<p><span class="deck">World War I made the city the financial capital of the world. Then, after World War II, a very few audacious painters and passionate critics made it the cultural capital, as well. Here is how they seized the torch from Europe.</span></p>
<p><span class="deck">At the height of the American avant-garde movement, Fairfield Porter’s realistic paintings defied the orthodoxy of Abstract Expressionism and risked rejection by the art world. But today, his true stature is becoming apparent: He may just be the best we have.</span></p>
<p><span class="deck">The power of his vision fused a bond between American and European art, and between the first and second halves of the century.</span></p>
