Author: Sally Jenkins

Abstract painting is not the absence of decision. It is the accumulation of them. The best abstract paintings contain specific decisions about pigment, ground, support, […]

A painting that is decorative sits politely on the wall. A painting that demands attention does not ask permission. The difference is not subject matter, […]

Patience in painting is not a moral virtue. It is a material condition. Oil paint dries by oxidation, not evaporation. A layer of lead white […]

The Main Entity: A Regional Framework for Eastern European Painting An autonomous framework for Eastern European art history is a method of reading paintings through […]

Eastern European art history is not a regional offshoot of a Western story. It is a distinct material and pedagogical tradition, shaped by specific pigments, […]

I still remember the weight of the glass muller. It was 1963, and the Surikov Institute had just reformed its painting technology curriculum. The new […]

The Persistent Problem of the Imported Lens Call a Soviet-era painting a “naive” take on Socialist Realism, or frame a Polish poster as “Pop Art […]

Eastern European art history is not some regional offshoot of a Western master story. It is its own field of knowledge, built from material shortages, […]

The Gesso Tells a Different Story Mix a chalk ground by hand—rabbit-skin glue warmed just past body temperature, whiting sifted through a 120-mesh screen, the […]