December 24, 2021 • View in browser
Good Morning. ⛅️ Twas the night before Christmas … Today, the abolitionist cartoonist who helped make Santa “American,” decoding Kandinsky, and the unconventional life of Edith Schloss.
Merry Christmas to all who celebrate. May you have a lovely day surrounded by those you love.
— Hrag Vartanian, editor-in-chief
Rethinking Kandinsky
The problem with many of Kandinsky’s abstractions is that they don’t offer enough immediate visual information to “crack” his expressive code for color and form. | David Carrier
SPONSORED
The Shape of Things & Land of Broken Dreams at Park Avenue Armory
Carrie Mae Weems, an artist who consistently and poignantly addresses the conditions of race, creates a multi-work installation: on view through Friday, December 31. The New York Times describes this installation as “Compelling…insightful, sometimes funny, and occasionally quite direct.”
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Bruno Dumont’s France Is a Cogent, if Convoluted, Critique of Celebrity Culture
This may not be a great film, but its narrative and tonal weaknesses throw into relief just how strong Léa Seydoux is as its thumping heart. | Eileen G'Sell
Painter Edith Schloss Remembers a Life Lived in Art
Schloss’s The Loft Generation creates a mirror-memoir, as literary portraiture doubles as veiled self-portraiture. | Tim Keane
The Artist Who Helped Create a Very American Santa Claus
Abolitionist cartoonist Thomas Nast had a big role in manufacturing the US version of the Christmas patriarch. | Jasmine Liu
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MFA, MA, and PhD Programs to Apply for by Early 2022
TRANSITIONS
- Lesley Lokko was appointed curator of the 2023 Venice Architecture Biennale.
- Sook-Kyung Lee was appointed artistic director of the 2023 Gwangju Biennale.
- The archive of Lora Webb Nichols is now represented by Danziger Gallery.
- Kelly Taxter has resigned as director of the Parrish Art Museum.
AWARDS & ACCOLADES
- Boston College’s McMullen Museum of Art has received a donation of 27 paintings and three works on paper from the collection of Peter Lynch, the largest gift in the museum’s history.
Required Reading
This week, debunking Christmas myths, Brian Eno on NFTs, artists we lost in 2021, garbage internet trends, and more. | Hrag Vartanian
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