“You take a picture, but you make a drawing.”
Visual artists are rarely gifted verbally. There’s a good reason why they gravitate toward modes of expression that don’t necessitate explanation. So Sillman is a rare bird. I’d put her writing on the same shelf as Fairfield Porter’s and Manny Farber’s—painters who were legitimate writers. There aren’t many. Nor should there be. If someone’s gifted in one field it seems greedy and unfair that they should excel in another. More often than not a respected artist’s hobby is overpraised solely because of market value. Trust me, Bob Dylan’s paintings wouldn’t be displayed in a village art fair much less a blue chip gallery if he wasn’t Bob Dylan. That’s not the case with Sillman’s writing. You don’t have to know her paintings to enjoy this book.
