Holland Cotter, "North
and South Connected, An Abstraction of The Americas"
Cecilia de Torres Ltd. 140 Greene Street SoHo Through Jan. 30.
Organized by the artist and historian Cesar Paternosto, this
compact show traces a line - or rather several lines - between
pre-Columbian art and 20th-century American modernism, with
some eye-opening results. A few of the modernist choices, like two works
by the Uruguayan painter Joaquin Torres-García, are obvious. Others,
like a hermetic little Alfred Jensen painting with dots and
dashes referring to Mayan calendars, are more off-beat. Jensen's work,
with its lathered impasto, suggests a piece of weaving. And the
show's most spectacular entries are examples of the real thing: three
Peruvian wool tunics, dated between A.D. 500 and 800. With their
emphatic patterns and bold, simple colors (red, gold, black),
they're irresistible and certain modern artists clearly thought so.
Josef and Anni Albers made 19 working trips to Mexico to look at
similar material, and the results are reflected in their work here:
paintings by him, paintings and wall hangings by her. Their influence,
in turn, passed on to Lenore Tawney, who studied at the Chicago
Bauhaus and is represented by an openwork piece from 1961. And,
finally, the show dips south again with a recent work - a miniature
tunic hung with thumbnail size shells - by the Chilean artist and
poet Cecilia Vicuña. Not everything is on this level: the
selection of sculpture doesn't have much presence. But the central theme
is a vital one, much in need of study and evaluation; several
of the compare-and-contrast demonstrations of it here really
click. And the Peruvian tunics, along with pieces by Anni Albers and
Ms. Tawney, are alone worth a visit.
The New York Times, 22 January, 1999
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