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ArtSeptember 1996 “The realest thing I had ever done”: Andrew Forge in New Haven by Karen Wilkin On a retrospective of the artist's work at the Yale Center for British Art At a recent dinner, the conversation— fueled, I admit, by liberal amounts of very good red wine—became a kind of Socratic dialogue about the practice of art criticism. Is it more difficult to write about art you admire or art you detest? (Those abused terms “good” and “bad” were employed.) Which is harder to deal with, figurative or abstract art? Art of the past or of the present? Does intention matter? No consensus was reached about the relative problems posed by historical versus contemporary art, since we veered off into an extended argument about the obligation to understand context and “decode,” as they say, narrative. There was, however, general agreement that it’s easier to find the rapier phrase to puncture inadequate or pretentious work than to come up with a verbal equivalent for the wordless experience of being deeply moved by something you believe to be first rate. There was agree ... 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 15 September 1996, on page 105 Copyright © 2012 The New Criterion | www.newcriterion.com http://www.newcriterion.com/articles.cfm/-ldquo-The-realest-thing-I-had-ever-done-rdquo--Andrew-Forge-in-New-Haven-3514
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by Karen Wilkin On “Rembrandt and Degas: Two Young Artists” at the Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute, Williamstown, MA. by Karen Wilkin On "Stieglitz & His Artists" at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York. Marioni's liquid light at the Phillips by Karen Wilkin On “Eye to Eye: Joseph Marioni at the Phillips” at the Phillips Collection, Washington, DC. 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. On "Johann Zoffany RA: Society Observed” at the Yale Center for British Art.
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