Category Archives: Commentary

Opinion or analysis concerning whatever’s on my mind.

Trompe L’oeil

Posted on March 21, 2019 by JMN

“Painting objects and people as they actually appear….” (Andrew Ferren, “A 7-Hour, 6-Mile, Round-the-Museum Tour of the Prado,” NYTimes, 3-18-19) The phrase encapsulates my former goal: To paint something accurately, yet somehow enhanced: A simplistic, naive and ambiguous goal all … Continue reading →

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How Things Actually Appear

Posted on March 21, 2019 by JMN

Artists of the Spanish “golden age” in the 17th century seemed to delight in manipulating paint on the canvas to create dazzlingly realistic effects, such as the light shimmering on silk gowns in Velázquez’s “Las Meninas,” or the churning clouds … Continue reading →

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Vivian Browne

Posted on March 18, 2019 by JMN

In 1965, the artist, educator, and activist Vivian Browne (1929-1993) began a series titled Little Men. Considered her first major body of work, it consists of oil and acrylic paintings of white-collar middle-aged white men… They’re dressed in button-down shirts … Continue reading →

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Yes, It’s in Focus, I Think

Posted on March 18, 2019 by JMN

Suh Seung Won, a pioneer of the process-based Korean painting movement known as Dansaekhwa, or monochrome, started out with hard-edge, translucent rhombuses that evoke unreal architectural spaces. In the large-scale recent canvases comprising most of “Suh Seung Won: Simultaneity” at … Continue reading →

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The Agony of Deaccessioning

Posted on March 12, 2019 by JMN

This article has useful and graphic information about how and why so many art museums display so little of their collections. At first blush there is ample fodder for irony for persons possessed of the notion that art’s first purpose … Continue reading →

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Defamation Nation

Posted on March 7, 2019 by JMN

  How Australia Became the Defamation Capital of the World A court ruling in favor of a billionaire businessman against The Sydney Morning Herald illustrates the sorry state of the country’s defamation laws. By Louisa Lim Ms. Lim is a … Continue reading →

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Titans in Natty Attire

Posted on March 7, 2019 by JMN

Joni Mitchell describes herself as a “painter derailed by circumstance.” (“Joni Mitchell,” Wikipedia) (Photo from Guy Trebay, “Of David Hockney and Joni Mitchell Holding Hands,” NYTimes, 2-28- 19) (c) 2019 JMN.

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The Screaming “Caravaggio”

Posted on March 6, 2019 by JMN

Eric Turquin, art dealer: “Look at the execution of the lips, the way the chin and eyelids are painted… It belongs to Caravaggio. How could it be by anyone else?” Keith Christiansen, MOMA-NY: [Contains details too crude to be by … Continue reading →

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How Rembrandt Worked

Posted on March 1, 2019 by JMN

I liked the detail quoted below of how Rembrandt painted lace — the “hieroglyphic jumble” that coheres from afar– as well as the notion that a painted copy of a repetitive pattern actually looks artificial. This is helpful to a … Continue reading →

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Incorporates a Stretchy Sock

Posted on March 1, 2019 by JMN

I have a vicarious affection for Scotland nurtured by family genealogy. Coupled with a weakness for spirited fashion talk, it leads me to share the following: [Natacha Ramsay-Levi, Chloé’s creative director] joins many other European designers this season, including Riccardo … Continue reading →

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