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Month: January 2016

  • Jan 30: a favorite Desmazieres

    A FAVORITE DESMAZIERES Eric Desmazieres (b. 1948) is one of those inward-turning artists whose work is remote from any contemporary school or fashion–Charles Mèryon (1821-68) might be the nearest influence. His prints can be more labored than inventive, but at their best, as here, there is a wonderful, dreamy focus to them.   “Ville Imaginaire II”  1999 –…

  • Jan 23: density in battle

    DENSITY IN BATTLE One of the great blessings of my life is that I’ve never experienced battle—nor, for all I know, did the artists represented here. But the intense density of combatants is a recurrent and very convincing visual trope.                              …

  • Jan 16: and speaking of Motherwell. . .

    AND SPEAKING OF MOTHERWELL . . . In 1959, at the age of sixteen, studying baboons with my father at the Amboseli game reserve in Kenya, I encountered Eliot Elisofon (1911-73), the noted Life photographer. He was there on assignment for an article on Literary Africa. Among other things he needed a photo to match…

  • Jan 9, 2016: Motherwell, with cavils

    MOTHERWELL, WITH CAVILS I’ve long been an admirer-with-reservations about the work of Robert Motherwell (1915-91), presently the subject of a small show at the DeYoung Museum in San Francisco. My admiration is based on his fairly early work–pieces such as “At Five In the Afternoon” from 1950,     or “Elegy to the Spanish Republic…