are  read more »

Guggenheim’s Russia! Show Gets Fascinating After Five Centuries

A frank depiction of everyday Russian life: Ilya Repin
A frank depiction of everyday Russian life: Ilya Repin

As its exclamatory title announces straightaway, the exhibition called Russia!  read more »

Guggenheim's Russia! Show Gets Fascinating After Five Centuries

As its exclamatory title announces straightaway, the exhibition called Russia!  read more »

Painter Jules Olitski Transported His Viewers To Virtual Outer Space

Storms of color: Jules Olitski
Courtesy of Knoedler & Company
Storms of color: Jules Olitski

It was the 19th-century British critic William Hazlitt who shrewdly observed that writers “who  read more »

Painter Jules Olitski Transported His Viewers To Virtual Outer Space

It was the 19th-century British critic William Hazlitt who shrewdly observed that writers “who lac  read more »

Painter Jules Olitski Transported His Viewers To Virtual Outer Space

It was the 19th-century British critic William Hazlitt who shrewdly observed that writers “who lac  read more »

Painter Joan Snyder Takes On the Big Boys: Pollock, de Kooning

What, for other artists, might be considered excess—excess energy, excess emotion, excess ambition  read more »

Painter Joan Snyder Takes On the Big Boys: Pollock, de Kooning

Shocking, graphic, memorable: Joan Snyder
Courtesy of the Jewish Museum
Shocking, graphic, memorable: Joan Snyder

What, for other artists, might be considered excess—excess energy, excess emotion, excess ambi  read more »

No Direction Known: Exhibit at Whitney Missing a Landscape

More like a mammoth necklace: Fred Tomaselli
Whitney Museum of American Art
More like a mammoth necklace: Fred Tomaselli

It was not to be expected that an exhibition called Landscape at the Whitney Museum of American Art  read more »

Loner, Misfit Degas: Lover of Bathers Was Never Impressionist

One of Harvard
Allan Macintyre, HUAM,
One of Harvard

The French painter Edgar Degas (1834-1917) was in some respects the most misunderstood artist of his  read more »

Loner, Misfit Degas: Lover of Bathers Was Never Impressionist

The French painter Edgar Degas (1834-1917) was in some respects the most misunderstood artist of his  read more »

Dix and Beckmann: Two Painters Convey The Horror of War

Not a pretty picture: <i>Otto Dix&#039;s Skull</i>, 1924.
Courtesy of Neue Galerie New York
Not a pretty picture: Otto Dix's Skull, 1924.

Given the horrific history of Germany in the modern era, it was not to be expected that German art f  read more »

Backing Jean Hélion: Why Did Roberta Smith Attack the Painter?

It had not been my intention to return to the subject of the Jean Hélion exhibition at the National  read more »

Backing Jean Hélion: Why Did Roberta Smith Attack the Painter?

The ordinary affairs of civilian life: Jean H
Courtesy Robert Miller Gallery, New York
The ordinary affairs of civilian life: Jean H

It had not been my intention to return to the subject of the Jean Hélion exhibition at the Na  read more »

Cézanne, Pissarro: Two Painters Drew From Other's Work

To fully understand the exhibition called Pioneering Modern Painting: Cézanne and Pissarro 1865-188  read more »

Cézanne, Pissarro: Two Painters Drew From Other's Work

Paul C
R
Paul C

To fully understand the exhibition called Pioneering Modern Painting: Cézanne and Pissarro 18  read more »

Schmattes of Matisse: Painter Was Obsessed With Textile Design

It’s odd now to recall a time when the word “decorative,” as applied to the paintings of Matis  read more »

Schmattes of Matisse: Painter Was Obsessed With Textile Design

At once pleasing and aesthetically profound: Henri Matisse&#039;s <i>Decorative Figure on an Ornamental Background</i>, 1926.
At once pleasing and aesthetically profound: Henri Matisse's Decorative Figure on an Ornamental Background, 1926.

It’s odd now to recall a time when the word “decorative,” as applied to the painti  read more »

Jean Hélion's Curves Continue to Impress; So Do His Figures

Not quite the end of modernism: Jean H
Courtesy of the National Academy
Not quite the end of modernism: Jean H

The French painter Jean Hélion (1904-1987), whose work is the focus of a compelling exhibitio  read more »

Jean Hélion's Curves Continue to Impress; So Do His Figures

The French painter Jean Hélion (1904-1987), whose work is the focus of a compelling exhibition at t  read more »

Two Wonderful Shows: Painter Alex Katz Having Big Summer

For the American painter Alex Katz (born 1927), this has been a remarkable summer.  read more »

Two Wonderful Shows: Painter Alex Katz Having Big Summer

Big plein-air ambitions: Alex Katz&#039;s Walking on the Beach, 2002
Farnsworth Art Museum
Big plein-air ambitions: Alex Katz's Walking on the Beach, 2002

For the American painter Alex Katz (born 1927), this has been a remarkable summer.  read more »

At 180th Exhibition, Academy Asks Disegno And Gets Big Muddle

Artists tend not to be very obedient about following rules, even when the rules are established by t  read more »

Painter Megan Olson Has Double Vision: Abstract and Realist

The American painter Megan Olson (born 1971) calls the current exhibition of her paintings Still Mov  read more »

Guggenheim Wouldn't Be Museum If Not For Hilla Rebay

For anyone with a serious interest in modernist painting and its role in shaping the course of 20th-  read more »

Sculptor di Suvero: His Eight-Foot Work Is Now Steel Drawing

Just under half a century has passed since the young Mark di Suvero (born 1933) made his debut with  read more »

Nelligan and Bileck: Charcoal Contours And Nature in Decay

Some years ago, I began hearing about the drawings of the American artist Emily Nelligan, and it was  read more »

Realist Richard Baker Confers His Anxiety On Tulips, Lemons

There are times when objects in a realist painting seem to abandon their identity and become somethi  read more »

William Tucker Work Alludes to Degas, But It Won't Dance

Few professionals in the art world, whether they're artists, critics, historians or museum curators,  read more »

Ernst Ludwig Kirchner Painted 20th Century As Terrible Bridge

The group of young Germans who, in 1905, proudly called themselves Die Brücke ("The Bridge") derive  read more »

'New Sculptor' Ferber Brought Love of Nudes To Curvy Abstracts

Open-form, welded-metal sculpture is now so familiar to the art public that it's sometimes forgotten  read more »