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ArtNovember 2009 Watteau at the Met by Karen Wilkin On “Watteau, Music, and Theater” at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York. Among the most delectable paintings in the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s collection is a smallish canvas of a man playing a guitar, seated on a stone bench in what seems to be a garden. His posture—legs crossed, torso angled, head tipped back—seems exaggerated. His clothes—a tight-fitting silk suit in marzipan-hued stripes, ruffled collar and cuffs, an enormous silk beret and matching cloak in deep rose—seem as extravagant. At first, we simply accept these qualities, fascinated by the ravishing color and the fluent touch that conjure up gleaming silk, softly gathered lace, tightly stretched stockings, and the crisp rosettes on narrow shoes. Gradually, though, we become aware of just how artificial everything about the elaborately dressed musician really is. His position becomes a pose, his gorgeous suit a costume, and the “garden” in which he plays his instrument a painted backdrop ... 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 28 November 2009, on page 38 Copyright © 2009 The New Criterion | www.newcriterion.com http://www.newcriterion.com/articles.cfm/Watteau-at-the-Met-4313
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Vermeer & Monet at the Met & MoMA by Karen Wilkin On "Vermeer’s Masterpiece: The Milkmaid" at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York & “Monet’s Water Lilies” at the Museum of Modern Art, New York. by Karen Wilkin On "Compass in Hand: Selections from The Judith Rothschild Foundation Contemporary Drawings Collection" at the Musuem of Modern Art, New York. by Marco Grassi On "The Art of Devotion: Panel Painting in Early Renaissance Italy," Middlebury College Museum of Art, Middlebury, Vermont. On "In Pursuit of Knowledge: 600 Years of Leipzig University," The Grolier Club, New York. by Mario Naves On "Georgia O'Keeffe: Abstraction" at the Whitney Museum of Art, New York.  The New Criterion is now optimized for Mobile Devices 
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