While impressive, Life Magazine and the Power of Photography disappoints.
Charles Giuliano
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?
Visual Art Review: The Enigma of Sol LeWitt
Strict Beauty: Sol LeWitt Prints is a compelling opportunity for immersion in an important aspect of the artist’s work
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: “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
Visual Arts Feature: Memories of a Veteran Boston Gallerist — Mario Diacono
Mario Diacono’s Boston shows were legendary.
Visual Arts Review: “Landmarks” at Williams College Museum of Art — Losing Your Way
The Ruskinian mantra of “truth to nature” was eventually upended by the development of digital imagery and the agile manipulations of Photoshop.
Arts Commentary: All Is Not Copacetic for the Fine Arts in the Berkshires
Despite the growing number of artists in the Berkshires, there seems to be an effort, among large cultural institutions and the major media, to pretend that they are not around.
Arts Commentary: “Counterculture in Boston 1968 – 1980s” — High and Heady Days
About the post-Reagan era, Boston Phoenix and Boston After Dark editor, Arnie Reisman, observes: “Everything went to sleep, and while we were sleeping, the Republican Party grew six more heads.”
Visual Arts Review: “Renoir: the Body, the Senses” — Beauty and Dismay
When he is at his best, few can match Renoir’s charm and popular appeal.