Tag: Modern Art
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Why isn’t artist Norman Lewis famous?
Abstract Expressionism — the first uniquely American art movement to attain international influence — trumpets the limitlessness of artistic horizons. But limitless for whom? How many Black abstract expressionists can you name?
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Henri Matisse and that cursed armchair
Henri Matisse liked to paint quiet moments of repose in order to catch his breath before returning to the turmoils of life. Peace of mind is what he craved and what he wanted to bestow on us. Does it mean he wasn’t quite serious enough as an artist?
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Stuart Davis was hip to the jive
Did modern artist Stuart Davis take the same passionate risks as a jazz musician? Or is that hard to bring off? Likewise, did the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra truly transform the colors, lines, and layers of a Stuart Davis painting into live music? Here’s a rare opportunity to compare notes.
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Sheeler, Rivera, and machine-age anxiety
Charles Sheeler and Diego Rivera jumped at the chance to portray Henry Ford’s unprecedented manufacturing complex. Do their pictures celebrate the potential of machines to liberate us from drudgery? Or do they warn us about the dangers of living in a technology-driven society?
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George Bellows: Last stop, 59th Street
The scale of the lone tenement building under the new Queensboro Bridge seems odd. Is it real? Or is it a ghost, urging us to remember all the homes that were bulldozed in the name of urban expansion and the human interactions that once took place inside them?
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Alexandra Exter: One night in Kyiv
In her day, Ukrainian artist Alexandra Exter was one of the brightest stars in the European avant-garde. Her friends and colleagues included Pablo Picasso, Georges Braque, and Fernand Léger. We know so much about them. Why do we know so little about her?
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Decoding the mysterious art of Paul Klee
Unlike Picasso, Paul Klee doesn’t suffer from being taken way too seriously. But maybe it’s time his compositions carried more weight. Klee’s Bauhaus lectures contain over 1,200 pages of his own research into color, shape, and pattern that are among the most detailed in art history.
The Shy Museumgoer 