There were so many women artists here whose work surprises and delights. And the Wadsworth Atheneum’s decision to showcase them makes an important contribution to our evolving understanding of art and its history.
Visual Arts
Book Review: “Museum of Fine Arts Boston: 1870 to 2020, An Oral History” — Questioning the Elite
This is an invaluable gathering of interviews, an impressive excavation of institutional memory that not only recognizes the MFA’s grandeur but its many deficiencies as well.
Visual Arts Review: The Photographs of Deana Lawson — Portals to Possibilities
Viewers are invited to make what they will of the show’s images — to let their imaginations come up with their own expansive and beautiful stories.
Visual Arts Review: “Ceramics in the Expanded Field” — Playing with Clay
The curator’s intent is to stretch and subvert received notions of ceramics with their overtones of craft and functionality
Letter from New York — Dresden Treasures, and Lots of Picasso
New York has come back to life, so there is more art to see than anyone has time to visit or write about.
Cultural Commentary: Goodbye Columbus — Mexico City’s “La Joven de Amajac” and “Tlalli” Sculptures
Mexico City settles on Columbus’ replacement, but finds that removal and substitution is agonizing in society which hasn’t changed all that much.
Visual Arts Review: “Fabrics of a Nation — American Quilt Stories”
The quilts serve as landmarks whose significance is evolving with shifting times and demographics. Where have we come from, they ask. Where are we going? The answers are no longer what they were.
Book Review: Man Ray — He Could Have Been a Contender
The biography raises the subject of Man Ray’s Jewish roots, but the matter is dropped pretty quickly.
Book Review: “The Mirror and the Palette” — Women’s Self-Portraits in Courage
By skillfully balancing the historical and the imaginative, The Mirror and the Palette is not only a delight to read, but inspirational.
Visual Arts Review: “The Treasure House of Memories” — Dreaming of New Pasts
At the ICA, artist Raúl de Nieves’s work is playful, joyful, and up for interpretation.