“Where Lines Become a Language” and The Figure is the Bottom Line

After writing for the New York Times for over 25 years, Holland Cotter is a well established arts reviewer. In this particular piece Cotter immediately asserts his authority as a know-it-all. He tells us that this article is a total crowd pleaser and the reader gets the idea that this is going to be a negative interview. It is, in fact, a glowing review of the exhibit Raphael to Renoir: Drawings from the College of Jean Bonna.

The review flows, just as the exhibit does, from piece to piece. Cotter discusses some of his favorites and gives history behind the subjects or the artists. Overall, Cotter is positive throughout and he is also interjects brief moments of humor so that the overall effect is nothing like satire but the review isn’t mundane either. Cotter appreciates the exhibit so much that he does not actually have a ‘but’ anywhere in his review. In the beginning Cotter says that Banno has “assembled an outstanding inventory,” and he ends his review by talking about the “something else” in drawings that gives us the feeling of a “nourishing meal” even if we only ate a “dessert”.


http://www.iht.com/articles/2009/01/23/arts/23raph.php