Recent art writing
Adaline Kent, Dark Mountain, 1945
Updates on a few features for American Fine Art Magazine….The magazine is only available by subscription so I can’t provide links to my articles here. But I thought I’d share a few snippets in case you are in the vicinity of these exhibitions.
Adaline Kent, Finder, 1953
For fans of California modern art, don’t miss the Adaline Kent retrospective at the Nevada Museum of Art. It runs through September 10, 2023.
Here are a few excerpts from my article about the exhibit:
It’s always exciting when an underappreciated artist gets her due. Such is the case with Adaline Kent (1900-1957), the subject of an extensive retrospective, Adaline Kent: The Click of Authenticity, at the Nevada Museum of Art. Like too many women artists, Kent’s name has been overshadowed by male peers such as Mark Rothko and Clyfford Still. The exhibition seeks to redress the past and position Kent as a key figure in modernist art.
Inspired by her upbringing, Kent reveled in being outdoors. She and her husband skied and hiked in the Lake Tahoe region, which was a source of artistic inspiration for Kent. She was particularly inspired by movement and often infused motion into her work. “To me, skiers, dancers, trapeze artists provide pleasure comparable to that of sculpture—an idea of form in space, space in form,” Kent wrote in a passage in her extensive art journals. “The feeling of space and movement seem to be the essence of our time.”
Item of jewelry by Louise Nevelson
The Farnsworth Museum in Maine has a year-long exhibition of work by famed American sculptor Louise Nevelson.
Louise Nevelson was in her 60s when her career really took off. She produced numerous public art sculptures, and even has a plaza named after her in New York City. She was known as the grand dame of American sculpture. She had a flair for the theatrical and dressed in headscarves, layered kimonos, and dramatic makeup. She considered her persona as an extension of her sculptures.
“I think being an artist is a state of mind,” Nevelson once said. “I wanted harmony within myself, so I externalized it in my work.”
Though known as a master of the monumental, Nevelson also created very small sculptures in the form of pendants. Carefully crafted from wood and painted black, with accents of brass or silver, thirteen of these necklaces are currently on display in Dawn to Dusk.
Watercooler by unrecorded potter, probably Thomas M. Chandler Jr. (1810-1854)
I wrote about it when it was at The Met, but you can catch this exhibit next at the Museum of Fine Arts Boston.
Hailed as “revelatory” by the New York Times, the exhibition Hear Me Now: The Black Potters of Old Edgefield, South Carolina, at The Met focuses on the work of African American potters in the 19th-century American South. Featuring many objects never before seen outside of the South, Hear Me Now is the first exhibition of its kind in the Northeast.
On display are approximately 50 vessels that were used for a variety of purposes. The Old Edgefield District of South Carolina was known for its clay-rich soil. A robust stoneware industry developed there before the Civil War, powered by enslaved people who became skilled at the craft of pottery making. Their labor may have lined the pockets of the industry owners, but many found surreptitious ways to express themselves and preserve their history.
Seeing these all together like this here, I’m reminded of William Faulkner’s famous quote: “The past is never dead. It's not even past.”
And also these inspiring quotes by minimalist artists:
“There is a poetic nature to minimalism that is about striking a balance between full and empty.” - Jennie C. Jones
“What you see is what you see.” - Frank Stella