Old Masters

Clyfford Still, PH-972, 1959, oil on canvas, 112 x 155 in. Clyfford Still Museum, Denver, CO. © City and County of Denver / ARS, New York Clyfford Still managed to become one of the most celebrated Abstract Expressionist painters and one of postwar art’s most elusive figures.   By Sarah E. Fensom   Clyfford Still…

Z. Vanessa Helder, Pettit Carriage House, 1942, watercolor on paper, 15 3⁄8 x 20 1⁄4 in.; Collection of John and Patti O’Keefe Magic realism, a relatively neglected school of American painting, probed the disquieting truths beneath the surface of modern life. By John Dorfman “For Modernism, we may take it that abstraction is the law…

For American artists of the 19th and early 20th centuries, Spanish art and culture held an irresistible allure. By John Dorfman Spain once exerted a magnetic force on the American imagination. After losing most of its New World colonies in the 1820s, Spain entered a long period of political and economic decline during which it…

William S. Schwartz synthesized his own unique brand of modernism, encompassing the avant-garde techniques of Europe and the boundless possibilities of America By John Dorfman   While New York is without doubt the center of the American art world, Chicago has long had a lively art scene all its own, often cheerfully indifferent to the…

Working with amazingly intricate techniques, contemporary Japanese artists conjure the essences of nature in gold, silver, and a variety of alloys. By John Dorfman   In Japan, it is not only a precious object that can be classified as a national treasure, but also a human being. The government has established a category, “Living National…

Inspired by spiritual ideas, Piet Mondrian created a radical art that aimed to transform the world. By Sarah E. Fensom   Piet Mondrian joined the Dutch arm of the Theosophical Society in 1909. His interest in a newly emerging spirituality had begun earlier, however. The artist, who was raised as a Calvinist, read Theosophical literature…

The late Richard Anuszkiewicz’s work is a rigorous yet joyous exploration of the realm of pure color and form. By John Dorfman The term “Op Art” was invented by a critic, not an artist, and the movement to which it was applied—if movement it was—came and went within a span of about five years in…

John Kiley brings inspiration from conceptual and performance art to his glass-making. By John Dorfman Making glass art is usually a collaborative process, due to its technical demands, but the Covid-19 pandemic forced John Kiley to go it alone. The last time time he blew glass was in early March in the hot shop at…

Juan Gris, a master of the Cubist still life, is getting a closer look thanks to a new museum exhibition. By John Dorfman Juan Gris is often the odd man out in discussions of Cubism, with Pablo Picasso and Georges Braque at the center and Albert Gleizes and Jean Metzinger slightly off to stage right…