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Clyfford Still Museum rates a rave in the Wall Street Journal

The Wall Street Journal has a rave review of the Clyfford Still Museum today -- its second piece on Denver's new facility in as many weeks. The first, Daniel Grant's "It's Not Easy Being Single," published on November 17, talked about the difficulties of dedicating a facility entirely to the...
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The Wall Street Journal has a rave review of the Clyfford Still Museum today -- its second piece on Denver's new facility in as many weeks. The first, Daniel Grant's "It's Not Easy Being Single," published on November 17, talked about the difficulties of dedicating a facility entirely to the works of one artist. But judging from Karen Wilkin's "Irascible Still," the Clyfford Still Museum has easily overcome those challenges -- and is "worth a trip to Denver."

Here's a sneak peak at the piece:

Earlier this month, after decades of negotiation over the disposition of the promised bequest, the Clyfford Still Museum opened in Denver in an elegant, thoughtfully conceived building by Brad Cloepfil of Allied Works Architecture. (Why Denver? A long story--but Still's second wife's nephew lived there.) Even the cantankerous artist should have been delighted by the result. The handsome, earthy building is superb, with glorious, changing, aqueous light diffused through a continuous concrete "web" in most of the second floor exhibition spaces. The first floor, home to a study center and accessible storage, offers interactive introductory material; Still apparently specified no gift shop or restaurant. The galleries, varied in ways sympathetic to the collection and flexible enough for rotating selections, are all wonderfully proportioned; even the most splendid of them--a light-washed, symmetrical central space--remains intimate while accommodating five monumental canvases. Views through doorways, echoing traditional enfilade arrangements, permit comparisons. It's all logical, articulate, and makes Still look his absolute best.

Looking good, Denver.

Read Michael Paglia's assessment of the Clyfford Still Museum here.

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