NY Observer: Surrealism is, like, “been there, done that”
ABOVE: Federico Castellon’s The Return of the Prodigal, (late 1930s), on show at the National Academy Museum
The New York Observer has this review of the “Surrealism U.S.A.” show at the National Academy Museum. Hilton Kramer protests that the works on display are not shocking in an age like our own, teeming with handy pornography and casual depictions of violence. Sure, but so what? Galleries are filled with exhibits of dead genres and styles, some of which were shocking at the time and no longer are.
Shock, by its very nature, has a shelf-life resembling cottage cheese in any event; no one seems much fazed by the Tracy Emins or the Damien Hirsts of the world anymore, and some of their pieces were the focus of volcanic outrage less than a decade ago. What we want to know is: does the exhibit tell us something new about the art, even if it doesn’t shock? Kramer’s review says that the catalogue explains some of the inside jokes of the surrealists, and that seems valuable enough.