Curator, Samantha Friedman: You’re looking at a portrait by the painter Lucian Freud that Kirstein gave to the Museum. This painting was made in 1950, when Abstract Expressionism was on the rise in New York. And in this picture, you see that tight craftsmanship, that attention to technique and detail that Kirstein loved.
Curator, Jodi Hauptman: You can look closely at each hair that he draws so carefully, or the petals of the chrysanthemum that she wears on her lapel.
Samantha Friedman: In 1948, Kirstein wrote a polemic article, called The State of Modern Painting, in which he railed against the then-ascendant form of Abstract Expressionism and defended artists’ use of figuration.
Jodi Hauptman: He especially criticized the spontaneity, which he found sloppy, and the turn to chance, which he saw in artists that were using an abstract language.
Samantha Friedman: By championing pictures like this, Kirstein maintained his steadfast commitment to figuration.
Thank you for joining us.