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Edward J. Sozanski, a graduate of the University of Rhode Island and Columbia University, has been an art critic for 30 years, first at the Providence Journal-Bulletin and since 1982 at the Inquirer. He has also has written on cultural topics for The Economist newspaper of London.

Besides contemporary art, his particular interests are photography, American art of the 19th Century and crafted art of all periods and cultures. Before becoming a critic, he taught college-level writing and worked as a graphic designer.

  Email Edward at esozanski@phillynews.com
Henry Ossawa Tanner´s "The Annunciation," 1898.
Tanner paintings humanize the holy
By Edward J. Sozanski, Contributing Art Critic
Posted 02/11/2012
Henry Ossawa Tanner deserves a kinder fate than to have a major retrospective of his work sandwiched between Zoe-mania and Vincent van Gogh.
"Field With Flowers Near Arles" (1888). There are 46 paintings in the Art Museum show, along with 30 works on paper by other artists and photographers, illuminating van Gogh´s possible sources.
The glory of van Gogh
By Edward J. Sozanski, Contributing Art Critic
Posted 02/03/2012
Edward J. Sozanski: The Philadelphia Museum of Art exhibit is something special, one of those uncommon revelations of artistic soul.
 
Van Gogh exhibition to open at Philadelphia Museum of Art
 
Museum and gallery events
 
Spring Arts Preview - 01/27/2012
By Edward J. Sozanski, Contributing Art Critic
The most exciting art season in years is upon us, with the opening this weekend at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts of a major survey of Henry Ossawa Tanner's landmark career and an exhibition of Vincent van Gogh's nature paintings just around the corner at the Philadelphia Museum of Art.
 
Under 95 to quite a bit higher for Strauss - 01/20/2012
By Edward J. Sozanski, Contributing Art Critic
Zoe Strauss is a genius - not at photography, at which she's merely talented, but at marketing. She developed one brilliant concept, an annual outdoor exhibition of her work under the I-95 elevated expressway in South Philadelphia, then parlayed that into inclusion in the 2006 Whitney Biennial, and now into a mid-career retrospective at the Philadelphia Museum of Art.
 
Fiber sculpture with the verve of dance - 01/13/2012
Nick Cave combines visual expression and infectious energy in his "soundsuits."
By Edward J. Sozanski, Contributing Art Critic
Nick Cave's art is vivacious, exciting, and transformative. Its unique sensibility emerges from the convergence of a number of aesthetic languages - African art, painting, fashion design, textile patterning and textures, dance, and, most identifiably, sculpture.
 
'Ocean Without a Shore' addresses the mystery of existence through video - 01/06/2012
By Edward J. Sozanski, Contributing Art Critic
Art began, thousands of years ago, as spiritual communication, and retained that function in the West at least as long as most people organized their lives around religious doctrine and observance.
 
Art: Brandywine's leader saying farewell - 12/16/2011
For nearly 39 years, James H. Duff directed the museum. But even now, he's not going far.
By Edward J. Sozanski, Contributing Art Critic
James H. Duff has run the Brandywine River Museum almost forever, but at the end of this month his remarkable tenure as director, which began in early 1973, will end when he retires.
 
Repurposing beyond 'Paintbrush' - 12/09/2011
The warplane gone green at Pa. Academy of the Fine Arts plaza is the first in a series.
By Edward J. Sozanski, Contributing Art Critic
Lenfest Plaza, created by the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts from a half-block of Cherry Street west of Broad, can be a cheerless place at this time of year.
 
Delaware Art Museum show explores the versatility of Howard Pyle - 11/18/2011
By Edward J. Sozanski, Contributing Art Critic
Howard Pyle's considerable artistic legacy includes, besides a noteworthy group of classic illustrations, the Brandywine School of painting and the Delaware Art Museum.
 
Museum celebrates its new look - 11/11/2011
Allentown's Old Masters, and loans from other Kress beneficiaries, hang in revamped quarters.
By Edward J. Sozanski, Contributing Art Critic
After being closed for nearly a year, the Allentown Art Museum is back in business in a larger, more visitor-friendly building.
 
Show on regional art: Not much here here - 11/04/2011
By Edward J. Sozanski, Contributing Art Critic
It's always prudent to be skeptical of museum sales pitches. As proof, I offer the exhibition eccentrically titled "here." at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts.
 
Art: Gathering to capture impressions - 10/28/2011
By Edward J. Sozanski, Contributing Art Critic
Reading Public Museum's exhibition on artists' colonies presents prime pictures, questions on definitions.
MORE STORIES
 
A bonanza at the Michener Museum - 10/21/2011
By Edward J. Sozanski, Contributing Art Critic
 
Mother, daughter, and more modernists - 10/14/2011
By Edward J. Sozanski, Contributing Art Critic
 
'Mixing Metaphors': African American art that inspires - 10/07/2011
By Edward J. Sozanski, Contributing Art Critic
 
An elaborate memorial to Lolabelle - 09/30/2011
By Edward J. Sozanski, Contributing Art Critic
 
Form above function - 09/23/2011
By Edward J. Sozanski, Contributing Art Critic
 
Artworks' meaning obscured by introductory verbiage - 09/16/2011
By Edward J. Sozanski, Contributing Art Critic
 
Other than 'Tribute in Light,' 9/11 inspired few great artworks - 09/02/2011
By Edward J. Sozanski, Contributing Art Critic
 
At the Barnes, life and learning go on - 08/26/2011
By Edward J. Sozanski, Contributing Art Critic


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