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museum-of-fine-arts-boston

Visual Arts Commentary: Philip Guston and the Impossibility of Art Criticism

While it’s too soon to call it timeless, the vitality in Philip Guston’s art has proved durable. But the structure around it – the “art world” in its blinkered, stultified form, institutional and academic in the worst senses of those words – has died and encased it.

By:  Franklin Einspruch Filed Under: Featured, Review, Visual Arts Tagged: museum-of-fine-arts-boston, Philip Guston, Philip Guston Now

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.

By: Chloe Pingeon Filed Under: Featured, Review, Visual Arts Tagged: America Quilt Stories, Fabrics of a Nation, Fabrics of a Nation: American Quilt Stories, museum-of-fine-arts-boston

Visual Arts Review: “Lucian Freud Self-Portraits” — Pictures of a Cool Narcissist

I recommend this show for Lucian Freud’s highly polished craftsmanship, but his wry game of psychological hide-and-seek is not all that satisfying.

By: Robert Israel Filed Under: Featured, Review, Visual Arts Tagged: Lucian Freud, museum-of-fine-arts-boston, self-=portraits

Visual Arts Review: “Collecting Stories” — Yarns Worth Viewing

Almost every painting here is a discovery worth making.

By: Kathleen Stone Filed Under: Featured, Review, Visual Arts Tagged: Collecting Stories: a Mid-Century Experiment, Kathleen Stone, museum-of-fine-arts-boston

Visual Arts Review: “Graciela Iturbide’s Mexico” — Casting a Coolly Warm Eye on Life and Death

In Garciela Iturbide’s photographs, the living and the dying are often joined at the (exposed) skeletal hip.

By: Robert Israel Filed Under: Featured, Review, Visual Arts Tagged: Graciela Iturbide, Mexico, museum-of-fine-arts-boston

Film Review: “Nowhere to Hide” — A Potent Documentary about the Never-ending War in Iraq

How palpable is the combat in Nowhere to Hide!

By: Gerald Peary Filed Under: Featured, Film, Review Tagged: documentary, Iraq, museum-of-fine-arts-boston, Nori Sharif, Nowhere to Hide

Dance Film Preview: Mapping the Taps — Two Superb Documentaries

The tap challenge, sometimes good natured, sometimes prickly, is at the heart of both of these remarkable documentaries.

By: Arts Fuse Editor Filed Under: Dance, Editorial, Featured Tagged: About Taps, Chuck Green, Copasetic, George Nierenberg, Marcia B. Siegel, museum-of-fine-arts-boston, No Maps on My Taps

Film Review: “Kékszakállú” — Obliquely Inspired by Bartók

What follows is a succession of images and tableaux static enough to make Michelangelo Antonioni look like an action-movie director.

By: Arts Fuse Editor Filed Under: Featured, Film, Review Tagged: Denise Groesman, Duke Bluebeard’s Castle, Gastón Solnicki, Jeffrey Gantz, Katia Szechtman, Kékszakállú, Laila Maltz, Lara Tarlowski, museum-of-fine-arts-boston, Pedro Trocca

Visual Arts Review: “Showdown!” at the MFA — More Like Kumbaya!

A face-off between these two artists is ridiculous because picking a favorite is pointless.

By: Arts Fuse Editor Filed Under: Featured, Review, Visual Arts Tagged: David Curcio, museum-of-fine-arts-boston, Showdown! Kuniyoshi vs. Kunisada, Utagawa Kunisada, Utagawa Kuniyoshi, Woodblock prints

Visual Arts Review: Matisse in the Studio — Objects Inspiring Art

Matisse said his objects were his “working library,” sources to mine for formal qualities and their ability to evoke an emotional response.

By: Arts Fuse Editor Filed Under: Featured, Review, Visual Arts Tagged: Kathleen Stone, Matisse, Matisse in the Studio, museum-of-fine-arts-boston

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  • Leanne May 17, 2022 at 9:30 am on Film Review: “The Nightingale” — The Horrors of ImperialismThis film is not based on Kristen Hannah's book The Nightingale.
  • Philip Gerstein May 17, 2022 at 2:00 am on Visual Arts Commentary: Philip Guston and the Impossibility of Art CriticismIt is valuable, even vital to point out the gaping contradictions behind the labels and official commentary that accompany Guston's...
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  • Dave Kearns May 15, 2022 at 10:08 am on Visual Arts Commentary: Philip Guston and the Impossibility of Art CriticismHave you a copy of Dore Ashton's 1988 essay, "That is Not What I Meant At All: Why Philip Guston...

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