Exactly a century ago, a cross-section of artists from Moscow to Amsterdam opened their eyes in a continent reshaped by war and revolution. It also introduces into the collection a host of female artists, including bold Soviet poster artists Anna Borovskaya and Maria Bri-Bein, Polish polymath Teresa Zarnower and Dutch designer Fré Cohen. Cohen is one of numerous Jewish artists of the left in this show and one who met a terrible end. Yet the Italian lacuna nourishes a misunderstanding, too common in today’s cultural conversation, that good artists must be good people. But the best lesson today’s artists can draw from this earlier avant-garde is that neither ideas nor images are enough on their own.

Source: bd News24 December 18, 2020 07:18 UTC