Modern Artisan: A World of Craft Tradition and Innovation, by Isabelle Dupuy Chavanat (Flammarion): The title Modern Artisan: A World of Craft Tradition and Innovation is rather a minefield. Nearly every word has meanings so multifarious as to be rendered unintelligible. Does “modern” mean new or twentieth-century? Is “craft” something less than art or more? Does “innovation” suggest gradual change or something entirely novel? One doesn’t need much in the way of semantical clarity, however, to enjoy Isabelle Dupuy Chavanat’s new book, which features more than thirty-five artisans who, as the author writes, “spend their [lives] endeavoring, by way of making an object, to surpass themselves.” Introducing us to Irish basketmakers and Malian dyers and many more besides, this book is a diverting trip to a contemporary past. —BR
The Color of Clothes: Fashion and Dress in Autochromes 1907–1930, by Cally Blackman (Thames & Hudson): You’ve probably heard that those born and raised in the days of the silver screen have reported dreaming in black and white. Today, we are inevitably denizens of a colorized culture, our waking and sleeping psyches permeated by pigment. That must be why autochrome photographs—made with an early color process from roughly 1907 to 1930—strike us so profoundly. In the gorgeously printed book The Color of Clothes, Cally Blackman explores how early color photography appealed to couturiers, fabric makers, cosmeticists, and arts figures such as Mariano Fortuny, Gustav Klimt, and the writer Leonid Andreyev. —IS
Gallery view of “Mindscape is a Pattern,” on view at Project:ARTspace, New York (through September 19). Photo: Michael Hnatov.
“Mindscape is a Pattern,” at Project:ARTspace, New York (through September 19): The New Criterion’s own Caetlynn Booth is the curator of “Mindscape is a Pattern,” a group exhibition now on view at Project:ARTspace. Founded in 2011, and located just north of Madison Square Park, the eighth-floor venue has a history of bringing together artist-led exhibitions. For the latest show, Booth has gathered the work of six painters influenced by the history of quilt making. Featuring the art of Christopher Dunlap, Debbi Kenote, Bonnie Morano, Evan Peltzman, and Kevin Umaña, along with Booth’s own, the selection finds a common thread tying together painterly abstraction and vernacular textile. —JP
Sylvia, performed by American Ballet Theatre, at the Metropolitan Opera House (through July 12): American Ballet Theatre’s marathon summer season at the Metropolitan Opera House continues with Frederick Ashton’s 1952 choreography for Sylvia, after the original by Louis Mérante and with a score by Léo Delibes, who also composed the comedic ballet Coppélia. The libretto is an irresistible tale of forbidden love—Sylvia, the nymph of Diana, falls for the mortal shepherd Aminta, breaking her vows of chastity. Will their union prevail against the anger of the god of love, Eros? Featuring sumptuous corps-de-ballet work and an array of new and established principals leading the cast, this version, originally made for the Royal Ballet in London, is sure to please as a staple of the repertoire.—RSM
Dispatch:
“Science & accountability,” by Scott W. Atlas. On restoring trust in healthcare.
By the Editors:
“June 6: Making Patriots in an Unpatriotic Age”
Roger Kimball, American Greatness
From the Archives:
“Notes from the surface,” by Bruce Bawer (April 1991). On American Psycho by Bret Easton Ellis.
