Say It with Flowers—or Gourds, Goats, Fur Cups, or Fried Eggs
The interpretation of sexual symbols in art is everywhere. But what we view as erotic often tells us less about the artists than it does about our own sensibilities. Read More
Also in this Issue
Behind the Veil
Ghada Amer uses webs of thread to conceal provocative images of women in ecstasy
Carly Berwick
Fantastic, Aquatic, Orgiastic
Raqib Shaw’s “Garden of Earthly Delights” restages Bosch’s classic as an unending underwater ballet
David Galloway
Voluptuous——and Venomous
For van Gogh, the pink and white petals of the oleander stood for sex and its dangers
Martin Gayford
‘Life Commitments’
Agnes Gund’s many roles—president emerita of the Museum of Modern Art, Studio in a School founder, chair of New York’s Cultural Affairs Advisory Commission, and member of more than a dozen museum boards—are the product of her devotion to artists and the arts
Hilarie M. Sheets
Departments
Art Talk
Ulf Küster, Ernst Beyeler, Philippe Büttner, Louise Bourgeois, Pipilotti Rist, Valie Export, David Hockney, David Hensel, Mark Nelson, Sarah H. Bayliss, Marina Abramovic, Matthew Barney, Neville Wakefield
National News
Los Angeles Restitution: “Significant progress” New York Shake-up in Brooklyn; Provenance research: too slow?; Met dismisses claims of Duccio forgery Spotlight Jill Medvedow: “Pathologically optimistic”; Holly Block: Here comes the neighborhood
International News
Abu Dhabi United Arab Emirates and Guggenheim: “This deeper partnership” Rome Reclaiming Modigliani Amsterdam Smuggled archive returns to Russia Paris Louvre addresses pyramid problem Vienna Hubertus Czernin: A crusading journalist
Art Market
London The ‘tortoise’ catches up New York Appreciating Fischl; Collecting advice
Studio
Making Skin Crawl: Chloe Piene creates drawings and videos that are at once sexual and macabre
Hilarie M. Sheets
Books
Painting the Difference: Sex and Spectator in Modern Art By Charles Harrison • Auguste Rodin: Erotic Sketches By Norbert Wolf • Bathers, Bodies, Beauty: The Visceral Eye By Linda Nochlin • Eroticism & Art By Alyce Mahon • Icons of Erotic Art By Pippa Hurd
Critic’s Pick
Nathalie Djurberg: Feats of clay
Carly Berwick
Reviews
NEW YORK “Full House”; “Legacies: Contemporary Artists Reflect on Slavery”; Zaha Hadid; Richard Serra; Mark di Suvero; Jenny Holzer; Fred Wilson; Leon Polk Smith; James Lee Byars; “Daughters of Dada”; Stephen Mueller; Alexis Rockman; Judy Glantzman; Anthony Fry; Natvar Bhavsar; Ed Baynard; “From Talbot to Turner”; Doug Trump; “Great Performance: Contemporary Chinese Photography”; Fred Otnes; Harold Haliday Costain
NATIONAL Santa Fe SITE Santa Fe: “Still Points of the Turning World” Venice, California Sean Scully San Francisco Jacques Villeglé; Michael Kovner; “ULAE Prints from the Collection 1957–2006” Philadelphia Pat Steir Washington, D.C. Kevin Kepple Chicago Susan Caporael; Mary Borgman Dallas–Fort Worth “Masterpiece”; “Louis Comfort Tiffany: Artist for the Ages”; Luis González Palma; Robert Dean Stockwell; “I-35 Biennial Invitational”; Patrick Kelly
INTERNATIONAL Madrid “Picasso: Tradition and Avant-Garde” London Avigdor Arikha; Franz Ackermann Zurich Roni Horn Rome Robert Motherwell Paris Los Carpinteros