Photography & Art

Fotografiska NY Shines a Deserving Spotlight on Mysterious Photographer Vivian Maier

Sandra Bertrand

Wandering the urban streets of New York City, then later in her adopted city of Chicago, her chosen subjects appear as anonymous as she attempted to make herself. Ordinary, yes, banal, yes, but we can see, as Maier did, something extraordinary. 

The Neue Galerie Pays Homage to Paula Modersohn-Becker, the Mother of German Expressionism

Sandra Bertrand

Escaping city life became the goal. In such a spirit, the colony of Worpswede was formed in Lower Saxony. Becker followed her future husband Otto Modersohn there, where writers and poets such as Thomas Mann and Rainer Maria Rilke, accompanied by his wife, the sculptor Clara Westhoff, were frequent residents.

Käthe Kollwitz at MoMA – Saluting the People’s Artist

Sandra Bertrand

Socialist movements were the order of the day in 19th-century Germany. Rapid industrialization was replacing an agrarian economy at the common man and woman’s peril. Kollwitz responded.

The Adventures of American Impressionist Tilden Daken

Bonnie Portnoy

Born within months of one another in 1876, Jack London in January and Tilden Daken in June, the painter and the writer, both 25 at the time, hit it off straight away. The westbound train was scheduled to arrive the following morning. That night, in the Reno railyard, London taught Tilden his rules of the road, the precarious practice of clinging to the brake beams inches above the track, or in the hobo vernacular, “riding the rods.”

Artist George Townley Embraces the Sun-Soaked Scenery of Los Angeles

The Editors

Escapism is a major theme in Townley’s work and the driving inspiration for his art. He grew up in a small, rainy town in the north of England, so drawing sun-soaked landscapes in California was a way of escaping his environment.

The Harlem Renaissance at the Met: An Explosion of Joy

Sandra Bertrand

The groundbreaking exhibition, The Harlem Renaissance and Transatlantic Modernism, explores the far-reaching and everyday ways in which Black artists portrayed modern life. Through some 160 works of painting, sculpture, photography, film, and ephemera, the new Black culture was taking shape. 

Marta Minujin Is a Tsunami of the Art World

Sandra Bertrand

Some artists make a splash from their first entrance. With enough talent, timing, and tenaciousness it’s almost a given. In the case of Argentinian-born Marta Minujin, she possesses all those attributes and more. Over a six-decade career that embraced soft post-war soft sculptures, large-scale fluorescent paintings, psychedelic drawings, and pioneering pop art performances, she has collided head-on with her critics.

Kay WalkingStick: A Native-American Artist for the Ages

Sandra Bertrand

With such a rich panoply of artworks on display, it’s easy to be distracted from the long and impressive artistic trail of WalkingStick that precedes this single exhibition.  Admittedly, this “dialogue” between the centuries is an illuminating effort, but it is WalkingStick’s own commitment to the natural world and affinity to her racial heritage in her art that stands out.

Judy Chicago’s Story and More than 80 Others at the New Museum

Sandra Bertrand

If anger plays its part in some of Chicago’s most blatant imagery, the Extinction suite puts her compassion for the death of entire species front and center. Her eco-feminist view demands a close look at the brutality against nonhuman life, which is no better exemplified than in The End.

Artist Graham Moore Draws Inspiration From Mid-Century Modern, Vintage Styles

The Editors

The clean, simple lines of mid-century modern design and the cool sounds of West Coast jazz and Bossa Nova Blue Note minimalist record cover artworks of the 1950s – 60s. The Abstract Classicists with their hard-edge painting style using bold lines, organic shapes, and textures. Vintage fashion and photography and classic cars. Pop Art, Constructivism and Suprematism. These are just a few ideas and movements that inspire Graham Moore’s collages.

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