John Yau reviews Marcia Marcus, Role Play: Paintings 1958 – 1973 at Eric Firestone Gallery, New York, on view through December 2, 2017.

Yau writes: “Between 1958 and ’73, the period covered by the exhibition, Marcus achieved something as singular and powerful as any of her more celebrated male counterparts, including Alex Katz and Philip Pearlstein. Even now, nearly 50 years after “Anna” (1973), the latest dated work in the show, her paintings look fresh and cerebral in a confident way… Her work addresses a wide range of formal and social issues directly and indirectly. She is the forerunner of Catherine Murphy and the melding together of direct observation and the imagination.”