Willem De Kooning Drawing at The Art Institute of Chicago

 

A cute, breezy arrangement, presumably of a girlfriend 

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I've  always appreciated the flamboyant energy in DeKooning drawings whenever they appear in Expo Chicago, but the total immersion offered by this  exhibit is a much different experience.

 Once locked into the DeKooning vibe, everything looks better-- including  "Excavation", his famous painting from 1950 that's included in this show. Hanging in the Modern Wing, it's usually felt heavy, desperate, and depressing to me. It's a lot more fun to see it as a compilation of the drawings that surround it 

And it's even more fun to see all those large drawings he did - with their thrilling combination of loose, goofy figuration and the tight compositional twists, turns, compressions, and eruptions.

1970-77

Much of this is "bad boy" art:  obnoxious women, and a few crucified men, looking quite silly. But the subject usually retreats behind the exuberant and apparently effortless  handling of  pictorial space. 

C. 1924

Really like these cartoons done when he was about 20. His space is so fluid.

The Netherlands, 1944

He became proficient in design.

This piece won a contest by the Container Corporation of America,

- a significant  patron of modern design for many decades

Portrait of Elaine, 1941-42

Not really a strong piece, and many of his more realistic figurative paintings from that period are the same way. In some narratives of the history of abstract expression, the foundational artists felt their figurative work did not express what they wanted. 

1959

These Franz Kline like pieces were the highlight of this show for me. He made several in the months he spent in Rome, and then he never made them again.

Here's the others:

They're funkier than Kline,

more organic - like a crushed bug on the windshield.

Though eye catching, they do leave a  bitter aftertaste.

A bit like a hangover.

DeKooning has a  place in  the canon of American art history.  He’s better  than many of his colleagues at marking the postwar turn from social idealism to personal gratification (or crisis). It made a strong case for the ‘free West” versus  the dreary soviets.  It has long since been pushed aside by the intellectual gratification of conceptual art and the righteous gratification of identity art. So what's it good for now?

It's fun.

Wanton, sometimes naughty, scribbles by someone expert in graphic design

1947-48

1985

A balance that feels as momentary as a soap bubble.

One second later, it will be gone.

Here’s a more exciting variation, presumably from the same period.

(found online, not in this show)

1975

An enjoyable but meaningless life

1969-1975

Somehow these small bronzes, with hints of figuration, are more disruptive than the drawings.

They belong in a Park Avenue penthouse

to proclaim the kind of  freedom enabled by wealth.

Regrettably, this is about as close to explicit erotic drawing as he got.

He must have been uncomfortable with it.

"Beauty becomes petulant to me. I like the grotesque. It's more joyous." 

(A quote from the signage)

I would disagree, but our childhoods were different.

Nasty and brutish.

But sometimes life is like that.

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 ============== He called himself a “slipping glimpser” and, indeed, to take in one of Willem de Kooning’s paintings is always a series of momentary glances—nothing waits long enough to be apprehended....Dmitry Samarov  in the Chicago Reader

Good description - though not sure why this is a good thing. Unlike live music, visual art provides the opportunity for timeless contemplation - why not take advantage of that?  Though I agree that this is the Art Institute's best show of 2026 (it's been a weak year)

===============At “Willem de Kooning Drawing,” the first major exhibition of the Abstract Expressionist pioneer’s drawings, fear, anger, pain, and play are on full display... Hilton Als, New Yorker

I agree - but why look at it?  Is this something where improvement matters?  Is it a goal worth pursuing? Could we call it an important achievement?  Aren’t those questions that art critics in leading national publications should be asking?

Raqib Shaw’s Paradise Lost at Art Institute of Chicago

 

 “Paradise Lost” is an immersive experience through the psyche of Raqib Shaw ( b. 1974,  Calcutta, India). One man’s mind is the entire focus of a theme park a hundred feet long and twelve feet high

In detail, it’s a collage of many landscapes, florals, animals, human/animal hybrids, yet only  one person.

Form and space collapse into the high energy of the collage, so the piece looks  better if they’re not even noticed. The effect is morbid - like dead flesh consumed by colorful blooms of fungus. Revolting and fascinating at the same time.  Though the piece is 1200 square feet, pixelated  dots of enamel have been applied with a porcupine quill. It’s the overstuffed horror vacui of Victorian decor.

Yet there is a colorful , dramatic flair to many of the areas.  This is dramatic self glorification on a grand scale.  Sometimes it’s gorgeous, but overall it’s Hellish.  This is, after all, a “Paradise Losr”, not a paradise. Whatever complexity may have been put into the narrative, it’s anchored in the pain of Raqib’s existance. I’ll be looking away the next time I have to walk through Gunuslaus Hall.

 

Beautiful, wonderful, disturbing 

Elizabeth Catlett - A Black Revolutionary Artist

A review of Elizabeth Catlett - A Black Revolutionary Artist

at the Art Institute of Chicago

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Political Prisoner,   1971

Though wealth may still buy a seat on its governing board, the Art Institute of Chicago has recently been a platform for the radical social justice ideology of academia.  Exhibitions of rightwing propaganda are inconceivable, while this is the second explicitly “woke” exhibition  this year. Indeed, the defiant prisoner shown above wears the Pan African flag that represents the theme of last winter’s exhibit.

Gallery signage tells us :

Political Prisoner draws inspiration from newswire photographs of activist Angela Davis' arrest in 1970, but represents a universal figure. As Catlett explained for this sculpture “What I feel strongest about now are the Black people in prisons. . Not just Angela Davis, but all the political prisoners"

As you may recall, Professor Davis was arrested for buying the weapons used in a courtroom assault that left the judge and two others dead. Just as with the January 6 rioters - her motivation may have been political, but the crime for which she was arrested  (and later acquitted) was a crime regardless.

Homage to the Black Panthers, 1970

Likewise,  she valorized the Black Panthers among other prints made on behalf of Black Power.  The automatic rifle at the bottom glorifies violent insurrection.

Accordingly, Elizabeth Catlett called herself a "black revolutionary artist"  - the title of this exhibition - but her work appears much more tame.  Rather than a call to arms,  the above is more like a dirge for Fred Hampton and Mark Clark, made two years after they were shot  -  just as  most of her other prints show compassion for the poor and downtrodden. They call for an army of social workers not soldiers.  Catlett’s parents were educated educators.  Her sculptures were made for middle class homes.  Tom Wolfe’s phrase, “radical  chic” might better apply to her political activism.

Homage to my Young Black Sisters, 1968

One thing to remember about Catlett’s career, before she became a professional artist, she was a school teacher - and probably a very good one.   No  excuse of any kind was acceptable for poor performance -  reflecting confidence in the future rather than despair about the past.  Far different from the roof tar and chains sculpture of Theaster Gates .

As Catlett is quoted:  “In the printmaking I’m thinking about something social or political, and in the sculpture I’m thinking about form,”

No wonder all the sculptures here, including  “ Political Prisoner “ feel aspirational - even the monumental clenched fist giving the black power salute.  It expresses personal triumph more than defiance, celebration more than anger.  If you climb a ladder up to see the face, it's gentle and sweet.  

 You may also notice its resemblance to contemporary Modern sculpture, specifically Henry Moore and Barbara Hepworth.  Catlett took art making quite seriously, gaining  familiarity with both contemporary and traditional sculpture, as well as reaching a high level of craft. She selected each piece of wood or stone and carved it to perfection.

Black Unity,  1968

Even the giant fist is more celebratory than defiant, more affirmation than anger.

( and there are two sweet faces carved on the back)

These pieces are as decorative as elegant furniture, - masterpieces of craft and design.  But are they Art? If we ask Art to connect us to human destiny or higher purpose, her smooth, hard, pleasant surfaces aim no higher than order, confidence and personal satisfaction. 

These pieces appear  to have been made for a home - not a temple, pubic square, or art museum.  They’re comfortable.  They’re domestic.  The political content is all about personal identity.  The college kids of my generation put  “Che Lives” posters up in the dormitory.  A few years later,  fashion called for Angela Davis.  Elizabeth Catlett was in the academic vanguard of what would eventually be called “woke” -  the ongoing call for racial justice even after the Civil Rights bill of 1964 - a  velvet revolution led by an educated elite that has mostly served to motivate a real revolution by the radical right.  Which doesn’t make her work any less aesthetically pleasing.  Visuality  never  takes a back seat in Catlett’s work.

And who’s to say that the home is any less important to the human project than the more public areas. She certainly has dignity down cold - especially when compared with the women depicted by DeKooning.  She presents that satisfaction and authority only mothers can have.  Catlett created many more statues on the theme of motherhood than revolution -  but the curators of this show chose to highlight politics.

Her contribution to American politics is problematic , but her contribution to Modern and traditional African figure sculpture deserves much more attention.  While postwar abstraction was marginalizing the human figure, she carried its finest, most uplifting qualities into the following  century.  She stood alone among contemporary American sculptors of high reputation. 

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Naima, My Granddaughter,  1998

Belongs in a tourist shop,

but only the very  best ones.

Phyllis Wheatley,  1973

We might call this medieval idealization:  a pleasant design built up with modified geometric volumes to present a generic saintly person.  But not without without a certain flair to give it more appeal.

Compares well with the very best tribal carvings from Africa and elsewhere.

1956

A carefull arrangement of volumes.

1983

Even this early piece has elegance and power

Head of a Black Woman, 1946

Cassada ,   1946

1971

Belongs in a hospital maternity ward

1993

Almost Romanesque.

Feels like carved ivory.

Rebozo,  1968

Glory, 1981

Comparable to Benin bronzes.

Floating Family, 1996

Suitable for an airport?

Actually, it looks quite good  in the  library space for which it was commissioned 

Stargazer,  1979

A great reclining figure.

Yes -  it’s all about the stars 

Target Practice,  1979

Thankfully, she did not portray victimhood very often.

Mask for Whites,  1970

Thankfully, she did not create negative racial stereotypes very often.

I do have a big mouth , but at least I’m not crosseyed.

Makes me think of the right wing talk radio hosts.

My Reward has been Bars between Me and the Rest of the land.  Linocut, 1947

Barbed Wire

Another signed version, found online,  with a different title and effect.

Special Houses,  1946

Such strong characterization.

These people have seen hard times,

but somehow their lives seems brighter 

than the following,

done by Catlett’s husband the previous year:

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Charles White, Mother, 1945