Robert S. Neuman used modernism’s interest in abstraction and material accident to shape lively compositions that riffed on urbanization, biblical themes, war, the space race, indigenous rights, mental illness, and other topics.
Visual Arts
Book Review: “The Color of Time: Women in History, 1850-1950” — The Past, Colorized
This coffee table book scan of women’s history is visually striking and consistently informative.
Visual Arts Review: “Luigi Lucioni: Modern Light” — Cranking up the Realism
A valuable reminder that the provinces have their advantages, as the Shelburne Museum devotes lavish attention to a Vermont master.
Visual Arts Review: Illustrations of Race at The Norman Rockwell Museum
Norman Rockwell was troubled about race relations in American society, and he let his public know that..
Book Review: “The Shores of Bohemia” — Cape Bohemian Rhapsody
The Shores of Bohemia is clearly a labor of love, and a worthy one. But John Taylor Williams’ idea of “a group portrait,” however attractive, proves impossible to pull off.
Doc Talk: Three Portraits of Artists — One as a Young Woman and Two as Old Men
Three recent documentaries explore the worlds of three masters of disparate but complementary art forms: photography and cinema, sculpture and painting, and toilets.
Visual Arts Review: “The Ravages of the Ax” — Marc Swanson at MASS MoCA and the Thomas Cole National Historic Site
A Memorial to Ice at the Dead Deer Disco does not demand political action from its audience. Instead, it allows viewers to sit within the stark reality of the present, and perhaps find some community within the shared reality that the space creates.
Book Review: “As It Turns Out” — Not Enough About Edie and Andy
Alice Sedgwick Wohl has a disturbing tendency throughout the book to back away from her points even as she makes them, as if afraid she will find herself trapped in some politically incorrect cul de sac or just a bad neighborhood.
Visual Arts Review: The Supportive Imaginary — Weaves and Grids
Grids come into these woven pieces with a strange humility, disarming us with repurposed materials and precious handiwork, domestic scenes and visionary tales.
Visual Arts Review: “Mary Ann Unger: To Shape a Moon from Bone” — A Problematic Reevaluation
Are visitors supposed to feel some sort of guilty pleasure if they find Mary Ann Unger’s Across the Bering Strait powerfully mesmeric?