Blake Gopnik

New York

My Warhol bio has been published, and I post my latest Warhol findings at https://t.co/k0s2QCczpX. My art Pics are at https://t.co/F9PLI9jX9K. I contribute to the NY Times.

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Articles

The Maverick’s Museum: Albert Barnes and His American Dream

1 week ago | washingtonindependentreviewofbooks.com | Blake Gopnik

“The Barnes.”The culturally literate — readers of the Independent, for example — command a range of stock phrases they can bandy about as needed: “white whale,” “theory of relativity,” “for whom the bell tolls.” And more likely than not (depending on age, reading habits, line of work, and degree of inebriation), they can also retrieve an associated tag: Moby-Dick or maybe even “obsessive pursuit,” etc. But much of the time, that’s probably the extent of it.
Who Really Was Albert Barnes, the Rogue Collector Whose Tastes Shaped U.S. Art?

1 month ago | news.artnet.com | Blake Gopnik

“The Maverick’s Museum” is a new biography of the life of Albert Barnes, the pioneering Philadelphia collector of modern art, by New York art critic Blake Gopnik. (His 2020 biography of Andy Warhol was epic.) The new book is a study in contradictions, setting all the good that Barnes did, as a social and aesthetic progressive, against the evils of a belligerent character that won Barnes enemies left and right.
How the First Vincent van Gogh Piece Was Acquired in the US: Blake Gopnik's Book Excerpt

1 month ago | newsweek.com | Blake Gopnik

CLOSE X news article Based on facts, either observed and verified firsthand by the reporter, or reported and verified from knowledgeable sources. Share✓ Link copied to clipboard! Awash in impressionist and early modernist masters like Renoir, Cézanne, Matisse and Picasso and initially housed in Merion, Pennsylvania, Albert C. Barnes' art collection is unique.
The Creation Story of a Monumental Matisse

1 month ago | sothebys.com | Blake Gopnik

An exclusive excerpt from the forthcoming book “The Maverick’s Museum: Albert Barnes and His American Dream,” which traces the rise of the Philadelphia pharmaceutical tycoon and visionary arts patron. Here’s the oft-told tale of the birth of “The Dance,” one of Henri Matisse’s most spectacular works and a signature treasure of the Barnes Foundation.
In the Footsteps of the Enslaved

2 months ago | nytimes.com | Blake Gopnik

The terrifying first capture in Africa. The deadly crossing of the Middle Passage. The brutality of slave markets and servitude. It's almost impossible to imagine, let alone depict, the full horrors of American slavery, although writers, directors and artists have tried. But there's one moment that seems to have caught their attention less often: the first encounter of kidnapped Africans with the strange new land where they were marched into enslavement.
10 Little-Known Andy Warhol Facts: His Biographer Busts Myths, Solves Mysteries

Jan 10, 2025 | news.artnet.com | Blake Gopnik

Andy Warhol must be the best-known artist of the Western world, but it’s amazing how many misconceptions still hover around him, and how much of his story still goes untold. We’ve asked Warhol biographer Blake Gopnik to give us 10 little-known facts that help explain who Warhol really was and what he really got up to. —The Editors1. Here’s the story, as normally told.
For the Once-Sinful Luna Luna, It’s Safety at the Shed

Dec 5, 2024 | flipboard.com | Blake Gopnik

"Never Been Heckled So Much In My Whole Life": 23 Countries People Totally Regret Visiting, And 12 Hidden Gems That Are Much More Worth It"It's shocking how little substance can be provided for so much money. Everything feels huge and expensive and empty and soulless." Even before you make all the little decisions that come with planning a trip, it can be super difficult to decide which destinations are even worth visiting in the …
For the Once-Sinful Luna Luna, It's Safety at the Shed

Dec 5, 2024 | nytimes.com | Blake Gopnik

Somewhere, in a city of 8 million people, there must be New Yorkers with amazing flatulence and extraordinary sphincter control. Back in the summer of 1987, in Hamburg, Germany, such talents were found to accompany a violin in "concerts" at Luna Luna, an artist-designed funfair that thrilled the city. On Nov. 20, a reduced version of that fair opened inside the Shed at Hudson Yards, as a spectacle now called "Luna Luna: Forgotten Fantasy." It runs through Jan. 5.
An Art Critic’s Picks: 10 New York Artworks to Lift Your Spirits

Nov 7, 2024 | news.artnet.com | Blake Gopnik

Like many people in the art world, I’m in deep worry—almost mourning—at the election of Donald Trump. He seems to stand for values at odds with almost everything I believe in, and that art represents. Eventually, I’ll be ready to fight for a future without him, but for now, I’m almost too sad and anxious to leave the house. The one place I can reliably find solace, for most ills that ail me, is in art. Here are some works I’ll hope to get to over coming days, to soothe my troubled soul.
A Slippery Devil Finally Gets His Moment at MoMA

Sep 28, 2024 | nytimes.com | Blake Gopnik

On a recent morning in a tidy workshop a half-hour from his home in Düsseldorf, Thomas Schütte, one of Europe's most celebrated artists, was face to face with a devil. It was deep blue, stout as a gnome, with phallic horns, grasping arms and gaping eyeholes. Soon to be cast in bronze, the sculpture was up on a forklift so its maker could look it in the eyes. Was Schütte confronting his own image? The monster's arms were his, scanned in 3-D, and maybe its impish aura was his, too.