Reviews (1)

His finest work yet
Brice Marden has been considered a master of his craft for nearly three decades and his recent paintings are the most powerful yet. Abandoning the rigid rectangles of his previous work, Marden has embarked upon a looser, yet structural form. The surface and application are still meticulate, reminding one of the sensuality of the oil and beeswax mix of the 60's work. Using what seems to be Oriental calligraphy and free-form drawing as inspiration, these new works are at once arresting in their complexity and somber in their exquisite use of color. He has taken his extensive knowledge of color from the 'rectangle' years and applied them to this new series of intersecting and twisting lines. I find myself in awe of these paintings, having seen some them in New York two years ago and this catalog has faithful reproductions, an oversize format and a very fair price ... Read more

Book Description

Containing more than 1,100 breathtaking reproductions of the entire graphic œuvre of Edvard Munch (1863-1944), this unique and important book is a long-awaited and essential contribution to the literature on Munch and his accomplishments as a printmaker. Nothing this complete, beautiful, and authoritative has ever been published on this enormously popular artist; the only other book available on his graphic works focuses solely on his Symbolist prints.

The scholarly text displays the exhaustive research and enormous attention to detail that have earned author Gerd Woll renown as one of the world's most respected art historians. An indispensable tool for professionals, and a stunning art book as well, this will be the standard reference on Munch's graphic work for many years to come.
1,111 illustrations, 250 in full color, 512 pages, 111/2 x 101/2"AUTORBIO: Gerd Woll is senior curator of prints and drawings at the Munch Museum, Oslo, where this vast collection of the artist's prints is housed. She is one of the world's foremost Munch experts and has written extensively on his graphic work. ... Read more

Reviews (1)

Outstanding, but expensive.
This is sure to become the definitive collection of Munch's graphic work. The plates are beautifully and accurately done (I've seen many of the original prints), and, as the title says, the collection is comprehensive - something which the non-enthusiast probably won't require (multiple prints from the same etching are included, along with all of Munch's later work, post nervous breakdown, that I personally find less appealing). Nevertheless, if you're serious about studying Munch, and money is not a concern, this is a tremendous resource. ... Read more

Book Description

A highly acclaimed biography of Georgia O'Keeffe that emphasizes her ongoing struggle for autonomy. ... Read more

Reviews (2)

An Incredible Biography
"A Life" is the best book on painter Georgia O'Keeffe available. Every moment in Georgia's life is written about with painstaking detail. Nothing is missed. From her relationship with Alfred Steiglitz and his entourage from "291" to her intimate relationship with sculptor Juan Hamilton. I can't say enough how amazing this book is and how enjoyable it is to read.

A Beautiful and Engaging Tribute to a Brilliant Artist
Georgia O'Keeffe's life was one lived with courage and beauty and Robinson does her justice by writing this beautiful and engaging biography.The author delves into O'Keeffe's life and the passion of her work bydescribing her family history, her evolution as an artist, and perhaps moreimportant to O'Keeffe, her evolution toward becoming her true self.Theextra and vital layer that adds even more depth to this biography isRobinson's description of the art scene and the philosophies of artcirculating in early 20th century New York.

This book would be ofinterest not only to those who enjoy O'Keeffe's work but also to those whoare trying to become themselves, those who are interested in the history ofart in America, or those who like to read for the sake of feeling beautifulwords flowing through their mind.

This book was difficult for me to putdown and I didn't want it to end. Roxana Robinson's work is a gem. ... Read more

Reviews (1)

Wonderful book
This IS a wonderful book with marvellous prints of the work of Hans Memling. There are a lot of detail prints that open a sight to history of daily life / costume etc. ... Read more

Amazon.com

"Matisse was born in 1869 in northern France and grew up in Bohain-en-Vermandois, near the Belgian border, on the drab, cold, wet beet fields of French Flanders. The same area, culturally and geographically speaking, had produced Vincent van Gogh sixteen years before." Thus begins the first full biography of an artist who, more than any other, is associated with Mediterranean heat, brilliant color and light, and languid, luxurious interiors. As author Hilary Spurling points out, an open window is one of Matisse's frequent motifs. Given the climate of his youth, that image speaks more of escape than of the sea air of the French Riviera.

If all biographers wrote with Spurling's warmth, empathy, and intelligence, no one would likely want to read any other kind of book. The Unknown Matisse is thoroughly researched, with pages devoted to minutiae that Spurling imparts with wit and style, making every nuance of Matisse's early development fascinating. She tells too the story of Matisse's family life (Mme. Matisse risked her respectable reputation by adopting Henri's first, illegitimate daughter), his brilliant ideas about art, and the years it took for his paintings to find their rightful audience. It was her intention finally to give as much weight to Matisse's life as has been given to his work, but in the process of examining the man she sheds new light on the art as well. --Peggy Moorman ... Read more

Reviews (9)

Meet Matisse and Enter His Landscape for Reading Pleasure
Henri Matisse (1869-1954) came from the somber northern region of France.The landscape of his youth was sketched in the somber colors of a provinical childhood.His family were seed merchants, sober and no nonsense in their approach to the realities of life.As Matisse grew his art expanded as he journeyed to Paris and to the South of France where he discovered the glories of coloration in his art.Matisse was the greatest of the Fauvist painters; the chief rival of Picasso and the grand old man of French painting.
In this first volume of her life of Matisse, Hilary Spurling the British born biographer draws France in the dawn of the 20th
century as we see Matisse struggle from poverty to stability. He was supported by a loving wife, good friends and a genius which
burst forth in all its glory as the great master continue to grow in his art.
The book is well illustrated, detailed in its description of Matisse's families, friends and opponents and well worth the reader's time.
With the current exhibition of Matisse-Picasso at the Metropolitan Museum of Mordern Art it is a pleasure to turn to Spurling's fine volume on Matisse to gain further insights into this giant of modern art.I recommend this book to everyone from art expert to the educated general reader seeking further insights into the evolution of a painter of genius.

Matisse's Colors
This is a genuinely inspiring biography, clearly written and deeply felt, powerfully communicating the revolutionary ideas of what painting could and should be that drove, and were driven by, Henri Matisse. Spurling vividly describes Matisse's struggles to balance his need to paint with financial reality and his society's disdain, often using the artist's own letters and recollections to depict his growing obsession with color and impatience with representation.

Although I eagerly await the second volume, the true measure of Spurling's success is my anticipation in revisiting Matisse's paintings -- my enjoyment of his work has been increased immeasurably by reading this book.

A wonderful artist biography
I read this book last year and have been anxiously awaiting the next volume.A marvelous examination of Matisse's start, the development of his passion for art and the complex personal life that made the journey extraordinary and, at the same time, ordinary.The images of his parents, their scandalous employers, his wife, his children, and his remarkable artistic peers remain very vivid for me, as each are really intriguing in and of themselves. Spurling is enormously engaging as a writer, and this book takes you to France at the turn of the 20th century and present time and place in a way that stays with the reader.It's a fantastic work.

Length is not necessarily Depth
The narrative quality, even of a historical biography, is what keeps us reading. Only so many details can be digested before the reader bloats and stalls out in his efforts to follow the story the writer is trying to tell us. Ms. Spurling, from her style, apparently comes from an academic background, for this book is written seemingly in the fear some expert will come along and point out an omitted detail. To her credit, I found none. But neither did I find a tremendous critical faculty for weeding out the mundane from the significant. I am generally opposed to abridgements, but the tedium in this book would greatly benefit from that process. Much as I love Matisse, I am not that interested in what he had for breakfast.

Best art biography I've read
What a book. Spurling writes a complete biography of Matisse, looking not just at his art and artisitc influences but at his entire life. Unlike Richardson in his biographies of Picasso, Spurling never stoops tocheerleading or excuse-making. (However, seeing as Spurling's book waswritten years after Richardson's first two Picasso volumes, I can't helpbut wonder how the two writers portray the Steins so differently. I wishSpurling had been willing to take on Richardson a bit more directly.)Instead she explains and enlightens. The pace of the text is perfect. Ofparticular fascination is Spurling's accounts of Matisse's artisticbreakthrough, starting in the Fauve summer in 1905. This book is exciting,breath-taking, insightful and I can't wait for volume two. Quite possiblythe best book I read in 1999. ... Read more

Book Description

Of the six Impressionist painters whose first exhibitionscandalized and fascinated Paris in 1874, Berthe Morisot was the onlywoman. Shereached a pinnacle of artistic achievement despite the restraintssociety placedon her sex, adroitly combining her artistic ambitions with a rewardingfamilylife. Anne Higonnet brings fully to life an accomplished artist and herworld. ... Read more

Reviews (3)

Get to Know this Complex Woman
Berthe was obviously an anomaly in her day and age... and, being self-deprecating and reticent, might've actually wished to be forgotten. She WAS literally forgotten for many years after her death. I am grateful to Ms. Higonnet for writing the book, but I felt throughout the reading that, although it was obvious Ms. H. admired Berthe, she didn't truly understand her. It bothered me that most of the book was about OTHER people, although her life DID seem to be about OTHER people. Berthe was generous and hidden, yet daring and "out there." It was probably very difficult to find the true Berthe. She was obviously very much beloved by the other Impressionists and her contributions as the catalyst of the group were immeasurable. But I wanted to know more. I didn't like it that each time she had an accomplishment, it seemed to be overshadowed, in the biography, by moving on to the accomplishments of one of the other more luminous figures in her world. Berthe was beautiful, dedicated, a wonderful mother and wife... after years of pressure by society and her own parents whose biggest fear was that she was to stay a "spinster" (who the HECK invented that word???)... I really felt for Berthe. But was she bulimic? Was she anorexic? What WAS the true nature of her mental challenges? I'd like to have seen some more of that area explored - as it has been so deeply investigated in the case of Vincent van Gogh. Whatever her maladies, we've got to admire the fact that she, unlike Mary Cassatt, DID have it all - career, family, home life, social recognition... and balanced it all so beautifully. But I wished Ms. Higonnet had given us just a bit more to grasp onto.

Berthe Morisot
GREAT BOOK!! I bought this book used from That Book Lady,
I recieved the book promptly and it was in excellent condition.
The book has wonderful information on Berthe Morisot.

Thorough and perceptive
My first reaction to Anne Higonnet's biography of Berthe Morisot was that it was a bit stiff. I had recently read Dominique Bona's "Berthe Morisot: Le secret de la femme en noir" and found that book to be well done, even though lacking documentation and even though indulging in "maybe it was like this" speculations from time to time. But I very much liked Dominique Bona's informal style, referring to Berthe Morisot as "Berthe", while Anne Higonnet almost always refers to her as "Morisot" (a small issue but one that is quite representative of the stylistic difference in the two biographies).

Of course, Anne Higonnet's work is more than 10 years older than Dominique Bona's, so that Dominique Bona reaped the benefits of reading Anne Higonnet's book. And there are many benefits to be had. Anne Higonnet has done a superb job of researching direct and indirect and even background sources to fill in the picture of Berthe Morisot's life and setting.

Sometimes Anne Higonnet's presentation creates a distance: emotional connection is lost amid the cultural history. But overall, this is a fascinating "MUST" book for anyone who wants to understand Berthe Morisot's painting, persona, and life. ... Read more

Book Description

Famous for his elongated forms, graceful portraits, and lush nudes, Amedeo Modigliani (1884-1920) is among the most loved of the extraordinary group of international artists who lived in Montparnasse in the early 20th century. Accompanying the first major Modigliani exhibition in the U.S. in over 40 years, the book moves beyond the romantic myths that have sprung up around the artist's tragically brief life to provide a fuller, richer understanding of his art, as well as the role of Montparnasse in the development of modern art.

In addition to 64 paintings, sculptures, and drawings by Modigliani, the book features works by other Montparnasse artists such as Brancusi, de Chirico, Soutine, and Picasso. A special highlight is the inclusion of excerpts from a recently discovered, never-before-published novelette written by one of Modigliani's lovers about their experiences together. This striking volume provides a serious examination of Modigliani's work with extensive new documentation. ... Read more

Book Description

When Georgia O'Keeffe first visited New Mexico in 1917, she was instantly drawn to the stark beauty of its unusual architectural and landscape forms. In 1929, she began spending part of almost every year painting there, first in Taos, and subsequently in and around Alcalde, Abiquiu, and Ghost Ranch, with occasional excursions to remote sites she found particularly compelling. Georgia O'Keeffe and New Mexico is the first book to analyze the artist's famous depictions of these Southwestern landscapes.

Beautifully illustrated and gracefully written, the book accompanies an exhibition of the same name at the Georgia O'Keeffe Museum in Santa Fe, New Mexico. It reproduces the exhibition's 50 paintings and includes striking photographs of the sites that inspired them as well as diagrams of the region's distinctive geology. The book examines the magnificence of O'Keeffe's work through essays by three noted authors. Barbara Buhler Lynes, Curator of the Georgia O'Keeffe Museum and organizer of the exhibition, discusses the relationship of the artist's paintings to the places that inspired her.

Frederick Turner offers an illuminating essay contrasting O'Keeffe's fabled aloofness from the well-established art colony in Santa Fe with her intense closeness to the local landscape she so fiercely loved. Lesley Poling-Kempes furnishes a fascinating chronicle of O'Keeffe's years in the region as well as a useful explanation of the geological forces that produced the intense colors and dramatic shapes of the landscapes O'Keeffe painted.

EXHIBIT SCHEDULE:

Georgia O'Keeffe Museum
Santa Fe, New Mexico
June 11-September 12, 2004

Columbus Museum of Art
Columbus, Ohio
October 1, 2004-January 16, 2005

Delaware Art Museum
Wilmington, Delaware
February 17-May 15, 2005

... Read more

Book Description

The world as we know it today began in California in the late 1800s, and Eadweard Muybridge had a lot to do with it. This striking assertion is at the heart of Rebecca Solnit’s new book, which weaves together biography, history, and fascinating insights into art and technology to create a boldly original portrait of America on the threshold of modernity. The story of Muybridge—who in 1872 succeeded in capturing high-speed motion photographically—becomes a lens for a larger story about the acceleration and industrialization of everyday life. Solnit shows how the peculiar freedoms and opportunities of post–Civil War California led directly to the two industries—Hollywood and Silicon Valley—that have most powerfully defined contemporary society. ... Read more

Reviews (4)

More than just the photos
Like many people, I had seen Muybridge's motion studies before, but had never considered the man behind the pictures. Solnit presents a compelling portrait of a man who is at the same time probably certifiably nuts, a genius years ahead of his time, a lousy husband and father, and a murderer. As Solnit points out, his groundbreaking work was really the basis for motion pictures and much of other technology we take for granted today.

I took this book with me on an overnight flight to Brazil and compulsively read it cover to cover while I should have been sleeping.

Much more than Muybridge
I wasn't especially interested in Muybridge, but this book is a good deal more than that. Though not stinting on detail, Solnit's writing and intellectual abilities provide a grasp of the transformations of time and space that occurred in the past century and a half; she addresses, and conquers, the challenges of making another age vivid and profound as has no book I've yet encountered. "She writes like an angel," one critic said, and it's quite true; through her supple and sensitive prose she reflects on Muybridge's life and times, examining them from every angle, and in so doing gives a clinic in how history of any kind may be most richly approached.

Annihilation of time and other concepts
Rebecca Solnit has created a provocative masterpiece! This is not a simple biography about one of the great innovators of the field of photography. It is a richly, intellectually layered work that explores the big ideas of time and our relationship to it; the fusion of politics, science and industry in the 19th century; and links today's Silicon West to what we call the Wild West of our past. She possesses exceptional writing skills. This is book well worth reading by those seeking inspiration to invent the future, or for those who wish insight into the concept of progress.

The Father of the Moving Image
Everyone knows about the inventions of such men as Edison and Marconi, the sorts of inventions that truly brought us to the modern age. It sounds like a stretch to claim that the man who definitively answered the question of whether a trotting horse ever completely leaves the ground also changed the world. However, Rebecca Solnit has written an original biography of the photographer Eadweard Muybridge, _River of Shadows: Eadweard Muybridge and the Technological Wild West_ (Viking) which centers on how Muybridge, by splitting motion into split-second bits, changed the nature of our perception of time and space in a way that brought us inevitably to Hollywood and to Silicon Valley. She writes, "Muybridge was a doorway, a pivot between that old world and ours, and to follow him is to follow the choices that got us here." As biography, the book is inevitably thin. Muybridge kept no journals and there are few letters, and details about his remarkable life are hard to come by; the basics, of course, are here. Solnit says, "Most of what is known about Muybridge makes him seem a hollow conduit for his work, with only a few vain remarks to personalize the prodigal accomplishments." Rather than biography, as a series of essays on the importance of his work, the book is original and fun.

Muybridge's life and work are inextricably bound with the brand-new state of California, but he was born in 1830 over a family shop in England, in Kingston-upon-Thames. He lit out for San Francisco, where he worked as a bookseller. He made a name for himself in photography, however, which was a relatively new and demanding art. He was among the first to photograph the wilderness of Yosemite, using huge plates for images that are still dramatic. Muybridge stepped into fame with a commission from Leland Stanford, one of the famous robber barons who had made his fortune on the railways. Stanford had a hobby of raising race horses and he wanted to do it all as scientifically as possible. Some horsemen maintained that trotting horses always had at least one foot on the ground, while Stanford maintained that the horse became airborne in each stride; neither side had any way to demonstrate its position, for although one could stare at trotting horses eternally, the motion was simply too fast to make out. There is a legend that Stanford had a big bet on the issue, but Stanford was not a betting man, only one who wanted to raise and race horses scientifically. Muybridge had already had a commission to photograph Stanford's house and properties, and was asked to consider the problem of the trotting horse. Muybridge was instrumental in technological breakthroughs to make the famous series of photos happen, involving film and shutter speed, as well as the development of a way to trigger a set of cameras at just the right time. Solving the technology was only a minor part of his contribution; he went on to run the photographs together so that they became a loop of action, the forebear of the movies. Muybridge's work was so startling that it was denounced .... and cartoon parodies were printed showing a horse's legs in "authentic" wildly impossible positions. His subsequent studies of other animals and humans in motion are still in print, still a vital resource for artists.

Solnit has used the life of Muybridge to gather information on widely dispersed subjects that she ties into the biography with wonderful facility. Wyatt Earp, Mary Pickford, and Thomas Edison are all here. There are digressions about the invention of the time zones, the resettlement and slaughter of the Indians, Hewlitt-Packard, and much more. Solnit's wide-ranging account makes it feasible that Muybridge was the father of the moving image, and that from his work descends the age of images in film, television, and internet. ... Read more

Book Description

Between 1985 and 1995 Helmut Newton published his most powerful pictures in his own magazine, Helmut Newton's Illustrated. Only four issues were ever published, and these rare collector's editions have now been combined in one volume. In its mix of erotic nudes and provocative journalistic photography, Helmut Newton's Illustrated documents some of the strongest visual images of the past two decades. Salon reports that the photographer who gained worldwide notoriety for his stylish portraits of naked women says he will never shoot nudes again; Helmut Newton's Illustrated showcases much of the last work in his signature genre. ... Read more

Reviews (3)

A Beautiful Little Book
A wonderful yet small collection of reproductions of Manet's last works. A very great artist, at the end of his days, paints exquisite small works of flowers. What else could you want?

Manet's last works are simply perfect!
As an art student studying the techniques of the masters, this little book has been invaluable to me. This is for anyone who seriously wants to experience Manet's genius. His little florals leap off the page! The printing is good, too. Faithfully shows detail and tone well. While nothing replaces seeing these works in person, this book is one every artist should have.

Breathtaking Mastery
During the last months of 1882 Edouard Manet was gravely ill. This was to be the last year of his life. He no longer had the strengh for large ambitious work. With frequent rest periods, he had just completed "A Bar at the Folies-Bergere."

Due to his ebbing energy he began to paint on a smaller scale, simple bouquets of flowers in a variety of glass vases. Often these were the flowers friends brought to the convalescing artist.

"The Last Flowers of Manet" is a little gem of a book presenting 16 of these elegant, magical paintings. There are ethereal white lilac blossoms and slashes of pink peony petals shimmering before rich, black backgrounds. There are roses and tulips in warm, golden shades.

Just as Matisse in his last days could not make a false stroke when creating his cutout compositions, so Manet brings total mastery to these exquisite, soulful still lifes. ... Read more

Reviews (2)

Colorful Writing for a Monochrome Book
Often times, in the art world, pedantry and an overwrought sense of aesthetics make anything written on the subject unbearable for all but the snobbiest. Fortunately for the rest of rest, Mr. Hodin wrote this book. He is an engaging, lucid writer who has studied his subject thoroughly and actually knew Edvard Munch in his later years which enables him to offer a good deal of important personal information that other authors are simply not able to do. This additional insight is important, for Edvard Munch is one of the truly original geniuses of art and his work carries an urgent message for the dissociated psyche of modern man. My only complaint with this volume is that the publisher elected to print only about one third of the prints in color which, while unfortunate, is by no means devastating. If youre interested in this greatest of expressionists and interested in delving into the spiritual crisis of modern man, I cannot recommend this book highly enough. On the other hand, if youre an elitist art critic looking for stodgy literature, look elsewhere this is not your book.

Discover the world of Edvard Munch
An excellent and scholarly work covering all of Munch's work. Over 160 plates are discussed in depth and there are cross references to the wherabouts of each of the plates at the end of the book. The major fault is the lack of colour plates (30), and the relativly poor quality of the reproductions but all in all a valuable and comprehensive work. ... Read more

Book Description

Essay and interview with Jonathan Hay.Binders board cover. 12 color plates. 3 doutones. 5 black/white plates. ... Read more

Book Description

Reviews (2)

The master at work
The pencil drawings in this book are fascinating. You can really see how he worked on each design, and occasionally the original sketch has some interesting variations from the final product. I particularly enjoyed some of the less popular works that are to be found here.

Very Interesting
Nice to see some of Mucha's preliminary drawings, which are softer and simpler by nature, often (in my opinion) more beautiful than the finished pieces. Not all his best work, and the black-and-whites are a bit greyish, but highly recommended nonetheless. ... Read more

Book Description