Whitney Biennial (and Kentridge at MoMA): Let the Debate Begin

A retrospective of Whitney Biennial catalogues in a display case at the current Biennial

I don't want to dyspeptically dismiss the many individual works that didn't speak to me at the Whitney Biennial, but, needless to say, I was astonished by Charlie Finch's rave today on Artnet, in which he brashly announces: "This is not only the greatest of Whitney Biennials, it is the greatest show ever produced by the Whitney Museum." Has he really seen ALL of them?

I'll admit that my reaction to the Biennial was influenced by the place where I had just been before arriving at the Whitney yesterday---the press preview for the masterful, disturbing and profoundly moving William Kentridge show, organized by the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art and beautifully installed at the Museum of Modern Art (to May 17). I do wish that New York museums would avoid choosing the same day for press previews of major shows!

William Kentridge: Five Themes is a very intense, time-intensive show. I couldn't begin to do it justice in the small period that I had for it yesterday. I'll be back to savor it, and I'm hoping also to make it to the Kentridge's production of Shostakovich's The Nose at the Metropolitan Opera. Beginning on Friday, the (operatic) Met will present in its lobby gallery an exhibition of Kentridge's work for his production.

For me, Finch's introductory sentence for his Biennial encomium would have been much more appropriate praise were it applied to the Kentridge show:

If you believe that art is about dignity, respect, depth of thought and purpose of craft, then the 2010 Whitney Biennial [I'd substitute, "the Kentridge survey"] is the show for you.

William Kentridge, speaking at Museum of Modern Art's press preview, before rushing off to a rehearsal for "The Nose," his production at Metropolitan Opera