Question of the Day | 03/25/2009 11:00 pm

Rembrandt? Picasso? O'Keeffe? Tell us: Who is your favorite artist?

The wOw women reveal the artists whose work they find simply breathtaking

Joan Ganz Cooney | 03/25/2009 11:00 pm

Joan Ganz Cooney: A Favorite Among Favorites

I have many favorite artists but I think that if I had my choice of any painting I’d choose the red Matisse in the Hermitage.

3 Comments

Liz Smith | 03/25/2009 11:00 pm

Liz Smith's Godson: The Next Manet?

Well, it’s a toss-up between Rousseau and his tigers and jungles and Manet (no, not Monet) and his French people sitting around on the grass. But actually, it is my godson’s work in pencil, ink, crayon, chalk or paint that just knocks me out.

1 Comment

Judith Martin | 03/25/2009 11:00 pm

Judith Martin on Gentile Bellini

Tintoretto, for his magnificence; Giorgione, runner-up, for his. But when I am in a gossipy mood, I like to hang out with Gentile Bellini — nowhere near their class, not even the best painter in his immediate family — because he is so cleverly anecdotal.

1 Comment

Jane Wagner | 03/25/2009 11:00 pm

Jane Wagner Names Her Favorite Artist

Robert Rauschenberg

6 Comments

Julia Reed | 03/29/2009 1:05 pm

An Art Lesson With Julia Reed

Fortunately for me, my favorite artists also happen to be my really close friends: William Dunlap, John Alexander and James Surls. Dunlap serves on the board of the Ogden Museum of Southern Art with me, and is a phenomenally generous soul and walking performance-art piece in addition to being a really wonderful painter. Like Eli Manning, for whom he just did a huge Mississippi landscape, I am blessed to have many of his canvasses. (His wife, Linda Burgess, and daughter, Maggie Dunlap, are also gifted artists — I call them the von Dunlaps.) Roberta Smith compared Alexander to Durer after a show of his drawings at the Beadleston Gallery in Manhattan, and his retrospective at the Smithsonian last year was an amazing show (with an amazing book).

Surls, like Alexander, grew up in Texas and is a soulful writer as well as being a genius of a sculptor. One of my favorite (and most hilarious) photographs features Alexander and New Orleans art dealer Arthur Roger posing as Surls sculptures in my garden – oh, how I wish they were the real thing! The real thing is actually available for viewing right now on the Park Avenue median between 50th and 57th Streets as part of the New York City Parks Public Art Program.

I also really love the photography of Sally Mann, who is one of the nicest people I have ever met.

My favorite dead guys? The Spaniards: Goya, Velasquez and Melendez, whose stunning still-lifes are at the Prado. Melendez’s gorgeous self-portrait is at the Louvre.

5 Comments

Read more about: Art, Artist, Arts, Culture, Painter, Photography

292 Reader Comments (so far…) Sign In or Register to comment

I’m glad you and Joe are laughing. That makes me smile after a rough day :)

By Sam Mirando on 03/26/2009 4:12 pm

e-mail alert

Phyllis, It was the Chief of Surgery who wanted the horrid pieces on his new floor. I’d designed the space and politely said no way, fortunately it was a major university medical center that wouldn’t have allowed it, so he didn’t press the point. His disconnect between his desire for an egotistical display and the patient’s needs is what struck me. On the hand, also worked with a since retired Chief of Surgery at Stanford, so respected that his is one of the few photos of a wall of honor along the entrance corridor. He was the founder of a major charity in 1969 that does reconstructive surgery for free around the world, among many other things. A completely lovely human being and gentleman…his wife was also very low-key, unassuming, kind and sweet. Talk about polar opposites from the other Chief of Surgery at the other institution—a huge fat man with a very red face and a screamer. So many different kinds that make up the world.

By Suzanne de Cornelia on 03/26/2009 3:10 pm

e-mail alert

Interesting. I have come to the conclusion that we cannot tell a book from its cover, nor can we discern stupidity from red-faced Chiefs of Surgery. We expect more from those that carry weight in the world; we are so often disappointed.

By phyllis Doyle Pepe on 03/26/2009 4:11 pm

e-mail alert

Hey girl!

Thanks for the mention! I just finished a piece to enter a juried show.

By Josie Sullivan on 03/26/2009 4:59 pm

e-mail alert

Yah! Post a pix on FB so we can all see it!

By Suzanne de Cornelia on 03/27/2009 12:20 am

e-mail alert

And I am the owner of a magnificent piece done by Josie Sullivan. A piece which exhibits an extraordinary sense of color and the whimsical originality with the use of a window as a canvas. We are quite impressed with Josie’s creativity and unique style, and we WILL have that photo for you, Josie, as well as posting a copy on FB.

I would encourage all of you with an appreciation of art and artists who are still walking the earth with us to take a look at Josie’s work on etsy or maybe Josie will put up her website…………don’t want to do that without permission.

Peace and grace and best wishes for a grand show, Josie

By beth willis on 03/27/2009 1:07 pm

e-mail alert

And plus she’s just a super lady :)

By Suzanne de Cornelia on 03/27/2009 3:37 pm

e-mail alert

You must take a look at English artist JMW Turner’s work before you make your final decision for he alone is called "the painter of light". I may admire paintings in a museum, but in my mind I ask if I could live with them in my own home. As a lover of shades of yellow, and the eye being drawn toward a distance, do look at his sunrise paintings for there is a calming tranquil quality to them.

I have always loved a single story of Turner: The story goes that William Turner was painting one evening by the mouth of the Thames. Turner was passionately capturing the sunset as it set over the water. His expressive style was emphasizing the strong colors that he used. A fellow out walking came along and studied Turner and his rendition of the sunset in a puzzled way. The walker spent some time trying to match up Turners colors with the actual sunset. He eventually commented, I just don’t see colors like those. To which Turner replied: No, but don’t you wish you could.

I love much of Turner’s work. And yes, I do wish I could.

By joan larsen on 03/26/2009 2:21 am

e-mail alert

Joan––oh, yes, Turner, by all means. John Updike did a wonderful essay on Turner, admired him so much.

By phyllis Doyle Pepe on 03/26/2009 9:08 am

e-mail alert

The yellows of Turner … and that story above - one that somehow connects me to Turner in a more personal way - has so much meaning.

But another story. When we as children are growing up, our home is our home. . and we see it as such. Only later did I realize that I had lived in quite a lovely home - the grand piano, the fireplace flanked by a library of leather-bond volumes with those silk ribbons that you could mark your place with, the silk brocade sofa with the two portraits above it of my great-great-etc. grandparents with the gilt frames that had been painted by the American/English artist Benjamin West in the late 1700s.

The portraits of grandmother and grandfather from way back were distinguished, but it was their eyes seemed to watch me as I made a travesty of playing the piano even after years of lessons, and followed me closely as I let what I thought was a darling squirrel into the house that caused a version of pure havoc for some hours. The portraits’ eyes followed me as I thought it might be fun to let my canary loose from his cage that landed in my very distraught mother’s hair and couldn’t get his little feet out. I always thought I somehow - and I did not know why - I somehow did not measure up to what a Richardson family member stature should be.

And so - at my mother’s death - the Benjamin West portraits were willed to Chicago’s Art Institute, a museum considered in my family to be "our other home". But my ancestors’ faces, their demeanor - and yes, their eyes - have always stayed with me as a quite a major piece of my past. Joan

By joan larsen on 03/26/2009 1:37 pm

e-mail alert

Why was it this day, this moment that I looked for your posts, Joan. I went to the familiar Wow site, happily saw a question about art and scrolled to see if you were there. Your Turner post…then this one about family. You: growing up as fast as a song bird’s flight. The Richardson portraits: a deliberate pause in their lives as they sat for a painter.

Who’s to say yours was the first squirrel to scamper over the hardwood floor. Marjorie Richardson loved including her lively neice in mischief later on. The mind will roam where it will in our later years. I’d say there are dearer eyes to recall. Marjorie. Isn’t it great to know you two had the best of friendships with giggles, whoops of laughter, tea times in the city, sharing the arts, and facing tough times together. Those memories with always stay with me.

Looked in the mirror a while back. Wanted to see the eyes I see the world with now. They looked familiar; some family resemblence coming through now that I am this age. Marjorie’s there. And sometimes that twinkle that frequented her eyes. And truth be told, I would like to have a canary standing on my head. Works for me. Would I expect any help from you to take the canary back to his cage? You’d be laughing to the point of tears and enjoying the chaos. Now that’s a scene I could paint!

Thank you for a story of you, Joan

By Hines Hammond on 03/27/2009 9:15 am

e-mail alert

Well, that was not only a thought-provoking, but tearful story in parts, but yes! you have me pegged as I would be on the floor laughing if the canary tiny feet were caught in your hair. I would be no help at all. None. That you would look today about blew my mind, and that I would tell a story like this was a spur of the moment thing that, at the moment, seemed to go with the flow of people’s writings. And only you would know about the ancestors from the 1700s who were still around in portraits and in spirit well over 2 centuries later. I love stories like that!!

By joan larsen on 03/27/2009 10:43 am

e-mail alert

The "condition" of laughing nervously and conspiratorially with the inability to perform what is needed without exacerbating the condition further — was had by three of the four of us. It is nothing but curious to onlookers. Once someone thought I was laughing at their expense. In this case, after the massive piece of unwieldy furniture we were manhandling was set close to its destination -plus one hour- I explained. And all was well again.

It would be wonderful to see the portraits in their other home, joan.

By Hines Hammond on 03/29/2009 11:36 am