Art & Antiques

REJECTING THE STANDARD

American Modernism” opened May 7 at the Whitney Museum of American Art. This illuminating show of modernist American works created between 1900 and 1930, often looks fresh to our eyes in 2022, much in the way we find ourselves captivated and appreciative of 1960s and ’70s conceptualism. The Whitney has just chosen the right moment to pull these many selections out of storage and gather them together with newly acquired works of the period, many by lesser-known modernists. The show, on view through January 1, 2023, enables us not only to see these images but also to contextualize them in unexpected ways. In this light-filled Renzo Piano–designed contemporary-modernist structure, we can view the Hudson River to the west giving substance to our sense of art and time in motion, while, off to the east, there is the city itself, as it was and sort-of-still is—that is, the solid appearance of real life. To understand this expansive gathering requires us

You’re reading a preview, subscribe to read more.

More from Art & Antiques

Art & Antiques4 min read
Man Of The Arts
GEORGE Billis is not only one of the most visible gallerists, but he’s also one of the most engaging and charismatic. If he is present in any one of his three galleries in New York City, Los Angeles, or Fairfield, Connecticut, he greets you at the do
Art & Antiques2 min read
Western Revision
“KNOWING THE West,” a new major travelling exhibition at Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art, seeks to complicate the ways in which we know, and think we know, the West. On view through January 27, 2025, the exhibition will travel to two additiona
Art & Antiques1 min read
Tantalizing Timepieces
FAMED CABINETMAKER to Louis XIV, André-Charles Boulle (1642-1732) was celebrated for his innovative marquetry and designs that smacked of the era’s opulence. “Keeping Time: Clocks by Boulle,” a new display at London’s Wallace Collection, centers on f

Related