“New Realisms”
Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía
THE TITLE OF THIS EXTRAORDINARY EXHIBITION at the Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía—“New Realisms: 1957–1962”—is one of its several provocative maneuvers. The French movement known as Nouveau Réalisme first came to New York City—thanks in no small part to Pierre Restany’s egomaniacal, chauvinistic rhetoric and superlative networking abilities—with William Seitz’s “The Art of Assemblage” at the Museum of Modern Art in 1961 and Sidney Janis’s gallery show “The New Realists” the following year. If the former dug into history (Mallarmé, Apollinaire, Picasso) in order to legitimate the complete