Jackson Pollock
In the 1960s the brightest star of British art was Richard Smith – and you can see why
It is easy to assume that the contours of art history are unchanging, its major landmarks fixed for ever. Actually,…
Alexander Calder’s fine high wire act
‘Mid-century modern’ is the useful term popularised by Cara Greenberg’s 1984 book of that title. The United States, the civilisation…
In search of Chicago’s artistic past – and present
The Windy City has inspired everyone from Hemingway to Saul Bellow – and now William Cook
The Victorian artist who was more Jackson Pollock than Pre-Raphaelite
On his deathbed in 1904, George Frederic Watts saw a extraordinary spectacle. He witnessed the universe coming into being: the…
The good, the bad and the ugly: RA’s America after the Fall reviewed
The latest exhibition at the Royal Academy is entitled America after the Fall. It deals with painting in the United…
The first half is essential – the second much less so: Tate's Robert Rauschenberg reviewed
Robert Rauschenberg, like Autolycus in The Winter’s Tale, was a ‘snapper-up of unconsidered trifles’. Unlike Shakespeare’s character, however, he made…
In search of New York’s artistic past – and present
As the Royal Academy hosts the abstract expressionists, John Gimlette heads to New York in search of its painterly haunts
To call this offering a book is an abuse of language
I picked up this book with real enthusiasm. Who cannot be entranced by those 20 years after the second world…