1st Edition

A Fine Regard Essays in Honor of Kirk Varnedoe

Edited By Patricia G. Berman, Gertje R. Utley Copyright 2008
    356 Pages
    by Routledge

    This volume celebrates the scholarly and curatorial vision of Kirk Varnedoe (1946-2003). As Chief Curator of Painting and Sculpture at The Museum of Modern Art, N.Y. Varnedoe was one of the most distinguished curators in the United States, and as Professor of Fine Arts at New York University's Institute of Fine Arts, a famously dynamic teacher. The nineteen essays, written by Varnedoe's most distinguished doctoral students (now noted art historians in their own right), highlight the wide range of subjects in 19th- and 20th-century art introduced in his pedagogy. Several derive from the collaboration of their authors with Dr. Varnedoe on major exhibitions at the Museum of Modern Art and elsewhere and offer new insight into these projects. The volume includes introductory essays by the editors and by Varnedoe's colleagues Robert Storr and Robert Rosenblum as well as a full bibliography of Varnedoe's writings.

    Contents: Preface: Kirk Varnedoe as teacher, Mariët Westermann; Introduction, Patricia G. Berman and Gertje R. Utley; Kirk Varndoe and the 19th century, Robert Rosenblum; A man of words in a house of pictures, Robert Storr; 2 pavilions, a palace, and a painter's prerogative: post-commune narrative in Vollon's A Corner of the Louvre, Carol Forman Tabler; Carving the 'ultra-sauvage': exoticism in Gauguin's sculpture, Elizabeth C. Childs; The dawning of Northern Light: an exhibition and its influence, Michelle Facos; Dionysus with tan lines: Edvard Munch's discursive skin, Patricia G. Berman; Die Ãœbermarionette: Egon Schiele's private codes, Gertje R. Utley; Youthful ambition: Picasso's Barcelona portraits of 1900, Anna Swinbourne; Picasso raisonné, Jeffrey Weiss; Running with the ball: Robert Delaunay, Pierre de Coubertin and rugby football in France, Robert S. Lubar; Paul Strand's not-so-revolutionary photographs of 1916, Bonnie Yochelson; Brancusi in camouflage, Roxana Marcoci; Alberto Giacometti's moving and mute objects, Anne Umland; Harry Callahan, modernist photography, and postwar suburban domesticity, John Pultz; Combining photography: Robert Rauschenberg and the aesthetic of memory, Chad Alan Weinard; Robert Rauschenberg's Ace of 1962: an interpretation, Roni Feinstein; Tony Smith's Earthworks, Joan Pachner; Ellsworth Kelly and the large wall, Alison de Lima Greene; It's the system: some thoughts on the development of an intercontinental art world, 1950s-1960s, Lynn Zelevansky; Romance with liquids: allegorical abstraction, Pepe Karmel; Bibliography of Kirk Varnedoe's publications and exhibitions, Beth Merfish; Index.

    Biography

    Patricia G. Berman is Professor of Art at Wellesley College, USA.

    Gertje R. Utley is an independent scholar.

    ’The book is a strong contribution to art historical scholarship and a testament to the lasting impact of this esteemed curator and distinguished faculty member. Recommended.’ Choice