All posts tagged: The Metropolitan Museum of Art

‘Tell Me Your Worst’  | Bridget Alsdorf

‘Tell Me Your Worst’  | Bridget Alsdorf

Published by José Betancourt

The Finnish artist Helene Schjerfbeck told her models to stay silent and look away from her while she worked. She would not tolerate conversation or a returned gaze. As a result her paintings show the many ways art can present a person indirectly: in profile, eyes closed, staring off in the distance or looking askance, absorbed in reading, thinking, or domestic tasks. Deflecting subjectivity is considerably more difficult when depicting oneself, and Schjerfbeck made many self-portraits throughout her career. How do you catch yourself looking away? And if you manage it, using multiple mirrors, what do you reveal? In a late drawing, Self-Portrait in Profile (circa 1933), the artist adopts a turned-away posture, leaving her reflection an unknowable exterior. A diagonal line in the lower-left corner shoots out of frame, marking the edge of her easel and signaling her attention’s direction. To follow it, as the composition invites, we have to slide past her toward the unseen object of her stare: her work, this work. We look away, caught in the space between the artist …

Lee Krasner and Jackson Pollock to Star in Blockbuster Show at the Met

Lee Krasner and Jackson Pollock to Star in Blockbuster Show at the Met

Published by Jenni Sidey

The Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York will host a major exhibition for two major artists who have never been subject to such treatment by the institution before: Lee Krasner and Jackson Pollock. The famously married artists each established a legacy that stands on its own. This show, to open in October and run through January 2027, will survey those legacies both on their own and side-by-side. In a press release, Met director Max Hollein said, “With its distinctive premise and scope, Krasner and Pollock: Past Continuous exemplifies The Met’s commitment to reexamining modern art through rigorous scholarship and fresh perspectives. By considering each artist on their own terms while also foregrounding their consequential relationship, the exhibition situates Krasner’s and Pollock’s work within a broader cultural and artistic context.” Hollein went on to call the approach integral to the vision he foresees for the Met Department of Modern and Contemporary Art’s forthcoming new wing, scheduled to open in 2030. Related Articles Krasner and Pollock met as young artists when they were included in a …