02 Feb 2021

Time Capsule: Art of the Forties

Childs Gallery

Reviewed by Franklin Einspruch

Childs Gallery, in the midst of a move to its third location on the same block of Newbury Street since its establishment there in 1937, has a show up that provides a taste of work from the Forties. Anyone needing a brief introduction to the Boston School ought to drop by. Karl Zerbe is represented with Angel and Rooster from 1948, painted in encaustic with a mysterious air. His influence on student Anne Lyman Powers is apparent in her 1949 Deposition. Really, a lot of contemporary painters could stand to go look at Zerbe to make sure that they're not inadvertently ripping him off.

Challenged to grab one work from the wall and run, I would pick Hat Shoppers (ca. 1945) by Henry Koerner. No longer famed, he painted more than fifty portraits for the cover of Time and received significant critical attention. In this painting a mirror catches the smile of a woman who made up for her looks with wit and prospered. Her companions attend to her in an outdoor market, a comical throng sketched in the background. The sharp light from the glass analogizes her contrasting self-awareness.