Lee Krasner Gets the Last Word
Lucy Ives reviews The Met’s Krasner-Pollock show, Editor-in-Chief Hakim Bishara interviews outgoing Yaddo President Elaina Richardson, and Aruna D’Souza profiles artist Rana Begum.
It’s a sad fact of life that some people who lead prestigious art organizations for many years end up growing aloof, calculated, and a tad too close to money and power. Not Elaina Richardson, who led the artist retreat Yaddo for 26 years until last week. For those who don’t know, Yaddo is a century-old artist residency in Saratoga Springs, New York, that has hosted authors and artists including James Baldwin, Truman Capote, Sylvia Plath, Jacob Lawrence, and Philip Guston. I sat down with Richardson for an interview about her years at Yaddo and how culture and art have changed throughout that time. Hope you enjoy it.
Speaking of luminary authors, novelist and critic Lucy Ives pens a breathtaking review of the Met Museum’s Lee Krasner and Jackson Pollock show. “I’ve never seen an upending quite like this,” she writes.
Much more below, including Aruna D’Souza on artist Rana Begum and Pope Leo’s plea to save human art from AI.
—Hakim Bishara, editor-in-chief
Elaina Richardson Looks Back at 26 Years as President of Yaddo
After 26 years at the helm of Yaddo, the storied artist retreat currently celebrating its 100th anniversary, Elaina Richardson is moving on. She will be succeeded by Cyra Levenson, deputy director of Learning and Engagement at the Guggenheim Museum, as announced last week.
I met Richardson at her Manhattan apartment for a conversation about her time at Yaddo, the changing nature of art residencies, and what it takes to support artists today. | Hakim Bishara
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WashU Seeks Artists in Diverse Media for Fall 2027 Entry to MFA Program
Experiment in the Sam Fox School’s expansive, state-of-the-art facilities, leveraging fellowship, residency, and research opportunities.
News
- Pope Leo says that the Catholic Church plans to renew its alliance with artists and cultural institutions amid rising threats of censorship and homogenization under AI.
- The Whitney Museum of American Art Union ratifies their contract on the eve of the strike.
- Artist Theaster Gates has acquired Pickard China, a fine china manufacturer based in Antioch, Illinois, for an undisclosed sum. [NPR]
From Our Critics
The Met’s Krasner and Pollock Show Is a Breathtaking Upending
If you’re looking for bias or reparations, these volatile contents are all on the surface, quietly and neatly presented. | Lucy Ives
Read MoreTurning Turner’s Legacy
“Turner and the Slave Trade” recasts Romanticism’s relationship to nature and landscape painting as a vehicle for colonial propaganda. | Tao Leigh Goffe
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“Doyle Lane: Master of Clay” Now on View at The Huntington
Discover the first major museum retrospective devoted to the influential Los Angeles ceramic artist.
Artist Spotlight
Rana Begum Sees What You Don’t
“Art became a tool to communicate, at first,” she told Hyperallergic. “Then it became an obsession.” | Aruna D’Souza
Read MoreCommunity
A View From the Easel: Chanika Svetvilas
“There’s a lot of construction going on en route. Sometimes I capture the sounds.”
Read MoreMember Comment
—Lowery Sims on "The Overlooked Black Architect Who Shaped a Landmark Smithsonian Museum"
ArtFields — 2027 Festival Call for Artists
Southern artists: compete for $100K+ in prizes at the 2027 ArtFields Festival in Lake City, SC, or propose large-scale public art. Visual Art Competition Fee: $25; No fee for large-scale public art proposals
Deadline: November 1, 2026 | artfieldssc.org
From the Archive
The Farm at Black Mountain College You Didn’t Know Existed
A new book centers the voices of those whose hands built the historic school and whose dreams shaped its programs, all of which involved a little-known farm. | Nancy Zastudil
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