The New MoMA Is a Work In Progress The New MoMA Is a Work In Progress
Can the newly reopened museum really achieve its aim of reframing the global history of 20th century art?
Dec 23, 2019 / Barry Schwabsky
What’s Wrong With the New Figurative Painting? What’s Wrong With the New Figurative Painting?
With dealers and curators jumping on the figurative bandwagon, we have to look more closely at whether a new cohort of painters succeeds at what they’re attempting.
Oct 30, 2019 / Barry Schwabsky
How Should We Remember the Art of Emil Nolde? How Should We Remember the Art of Emil Nolde?
A recent show in Berlin grapples with the legacy of a prominent German modernist who was a supporter of Nazism but whose art was derided by Nazis.
Sep 19, 2019 / Barry Schwabsky
Alex Katz’s Downtown Dreams Alex Katz’s Downtown Dreams
In a recent show curated by the New York painter and sculptor, as well as a showcase of his new work, his particular artistic psychogeography comes to life.
Aug 16, 2019 / Barry Schwabsky
The Whitney Biennial’s Flimsy Promises The Whitney Biennial’s Flimsy Promises
The show claims to explore questions of sincerity amid a world of fakes, but the shallow results end up reinforcing long-held problems about the museum as an institution.
Jul 22, 2019 / Barry Schwabsky
Photographing the Otherworldly and the Abject Photographing the Otherworldly and the Abject
Barbara Ess’s lo-fi photos, which pluck scenes from our culture’s surveillance regime, make the banal seem terrifying and mystical.
Jun 14, 2019 / Barry Schwabsky
Lincoln Kirstein’s Intimate Modernism Lincoln Kirstein’s Intimate Modernism
A new show at the MoMA illustrates how one of New York’s great cultural impresarios and writers espoused a more magical realist vision of modern art history.
May 23, 2019 / Barry Schwabsky
Jack Whitten’s Journals Are a Future Classic of Art Writing Jack Whitten’s Journals Are a Future Classic of Art Writing
Notes From the Woodshed, a recent collection of Jack Whitten’s journal entries and writings, give an invaluable peek into the artistic process.
Mar 19, 2019 / Barry Schwabsky
Where Does Art Belong? Where Does Art Belong?
A trio of recent shows—from Hilma af Klint, Warhol, and Bruce Nauman—propose radically different answers to that question.
Feb 4, 2019 / Books & the Arts / Barry Schwabsky
The Last Great Literary Painter The Last Great Literary Painter
The legacy of Eugène Delacroix.
Jan 7, 2019 / Barry Schwabsky