The rewards of Manet/Degas accrue not from revelation but from the juxtaposition of work by two friends and rivals, each cerebral, urbane, and dedicated to—obsessed with—painting life in Paris.
Still life gave me the opportunity to tell stories with the interaction of objects. Whether poetic, or narrative, there is just so much that can be said.
What is it about certain works of art that affects us so strongly?
There is a school in New York City that is the very best art school one can find, and it’s not a school at all. The masters are all there to instruct you, though their voices are silent.
Depending on what I was struggling with in class in the morning, I’d study how various artists solved that very problem during my evenings at the Metropolitan.
A 2008 catalogue of Bruce Dorfman’s artwork, Bruce Dorfman: Propellor is now part of the holdings of the Thomas J. Watson Library at the Metropolitan Museum of Art.