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Robert Moskowitz
Over the last thirty years, Robert Moskowitz has emerged as one of the most important painters on the American scene. His collages, paintings, and drawings form a significant link between the Abstract Expressionism of the New York School and the "New Image Abstraction" painters of the mid-1970s.
Since the 1960s, Moskowitz has pursued a strongly reductive style, seeking to infuse recognizable imagery with emotive content. At first it was possible to draw parallels between his paintings and those of Johns, Rauschenberg, and Dine, with whom he sometimes exhibited, but more recently he has developed a personal style that is entirely his own. In the words of Michael Kimmelman of the New York Times, he "works and reworks a narrow repertory of images, inventing through mysterious scenes of icebergs, howling dogs, crosses, and skyscrapers, a world in which distinctions blur between past and present, solid and ephemeral. . . . Strange, affecting images, they describe a narrow path separating reality from the imagination. "
Based on a major retrospective exhibition, this is the first book to survey the whole range of Moskowitz's career to date, reproducing over sixty of his works in color. Ned Rifkin, Chief Curator for Exhibitions at the Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, provides a full biographical and critical commentary, and the book also contains an illuminating interview with the artist by Linda Shearer, Curator in the Department of Painting and Sculpture at the Museum of AModern Art in New York.
Thames and Hudson/Hirshhorn, 1989.
Since the 1960s, Moskowitz has pursued a strongly reductive style, seeking to infuse recognizable imagery with emotive content. At first it was possible to draw parallels between his paintings and those of Johns, Rauschenberg, and Dine, with whom he sometimes exhibited, but more recently he has developed a personal style that is entirely his own. In the words of Michael Kimmelman of the New York Times, he "works and reworks a narrow repertory of images, inventing through mysterious scenes of icebergs, howling dogs, crosses, and skyscrapers, a world in which distinctions blur between past and present, solid and ephemeral. . . . Strange, affecting images, they describe a narrow path separating reality from the imagination. "
Based on a major retrospective exhibition, this is the first book to survey the whole range of Moskowitz's career to date, reproducing over sixty of his works in color. Ned Rifkin, Chief Curator for Exhibitions at the Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, provides a full biographical and critical commentary, and the book also contains an illuminating interview with the artist by Linda Shearer, Curator in the Department of Painting and Sculpture at the Museum of AModern Art in New York.
Thames and Hudson/Hirshhorn, 1989.
- GenresArt
208 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 1989
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September 29, 2024
I was appreciative of this most comprehensive survey of an artist I wasn't fully aware of until reading through the biographical and critical commentary provided by curator Ned Rifkin. The artist's transition from abstract expressionism to minimalism, influenced by his assistantship with photographer Walker Evans, paved the way to Moskowitz's more unique style. His penchant towards monochromes, and whimsical treatments of prior well-known works (e.g. The Thinker) define his mature and late style.
Ultimately though I wasn't super impressed by the artist's work, and that lack of enthusiasm spilled over into an overall lack of appreciation of the curator's writings about the work. Sometimes the writer's prosaic goals are inconsistent: at once he's breaking down the artist's motivation by revealing deep-seated psychological motivations (basically Freudian); at other times a piece is described as adding to the artist's "mysteriousness" and no further elucidation about the work is made. The reading of Cadillac / Chopsticks as an "East meets West" exploratory journey comes off as overly simplistic.
The organization of the book is clever and publishers should be commended; the prose references large plates that make up the end of the book and the plates are handled deftly; one color plate per page. The reader than look through the color plates first, and then read the essay while flipping through the plates, or (as I did) do both.
Ultimately though I wasn't super impressed by the artist's work, and that lack of enthusiasm spilled over into an overall lack of appreciation of the curator's writings about the work. Sometimes the writer's prosaic goals are inconsistent: at once he's breaking down the artist's motivation by revealing deep-seated psychological motivations (basically Freudian); at other times a piece is described as adding to the artist's "mysteriousness" and no further elucidation about the work is made. The reading of Cadillac / Chopsticks as an "East meets West" exploratory journey comes off as overly simplistic.
The organization of the book is clever and publishers should be commended; the prose references large plates that make up the end of the book and the plates are handled deftly; one color plate per page. The reader than look through the color plates first, and then read the essay while flipping through the plates, or (as I did) do both.
Displaying 1 of 1 review