29 Sep 2017

From Hopper to Rothko: America's Road to Modern Art

Museum Barberini

Reviewed by Vera Wilde

Light flows from grand space in this showcase of North American modern art from the Gilded Age through the mid-20th century. The skies' and shores' wild expanses inspire uniquely sweeping landscapes.

Yet European influence runs throughout. Ryder's Moonlit Cove (1880) recalls Munch's moody poignancy. Twachtman's My Summer Studio (c. 1900) bursts with color, straddling the Impressionist-Expressionist divide. His Emerald Pool (c. 1895) prefigures O'Keeffe's tightly composed, unfolding flowers. Bischoff also innovates by combining realist and expressionist elements (Figures: Back and Profile, 1960).

Tradition, faith, and reclusion counterbalance innovation, angst, and dialogue. Bellows studied cubism, but paints like an old master (Emma at a Window, 1920). Sunlight conquers Manhattan's dark, Great Depression clouds (Edward Bruce, Power, c. 1933). Church is no social group, but an unpopulated desert hut (O'Keeffe, Ranchos Church, No. II, NM, 1929).