Art history, like TV Guide, divides its subjects into time slots. It further carves up the discipline by area (say, Spain), by subject (say, portraits) and by media (say, paint). But what if it used different criteria _ like the physical actions of the artist? Galleries might be labeled Spread or Twist. Sculptors who work in metal and butchers who work in brisket would be lumped together under Cut.
It's an intriguing idea, one that held my attention all the way from a Harvard lecture hall to Toscanini's, the Cambridge ice cream shop named after the Italian conductor. Should the musician and his window washer both be filed under Swipe?
Behind the counter, artists practiced Scoop _ building on the work of the pastry chefs in back, who had already mastered Thicken, Chill and Churn. The most famous work in this collection is titled B3, reference to the materials: browned butter, brown sugar and brownies. One taste, and I knew it was fine art.
