Books
The 1980s in New York
New books by Ingrid Sischy and Gary Indiana expand our understanding of a crucial decade.
David Carrier
Art
The Met’s Wrong Turn on Revisionism
When an exhibition is as puzzling as this one, it’s useful to step aside and reflect.
Art
Learning from an Art Bastard
The problem with Robert Cenedella’s analysis is that it isn’t radical enough.
Art
The Emergence of a Brash Young Painter
A large exhibition like Devan Shimoyama’s at the Andy Warhol Museum inevitably puts great pressure on a very young artist. It also offers a marvelous challenge for reviewers.
Art
Deconstructing Race in Western Painting
The most interesting part of this excellent exhibition is its presentation of black modernists, for here we enter relatively unfamiliar territory.
Art
The Challenges of Fashion in a Museum
Contemporary Muslim Fashions is an exhibition that is also a major political statement, one that should provide support for multicultural tolerance and understanding.
Books
Adrian Piper in Her Own Words
Piper is the rare artist whose practice is informed by her skills as a philosopher.
Art
René Magritte’s Bad Paintings
When Belgium was occupied by Germany during World War II, René Magritte adopted the style of Pierre-Auguste Renoir and painted images based on popular cartoons.
Books
What Do Art Critics Actually Do?
Artists, collectors, curators, and dealers are all needed for the system to function, but the role of critics is up for grabs.
Art
The Importance of Being Delacroix
The last great artist who was not a modernist, Delacroix synthesized very complex visual and verbal traditions in stunning works that open the way to modernism.
Books
Connoisseurship Is Not a Dirty Word
Connoisseurship, it is often said, is elitist, Euro-centric, and logo-centric, to employ the fashionable jargon.
Books
Who Really Owns the Elgin Marbles?
However we judge Lord Elgin’s original acquisition of the Parthenon sculptures, it’s easy to wonder whether the Turkish rulers legitimately had the right to allow him to dispose of these artworks.