Some of those comments appear to be reviews of the exhibition rather than of HCB's work. As far as critical and popular opinions of his work are concerned, most great artists under reappraisal and a dip in popularity after their death, so it shouldn't be a surprise if this happens to HCB.
Part of the value of criticism is in revealing things about the artist or their work that we might not otherwise have seen, and it might include things we disagree with strongly. So be it. B > On 16 May 2014, at 00:25, "Christine Aguila" <christ...@caguila.com> wrote: > > Hi Everyone: > > In the foreword to the 2013 edition of The Best American Travel Writing, > Jason Wilson includes some curious quotes from reviews of the HCB > retrospective exhibition at MOMA several years ago: > > "The show was deemed 'almost unenduringly majestic' by The New Yorker's Peter > Schjeldshl, who gave this stern assessment of what he called [HCB's] > 'platitudinous' work: 'richly satisfies the eye and the mind, while numbing > the heart.' This was seconded by the [NYT] Holland Cotter, who claimed that > [HCB] 'ideas and emotions are diffuse' and that 'surprisingly little tension > builds' in the exhibition. Both critics trotted out tired old comparisons to > the work of Robert Frank, a detractor of [HCB] who once unjustly said of the > older photographer, 'He traveled all over the world, and you never felt he > was moved by something that was happening other than the beauty of it, or > just the composition.'" > > I have to say I was surprised by these views, and I wasn't aware of Frank's > position. Any thoughts from the list? > > Cheers, Christine > > P.S. I wouldn't recommend this edition of BA Travel writing. To much of the > work was down right dull. > -- PDML Pentax-Discuss Mail List PDML@pdml.net http://pdml.net/mailman/listinfo/pdml_pdml.net to UNSUBSCRIBE from the PDML, please visit the link directly above and follow the directions.
