American artist Spencer Finch is not a household name. But a few weeks ago he was thrown into the spotlight in a big way, because he created the only commissioned piece for the 9-11 Memorial Museum.

Trying to Remember the Color of the Sky on that September Morning is a large panel with 2,983 squares of paper, each painted a unique shade of blue.

Now Finch is about to unveil a large-scale installation at the Morgan Library and Museum. The piece, titled A Certain Slant of Light after an Emily Dickinson poem, is 365 large squares of brightly-colored plastic that he’s attached to the Morgan’s glass lobby.

Art critic Deborah Solomon said she loved the piece “because it draws you into nature, which you might not have thought possible in New York City.”

The colors refer to the colors in the Book of Hours, a medieval calendar created by monks to track the various seasons. “Basically, he wants to make you aware that New York in summer is not all heat and mounds of trash on the sidewalk. There is also beautiful, beautiful light,” said Solomon.

President Obama, former New York City mayor Michael Bloomberg, first lady Michelle Obama and others in front of Spencer Finch's piece for the 9-11 Memorial Museum (Getty Images) 

Light has become a popular medium for artists — witness several recent exhibits in New York. Last year, the Guggenheim Museum presented James Turrell's indoor light show. Doug Wheeler brought lines to the David Zwirner gallery in Chelsea with his “light environments.”

Solomon says all these pieces referencing light is not a coincidence. Instead, they are a backlash to the fact that much of art is about consumer culture. “Art has become divorced from nature. And I think there is a desire among many artists to re-connect contemporary art with the natural world,” she said.

James Turrell: Rendering of installation for the Guggenheim Museum (Courtesy of James Turrell)

Still, New York City light is not often a source of inspiration for artists. “So many artists, from Picasso and Matisse on down, have talked about the fierce light in the south of France, about moving to Provence in pursuit of light,” said Solomon. “But have you ever heard of any artist saying he or she moved to New York to paint the light? Never.”

Can New York City become a destination for artists for its light? How so? Join the discussion.

Jeff Koons sells his work for more than any other American living artist. And now he's the first to fill nearly the entire Whitney Museum by himself.

Koons' major retrospective is his first in New York City, and also the last for the Whitney's uptown Marcel Breuer building before it moves to its new home downtown next year.

The show includes about 150 works and covers Koons whole career, from his early works using vinyl inflatable toys, to his major balloon dog made of aluminum.  One of the highlights is his play-doh sculpture, which took Koons 20 years to make and stands 10-feet tall.

Play Doh 1994-20014

Koons is not only an artist who can sell his work for millions of dollars, he is also often treated as a rock star. At the preview on Tuesday, he was surrounded by cameras and flashes. “I am enjoying every moment of this, I have to tell you,” he said in his remarks. “And I am enjoying it because I really believe in art, I really believe in the transcendence that it has given me, it has taught me how to feel.”

Jeff Koons, Inflatable Flowers (Short Pink, Tall Purple), 1979.

Art critic Deborah Solomon said she came up with a new name for Koons after seeing the show. She noticed inflatable toys run throughout all of his work.  “I realized that inflation is the theme of his work. It’s one of the prevailing metaphors of our time, and I think he is an inflation artist,” she said.

Solomon was also troubled by what she said is a vein of eroticism that runs throughout the show. From the sexual paintings Koons did with his former wife — the Italian porn star known as La Cicciolina — to replicas of inflatable puppies combined with an image of pink panties, for example. “In that explicit conversion of eroticism and cuteness I found basically the definition of perversion,” she said.

Jeff Koons, Made in Heaven,1989.

Overall, Solomon is disappointed with the Whitney’s choice to close the home it has occupied since 1966. She said her memories of childhood are linked to seeing shows there of American artists like Jackson Pollock and Edward Hopper.

Solomon said Koons is known for making monumental sculptures of balloon dogs and porcelain replicas of Michael Jackson. “He is very much attuned to American taste at its absolute worst,” she said. “Bad taste is always funny and the idea of importing bad taste into a good-taste museum can be diverting.”

Is Koons the American artist that best portrays American culture today? Join the conversation.

Jeff Koons, Michael Jackson and Bubbles, 1988.

In a dark room inside the Whitebox Art Center, a non-profit galley in the Lower East Side, hundreds of names are projected on a wall and are read by a computer-generated voice. They are the Palestinians who have been killed in the current conflict between Israel and Gaza.

The piece is an artwork created by Palestinian artist Khaled Jarrar. He made headlines internationally last week when Israeli authorities refused to let him travel to New York for the opening of a show at the New Museum, where he has another piece: a 70-minute-long film called Infiltrators that is part of the Arab-world survey “Here and Elsewhere.”

Names of the Palestinian victims killed in the current conflict in Gaza, part of a video piece by Khaled Jarrar  

Jarrar is 38 years old and he lives in Ramallah, in the West Bank. He was a soldier in the Palestinian Presidential Guard while studying interior design at the Palestinian Polytechnic University. As an artist, he works mostly with video and photography. His pieces document life in the Palestinian territories, tackling issues about identity, restriction, and the recognition of the state of Palestine. For his project Live and Work in Palestine, for example, he designed a seemingly official Palestinian passport stamp.

Art critic Deborah Solomon thinks Jarrar’s work raises the question of what the role of art should be in addressing a complex political situation. Jarrar's work, she thinks, is effective. “He has such a light, humorous touch, I think he wins everybody over,” she said.

Solomon interviewed Jarrar and when she told him she was Jewish, he replied: “You know what? I feel Jewish more than you.” When Solomon asked why, he said, “Because I don’t believe so much in religion. I don’t care if I am Jewish, or I am Muslim, or I am Christian, I like to be all of it. I like, if I can, combine all of it together.”

Solomon said Jarrar wants to rise above national boundaries, and make art that speaks to everyone. “He wants to let us know he is not hateful, he is not shrill, he is not didactic, he is not a terrorist. He is a man trying to capture the reality of his life on the West Bank.”

What is your take on his work, and on the role of art in this conflict? Join the conversation.

Still from a video by Khaled Jarrar showing Palestinian soldiers marching

Winslow Homer’s “Milking Time” (1875) is a masterpiece of American genre painting. It’s a quietly intense farm scene in which a mother and son turn away and gaze over a wooden fence that seems to say something about held-back emotions.

The painting is owned by the Delaware Art Museum, but it will be offered at a Sotheby’s auction this fall, unless a buyer turns up beforehand. It will be the second painting sold by the museum in a practice known as deaccessioning — when museums sell artwork to fund operations.

Art critic Deborah Solomon thinks the practice is very troubling. “Trustees who sell paintings are cannibalizing their own collections,” she said. “The gesture is seen as self-defeating. It’s a little bit like burning your roof to heat your kitchen.”

The museum says it needs to sell the works to help settle a $19.8 million expansion debt. Solomon says this is a cautionary tale about the perils of over-expansion, something that several New York museums are embarking into — The Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Museum of Modern Art, the Whitney Museum of American Art, and probably also the Frick Collection. “Everybody wants to put new wings, assuming that architecture draw viewers, every museum wants to be a destination,” she said. “But sometimes expansions do send museums into debt that they cannot get out of.”

One famous example, Solomon said, is the American Folk Art Museum, which built a new building on 53rd Street and got into so much debt that it moved back to its original small space at 2 Lincoln Square in 2011.

Solomon also believes deaccessioning is often only a short-term solution. She mentions the example of the National Academy Museum, which, in 2008, sold two Hudson River paintings from its collection — one by Frederic Edwin Church and another by Sanford Robinson Gifford — to help defray operating expenses. The sale brought in $13.5 million. Six years later, the museum is mired in financial problems and laying off staff. “At best, selling a painting is a temporary fix. It gets you out of the hole right now but it doesn’t save you in the long-term, because in the long-term, you need to have a collection for people to come see.”

What do you think? Is it okay for museums to sell their artwork to raise money to pay their bills? Why or why not? Join the conversation.

Businessmen walking on the streets of Midtown. Couples swimming at Coney Island. Women with teased hair and cat-eye sunglasses.

Thousands of regular Americans were captured by the lens of late photographer Garry Winogrand between the 1950s and 1984. He is now the subject of a major retrospective at the Metropolitan Museum  —  and it reminds us, among other things, of the virtues of the style known as "straight photography."

For art critic Deborah Solomon, it's about time. She explained that today’s most famous photographers, such as Jeff Wall, Cindy Sherman or Andreas Gursky, are all “staged” photographers. “They resented the street aesthetic or the documentary approach because they wanted to show that all photography — even the most seemingly real — is an illusion,” she said. “They thought it was silly to pretend that documentary photography offers truths.

Cindy Sherman in her 2007-08 series.

Solomon believes Winogrand’s retrospective at the Met shows the power of straight photography. “He provides us with a moving chronicle of people who look familiar to us, and they look like our parents and our grandparents circa 1960. This is New York before Starbucks and cell phones.”

And it proves that straight photography is indeed art, even in the present era, when everyone is a smart-phone photographer. “Garry Winogrand never took a selfie,” she said. “I think we have a lot to learn from this show, about focusing our gaze on sites beyond ourselves.”

Do you agree? Do you think straight photography can be art? Can photojournalism be art? Join the discussion.

Garry Winogrand, Los Angeles 1980-83

This is going to be a fall art season of the dead white men. Yet again. Major exhibits will feature work by Paul Cezanne, Pablo Picasso and Henri Matisse.

Cezanne's portraits of his wife, Hortense, will be presented in a show at the Metropolitan Museum. Picasso’s portraits of his last wife Jacqueline Roque will be at the Pace Gallery. And Matisse’s cut-outs will be at the Museum of Modern Art.

In this interview, WNYC art critic Deborah Solomon said that despite the lack of diversity, it’s going to be a great season. “Now that we are in the 21^st century, we can look back and say that the 20^th century was a true Renaissance, it was a golden age," she said. "Picasso, Matisse, Cezanne — these are our classics and I am happy to look at them again."

The shows Solomon is looking forward to:

Cezanne at the Met:

“In some ways, his paintings of apples are much more sensuous than his paintings of Hortense Cezanne. I have a feeling we will come to think more of Madame Cezanne after we see the show at the Met.”

Matisse at MoMA:

“Matisse’s cut outs prove that you can do joyful work that runs very deep.”

Annie Liebowitz at New York Historical Society: 

“I think she does deserve consideration as a serious artist, as opposed to just a photographer of celebrities.”

Plus, Marcel Dzama at David Zwirner, Justine Kurland at Mitchell Innes & Nash, and Roxy Paine at Marianne Boesky.

And the show Solomon is most dreading:

Killer Heels at the Brooklyn Museum:

“Generally I find that high heels are obsolete — they de-center and de-stabilize women.”

How about you? Which art shows are you excited to see and which ones you will skip? Join the conversation.

Henri Matisse (French, 1869-1954). Blue Nude II (Nu bleu II), spring 1952. Gouache on paper, cut and pasted, on white paper, mounted on canvas.(Musée national d’art moderne/Centre de création industrielle, Centre Georges Pompidou, Paris. Purchase, 1984. © 2014 Succession H. Matisse / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York)

Brooklyn Museum director Alan Lehman, who announced his retirement Wednesday, offended a lot of people during his 17-year tenure.

Most famously, there was the "Sensation" art exhibit in 1999 that featured a painting of the Virgin Mary by English artist Chris Ofili that was decorated with elephant dung. Catholic groups protested and Mayor Rudolph Giuliani threatened to withhold city funding from the museum. But the action that offended WNYC Art Critic Deborah Solomon the most was when Lehman dropped “art” from the name of the Brooklyn Museum.

“I found that very disturbing at the time. I thought is art bad publicity? Is this a museum director who thinks art hurts his institution?” Solomon said.

But Solomon said that by engaging with the community, Lehman was able to double its audience and endowment and increased the number of young and minority visitors.

“He had a social vision of art. He believed art should be connected to society and he did the kind of the shows that MOMA and the Met would never touch,” Solomon said.

Lehman officially steps down in 2015. A successor has not been named.

Solomon spoke to WNYC’s Richard Hake.

WNYC art critic Deborah Solomon shares the top 10 art museums and "art neighborhoods" she's looking forward to visiting this season.

Follow along as we talk about upcoming exhibitions and events.

1. Paul Cézanne, Madame Cézanne in a Red Armchair, included in "Madame Cezanne" at the Met, starting November 19, 2014 (Museum of Fine Arts, Boston)

2. Henri Matisse, The Clown (Le Clown), 1943, included in Henri Matisse: The Cut-Outs at MoMA opening October 12, 2014 (Succession H. Matisse /ARS, New York)

 

3. Helen Frankenthaler, Pink Lady,1963, exhibition at Gagosian Gallery now (Photo by Rob McKeever)

 

4. Chris Ofili, Afronirvana, 2002 - included in The New Museum's "Chris Ofili: Night and Day" opening 10/29 (The New Museum)

5. Roxy Paine's airport checkpoint, from maple wood, at Marianne Boesky in Chelsea (courtesy of Deborah Solomon)

6. Aerial View, from West 30th Street, looking West toward the Empire State Building - the High Line's new section opens September 21st. (©Iwan Baan, 2011)

7. Marie Lorenz (American, b. 1973). Archipelago (Mast View), 2012, part of "Crossing Brooklyn: Art from Bushwick, Bed-Stuy, and Beyond" opening Oct. 3 at The Brooklyn Museum. (Courtesy of the artist and Jack Hanley Gallery. © Marie Lorenz. Photo: Marie Lorenz)

 

8. Funk, God, Jazz, and Medicine: Black Radical Brooklyn presented by Creative Time and the Weeksville Heritage Center starting 9/20. (Creative Time and Weeksville Heritage Center)

9. Saul Steinberg, Rainbow Reflected, 1974 - included in "Puddle, pothole, portal" a multimedia show at the SculptureCenter opening 10/2 (The Saul Steinberg Foundation/ARS, NY)

 

10. Russ & Daughters' chopped liver --  Russ & Daughters will open a restaurant in The Jewish Museum (Courtesy of Russ and Daughters)

 

After a two-year redesign and reconstruction, the Metropolitan Museum has two state-of-the-art fountains — but they come with controversy.

They are part of a new plaza that stretches along Fifth Avenue from 80th to 84th streets and includes 106 new trees, tables and chairs, and a row of benches shaded by large, red umbrellas. 

But the plaza is named after David H. Koch, the Met board member and controversial political conservative who footed the whole $65 million bill. Some people protested that Koch’s name was inscribed on both fountains, in golden letters.

David H. Koch Plaza at the Metropolitan Museum

(Gisele Regatao)

In this interview, art critic Deborah Solomon said she agrees with those protesting. “I would have preferred if his name had gone inside, in the lobby. I don’t think the Met should be turned into an advertisement for him,” she said.

Solomon believes most New Yorkers disagree with Koch’s crusade against the Affordable Care Act and with his opinion that social security should be dismantled. His name brings up “unpleasant associations, and I think the Met should have taken that into consideration instead of pandering to him,” she said.

Harold Holzer, the senior vice-president for Public Affairs at the Met, said Koch didn’t ask for the naming. “He just said: Please, give this building the kind of fountain that it deserves,” he said.

What do you think?  Are you OK with the Met's new plaza being named after David H. Koch? Why or why not? Join the conversation.

The plaza is new, but street vendors are still cluttering the area in front of the Metropolitan Museum.

(Gisele Regatao)

The American painter Barnett Newman once said that sculpture is what you bump into when you back up to look at a painting.

But this weekend, sculpture takes center stage in New York City.

The non-profit Sculpture Center is re-opening its renovated building in Long Island City by presenting a survey of 30 young artists. And at the Museum of Modern Art, a retrospective features the work of Robert Gober, who makes sculptures portraying unusual objects like bathroom sinks and limbs.

In this interview, art critic Deborah Solomon said she recommends both. She said the Sculpture Center’s show, “Puddle, pothole, portal,” presents engaging work — like one piece by Olga Balema that looks like pieces of latex suspended from the ceiling and another by Judith Hopf, who brings together cement blocks that have the face of a sheep.

Piece by Olga Balema at the Sculpture Center

(Deborah Solomon)

Gober’s show at MoMA, on the other hand, is the opposite of Jeff Koons, according to Solomon. “Jeff Koons is all about fabricating objects and mounting an assault on public taste, whereas Robert Gober is an interior artist,” she said. “He is all about, 'How do I express my innermost feelings through concrete form?'”

Solomon said both shows bring much-needed attention to sculpture. “As it is often the case with things around us, we tend not to notice objects in our immediate space, and I think this weekend we will be looking more actively and consciously at sculpture in New York,” she said.

What are the sculptures you do notice and appreciate in your daily life? Join the conversation.

Piece by Judith Hopf at the Sculpture Center

(Deborah Solomon)

Sometimes it feels like you have to be in your 20s to make great art.

Spanish artist Pablo Picasso was under 30 when he created Cubism. American artist Jasper Johns painted his American flag when he was 25. And Austrian painter Egon Schiele was dead by the age of 28 and had already created a body of work that remains the definitive example of genius.

A new show at the Neue Galerie highlights Schiele's portraits. And another exhibit surveys Brooklyn's young talent: "Crossing Brooklyn: Art from Bushwick, Bed-Stuy and Beyond" is at the Brooklyn Museum.

In this interview, art critic Deborah Solomon said she believes Schiele’s show is an example of the best that a young artist can offer. She explained his great subject was eroticism and the human body. “He believed art was sexy before it was anything else,” she said. “He is an artist who lived fully in the moment, who was obsessed with eroticism and death and whose work was a great shock to the provincial morality of his time.”

EGON SCHIELE (1890-1918), Self-Portrait with Peacock Waistcoat, Standing, 1911

(Ernst Ploil, Vienna)

“Crossing Brooklyn,” on the other hand, shows that young artists can also disappoint, according to Solomon. She said one of the problem is that most of the artists in the show try to interact with the viewer, crossing into social work. “Many of the works feel like therapy,” said Solomon, mentioning examples like a piece by Heather Hart, where you are invited to submit recipes. Or another called "D.A.T.," or Department of Accumulated Thoughts, by artist collective Tatlo, which documents residents' thoughts. 

“The work really feels like I am OK, you are OK, compared with Egon Schiele’s radical experiments,” she said. “Radicalism is dead.”

Solomon said she believes most artists tend to make their best work before they are 30, because at that age they have little to lose. “They have a level of imaginative freedom that you often don’t find in older artists,” she said. But she believes older artists can be extremely creative too, like the Matisse’s Cut-Outs show at the Museum of Modern Art proves.

Do you think being young makes you more creative? Join the discussion below.

Nobutaka Aozaki (Japan, b. 1977). Smiley Bag Portrait, 2011. Part of the "Crossing Brooklyn" show.

(Courtesy of the artist. ©Nobutaka Aozaki. Photo: Yuriko Katori)

EGON SCHIELE (1890-1918), Wally in Red Blouse with Raised Knees, 1913

(Private Collection)

Brendan Fernandes (Canadian, b. Kenya, 1979), part of the "Crossing Brooklyn" show.

(Courtesy of the artist. © Brendan Fernandes. Photo: Erika Neola and Brendan Beecy)

This fall, the Brian Lehrer Show is marking 25 years of Brian at WNYC with a year-by-year look at stories that mattered from 1989 to 2014. Find the full schedule and lots more here.

Three of the all-time highest priced art sales happened in 2006. WNYC art critic Deborah Solomon, author of American Mirror: The Life and Art of Norman Rockwell (Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2013), looks at how big money has affected NYC's art market and artists.  Artist Eric Fischl joins the conversation about the rise of the art fair -- the subject of his latest work.

→ Eric Fischl is the curator of "Disturbing Innocence," on view at the FLAG Art Foundation, 545 West 25th Street, 9th Floor, October 25, 2014 – January 31, 2015. His art fair paintings are on view now at London's Victoria Miro Gallery II.

Art Fair: Booth #1 Play/Care, 2013. Oil on Linen, 82 x 112 Inches.

(Eric Fischl)

Art Fair: Booth #16 Sexual Politics, 2014. Oil on Linen 82 x 112 Inches

(Eric Fischl)

What a difference 15 years makes. When British artist Chris Ofili showed his painting of a black Virgin Mary that incorporates elephant dung at the Brooklyn Museum in 1999, then-Mayor Rudolph Giuliani called it "sick stuff" and threatened to cut the museum's city subsidies.

Ofili's work, including that Madonna, is now back in town for his first U.S. retrospective, “Chris Ofili: Night and Day,” at the New Museum. In this interview, art critic Deborah Solomon said it's a "fabulous" show. 

The exhibition includes several of Ofili’s early paintings created using paint, resin, glitter and often elephant dung. Solomon explained Ofili is of Nigerian descent and dung is actually seen in Africa as a construction material. "I think he was interested in dung because it comes from Africa, and it ties in with stereotypes that we have about Africans being noble savages." 

The Holy Virgin Mary, Chris Ofili, 1996

(Gisele Regatao)

Solomon said Ofili came of age in the 90's, which was the decade of identity politics in art. But she explained that Ofili never made didactic art. "He does explore issues of black representation and racial stereotypes, but he welds that whole line of inquiry with the most decorative and lyrical tradition in art," she said. "Think of identity politics plus Matisse."

Chris Ofili, “Untitled (Afromuse),” 1995–2005.

(Courtesy the artist and David Zwirner, New York/London. ©Chris Ofili)

The show also includes several works Ofili completed in Trinidad, where he moved to in 2005 so he could escape the British art world. They include nine works from his “The Blue Rider” series, brought together for the first time, in a dim-lit room designed by the artist. The paintings are rooted in the culture of Trinidad, but also comment on political issues like police brutality.

Solomon said since the paintings and the room are so dark, one needs time to understand what they portray, and to witness their menacing feeling. "The only way to experience them is to see them in person and I hope everyone will go, including Rudy Giuliani," said Solomon.

Do you think Rudolph Giuliani should go see Ofili's show at the New Museum? Why or why not? Join the conversation.

You can watch Ofili in conversation with New Museum's artistic director Massimiliano Gioni here.

Chris Ofili, Ovid-Desire, 2011–12.

(Courtesy the artist, David Zwirner, New York/London, and Victoria Miro, London. ©Chris Ofili)

Chris Ofili, Afronirvana, 2002.

(Courtesy the artist, David Zwirner, New York/London, and Victoria Miro, London. ©Chris Ofili)

Installation Images for “Chris Ofili: Night and Day”

(Courtesy New Museum, New York. Photo: Benoit Pailley)

A Pablo Picasso face-off is taking place between two New York City art galleries.  Pace and Gagosian have large exhibitions on the work of the Spanish master at the same time.

The Gagosian show is curated by Picasso's most famous biographer, John Richardson. It's called "Picasso and the Camera" and it explores how photography influenced his work. It includes photographs that Picasso took and several that were taken of him. 

The Pace show is called "Picasso & Jacqueline: The Evolution of Style" and is about Jacqueline Roque, who Picasso married when he was 73 and she was 27. They were together for 20 years until his death, during which time he created over 400 portraits of her.

Pablo Picasso (Spanish, 1881-1973) Jacqueline aux Fleurs (Jacqueline with Flowers), June 3, 1954

(©2014 Estate of Picasso / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York)

In this interview, art critic Deborah Solomon explains that it’s not a coincidence that the shows are happening at the same time. She said both galleries borrowed work from museums and other institutions and commissioned historians to produce massive catalogs in an effort to draw crowds.

Solomon said she found the Gagosian show carnivalesque and chaotic, with too many pictures about Picasso himself, posing smoking a cigar or showing his naked chest.

On the other hand, she found the Pace show beautiful and coherent. Solomon explained Picasso had a good relationship with Roque and didn’t disfigure her in his work as he did with his previous wife Olga Khokhlova and lover Dora Maar, for example. “They were very devoted to each other and there are many beautiful paintings that resulted from their partnership,” she said.

Picasso with Bob (the Great Pyrenees) Château de Boisgeloup, France, 1932 Modern print from original negative 4 5/8 x 2 3/4 inches (11.7 x 6.9 cm) Archives Olga Ruiz-Picasso

("© Fundación Almine y Bernard Ruiz-Picasso para el Arte (FABA). Courtesy Archives Olga Ruiz-Picasso and Gagosian Gallery. Photographer unknown.)

Solomon said neither show is as good as the one currently at the Metropolitan Museum, though, which features several of Picasso's paintings in a Cubism exhibit from the collection of cosmetics businessman Leonard Lauder.

“The Lauder show at the Met is a must-see show,” she said. Solomon explained the exhibit is particularly interesting because it features Picasso’s early cubist work, and includes pieces from three of his contemporaries.

But galleries are free, points out Solomon. “They provide an incredible cultural perk to the life of New York City and what is interesting is that now many galleries are doing museum-quality shows,” she said.

Between going to a museum and paying admission, or going to a show at a gallery for free, which one do you think is a more valuable experience and why? Join the discussion with a comment.

Nature morte au minotaure et à la palette, November 27, 1938 Oil on canvas 28 3/4 x 36 1/4 inches, (73 x 92 cm) Private Collection

(© 2014 Estate of Pablo Picasso / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York. Photo: Eric Baudouin. Courtesy Gagosian Gallery.)

David Douglas Duncan (American, b. 1916) Untitled [Picasso adjusts a necklace he made for Jacqueline], c. 1957

(©2014 David Douglas Duncan ©2014 Estate of Picasso / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York)

Pablo Picasso (Spanish, 1881-1973) Jacqueline avec une Écharpe Noire (Jacqueline with a Black Scarf), October 11, 1954

(Pablo Picasso (Spanish, 1881-1973) Jacqueline avec une Écharpe Noire (Jacqueline with a Black Scarf), October 11, 1954 )

Hortense Fiquet is a mystery in the art world.

She sat for 29 paintings by her husband Paul Cezanne, more than any other model, and smiles in none of them. She was ignored by the French artist's family, friends, and hidden for 17 years before they got married, even though she was the mother of his only son Paul.

The Metropolitan Museum of art is presenting the first exhibition devoted Madame Cezanne. It features 24 paintings and drawings spanning a period of 20 years.

In this interview, art critic Deborah Solomon said Madame Cezanne is the opposite of what we think of as a muse. She is always portrayed at home, with her hair parted in the middle and her dress buttoned up. She looks sad, bored. "She was not created for the male gaze, you cannot turn her into a sex symbol," she said.

Solomon said she sees madame Cezanne as the the anti-Mona Lisa. "Mona Lisa has always intrigued us because nobody knows why she is smiling. But in the case of Madame Cezanne we don't know why she is frowning."

Paul Cézanne, Madame Cézanne (Hortense Fiquet, 1850–1922) in the Conservatory, 1891

(The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Bequest of Stephen C. Clark, 1960)

Cezanne and Fiquet met in Paris in 1869, when she was 19 and he was 30. The painter kept their relationship secret for 17 years, mostly out of fear of his banker father. It's believed he finally married her to make his son Paul a legitimate heir of the family fortune.

Philippe Cezanne, the great grandson of Paul and Hortense Cezanne, was in New York City for the opening of the show and he said Fiquet is now seen differently in the family. “I think she was much more important for Cezanne than usually, you know, art history says,” he said.

Cezanne said she took care of the painter, and accepted everything. “In Paris they changed about 20 times of apartment, or flat, so she never know where she was,” he said.

Solomon said the show is fascinating, because it offers a glimpse on the birth of modern art, through 20 years of paintings by Cezanne. "Over that time you can see how he was experimenting with what he called visual sensations. He wasn't interested in capturing her personality, rather he wanted to reflect how she appears to him as he changes angles and moves around a room," she said.

Solomon said the Madame Cezanne paintings show that Cezanne saw Fiquet more like an object than a muse, the opposite of Picasso's paintings of his last wife Jacqueline Roque. "Cezanne had no interest in glamorizing the individual, he was interested in form, rather than flesh," she said.

Do you think Cezanne saw Fiquet as a muse, or an object? What do her paintings say about him as an artist? Join the conversation.

Paul Cézanne, Madame Cézanne (Hortense Fiquet, 1850­-1922) in a Red Dress, 1888-­90

(The Metropolitan Museum of Art, The Mr. and Mrs. Henry Ittleson Jr. Purchase Fund, 1962)

Portrait of Madame Cézanne in a Striped Dress, ca. 1883‐85

(Yokohama Museum of Art)

Portrait of Madame Cézanne, ca. 1890‐92

(Philadelphia Museum of Art, The Henry P. McIlhenny Collection in memory of Frances P. McIlhenny, 1986)

In this country, we have a long history of "citizen journalism" — non-professionals who spread news. This year, after Ferguson and Eric Garner and nationwide protests against policy brutality, citizen journalism achieved a new peak. Especially with photographs.

That's why photographs of the protests taken by ordinary citizens represent the best art of 2014, said art critic Deborah Solomon in this interview with WNYC's Soterios Johnson.

Solomon explained traditionally in protest photographs, we see people marching with their fists raised, representing resistance and opposition. Instead, this year's protesters lie on the ground in die-ins and identify with the victim. It's a whole new visual language for this kind of photograph, she said.

“It is a language of vulnerability and seems to say we are all potential victims,” she said.

Solomon also said even though some believe photography is not art, she thinks the word "art" is just a marketing term. "I don't believe in labeling visual images art or non-art. There are images that move us, that rouse us to action, and the best protest photographs belong to that category." 

Solomon said the best images of the recent protests are on Twitter, marking a new moment for the social media website. “Twitter, thankfully, just shifted out of its goofy selfie phase in the U.S. to become an effective tool for political protest,” she said.

Do you think protest photography is art? Join the conversation or send us your own protest picture on Twitter using #protestphoto.

Protestors showed up to the holiday party and Penn president Dr. Guttman joined the die-in... Dope. pic.twitter.com/XC8g1hRd24

— Ricky Fontaine (@NotoriousGRC) December 10, 2014

Harvard Med Students Die In #ICantBreathe#BlackLivesMatterpic.twitter.com/KJZbcgi89M

— AshleyBSunshine (@AshleyBSunshine) December 9, 2014

Med School Die-in #BlackLivesMatter@WSU_Diversity@WSU_Med_Schoolpic.twitter.com/BfTzONasOI

— De'Andrea Wiggins (@Dr_Wiggins) December 10, 2014

@shondarhimes@uwsmph joined 50+ medical schools in "die-in". Racism is a public health issue #whitecoats4blacklivespic.twitter.com/zyEhCj62Ii

— Kimberly Skipper (@kdskipper) December 10, 2014

#philly Med students at @PennMedicine stage #die in to highlight racial injustice in healthcare #phillydiein#phlpic.twitter.com/xKPZaEq7PE

— Randy Gyllenhaal (@RandyGyllenhaal) December 10, 2014

NYU die in. pic.twitter.com/1K2zCYlVP7

— John Surico (@JohnSurico) December 10, 2014

Clergy members stage die-in at City Hall, then rise, sing "We Shall Overcome" #EricGarnerpic.twitter.com/fiyvtRglc8

— Emily Ngo (@epngo) December 8, 2014

The world is mourning the death of a dozen people at the French satirical newspaper Charlie Hebdo. They were the victims of a terrorist attack, apparently aimed at several cartoonists.

Charlie Hebdo is known for its irreverent left-wing and anti-religious tone, often featuring cartoons that caricatured Islam, Catholicism, Judaism, and right-wing politicians.

In this interview, WNYC’s art critic Deborah Solomon explains that caricature is probably so hard to take because it is based on the distortion of a face away classical symmetry and toward grotesque, monster-like features.

“A caricature is a kind of assault on the body, and it can arouse a genuine sense of injury,” she said.

President François Hollande of France with a headline, “Ready to laugh? One more year?” From a Charlie Hebdo cover from December 2013.

(Charlie Hebdo)

It's been a decade since a set of Danish cartoons portraying the prophet Mohammed incited rioting in the Muslim world. But Solomon said cartoon culture’s history of flare-ups and melt downs goes back to France in the 19^th century, when cartoonist Honore Daumier was thrown in jail for portraying King Louis-Philippe in the shape of a pear.

Satirical art can also be seen in New York in a new show by filmmaker John Waters at the Marianne Boesky Gallery in Chelsea.

Solomon said Waters began his career in the '70s as the Pope of Bad Taste, when he made his films "Pink Flamingos" and "Polyester."

“Over the years, he has become less transgressive, perhaps because we live in a culture where bad taste has become the norm and nothing any longer shocks,” she said. “He is the only funny conceptual artist I can think of. He is — like the cartoonists at Charlie Hebdo— a rude satirist who sends up the absurdities of American culture, in particular our obsession with fame and eternal youth,” she said.

John Waters, Beverly Hills John, 2012

(Courtesy of Marianne Boesky Gallery)

The exhibit includes a new 74-minute video called "Kiddie Flamingos" which is a children's version of the X-rated 1972 film "Pink Flamingos."

Waters said he thought that “Pink Flamingo” could be a perfect movie for kids, after taking out the sex and violence in it. “I hope this is a new kind of perversity, a G-rated kind of thing, where the audience knows the hideous that was in that movie, but the children do not.”

Do you agree that cartoons and satirical art can be more inflammatory than words? Why or why not? Join the conversation with a comment.

John Waters, Kiddie Flamingos, 2014

(Courtesy of Marianne Boesky Gallery)

Before "selfie" was a word and a global obsession, there was the self-portrait. 

Artists have been painting themselves for centuries, inspired in part by pioneer Dutch artist Rembrandt, who became famous for painting himself as a master.

A new show at the National Academy Museum and School in Manhattan presents 200 years of the art form. Entitled "Self: Portraits of Artists in their Absence," the show presents about 150 pieces — the oldest from 1811 — from dozens of countries, most from female artists.

Daniela Comani, A Happy Marriage #50, 2009

(Courtesy of the National Academy Museum and School )

In this interview, art critic Deborah Solomon said self-portraits are so popular in the art world in part because artists are narcissistic. But in a good way.

“It takes enormous belief in yourself in order to be an artist and be alone in a room all day, trying to articulate a vision,” she said.

Allen Ginsberg, Self-portrait in Mirror, 1987

(Courtesy of the National Academy Museum and School )

Solomon disagrees with a recent column by the New York Times' David Carr, where he denigrated selfies as the product of a narcissistic culture.

“What matters is that there is boring narcissism and interesting narcissism — and obviously we are looking for interesting narcissists,” she said.

For Solomon, the portraits at the National Academy are a mixed bag. She said it’s not a definitive or scholarly show, because it does not include the greats of self-portraiture — Rembrandt, Vincent van Gogh and Frida Kahlo. But she believes the show allows you to see that every portrait is an invention and to look at selfies in the context of visual culture.

Titus Kaphar, Fight for Remembrance I, 2013

(Gisele Regatao)

The exhibit also includes a photo booth where people can take selfies for free and visitors can enter their names in a drawing to have their portraits done by a student in the school. Three winners will be drawn over the course of the show.

Aren't self-portraits and selfies just a little too self-involved? 

“No,” said Solomon. “I think selfies have gotten a bad rep. I think smart phones have democratized the self-portraits and I think the trick is to make an interesting selfie.”

Do you think selfies are about self-expression or self-involvement? Join the conversation with a comment below.

Ai Weiwei, Illumination, 2014

(Courtesy of the National Academy Museum and School )

 

Deborah Solomon and Gisele Regatao's selfie in the photo booth at the National Academy Museum

(Photo Boot)

 

Media guru Marshall McLuhan once said the medium is the message. But now the medium is also the source of misery. At least that's how it seems, in the work of early-career artists featured in the New Museum's much-publicized Triennial exhibition.

Entitled "Surround Audience," it features 51 artists from more than 25 countries who are reflecting mostly on the digital universe. "It describes a world where we are never alone, because we are constantly surrounded by images and technology," explains WNYC's art critic Deborah Solomon in this interview.

Solomon confesses she was dreading the show, thinking she would see a lot of screens and feel nostalgic for oil paintings, but she said the Triennial is better than she expected. "It has some serious themes at its center. The main one being surveillance and the degree to which technology has ended privacy to some degree in our lives," she said.

Some of the pieces include Josh Kline's "Freedom," which mixes a virtual speech by President Barack Obama with soldiers who look like teletubbies, and carry in their bellies videos from Occupy Wall Street protesters. Kiluanji Kia Henda comments on frantic pace of construction in Angola with photographs in the desert. Authenticity, originality and authorship drive the image mash-up video piece of Berlin-based Oliver Laric. Czech artist Eva Kotatkova presents an installations with live models that comments on the physical and mental constrains that limit the body in the world.

Frank Benson, Juliana, 2015.

(Gisele Regatao)

Solomon said for her the revelation was the piece "It's so important to seem wonderful II," by Los Angeles-based Casey Jane Ellison. Her video and sculpture piece uses avatar and humor to talk about the self and technology, and it includes several versions of her, even one in a USB drive. "Will the real Casey Jane Ellison please stand up?" asks Solomon. "I think that is somehow how we feel everyday in this culture. Do we exist or are our lives on the screen more authentic than what takes place everyday in our kitchen?"

Solomon also highlights the work of Avery Singer, who does large scale paintings of robots stuck in doorways and window frames. "She seems to be saying there is no escape from the frames that we have created around ourselves," she said.

For Solomon, the question is: "Do we need art to make these points about surveillance? Is art the best medium to convey that message?" Join the conversation with a comment. 

2015 Triennial

(Benoit Pailley)

This year marks 150 years since the assassination of President Abraham Lincoln. He died on April 15, 1865, in a boarding house across the street from Ford’s Theater, where he had been shot the night before.

More has been written about Lincoln than any other president, but the New York Historical Society is now highlighting an overlooked part of his career. “Lincoln and the Jews,” which opens on Friday, seeks to show that Lincoln was a great friend of the Jewish people as well as African Americans.

During the Revolutionary War, about 2,50 Jewish people lived in America. By 1860, the Jewish population had risen to 150,000 and many Jewish soldiers served in the Civil War.

In this interview, WNYC's art critic Deborah Solomon said the exhibit shows that Lincoln’s push to see that black people were treated equally was part of a larger push for equality. “The show seems likely to enhance Lincoln’s stature — he opposed anti-Semitism, which was rampant even among the generals in the Union army, and made humane decisions when they mattered most,” she said.

And then there was the matter of Lincoln's feet.

Carte-de-visite of Issachar Zacharie.

(Courtesy of The Shapell Manuscript Collection.)

One of Lincoln’s closest friends during the Civil War was a Jewish — and British — podiatrist named Issachar Zacharie. Probably no president had more foot pain than Lincoln. He stood 6’4, wore size 14 shoes, and was constantly complaining that his feet were killing him.

Lincoln historian Harold Holzer, who served as historical adviser to the exhibit, said the president wrote his most famous medical endorsement about Zacharie. “It says, Dr. Zacharie has operated on my feet with great success, with considerable correction to my comfort,” he said.

Presented in collaboration with the Shapell Manuscript Foundation, the exhibit includes photographs and many original documents, including letters that Lincoln wrote to his Jewish friends or on behalf of them. “He had very nice handwriting — a neat script,” said Solomon. “For my taste, the show looks a little bit gray. I would have preferred to see some more paintings.” There is only one painting — a view of Jerusalem by Frederic Edwin Church, which closes the show. Holzer said that shortly before he died, Lincoln told his wife he wanted to visit Jerusalem.

Solomon said the show changed her view of Lincoln. “He keeps getting better and better,” she said. “We’ve had so many different Lincolns. We’ve had Lincoln the great liberator of the blacks, we’ve had Lincoln who was possibly gay, remember all those books claiming Lincoln was gay? Well, now we have, more persuasively, Lincoln, the champion of the Jewish people.”

Does learning about Lincoln's relationship with the Jews change your view of him? Join the conversation with a comment.

Lincoln historian Harold Holzer with one of the pictures featured in the exhibition.

(Deborah Solomon)