He is a good painter. I believe I recall his work from the National Museum of American Art. To compare him to Van Eyck or Vermeer, well, I am dubious, but since I am not so well acquainted with his work, I will not argue.
There are a number of roughly contemporary artists (post- War) who are very good: Roy Lichtenstein, Frank Stella, George Segal, Anselm Kieffer, Lucian Freud, Henry Moore, Robert Rauschenberg, I.M. Pei, Robert Venturi, and Balthus come to mind immediately. Some died quite awhile back, some died recently and worked up till then, some are still working, some are even in the middle of their careers. The main thing to realize is that no short period is likely to be rich with notable artists, the time frame of even the Italian Renaissance or Dutch Golden Age is much longer than a couple of decades. If we count in 50 year periods, or better centuries, we are doing quite well........ |
