Generation Z has recently embraced the term “aura,” originally coined by Walter Benjamin to describe the mysterious presence that art can possess, as a way to describe the elusive “it” factor some individuals seem to have. This is particularly relevant as today’s featured piece explores the concept of art having personhood. Lisa Siraganian examines this idea by referencing the 2010 Citizens United Supreme Court decision, which recognized corporations as people, and Pierre Huyghe’s eerily human sculptures.
Continuing the exploration of art and personhood, Ed Simon delves into the work of Renaissance painter Hans Holbein the Younger, noted for his unparalleled depiction of the human form. Simon’s review of scholar Elizabeth Goldring’s latest book serves both as an introduction for newcomers to Holbein and a fresh perspective for seasoned scholars. Additionally, Michael Glover brings to life the equine portraits of English Romantic artist George Stubbs, featuring iconic horses like Whistlejacket and Scrub, currently on display at the National Gallery in London.
In other news, the National Gallery of Art in Washington, DC, has received its largest-ever donation for an endowed program, and there’s a glimpse into the newly opened Victoria & Albert Museum in East London. Enjoy these stories and more!
—Lisa Yin Zhang, associate editor
Can an Artwork Have Personhood?
Many of us yearn for intimate, almost human interactions with art objects. But the risks might outweigh the rewards. | Lisa Siraganian
Byron Kim: A Little Deepness at James Cohan’s 48 Walker Street Gallery
A Little Deepness brings together early large-scale skyscapes, which illuminate the roots of Byron Kim’s practice in the interplay between looking and memory, with a year of his Sunday Paintings series. By turns intimate and universal, they chronicle Kim’s lived experience in which clouds, children’s milestones, political upheavals, and personal reckoning share the same quietly radiant surface.
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News
- A historic $116M gift to the National Gallery of Art (NGA) will endow a new artwork lending program. In its pilot year, the initiative reached an estimated 900,000 visitors across 10 institutions in the United States.
Feature
Can the V&A’s New Museum Fulfill Its Democratic Promise?
In contrast with the institution’s behemoth architecture, its recently unveiled East London branches seem built on a human scale. | Naomi Polonsky
The International Center of Photography Presents Photobook Fest
This year’s fest will feature over 80 publishers with a full weekend of workshops, panels, and book signings. May 8–10 in Manhattan’s Lower East Side.
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From Our Critics
Hans Holbein Painted the Human
He surpassed all of his colleagues in the sheer depth, visceral intimacy, and empathy conveyed in his renderings of nobles, aristocrats, and thinkers. | Ed Simon
Tale of a Riderless Horse
When George Stubbs paints a horse, it comes alive. | Michael Glover
Community
Remembering Desmond Morris, James Hayward, and Flo Oy Wong
This week, we honor a surrealist and zoologist, a monochrome abstractionist, and a pillar of Oakland’s Chinatown. | Lisa Yin Zhang
ICYMI
Harry Bertoia Gets His Moment
As a sculpture long thought lost resurfaces in Detroit, the artist and designer’s alma mater sets its sights on a major retrospective. | Sarah Rose Sharp
