Face To Face With Impressionism In The Round

J. Seward Johnson Jr. makes three-dimensional sculptural versions of famous Impressionist paintings. “The experience sounds risible, more the stuff of amusement parks than sculpture parks or museums. But there’s an uncanny quality to seeing a familiar painting expanded into real space, and being able to walk through the picture plane is positively weird. It heightens the physicality of the motifs in the composition and thereby underlines the artifice and skill that went into transforming them into a painting. Also, I have to confess, wandering around in the three-dimensional paintings is really a lot of fun. And with no restrictions on photographing or touching the works, who can doubt the show is going to be a riot for grown-ups and an absolute paradise for children?”