The Clark Art Institute

The Clark Art Institute

The new Clark, designed by Tadao Ando, is a wonder of architecture and interior design.  The planarity of the pink granite, vertical metal bars, fenestration, and gravel garden is harmonious, gentle, and postmodern with a Japanese touch.  If you can go by May 17th, you can visit “Machine Age Modernism:  Prints from the Daniel Cowin Collection,” with the spectacular linocuts of Sylvia Andrews.  Andrews achieved a sensation of depth with flat, planar abstracted planes through the balancing of geometricized forms and the saturation of over-printing.  There is a Matissean feeling to the perception of depth from elements that in themselves have little to none of it.   The new galleries have the Clark’s famous works in an expertly redesigned space that is quiet, cool, and spacious.  The nineteenth century room with Bourguereau’s Nymphs and Satyr is my favorite installation with deep gray/purple walls and an oriental carpet, very Salon-like yet au courant.