Marsden Hartley, April Gornik and More Prove the Past is Ever-Present
Vigorous bands of blue and gold and red practically beg to be touched in the expressionist brushstrokes of Marsden Hartley’s Dogtown from 1934 currently on view in LandEscape: New Visions of Landscape from the Early 20th and 21st Centuries at the Katonah Museum of Art. Shara Hughes’ The Not Dark Dark Spots from 2017 evokes a similar feeling but with a candy-colored, psychedelic twist. April Gornik’s 2006 hyper-realistic Sun and Storm might not seem an obvious exhibition mate for Marguerite Zorach’s Fauvist style Moonlight from 1910. Yet both the works emanate a kindred majesty that makes their pairing seem practically perfect.
Connecting the dots between early 20th-century American modernists who exhibited their landscapes at the groundbreaking 1913 Armory Show and a group of 21st-century artists who have reinvigorated the genre is exactly the purpose of the exhibition.
Curated by Olga Dekalo, the works highlight how a diverse range of artists, including John Marin and Helen Torr broke from tradition to create a new visual language that changed the way landscape is perceived. And how a diverse range of artists, including Alex Katz and Judy Pfaff, continues to reinterpret the genre with the same innovative impulse. For more info, visit katonahmuseum.org.
A version of this article first appeared in the May issue of ArtsNews, ArtsWestchester’s monthly publication. ArtsNews is distributed throughout Westchester County. A digital copy is also available at artsw.org/artsnews.
