Artblog | photography

December 6, 2017 by Andrea Kirsh

Books for the Holidays 2017 Part 1

Andrea reports on four books you might consider getting for the bibliophile/art-loving person in your life. Two of the books, one on painter Alice Neel, and one on photographer Richard Avedon, are well-designed and richly illustrated exhibition catalogs of recent exhibitions; one, also a show catalog, well-organized and attractive, with a Barkley Hendricks image on the cover, aggregates scholarship and imagery of art made by African Americans in the Black Power era (1960s-70s); and one is an extremely alluring and seductive design anthology of African design — interior, architecture, household furnishings, fashion — that will have you running to the Internet to make immediate purchases! Read on.

August 27, 2017 by Andrea Kirsh

Two books on American Art from the 1950s to the Present

Andrea reviews two recently published books about art made in America over the last 70 years, and shares with us her short list of books she’s eagerly awaiting to be published. The first book she reviews analyzes and debunks common misperceptions about the work of artists from the American Indian Movement. The second book chronicles the many artists living in New York City after the Abstract Expressionist movement, which is the product of a traveling art exhibition first seen at Grey Art Gallery. Though Andrea says, this book “is valuable as considerably more than a catalog to an exhibition.”

June 7, 2017 by Matthew Rose

Stanley Greene, chronicler of wars, atrocities, disasters (1949 – 2017)

Matthew Rose remembers his dear friend Stanley Greene, a brilliant conflict photographer who sought to show the world human tragedies occurring just out of sight.

May 31, 2017 by Evan Paul Laudenslager

A decade in the making, Jeffrey Stockbridge wraps up Kensington Blues

Evan interviews Jeffrey Stockbridge about his moving and emotional Kensington Blues project, on view at Savery Gallery until June 2nd and available in book form as well.

December 31, 2016 by Andrea Kirsh

Forging Mexican Modernism – Paint the Revolution at the PMA

The exhibition clearly demonstrates that the widely-known work of Rivera, Orozco, Siqueiros, Tamayo, and, in recent decades, Frida Kahlo, is but a small spectrum of a much broader artistic scene. It brings up topics such as the tension between work intended for private viewing versus the obviously propagandistic intent of work meant to be seen in public–both murals and inexpensive prints; the Mexican response to European modernism; European, Soviet, and U.S. responses to Mexican art; the tension between a cosmopolitan artistic language which reflects international ideas about modernity versus a local style that draws upon indigenous art, and with that, the ongoing attention in Mexican art to the spectrum of racial difference.

November 1, 2016 by Evan Paul Laudenslager

Parallel Worlds – Live and Life Will Give You Pictures at the Barnes Foundation

For those who don’t know the photographs but who love the paintings of the era, the exhibition will be a revelation. The call and response between these photos and the paintings nearby is almost audible.

October 13, 2016 by Andrea Kirsh

Chicago Shine – The Freedom Principle at the ICA

Over the past couple of decades, almost all American art museums have claimed a mission to reach out to “underserved communities,” yet none of them have acknowledged that these communities have their own well-developed aesthetics of art and material culture. They differ from the mainstream, and the institutions have not been willing to embrace aesthetic values beyond their own. The first part of “The Freedom Principle” is remarkable for doing just that: exhibiting art–and music–that was selected by a group of artists largely excluded from the mainstream of their period, who developed a different set of aesthetic aspirations and standards.

August 19, 2016 by Roberta

Artblog Presents Art Splash at Creative Africa – Philadelphia Museum of Art

This summer, Artblog dove into the Philadelphia Museum’s Creative Africa show — and into the wonderful summer program, Art Splash, that introduces moms, dads, and kids of all ages to the great art on view, and facilitates art making by the viewers, right there in the museum.