Family Reunion

(at The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York City)

By ROBERT EDWARD BULLOCK, Special to the Sun | April 25, 2014

For the first time in nearly 230 years, a family of six from Madrid is spending time together. In "Goya and the Altamira Family" the Metropolitan Museum of Art unites a set of portraits commissioned by the Count of Altamira, the director of what is now the Banco de España. This small grouping highlights some of Goya's peculiar grandeur and melancholy.

Francisco José de Goya y Lucientes, b.1746, was a fabulously successful court painter in Madrid, a portraitist of the royal family and the Spanish aristocracy. Numbered among the last of the Old Masters while being the premier Modernist, his work possesses the repeating minor chord of a somber melody, as even his bright colors hold some tone of lament.

(Read the entire review at The New York Sun.)

^ Goya (Francisco de Goya y Lucientes), 1746-1828, "Vicente Joaquín Osorio Moscoso y Guzmán, 12th Conde de Altamira (1756-1816)," 1787 (Banco de España, Madrid.)

^ Goya (Francisco de Goya y Lucientes), 1746-1828, "Maria Ignacia Álvarez de Toledo, Condesa de Altamira and Her Daughter, MaríaAgustina," 1787-88 (The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Robert Lehman Collection)

^ Goya (Francisco de Goya y Lucientes), 1746-1828, "Manuel Osorio Manrique de Zuñiga (1784-1792)," 1787-88               (The Metropolitan Museum of Art, The Jules Bache Collection)

^ Goya (Francisco de Goya y Lucientes), 1746-1828, "Vicente Osorio de Moscoso, Count of Trastamara" (Private Collection)

^ Esteve Y Marques "Portrait of Juan Maria Osorio" (Cleveland Museum of Art)

Sky's the Limit (originally entitled "A Little Bit of Sky")

(at The Morgan Library and Museum, New York City)

By ROBERT EDWARD BULLOCK, Special to the Sun | April 24, 2014

Though it seems obvious today, it was only after the mid-1700s that artists began painting directly from nature in the plain light of day -- a radical evolution at the time. Working outside the studio, painters were challenged to quickly capture the changes in light, clouds and atmosphere in the natural world around them.

Termed "plein air" by the French, this practice of working outdoors called for small, portable equipment and materials. The practice of oil sketching on paper was advantageous. Though the intention may have been to develop these small studies into larger works back in the studio, we value them today for their own merits.

(Read the entire review at The New York Sun.)

Eugène Isabey (1803-1886), 'Sunset on the Normandy Coast,' Oil on paper, mounted on canvas. 

Thaw Collection, jointly owned by the Metropolitan Museum of Art and the Morgan Library & Museum; gift of Eugene V. Thaw, 2009.

Johan Christian Dahl (1788–1857), 'Cloud Study,' Oil on paper.
Thaw Collection, jointly owned by the Metropolitan Museum of Art and the Morgan Library & Museum; gift of Eugene V. Thaw, 2009.

Jean-Michel Cels (1819–1894), 'Cloud Study.' Oil on cardboard.

Thaw Collection, jointly owned by the Metropolitan Museum of Art and the Morgan Library & Museum; gift of Eugene Thaw, 2009.

Gauguin the Primitive

(The New-York Historical Society)

"Gauguin: Metamorphosis," presenting nearly 160 works reassessing the unusual career of Paul Gauguin, is, surprisingly, the Museum of Modern Art's first major exhibition to focus solely on the self-taught and influential 19th-century painter.

Gauguin's alchemical use of color and simplified forms would go on to greatly impact the Symbolist and Modern art movements. Viewing the exhibit one wonders what to make of the man, heralded by many as a great painter and disparaged by as many others as a retrograde.

(Read the entire review at The New York Sun.)

^ Paul Gauguin, "Mata Mua (In Olden Times)," 1892. (Carmen Thyssen-Bornemisza Collection, Madrid)

^ Paul Gauguin, "Tahitian Woman with Evil Spirit (recto)," c. 1900. (Private collection.)

                       ^ Paul Gauguin, "Ovri (Savage)," 1894. (Private collection.)

Birds of a Feather (originally entitled "Where Have You Gone, John Audubon?"

(The New-York Historical Society)

Orson Wells once remarked that Chaucer's England was a world where the sky was a little bluer and the hay a little sweeter. The same can be said of John Audubon's America.

In "Audubon's Aviary: Parts Unknown," the second of a three-part series, The New-York Historical Society continues to celebrate the career of the French-born American naturalist, showcasing watercolors by his own hand for the historic double-elephant-folio print edition of The Birds of America (1827-38), engraved by Robert Havell Jr., alongside other related works from the series.

(read the entire review at The New York Sun online)

^ "Golden Eagle (Aquila chrysaetos), Havell pl. 181." (1833)

(The New-York Historical Society)

^ "Great Blue Heron (Ardea herodias), Study for Havell pl. 211, 1821." (1834)

(The New-York Historical Society)

^ "Black-throated Mango (Anthracothorax nigricollis), Study for Havell pl. 184." (ca. 1832)

(The New-York Historical Society)

^ "Wood Duck (Aix sponsa), Study for Havell pl. 206, 1821. " (ca. 1825)

(The New-York Historical Society)

^ "Atlantic Puffin (Fractercula arctica), Study for Havell pl. 213." (1833)

(The New-York Historical Society)

Patriarchs of the Pentateuch

(The Cloisters Museum and Gardens, Ft Tryon Park, NYC)

By ROBERT EDWARD BULLOCK, Special to the Sun | March 8, 2014

Once in 835 years qualifies as a rare event, and for the first time since their creation in 1178 six very fine and incredibly beautiful stained glass windows are on display outside of England's Canterbury Cathedral.

With "Radiant Light: Stained Glass from Canterbury Cathedral," The Cloisters in Fort Tryon Park, Manhattan, continues to celebrate its 75th anniversary. Situated on the cliffs of northern Manhattan overlooking the Hudson River and the Palisades, The Cloisters seems centuries-removed from modern times and is the ideal setting for this small exhibit.

(Read the entire review at The New York Sun.)

              

^ "Abraham" from the Ancestors of Christ Windows, Canterbury Cathedral, England, 1178-80 (© Robert Greshoff Photography, courtesy Dean and Chapter of Canterbury)

Very BIG Pictures

(New York Academy of Art)

By ROBERT EDWARD BULLOCK, Special to the Sun | February 22, 2014

Works of art are the result of decisions made by the artist, many of which are easy enough to notice right away. Color is one obvious example. But the scale of a work, unless it be unusually small or large, is easy to overlook. Outsized scale alerts us to an important decision made at the outset, affecting everything.

In the New York Academy of Art’s “The BIG Picture,” the grand scale of the seven works on display is incredibly commanding, overpowering the space about them and bearing down on the viewer. The sheer physicality of them is an experience.

(Read the entire review at The New York Sun.)

[^ Mark Tansey, "Coastline Measure" 1987]

A Puzzling Enigma

(The Metropolitan Museum of Art in Manhattan)

By ROBERT EDWARD BULLOCK, Special to the Sun | January 22, 2014

A carefully focused exhibit of four devotional works by Piero della Francesca, on view at The Metropolitan Museum of Art, presents works never seen together before while highlighting the 15th-century painter's mastery of mathematical perspective. 

Piero della Francesca (d.1492) was a seminal figure of Italian Renaissance painting, an accomplished mathematician and author of an important treatise on perspective. Spanning almost four decades, these four paintings provide a broad yet telescopic overview of his career.

(Read the entire review at The New York Sun.)