Art Criticism and Writing | MFA Program

Kazimir Malevich, "Suprematist Composition: Airplane Flying" (1915). Oil on canvas, 22 7/8 by 19 inches. Courtesy Gagosian Gallery.

The newest exhibition at the Gagosian Gallery, “Malevich and the American Legacy,” is an extravagant attempt that achieves only modest results.

In an effort to demonstrate the far-reaching influence of the Russian Suprematist painter Kazimir Malevich, the show surrounds six of his major paintings with a variety of works by modern and contemporary American artists. Curators Andrea Crane and Ealan Wingate have loosely defined the term “legacy” in the exhibition’s title, incorporating a number of works that share only a small degree of formal or conceptual relation to Malevich’s paintings. Though this inclusionary approach allows the show to feature an impressive collection of artists such as Barnett Newman, Ad Reinhardt, Donald Judd and Richard Serra, to name only a few, the diversity of the exhibition serves as a detriment to its overall success. By increasing the number of possible Malevich comparisons, the show also lessens the consistency of compelling connections.
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Art School: Propositions for the 21st Century
ed. Steven Henry Madoff
Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, 2009
384 pages, $32.95

Despite its faults, Art School: Propositions for the 21st Century is spectacular. Edited by Steven Henry Madoff, the anthology captures representatives of every point in the art school matrix: students and teachers, theorists, critics, curators, and so on. There are great contributions from older educators as well as neophytes. The disagreement among its authors is entertaining and challenging. Questions concerning Ph.D. studio programs, the role of interdisciplinary research, and the theory/practice divide are given several contradicting answers, and yet satisfy.

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