Paintings of lustful Muslim women bathing and dancing, exposed ankles and flirtatious silky skirts, might have done wonders for the Western male of the 19th century, but as the subject of an art exhibit today, they expose his fears. Don’t let truth ruin a perfectly beautiful picture. Do let high demand and market taste drive your creative voice. This seems to be the … [Read more...]
Art fairs descend on West Palm Beach
By Sandra Schulman OK: It’s not really a battle of art fairs this month; it’s more like a visually gorgeous friendly skirmish, with established fairs, newcomers and pop-ups competing for art lovers’ eyes and wallets. What used to be a week has now expanded to almost the whole month as a major new fair, the Palm Beach Modern and Contemporary Fair, gets the jump on Art … [Read more...]
N.Y.-based photographer Bick wins Rudin Prize
We can officially say it now. New York City-based Elizabeth Bick is the winner of the 2016 Rudin Prize for Emerging Photographers at the Norton Museum of Art. The announcement Thursday night was the climax of the biennial group exhibition that rewards one of the exhibiting photographers with $20,000. Shortly after 7 p.m., Bick heard her name being called out by Beth Rudin … [Read more...]
Norton spotlights quiet beauty of Chase’s landscape
The Norton Museum of Art’s last Spotlight exhibition of the year brings us a drama-free impressionistic work by an American master who taught Georgia O’Keeffe and Edward Hopper, and lacks all of the flamboyance associated with its creator. On view (and admission is free) through Jan. 29, William Merritt Chase’s Shinnecock Hills, Autumn (1893), captures the Long Island … [Read more...]
Hungarian art exhibit at Boca chronicles a battered country
If artworks from other European nations could talk, they would say this about The Art of Hungary: “Tell me something I don’t know about.” For the past three months, the ongoing four-in-one exhibition at Boca Raton Museum of Art has done its best to define the artistic qualities of a country more closely associated with war than artistic creativity. Before we think of Harry … [Read more...]
Four Arts brings outstanding Neuberger collection to gallery
By Myles Ludwig The current exhibit served up in the Esther B. O’Keeffe Gallery at the Society of Four Arts is an amuse-bouche, an appetizing slice of a much bigger and very personal pie that is a custardy view of American painting as seen through the eyes of the prominent collector and Wall Street eminence, Roy R. Neuberger . In his long life (107 years), Neuberger … [Read more...]
When art hangs 10: Custom surfboards at the Cultural Council
If masterpieces can come in the form of bronze and glass sculptures, what should we call handmade surfboards dressed in original photographs? Functional artworks, if you ask local photographer and surfer Tony Arruza. His inspirational images are the first thing to hit us upon entering the bright gallery space at the Cultural Council of Palm Beach County, where 15 custom … [Read more...]
Art notes: The Festival of Trees, and a remarkable painter
By Myles Ludwig Strolling through the serenity of the Ann Norton Sculpture Gardens, peopled with the artist’s monumental, anthropomorphic brick figures nestled between Barcelona Street and South Flagler Drive, I came upon the gardens’ annual Christmas gift, The Festival of Trees. It’s a series of thematically enhanced Christmas trees and while I was there, a jaunty group … [Read more...]
Emerging photographers, emerging visions at the Norton
For a photography competition extending a $20,000 trophy, this edition of Rudin Prize for Emerging Photographers is decisively not very thrilling. Don’t tell museum officials, but we think we know how this one ends. The experimental, the pretty, the safe and the emotional are sharing a large white room inside the Norton Museum of Art through Jan. 15. The four contemporary … [Read more...]
This year’s Art Basel will be even bigger
By Sandra Schulman It’s big and getting bigger — Art Basel Miami, the imported fair that has revitalized the South Florida and international art scene is running through Dec. 4 at the Miami Beach Convention Center. Outside the doors of the main fair there are dozens of satellite fairs, parties, outdoor art parks, parades, film, and some extreme fashion this year. The … [Read more...]