A legendary rivalry existed between the two megastars of nineteenth-century French painting: the arch-Romantic Eugène Delacroix (1798-1863)—the subject of an exhibition now at the Metropolitan Museum, through November 12—and the inveterate classicist Jean-Auguste-Dominique Ingres (1780-1867).1 But on one thing they agreed: Drawing is the essential foundation of art. As Ingres famously declared, “Drawing is the probity […]
Damien Hirst, Delacroix, drawing, Ingres, Metropolitan Museum, Raphael, RubensFor today’s art establishment (including once-conservative institutions such as the Metropolitan Museum of Art and the Morgan Library), contemporary art must be radically “new”—the more unprecedented or deskilled in form and transgressive or inscrutable in content the better.1 An intrepid group of dedicated contemporary artists begs to differ, however. They are the largely neglected painters […]
AICA, Anthony Baus, Carroll Dunham, Colleen Barry, David Salle, Grand Central Atelier, International Association of Art Critics, Jacob Collins, Jewish Museum, Justin Wood, Keith Haring, Metropolitan Museum, Morgan Library, Norman Kleeblatt, Phong Bui, Rachel Li, Robert Simon Fine Art, Suzaan Boettger, The Brooklyn Rail, Will St. John, Wolfgang LaibValentin who? Valentin de Boulogne (1591–1632), that’s who! But I must confess that I had never heard of this masterly painter before the landmark exhibition now at the Met, though I’ve been studying art history for more than half a century.1 Valentin achieved no small fame in his lifetime, however. Ranked high among the followers […]
17th-century painting, Annick Lemoine, Beyond Caravaggio, Caravaggio, Counter Reformation art, Keith Christiansen, Louvre, Metropolitan Museum, Valentin de Boulogne
