Under-recognized artists do not stay under-recognized for long anymore. Museums in the US have always used their might to showcase those who have yet to make it into the annals of art history, of course. But now, it’s galleries, too, who’ve gotten in on the project of expanding the canon, and if you’re uncertain of this, take a look at commercial spaces this season in New York, where some of the finest shows are for dead artists awaiting a posthumous turn in the spotlight.
Cynically, the trend this season is driven by a money-making impulse, since moving a more expensive work by a more recognizable name is tough during the slow winter season. And sourly, one may also note, as Travis Diehl did in a recent Cultured piece about the proliferation of shows for dead artists in museums, that this is all the result of sheepish art spaces being afraid to rock the boat during a tumultuous time.
Diehl wrote that “a deceased artist is politically inert,” though I’m not sure that’s entirely true. Re-viewing—and reviewing—art of the past remains a vital task because it can teach us about all that was left out of history in the first place, whether because of an artist’s identity or otherwise. This winter’s exhibitions for under-recognized artists in New York—both for late-career quiet giants and for dead, unsung greats alike—mark attempts to begin reckoning with those canonical gaps, paving the way for others to continue the work.
Below is a look at five standout shows by under-recognized artists in New York currently on view.
