You see odd juxtapositions every day. Some are distinctly more touching than others:   Others seem merely odder:

Mark Adams (1925 – 2006) designed such things as large-scale tapestries and the magnificent stained glass windows of Temple Beth El in San Francisco, but his smaller works have a wonderful, intimate appeal arising from his decisiveness in choosing which of the visual elements before him to pursue, and his clarity in executing them. “Alcatraz” is divided into three…

   It’s generally the case that works of art are centered on action, and the surrounding space, however interesting it may be, is in a supporting capacity. Sometimes, though, the subject is the space itself. The focus is not so much on people and objects as on the space where they occur. Manet’s “Rue Mosnier”,…

San Francisco’s DeYoung Museum is showing “Modern Nature: Georgia O’Keeffe & Lake George” through May 11. It’s early work, before she got into her iconic western stuff. It’s odd. It’s irregular. Much of it, like “Lake George Coat and Red” is harsh, vulgar, and unpleasant (although to be fair, the original is somewhat more  coherent…

  Among the many fascinations of Wayne Thiebaud’s work is his happy incorporation of elements both representational and abstract in the same piece. Of course, every painting is abstract in the sense that its design is made up of shapes and colors that may or may not be representational, but few artists bounce from one…

Fans of Downton Abby will recognize the appeal of country life as painted by George Stubbs (1724 – 1806). It’s an ordered society where everyone has a place, and knows it. And, unlike Downton, is happy–at least so far as we can tell from the discreet   distance where Stubbs places us. Even when the…

   Every artist produces a range of work. Even the masters knock off a dud from time to time, and mediocre practitioners may be capable of the occasional fine piece. For an example of the latter we have an unexpected delight: the youthful drawings of Andries Both (1611-12 – 1641), a minor Dutch painter of…

  Beth Van Hoesen (1926 – 2010) embraced a wide range of images–flowers, animals, and people of all sorts, shapes, and sizes–and while she liked her subjects dramatic, her interest was in the novel design possibilities presented by dramatic subjects rather than in drama as such. Whatever her subject, her approach was always gentle and…

Picture frames are often  merely pompous and distracting, but sometimes, as here, they expand and complete the work. This tiny piece by Geertgen tot Sint Jans (c.1465 – c.1495) sits in its frame as in a window, the repeated gold rectangles almost describing a house with its protective shutters mostly but not entirely open. Gentle,…

More “David Hockney: a Bigger Exhibition.” This week we move from the technical to the conceptual—Hockney’s variations on the works of other artists. Variations can be a perfectly sound way of paying homage or making a joke, or, as in the self portrait here, making a point about beginnings and ends.  Velazquez’s “Las Meninas” is…