Not Mere Projection

Cy Twombly’s art was in many ways the perfect avatar of Cy Twombly the man. As an artist at the intersection between two major movements in the twentieth century, he was an unplaceable combination of art outsider and someone with high-art sensibility, an artist who eschewed Americana but was its apotheosis. In interviews, he was either intensely private or flippant toward the interviewer, qualities that only increased his appeal. In the March issue, Andrew Martin, author of the novel novel Early Work, reviews two new books about Twombly. In this conversation with web editor Violet Lucca, Martin upholds the ambiguities of the persona, the artist, and the art, and reflects on what we are to make of Twombly today. Read Martin’s review: https://harpers.org/archive/2019/03/cy-twombly-fifty-days-at-iliam-the-art-and-erasure-of-cy-twombly/