Colorful Cast

Color Field painting enjoyed its highest critical profile in the early 1960s, but by extending the show’s time frame to 1975, Wilkin makes the point that these artists kept exploring the style, even if critics had moved on. Criticism has tended to divide recent art history into micro eras lasting a few years—a decade at most—which flies in the face of the way artists live and work. You can’t count on them to die a decently early death, and no good would come of an artist trying to adapt to each twist and turn in taste. Do you give artists their 15 minutes of novelty and then look away with embarrassment like you’re seeing a rock star long in the tooth? Shows like this encourage viewers and critics to take in the artist’s whole run. By ending with the subtle connection between Jack Bush and contemporary painters, Wilkin makes the case that, even in our constantly changing cultural environment, historical perspective reveals strong currents that are more long-lasting than they first seem.