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ArtMay 2007 Venice & Islam at the Met by Karen Wilkin On “Venice and the Islamic World, 828-1797” at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York. It’s not exactly news that Venice had close ties to the East. We were all taught early on that the wealth of the magical city of canals derived from trade with the Turks and Arabs—that’s how valuable spices and silks from exotic Asia found their way to Italy. I seem to recall that in elementary school this information was somehow bound up with Marco Polo’s travels and the surprising fact that the intrepid merchant brought pasta to Italy from China, a confusing notion that led me to form a mental image of Venetian dignitaries sitting around the Doge’s palace in long red velvet robes and those odd hats with earlaps—my school’s enriched curriculum had a heavy emphasis on art—eating spaghetti with chopsticks. Years later, most of us learned a more nuanced, much more interesting version of the history of Venice, a dramatic tale involving competition for trade routes, sea battles, and chicanery. Crusa ... 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 25 May 2007, on page 43 Copyright © 2012 The New Criterion | www.newcriterion.com http://www.newcriterion.com/articles.cfm/venice-islam-at-the-met-3160
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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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