Detail, Portrait of Madame Manet in the Conservatory, ca. 1876-79, Nasjonalmuseet for Kunst, Arkitektur og Design, Oslo.
Latest Notebook Entries »
- Tuesday, September 10, 2019 A Shawl for Morisot Last summer, the summer of 2018, I was immersed in the work of Berthe Morisot. I spent three days in Québec City, at the Musée national des beaux-arts de Québec, at the revelatory Morisot retrospective, which I reviewed for Apollo Magazine. https://www.apollo-magazine.com/berthe-morisot-comes-into-her-own/ I was one of the critics who called for a reconstitution of our understanding of Impressionism with Morisot centrally placed. I ... more»
- Wednesday, October 24, 2018 Elliott Hunter Yesterday, at the Smart Museum, “The Time is Now!” I was immediately struck by this painting: A large square, four feet by four feet. Each inch compels. The painter is Elliott Hunter. It was made in 1967, and is called Grasshopper . Twice, recently, I have seen grasshoppers on the pavement. Once along the curved inlet behind the bus stop ... more»
Latest News »
- Friday, September 6, 2019 Review of Manet and Modern Beauty in Apollo I reviewed Manet and Modern Beauty , which was at the Art Institute of Chicago this summer, for Apollo Magazine. The review is here: https://www.apollo-magazine.com/manet-modern-beauty-exhibition-review/ ... more»
- Thursday, December 13, 2018 Bomb Magazine Interview with Joshua Rivkin We recently hosted Joshua Rivkin here in the creative writing program's New Voices in Nonfiction Series . I had the chance to spend the afternoon with Rivkin in the Twombly sculpture room at the Art Institute of Chicago and published the interview we did in Bomb Magazine . Our conversation is about having long relationships with artists and museums, about traveling and tracking ... more»
Featured Essays »
- Gold, Golden, Gilded, GlitteringThis essay, on a long complex history of overlap in financial and artistic inventions, appeared in The Believer in the Nov / Dec 2012 issue. ... more»
- Looking at Poussin This essay, on the occasion of the Metropolitan Museum's Poussin Exhibition, "Poussin and Nature: Arcadian Visions," February 12-May 11, 2008, appeared in the Summer 2008 issue of The Threepenny Review . ... more»