https://www.nga.gov/exhibitions/current.html
I must admit that I did not necessarily absorb all aspects and details of the three shows that I saw here as I was catching up with an old friend whom I had not seen for 7 years and so my (our) focus was understandably more on that than the art.
However Guston was interesting – not a name I knew at all and fascinating to see how long a creative career he had (not always the same as a long life, as far as creatives are concerned) and how radically different he was at the various stages of his career. It was also interesting to see how critics reacted to both his changes of style AND his re-visiting of his earlier style and approach towards the end of his career. Negatively seen, apparently (and annoyingly). What is wrong with re-working and re-visiting a form of artistic expression in the latter part of your creative career? You are bound to be ab let o have something new to say.
The Dante exhibition was rather feeble I felt: very small scale (not intrinsically bad but given the topic and potential…) and missing some key people, particularly Gustave Dore – and only one from William Blake. But perhaps it drawn only from the museum’s own collection - which, if the case, is surprisingly small.
The UK images from the 70’s/80’s were familiar territory but it was intriguing to see these in such a setting – and I would love to know what the American audience made of them. I liked too the very highly lit quality of the images – not Technicolor as not warm enough, but something harsher and brighter, well suited to the time, place and situations being shown.