Art Review: Abraham Ángel Show at Dallas Museum of Art

Abraham Ángel: Between Wonder and Seduction is the new, sweet, and sad exhibition at the Dallas Museum of Art (the DMA). I’d never heard of Ángel (1905–1924), a young, gay, Mexican artist who, as far as we know, painted only 25 or so works before “brutal reality destroyed him,” as his mentor and lover, artist Manuel Rodríguez Lozano said. He died at 20, either by suicide or from an accidental drug overdose. I’d never heard of Rodríguez Lozano (1896–1971), either, but I was at the museum, had already reviewed its anchor exhibition when it was at the National Gallery, and Ángel was near the front door.

Not knowing an artist isn’t a barrier for me. With Ángel and Rodríguez Lozano, it’s a chance to learn as well to find Mexican modernists who are better artists than Frida Kahlo, a bustling mediocrity and gender-bending satyr. I’m a bloodhound driven by multiple scents. Kahlo is famous and vain, while shtick-free artists such Ángel and Rodríguez Lozano are not.

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Brian T. Allen

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

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Abraham Ángel: Between Wonder and Seduction is the new, sweet, and sad exhibition at the Dallas Museum of Art (the DMA). I’d never heard of Ángel (1905–1924), a young, gay, Mexican artist who, as far as we know, painted only 25 or so works before “brutal reality destroyed him,” as his mentor and lover, artist Manuel Rodríguez Lozano said. He died at 20, either by suicide or from an accidental drug overdose. I’d never heard of Rodríguez Lozano (1896–1971), either, but I was at the museum, had already reviewed its anchor exhibition when it was at the National Gallery, and Ángel was near the front door.

Not knowing an artist isn’t a barrier for me. With Ángel and Rodríguez Lozano, it’s a chance to learn as well to find Mexican modernists who are better artists than Frida Kahlo, a bustling mediocrity and gender-bending satyr. I’m a bloodhound driven by multiple scents. Kahlo is famous and vain, while shtick-free artists such Ángel and Rodríguez Lozano are not.