Untitled

Tyson’s paintings and drawings are often compared to those of Francis Bacon, Leon Golub, and the German Expressionists, all consummate psychological portraitists. Her austere handling of charcoal, lightly stumped above, along, and below the left side of the figure’s face, underscores the eerie silence and sense of foreboding that exudes from this large-scale drawing.As the Richard J. Schwartz Director in the late 1990s, Frank Robinson renewed the Johnson Museum’s commitment to contemporary art by appointing Andrea Inselmann as the Museum’s first curator of modern and contemporary art and then by establishing a new acquisition fund for the purchase of contemporary art. Donations to this fund by many generous alumni made it possible for the Johnson to acquire more than sixty contemporary works in all media by artists from around the world. (“Highlights from the Collection: 45 Years at the Johnson,” curated by Stephanie Wiles and presented at the Johnson Museum January 27–July 22, 2018)