Art
Daguerreotypes of the California Gold Rush
Coinciding with the early years of photography, the California Gold Rush left a lasting mark on image making.
Reviews
Art
A Collaborative Photobook by Richard Avedon and James Baldwin
Avedon and Baldwin's 1964 photobook, with a new introduction by Hilton Als, resonates profoundly today.
Art
How Asian-American Artists Made a Mark on Abstract Expressionism
Asian-American artists engaged deeply and creatively with Abstract Expressionism, counter to historical views of the movement as a New York monolith.
Art
Gauguin's Decorative and Graphic Art, Beyond His Paintings of Paradise
Paul Gauguin's decorative works, sculpture, wood carvings, and graphic artworks highlight his stimulating color harmonies and rich compositions, even as some of the subject matter sits uncomfortably with today's standards.
Books
Is There a Right Way to Look at Art?
Is looking at a work of art for up to fifteen minutes with no context the best way to appreciate and understand it?
Art
Celebrating Outstanding Glass Artists Who Happen to Be Women
Fired Up: Contemporary Glass by Women Artists at the Toledo Museum of Art is an outstanding show, but there is little to convince me that “female glass art” occupies a necessarily separate category than “glass art.”
Art
A Family Portrait in Ash
The artist uses his relatives' funerary ashes, bone fragments, and old photos to explore a complex family history.
Art
Finding Birds Among the Ruins of an Historical Archive
In Petrit Halilaj’s current exhibition at the New Museum the artist again explores matters of excavation as a means to explore issues of nationality.
Art
Realizing Paul Klee’s Influence on American Abstraction
A sense of irrepressible exuberance that makes Klee’s work singular in the history of modern art infuses two current exhibitions of his work in Switzerland.
Books
An Enigmatic Literary Icon of Modern China
Although Lu Xun eventually cast his lot with the communist revolutionaries, he took a dim view of literature that attempted to recover a national identity or culture.
Books
Urban Poems of Yearning and Heartbreak
John Godfrey’s poems are like pointillistic patterns more than traditional narratives, suggesting an attitude over a story.
Books
Mónica de la Torre's Poems Reimagine an Iconic Martin Kippenberger Artwork
In these enigmatic poems, de la Torre’s mode of direct address seeks to put the reader into a trance.