Despite the show’s darkness, “East 100th Street”‘s exploration of Harlem in the ’60s is in many ways a testament to the endurance of love.
May 202013
May 192013
The show was like topping a delicate wedge of artisanal cheese with a handful of artisanal trail mix. Both the Christian Science Plaza and the sculptures themselves are exquisite on their own, but together the experience felt disjointed and oddly incompatible.
May 182013
The influence of two centuries of dandies on fashion — and the artful, strategic, ready-for-the-paparazzi self-presentation at the heart of modern celebrity — is on wide-ranging and colorful display in the Rhode Island School of Design Museum exhibit.
May 132013
It’s notable and heartening when informed critical opinion manages to stop a juggernaut in its tracks.
May 102013
Respect for the building and its makers, respect for the historical study of art, respect for the visitor’s relation to the displays. These are qualities that I find in the New Rijksmuseum and missed in the old one.
May 072013
I don’t understand why the ICA has made the mistake of allotting a one man show to Barry McGee.
Apr 272013
The time is short, but the opportunity rich via these two exhibitions, to bask in the military culture of old Japan, with all of its deadly splendor.
Apr 242013
In a modest tweak of Dorothy Fields’ lyrics to the famous Jerome Kern song, this weekend will be Boston’s chance, via the Design Museum Boston, to sit yourself down, dust yourself off, and start all over again.
Apr 212013
If I suffered half as much from the thought that most art has been lost as I suffer every day from the recollection of departed family and friends, I would be in a mental hospital. In this sense, I found myself resisting the message of “The Melancholy Art,” to the point that I felt that the book was laying a guilt trip on me.
Apr 052013
The journey of Anders Zorn, from Swedish hamlet to the top echelon of society portraitists and back again, has a couple of messages for us. The first leg of the journey tells us that careerism is not a new phenomenon in the art world. The second tells us what it may be worth in the end.
Mar 292013
Anyone interested in figurative art ought to rush over to Boston University’s Stone Gallery before “Teaching the Body” ends this Sunday.
Mar 252013
It’s not a simple story. It’s a story about dreadful ideas, hideous politics and their interaction with art and aesthetic judgment.
Mar 172013
In some ways, Jonathan Jones’ narrative structure works against his strengths. Highly respected as a critic, he is an energetic and engaging writer and excels at what art historians call “close looking,” where he guides the reader line by line, brush stroke by brush stroke, through a work of art.
Mar 042013
The month’s standouts include Nick Cave’s Soundsuits at the Peabody-Essex Museum and two exhibitions at MassMoCA.
Fuse Visual Arts: Ambergris and Alchemy — A Pilgrimage to John Singer Sargent’s “Fumée d’Ambre Gris”
Jan 272013
At times I leave off my avid samplings of one entrancement after another in a great museum. Instead, I make a pilgrimage dedicated to a single work, such as John Singer Sargent’s intoxicating woman in white in “Fumée d’Ambre Gris” at the Clark Art Institute in Williamstown, Massachusetts.
Jan 262013
For those who missed this evening, pick up Roz Chast’s “Theories of Everything,” which is a wonderfully huge collection of her cartoons published in “The New Yorker.”
Jan 212013
Artist Michael Lewy’s comprehensive, clever and surprisingly humorous take on an imaginary experimental settlement explores the ramifications of having human potential promptly assessed and harnessed for work, and work alone.
Jan 102013
“Mute Poetry, Speaking Pictures” is indispensable reading for word-and-image freaks and a treat for fans of virtuoso scholarship.