Word: brushworks
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Nesbitt's own studio is evoked by haunting grisaille renderings of his wall moldings and a view through his window at the empty windows of the tenements across the street. Or are they empty? They are, but such is the skill of the brushwork that the observer feels compelled to look again. "I always want there to be a chance for the viewer to see more," says Nesbitt. "I feel a painting should become a focus point for meditation like a mandala...
...Foujita reached Paris in 1913 in purple morning coat and pith helmet, went on to hobnob with the brilliant and the bizarre in the Montmartre of the '20s. He painted cats by the thousands and almost as many catlike women, achieving the first real fusion of Oriental brushwork and Western oils. He topped off his career in 1966 with a set of giant frescoes for a specially built chapel near Rheims, hoping cheerfully to "atone for 80 years of sins...
Thomas Gainsborough, for example, is represented most tellingly by a flamboyant "fancy picture" (a fantasy) of a sleeping country girl. John Constable's Study for "A Boat Passing a Lock" illustrates through its snapshot organization and cavalier brushwork his influence on Delacroix, Millet and Corot. Hardly less impressive are five canvases by the provincial Joseph Wright of Derby (1734-97), which range from a firelit Iron Forge to the protosurrealism of The Old Man and Death...
...gaping holes in this show is the presentation of still life. The piece by Willem Kalf stands out among the nine still lifes in the exhibition. His rich colors and intricate brushwork, with a complete attention to detail and a skillful rendering of textures and density make this piece exceptionally exciting. But the nine paintings convey none of the Dutch passion for collections of little objects or the broad range of subjects and styles in Dutch still life painting. As a group, these few pictures present an inadequate view of this important kind of painting...
...reminder that the birth of Christ has fruitfulness for one of its main themes is The Holy Family, a collaboration between Jan Bruegel ("the Velvet Bruegel," to distinguish him from his father, Pieter) and a virtually anonymous fellow Fleming, Pieter van Avont. With pagan profusion, Bruegel lavished his brushwork on the garlands shaped like an M in homage to the Virgin. Incorporated into the salady festoon are samples of all that the hothouses, orangeries and private zoos of Flemish aristocracy could offer. Roses and carnations are mixed with more pungent garlics, cabbages and peppers; common wheat is intertwined with pumpkins...