Edward J. Sozanski

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

Ellsworth Kelly created "Sculpture for a Large Wall" for the former Philadelphia Transportation Building, but it was removed in the 1990s.

Iconic mural pulls into the Barnes

By Edward J. Sozanski, Contributing Art Critic

05/05/2013

The past has come back to haunt us at the Barnes Foundation, big time. It returned this weekend in the form of a monumental mural by painter and sculptor Ellsworth Kelly called Sculpture for a Large Wall. Kelly created the mural in 1956-57 as a commission for the former Philadelphia Transportation Building at 17th and Market Streets.

Sculpture for a Large Wall

By Edward J. Sozanski, Contributing Art Critic

05/03/2013

The Ellsworth Kelly sculpture and four others remain on view at the Barnes Foundation, 2025 Benjamin Franklin Parkway, through Sept. 2. Hours are 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Wednesday through Monday, to 10 p.m. Friday. Admission is $22 general before 3 p.m., $18 af

Woodmere show illumines PAFA fixture Ethel V. Ashton 04/28/2013: By Edward J. Sozanski, Contributing Art Critic

Woodmere Art Museum has brought another forgotten Philadelphia artist out of history's back closet, to her benefit and ours. If you haven't heard of Ethel V. Ashton (1896-1975), the exhibition's title, "Private Artist/Public Life," explains why.
Illustrators' skill, imagination on display 04/14/2013: By Edward J. Sozanski, Contributing Art Critic

Art museums are paying more than the usual attention to illustration this season, and an exhibition called "State of the Art" at the Delaware Art Museum suggests why this might be so.
Step by step into Andrew Wyeth's legacy 03/31/2013: Brandywine River Museum show, exploring the artist's painstaking method, is among events leading to a major celebration in 2017.

By Edward J. Sozanski, Contributing Art Critic

Andrew Wyeth died four years ago at 91; in another four years, the centennial of his birth will bring forth a major retrospective exhibition at the Brandywine River Museum, designed not only to commemorate his remarkable career, but also to reevaluate it.
Abstracts draw eyes to gallery's rafters 03/24/2013: By Edith Newhall, For The Inquirer

Of all of the one-person shows I've seen at Gallery Joe, only a few have had the entire gallery to themselves, and, of those, an even smaller number have taken over its main room and vault space as effortlessly as Christine Hiebert's latest abstract drawings do.
An intense look at Iberian colonial works at the Philadelphia Museum of Art 03/17/2013: By Edward J. Sozanski, Contributing Art Critic

If you enjoyed the exhibition of Iberian colonial art at the Philadelphia Museum of Art six years ago, "Journeys to New Worlds," the museum's current presentation of similar material from a private collection, should prove equally compelling.
Rough and urgent treasures 03/01/2013: Spotlight on outsider art's untutored brilliance

By Edward J. Sozanski, Contributing Art Critic

For the most part, the artists of " 'Great and Mighty Things': Outsider Art From the Jill and Sheldon Bonovitz Collection," which goes on view at the Philadelphia Museum of Art on Sunday, shouldn't be called "outsiders."
Three Woodmere exhibits show off growing collection 02/17/2013: By Edward J. Sozanski, Contributing Art Critic

Additions to a museum's permanent collection usually aren't heart-stopping news, unless one or more of the works acquired are rare, unusual, or especially distinguished. The latest expansion of Woodmere Art Museum's collection is doubly noteworthy, though.
Art: 02/14/2013: By Edward J. Sozanski, Contributing Art Critic

"Art" by Edward J. Sozanski and "Galleries" by Edith Newhall now appear on alternating Sundays.
Outdoing Photoshop 02/03/2013: This photographer's manual magic looks superior.

By Edward J. Sozanski, Contributing Art Critic

Before there was Photoshop, there was, and still is, Jerry Uelsmann, a photographer who decided early in his career that the pictures he wanted to make existed primarily in his imagination.
A sculptor's hurricane memory 01/13/2013: Daniel Arsham presents "Reach Ruin" in sound, light, figures, and dance.

By Edward J. Sozanski, Contributing Art Critic

New art often comes with a backstory, which can be useful in helping identify a point of entry into otherwise-enigmatic work.