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ArtDecember 2008 Exhibition note by Mario Naves On "George Tooker: A Retrospective" at The National Academy, New York. "George Tooker: A Retrospective" Every painting, whether figurative or abstract, is an image, but not every image is a painting. The primary challenge for anyone pursuing the art form is in locating the equilibrium between aesthetic imperative and imagistic fidelity. The oeuvre of the American artist George Tooker (born in 1920), the subject of a concentrated retrospective at the National Academy Museum, exemplifies the precariousness of this pursuit. Subway (1950) is Tooker’s masterpiece. A woman, wearing a red dress, a blue coat, and an apprehensive expression, walks through the station. The ceilings are oppressive and low; the corridors zoom. Zombie-like men in overcoats skulk about. The environs are sterile and the atmosphere airless. It’s a place resolutely bereft of human contact. As an allegory of urban par ... This article is available to subscribers and for individual purchaseSubscribe to TNC (Print and Online editions) Subscribe to TNC (Online only) This article originally appeared in The New Criterion, Volume 27 December 2008, on page 50 Copyright © 2012 The New Criterion | www.newcriterion.com http://www.newcriterion.com/articles.cfm/Exhibition-note-3964
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by Mario Naves On "Maurizio Cattelan: All" at the Solomon R. Guggenheim Musuem, New York. by Karen Wilkin On “Rembrandt and Degas: Two Young Artists” at the Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute, Williamstown, MA. On "New Formations: Czech Avant-Garde Art & Modern Glass from the Roy and Mary Cullen Collection” at the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston. On “Ai Weiwei: Dropping the Urn, Ceramic Work 5000 B.C.–A.D. 2010” at the Victoria & Albert Museum, London & “The Flamboyant Mr. Chinnery: An English Artist in India and China” at Asia House, London.
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