Art
Required Reading
This week, a $100,000 toilet, Kushners unwelcome at the Met, a walker's guide of NYC, self-publishing photo books, Jean Nouvel's embarrassing statement, and more.
Weekend
Books
The Past and Future of China's Socialist Literature
The story Nicolai Volland tells will surprise those who believe communist China was closed to the world, and anyone who thinks communist literature is dull or irrelevant.
Books
Letters to the World: A Poet Turns His Words Into Song
In The Absolute Letter, poet Andrew Joron breaks words down to their constituent parts to reveal their hidden music.
Art
Sociopaths Don’t Cry
A full year after the election, thousands of US citizens wake each morning in shocked disbelief that Donald Trump is our president.
Art
You Are in Good Hands with Matt Connors
Connors has arrived at a synthesis of what, up until now, has been a stylistically identifiable but rather diverse output.
Art
An Artist’s Bond with Her Imprisoned Father
In Sable Elyse Smith’s exhibition Ordinary Violence, the artist’s father is both muse and specter.
Art
Michelangelo’s Majestic Humanity
The Met’s new exhibition presents Michelangelo not as a demigod, but as a student, a thinker, a teacher, and a friend.
Art
Arshile Gorky’s Heretical Abstractions
Ardent Nature: Arshile Gorky Landscapes offers an in-depth exposure to the artist’s personal flowering after spending years at the altar of Cézanne and Picasso
Art
Required Reading
This week, MVRDV's stunning Tianjin Binhai Library, cybercrime in galleries, a history of protest posters, the nationalist critics of the Taj Mahal, and much more.
Art
The Vibrant Palette of Raghubir Singh’s India
Singh did justice to the most layered and dense figurations of his Indian homeland.
Art
On the Road with Wayne Thiebaud
Wayne Thiebaud gets you to think about the folly and hubris of shaping the landscape to suit our needs.
Art
The Skeletons in History’s Closet
When do we stop believing that Robert E. Lee was an honorable man?