New York artists topic for art museum talk

By MARILYN MCMAHON NEWS-PRESS STAFF WRITER

Karen Wilkin, independent curator and critic, will present an Art Matters lecture at 5:30 p.m. April 6 in the Mary Craig Auditorium at the Santa Barbara Museum of Art, 1130 State St. The topic is “School of New York Revisited: 11 + 11 + 1.”

In 1959, collector and critic B.H. Friedman published “School of New York: Some Younger Artists,” a selection of 11 artists of the period with varied approaches: Helen Frankenthaler, Robert Goodnough, Grace Hartigan,

Jasper Johns, Alfred Leslie, Joan Mitchell, Ray Parker, Robert Rauschenberg, Larry Rivers, Jon Schueler and Richard Stankiewicz. Though admirably wide-ranging, this list is hardly definitive, according to the museum. “School of New York Revisited” proposes a broader, more diverse overview, adding 12 other artists, all of whom worked and exhibited in New York in the late 1950s, often in the same shows and institutions as the artists on Mr. Friedman’s list but frequently investigated alternative ideas. They are: Peter Agostini, Ed Clark, Lois Dodd, Jean Follett, Judith Godwin, Stephen Greene,

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Alex Katz, Jacob Lawrence, Jan Müller, Alfonso Ossorio, Pat Passlof and Thomas Sills.

Considering both groups together offers a capsule overview of taste in mid-20th century America and insight into how perceptions and evaluations of works of art evolve and change over time.

Admission to the lecture is free for students and Museum Circle members, $10 for SBMA members and $15 for nonmembers. Get tickets at tickets.sbma.net. email: mmcmahon@newspress. com