Film
A 14-Hour Documentary on Female Filmmakers Illuminates and Frustrates
Seeking to upend the male-dominated canon but directed by a man, Women Make Film: A New Road Movie Through Cinema defies some hierarchies while reinforcing others.
Review
Art
Modern Fables for a Dystopian World
Wong Ping's animated films present human and animal characters as psychologically complex, as well as fallible and unable to fully control their lives and desires.
Art
The Story of Labor in New York and What It Requires of Us
City of Workers, City of Struggle at the Museum of the City of New York tracks the evolution of the labor movement as an unpredictable passage of pitfalls and switchbacks.
Books
A Former Museum of Modern Art Director's Meticulous Eye for Detail
As a non-specialist Rene d’Harnoncourt had a rare ability to engage deeply with objects across time, cultural specificity, and form.
Books
Italian Poet Amelia Rosselli's Diary Examines and Reexamines the Self
In her diary, Rosselli experimented with what she described as “wild” writing to explore trauma and loss.
Art
When the Arts Resist Imperialism
The exhibition Clapping with Stones is a chilling reminder that the history of art is also the history of power.
Art
Extraordinary Paintings of Ordinary Birds
Ann Craven's painted birds, set against a soft-focus background, have a kitsch quality, but with a provocative edge.
Art
A Sanitation Worker's Collection of Salvaged Objects
Whether objects are considered trash or treasure depends on how we care for and arrange them.
Art
Finding Rapture Where You Don’t Expect It
An unattributed work can catch you off guard, forcing you to drop your defenses and simply look.
Art
Rescuing Art Sites on the Endangered List
The American researcher Jo Farb Hernández has led the charge to preserve fast-deteriorating, self-taught artists’ environments — before they’re gone.
Books
When a Poet Becomes Invisible
Facing her mortality, Mary Ruefle does not ask for pity or sympathy, because death is democratic.
Film
Linda Ronstadt's Passionate Life of Song
Like its subject, the documentary Linda Ronstadt: The Sound of My Voice builds on familiar elements to make something new and beautiful.