Now we go over to the dark side... From his writing, Mr. Updike views Mr. Hassam's work in a much more favorable light, he doesn't go overboard, but he doesn't diss like Kramer and Kimmelman. He does however have some particularly pointed comments about H. Barbara Weinberg. What is it about the art world that makes people get snippy? One of his remarks ("...chief curator of this exhibition as well as of the rather tendentious Realism and Impressionism show at the Met ten years ago...") leads me to believe that he holds grudges (what did Ms. Weinberg do to him, ten years ago? Maybe he DID have to pay the $12 admission fee) I am not certain if this is a good thing. He then goes on to call her a liar ("...in her remarks at the press preview described Hassam as the American painter who went to Paris and brought back Impressionism; yet the room devoted to his three years studying and living in Paris, from 1886 to 1889, does not seem especially Impressionistic.") Although, taking a step back, I'd be mighty impressed if John Updike called me a liar.

I gotta get back to work, now. With a little luck, nobody else will write about Childe Hassam for a while, and I can get back to blogging about stuff here in Montreal.

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Posted by Zeke from Zeke's Gallery to Zeke's Gallery at 6/27/2004 01:27:34 PM