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Article: Arnold Mesches at P.S. 1.(New York)(exhibition of the artist's work uses deals with investigation of him conducted by Federal Bureau of Investigation from 1945-1972)(Critical Essay)(Biography)
- Article from:
- Art in America
- Article date:
- October 1, 2003
- Author:
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 2003 Brant Publications, Inc. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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Arnold Mesches had his first one-person show in 1946. The hundredth or so was in New York City (at P.S. 1) in 2002--the series of 48 masterful paintings, "Anomie, 1492-2001," that encapsulate American history [see A.i.A., Feb. '02]. Now he is moving away from New York, reluctantly, at age 79.
In 1945, one year before that first show, the FBI opened a file on Mesches. This file, which the artist recently obtained through the Freedom of Information Act, extends from 1945 to 1972 and contains about 800 pages, many of them heavily blacked out. In the age of the Patriot Act it is truly disheartening to read that the list of "special informants" Mesches reconstructed ...