Ridley Howard: Paintings & Moments
Earlier this week I happened to get off the elevator on the second floor of The Alfond Inn. I had not been on that floor recently, so it had been a while since I had seen Ridley Howard’s Motel Pool. …
Cornell Fine Arts Museum
Jordan Casteel: Voice & Process
Jordan Casteel and I have Italy and New York in common as career influencers. It was during a semester spent in Cortona as an undergraduate that Casteel decided to switch her major from sociology and anthropology to art. Later, while…
Exuberance in Nicole Eisenman’s Painting
Last summer, when our museum was closed due to the pandemic and the future was very uncertain, we started looking for new ways to keep more closely in touch with our diverse publics: students, life-long learners, members, donors. We introduced virtual programs…
Joseph Cornell, James Rosenquist, and Generational Transmission
Back in September, I wrote about the affinities between Joseph Cornell and Earl Cunningham, two untrained eccentrics who made collecting the core of their artistic practices. In that post I also wrote about the serendipity of research, whereby the proximity…
George Grosz and America
When I saw the listing on the CFAM website for the artist George Grosz, I wondered if someone had made a typo. Grosz, I knew, was a German-born artist best remembered for his scathing depictions of the corruption of interwar…
The Underappreciated Tom Wesselmann
A few weeks ago, I wrote about Wayne Thiebaud, whose career has been much more varied than I had previously understood. This week, I’ve had the opportunity to consider another such artist, the similarly underappreciated Tom Wesselmann. If Thiebaud is…
Some Notes on Historical Notability
Usually in this space I am eager to share my most exciting finds, such as my renewed appreciation for Wayne Thiebaud. This week, however, I am in a somewhat more low-key, contemplative mode as a result of my research on…
California Dreamin’ With Wayne Thiebaud
There is just something about landscape art that helps transport me to past times and places. I was reminded of this quality once again this week, with my consideration of Three Cows, a drypoint etching by the American painter Wayne…
More Thoughts on the Materiality of Paint: David Stern
Previously in this space, I have written about the necessity of seeing works of art in person, as well as about the materiality of oil paint. This week my research led me to the art of David Stern, who uses…
Jim Dine, Mark di Suvero, and the Echoes of Downtown
In one of those quirks of the alphabet I wrote about when considering Joseph Cornell and Earl Cunningham, my list of twentieth century American artists includes Jim Dine and Mark di Suvero back-to-back. Both longtime, well-known contemporary artists, the two…