Jewish Museum

Action/Abstraction
Pollock, de Kooning, and American Art, 1940-1976

No Photography-- allowed.

Wow. One walks in and everything looks new-- or as it did? The Low cielings and small rooms of the Jewish Museum give a certain power back to the paintings, Pollock at least, his painting Convergence steals the room.

This is the best Pollock besides Blue Poles in Sidney, which I have never seen, and the Met's and Modern's.




The show starts out really great. Pollock and deKooning-- the deKooning a bit squeezed in here it could have a much better showing. Then into the next room a startling Hofmann.





There is a bunch of memorabilia in the form of old Art News and movie clip, an incredibly handsome presence in de Kooning cynically asks over and over like a Nauman in the space , "say Harold am I an action painter?-- its a short film loop.




A great Still and a small Newman finish out the show for me.

A Rothko like another Newman and the beginning, Gotham News of de Kooning are so-- I guess I have to say, badly hung one can nott really gain any aesthetic hold onto them which makes this show mainly historical.

I hope to see it in St Louis where they have alot of space.