Art Review: Atlanta’s High Museum, Looking Good and On the Move

Earlier this summer, I was in Atlanta visiting family and able to get to the High Museum. I’d been before, but these were rushed visits, so I felt I was seeing it for the first time. I went two afternoons in a row, one of which was a free, or no-admission, Sunday, and the place was packed with happy, inquiring people. It was a joy.

What Is Left Unspoken, Love was the big exhibition on view. It was a show organized by the High. It looked good and wasn’t inept. Malignant it was, alas, and opportunistic, naïve, and overwrought. Bon Jovi foretold this moment when he sang, “You Give Love a Bad Name.” The show doesn’t intentionally pimp race grievance, and it’s really not about love. Rather, the museum’s director and its contemporary-art curator seem to have overdosed on Joy Reid. “We love you if you hew to the party line,” it tells us. “Otherwise, we hate you.” I’ll review the show this weekend.

About the Author

Brian T. Allen

Brian T. Allen is National Review’s art critic.

Earlier this summer, I was in Atlanta visiting family and able to get to the High Museum. I’d been before, but these were rushed visits, so I felt I was seeing it for the first time. I went two afternoons in a row, one of which was a free, or no-admission, Sunday, and the place was packed with happy, inquiring people. It was a joy.

What Is Left Unspoken, Love was the big exhibition on view. It was a show organized by the High. It looked good and wasn’t inept. Malignant it was, alas, and opportunistic, naïve, and overwrought. Bon Jovi foretold this moment when he sang, “You Give Love a Bad Name.” The show doesn’t intentionally pimp race grievance, and it’s really not about love. Rather, the museum’s director and its contemporary-art curator seem to have overdosed on Joy Reid. “We love you if you hew to the party line,” it tells us. “Otherwise, we hate you.” I’ll review the show this weekend.