December 29, 2019The Pursuit of Art, 2019MoMA’s recognition of the modernism’s multiverse, alongside artist-led drives for greater transparency on the part of museums and their boards, brought a twinge of optimism to the close of the year. Thomas MicchelliThis Be the Verse 2019John Yau and Albert Mobilio select a few of their favorite poetry books from the past year. Jessica Dismorr Is Getting Her Due, 80 Years Too LateThere is much to praise about Radical Women: Jessica Dismorr and her Contemporaries, and there is not a little to regret. Michael GloverThe Unsparing Pages of Francis BaconAlmost 30 years after his death, the unabated edginess of Bacon’s paintings, and the dark literary sources informing them, put the lie to our self-mythologizing. Tim KeaneSPONSOREDBut is it Folk Art? Avant-Garde Quilts and Found Object AssemblagesCoulter Fussell and Butch Anthony work in traditional mediums to examine modern issues. The Halsey Institute of Contemporary ArtA Daily Commute Frames an Author's ReflectionsOver the course of her graphic memoir, Commute, Erin Williams acknowledges the lives of people she encounters in her day, but she maintains a steady gaze on herself. Angelica FreyThe Endlessly Inventive Jörg ImmendorffImagine Gustave Courbet’s materialism joined to Max Beckmann’s aggressive color, with a dash of Caspar David Friedrich’s visionary panoramas thrown in. David CarrierBig Thief's Haunting Musical DreamworldThe Brooklyn folk-rock band’s two 2019 albums invent an imagined environment with its own internal logic, a densely wooded forest with strange, benevolent creatures lurking in the shadows. Lucas FagenRequired ReadingThis week, the meme of the decade, historical accuracy and the 1619 Project, how not to discuss African fiction, considering the Black interior art, Chinese restaurants are closing in the US, and more. Hrag VartanianForward this newsletter to a friend! If this email was forwarded to you, click here to subscribe |