Book Description

This sumptuous book is the third volume of the definitive catalogue raisonnŽ of the work of the American painter John Singer Sargent (1856-1925). Comprising over two hundred portraits and portrait sketches in oil and watercolor painted between 1900 and the artist's death in 1925, this book completes the trilogy of portrait volumes.The catalogued works have been grouped into two chronological sections, each with an introduction that sets the particular group in context. There is also a section of undated portraits and an appendix listing previously unrecorded works. Each work is documented in depth: entries include traditional data about the painting or watercolor; details of the work's provenance, exhibition history, and bibliography; a short biography of the sitter; a discussion of the circumstances in which the work was created; and a critical discussion of its subject matter, style, and significance in Sargent's career. Most of the works are reproduced in color. There is also an illustrated inventory of Sargent's studio props and accessories and a cross-referenced checklist of the portraits in which they appear. ... Read more

Reviews (1)

He Only Gets Better!!
I wasn't sure that volume 3 could live up to the beauty of the first two volumes, but it certainly does, even surpassing them in some ways. Sargent has honed his skills as a portrait painter to such an extent that, in many of these paintings, all that's left is the essence of what he wanted to convey about a sitter. Like any artist, he has his ups and downs, but when he's good it's absolutely breathtaking. These three volumes are all magnificent, among my favorite art books I've ever seen. The vast majority are in color, and the writing about each painting is always interesting, including references from critics, diaries, and even photos of him painting. On page 102 is the wonderful portrait of Mrs. Fiske Warren and her Daughter, Rachel. Next to it are photos of Sargent painting them! Wow!
This is a book, like the first two volumes, that you can return to over and over again. It always has a new detail or personality to interest you. Also, if you like Sargent, get the book "Sargent Abroad" which concentrates more on his outdoor work. I'm not sure any other artist ever had such a natural talent, to be able to paint so many different subjects so well. ... Read more

Amazon.com

Famous for his dreamy 1960s paintings of cakes, Wayne Thiebaud began his career as a commercial artist and cartoon illustrator like many other artists of the period, including Andy Warhol. And like Warhol, Thiebaud became tied to pop art since he was making images of popular American products like food, lipsticks, and toys. Yet unlike many of his pop peers, Bay Area-based Thiebaud wasn't interested in poking fun at the establishment. He's a painter's painter, a real traditionalist. Wayne Thiebaud: A Paintings Retrospective covers a career of rendering still lifes, cityscapes, landscapes, and the figure. His cake paintings are formally beautiful in their color, shadow, and composition. They are perfect specimens of the good life in America, the paint lovingly applied in places like thick frosting. His cityscapes of San Francisco fiercely exaggerate the hilly landscape, capturing a perspective from the ground and air simultaneously while utilizing the light that the Bay Area is famous for.

Thoughtful essays by Steven A. Nash, associate director and chief curator for the Fine Arts Museum of San Francisco, and Adam Gopnik, a writer for The New Yorker, discuss Thiebaud in relation to his peers, pop, modernism, and abstract expressionism. This book serves as a catalog for Thiebaud's major retrospective, which opened in San Francisco and travels to Forth Worth, Texas, Washington, D.C., and ends in New York in the fall of 2001. Besides their beauty, these works truly capture a period of American life in a way that feels free of irony but not without commentary about nature, the city, and how we've lived. --J.P. Cohen ... Read more

Reviews (5)

Wayne Thiebaud: A Paintings Retrospective
an excellent book with excellent reproductions. i enjoyed it.

amazing artist, gentle spirit, and wonderful book
After working this past summer in the Whitney Museum of American Art in NYC and being there for the opening of the Thiebaud show, I can certainly say that I have become filled with a nostalgic longing and a love for both Thiebaud's art as well as the manner in which he comports himself as an artist and as a person. I could have received no better gift from my supervisor at the end of my summer employment than this beautiful and gentle book. Though certainly there is nothing like looking at the works of art themselves, this book was fully capable of stirring my memory...much the same way as Thiebaud's art itself had a few weeks prior. This book is a highly treasured part of my collection of art books...truly a high point of my books in general, and I would highly recommend it to those well versed in the works of this gentleman as well as those who have not yet had the pleasure of his honest and warm friendship. ~greg

Color Quality
I purchased this book right after walking through the Thiebaud retrospective at the Palace of Fine Arts in San Francisco. I usually don't like to buy books after I've seen the work firsthand as the color never compares with the paintings I had just seen. In this case, though, I was impressed with the reproduction color. As an artist I get to use this book to study how Thiebaud makes his works "sparkle" by painting one color next to another.

Enlightening!
I own lots of art books, but this is already one of my favorites. I stare and stare at these pictures and marvel at what he has done. The painting is so simple at first glance, and so much more complex and fascinating the longer I look. If you are a painter, there is very much to be learned from these paintings. The phrase "paint lovingly applied" in the editorial review is most apt--and as a result, one loves looking at it. This man is really a PAINTER, an artist who revives one's faith in painting here at the turn of a century that has seen more than its share of charlatans and feeble talents. Everything he paints looks profoundly delicious, and the landscapes and cityscapes from the 80's and 90's are like thrilling dreams. The book is a revelation!

Never See SF the Same Again!
This book has a wonderful collection of his work from the 60's to the present time. His style and view of everyday life is both inspiring and dramatic, sometimes his perspective is unnerving as well. It is a great book for those who love realism and nostalgia, with a twist. ... Read more

Book Description

The name of John Singer Sargent evokes paintings of marvelously gowned Edwardian belles, of brooding aristocrats and princes of industry--insightful portraits executed with dazzling virtuosity.

Sargent's enduring popularity has prompted a thoughtful reappraisal by prominent art critic Carter Ratcliff, who shows us the surprising breadth of the artist's work. Never before has a book so thoroughly represented that variety: 110 lavish color plates and more than 200 halftones convey the brilliance of his portraits, the exuberance of his watercolors, the stately pomp of his murals. It is perhaps the watercolors that are most exciting to contemporary eyes--bold, spontaneous, and vividly hued, they have a breathtaking immediacy.

Born in Florence in 1856 to American parents, Sargent spent a nomadic childhood before going to Paris to study painting. He learned quickly and by the 1880s had begun the steady climb to fame that ultimately placed him at the center of his world, with a circle of friends and rivals that included Henry James, Claude Monet, and James McNeill Whistler. When Sargent died in 1925, a childhood companion wrote in her memorial that "the summing up of a would-be biographer must, I think be: He painted." It is the strikingly beautiful results of that lifelong devotion to his art that glow throughout the pages of this incomparable book.

Other Details:
338 illustrations, 110 in full color. 256 pages. 11 x 13" trim size. Published in 2001. ... Read more

Reviews (3)

Not a bible but a book of John Singer Sargent
This heavily packed artbook of John Singer Sargent's work is worth buying for any American impressionist fans. Every page is full of excellent descriptions and backgrounds of his work and life. Not to forget the colourful pages of Sargent's painting and drawings. However, if you want a complete book or at least a heavy packed bible about Sargent and his works, well, this book wouldn't satisfy you much. This is a book more of an introductory and coffeetable book for the regular art audience.

An absolutely fine piece of visual reference
Most likely the best book about Sargent published to date. The colours are brilliant. The text well constructed. The visual detail is quite thorough. If one's to purchase only one book about Sargent this is the one.

great rational art writing
It's nice to find a book on the subject of painting wherein the writing is almost as good as the painting described. Carter Ratcliff has a fluid, no-nonsense style that helps the reader to understand J.S. Sargent and his milieu. ... Read more

Book Description

The work of Antoni Tàpies offers a unique case of the artist-as-shaman--that is, the artist as an alchemist who is capable of discovering the nature of materials, transforming their substance, and bringing meaning to life. A self-taught painter, Tapies began his career in the lively and exciting period directly following World War II: in 1947 he founded, along with Joan Brossa, the journal ''Dau al Set,'' which championed Surrealist aesthetics. Drawing upon the latter, Tapies created a Spanish analogue to the so-called Abstract Expressionism of the New York School, combining the techniques and forms of "action painting" with his own deep sense of human pathos. As time went by, Tapies increasingly incorporated social themes into his work, achieving a rare and impassioned mix of experimental painting and politics. This new monograph surveys the artist's career from the late 1940s to the present day, selecting works that show the diversities and unities within the artist's consistently rewarding oeuvre. What we find is an artist who has always questioned and challenged our ways of seeing art and the world, and in the process, created true masterpieces. Hardcover, 11.5 x 12.5 inches, 352 pages, 150 color illustrations. ... Read more

Book Description

This magnificent book is the first volume of the definitive catalogue raisonn_ of the works in oil, watercolor, and pastel of the beloved painter John Singer Sargent. This volume catalogues portraits by Sargent from 1874, when he began his training in Paris, and covers pictures painted while he was establishing his reputation in Paris, during his early years in England, and on his first professional visit to America in 1887. ... Read more

Reviews (7)

Just Amazing........
This book is for Sargent lovers. His incredible talent oozes in these pages. I can't wait for Vol 2 of this beautiful production of Yale University Press. I got me a magnifying glass and have spent hours looking at the unbelievably grand flesh tones that Sargent commanded. You'll love reading the background data of these portrait commissions during Sargent's career. I would give it six stars if I could. See it to believe it.....if I could only paint like he did or anything barely close. One of my best of collection. Hurry up Yale and give us Vol 2.

i can't wait for vol 2!
i bought this book after seeing the sargent show at the met in new york. i have been studing it ever since. mr ormand, ms. kilmurray please hurry. you have brought the works of this great american master to life as no one has done before and i look forward in anticipation to vol 2.

Simply amazing
Now, all art books should be judged by the standard this publication sets. All colored reproductions. To reproduce paintings in black and white is just criminal, and the people responsible for this book understands that. I simply can't wait for the rest of the volumes. I can't think of another artist more deserving of this royal treatment(Well, if they can do this for J.W. Waterhouse, I'd die happy).

Sargent complete paintings volume 1
For lovers of Sargent's art there can be no more welcome arrival than this superbly researched, illustrated and produced volume, the first of 5 that will form the great artist's Catalogue raisonnée. Displayed to readers for the first time are many works from the dawn of Sargent's career, from private collections, to those on the threshhold of his great international successes, all displaying the artist's characteristic virtuosity of manner, and acute psychological penetration into the depiction of his sitters, from the most humble to the most exalted. The paintings' histories and provenances make for engrossing reading, and whet the appetite for the subsequent volumes. Often a small detail in a little-known work will give as great a sense of enjoyment as that from one of the celebrated paintings. Sargent-lovers, rejoice!

Most Excellent!
I received this book as a Christmas present from my girlfriend. The reproductions are excellent. My only complaints are the tiny reproductions of related paintings and drawings and the long paragraphs of French quotes. Other than that this book is required reading for all Sargent fans. Hopefully some day someone will publish more books on Sargent's pencil and pen & ink drawings.C. Ousley ... Read more

Amazon.com

This monumental, gorgeous, two-part book, a biography and a catalogue raisonné, is the definitive tome on Egon Schiele (1890-1917), who died at the impossibly tragic age of 27. That a 700-page volume is devoted to his oeuvre says something about his youthful accomplishments, which are rivaled perhaps only by those of Georges Seurat. Author Jane Kallir is the daughter of Otto Kallir, a Viennese art historian and dealer who emigrated to New York in 1931 and opened the Galerie St. Etienne, which showcased the controversial, influential works of such artists as Oskar Kokoschka and Gustav Klimt along with Schiele. Kallir possesses the rare ability to analyze even the most delicate matters with forthrightness, disinterest, and perspicacity. Her lack of cant distinguishes her from the many passionate Schiele mythmakers, and yet there is nothing dull or cold about her writing. With characteristic understatement, she laments "the regrettable tendency of later authors to discredit their predecessors," while acknowledging that "meaningful contributions to Schiele scholarship have been made at every turn." In the long biography, Kallir sifts through a century of potboiling prose to capture the factual past in all its mystery and sadness. She speaks of Schiele's subjects--"the quintessential adolescent experiences of sexual awakening and spiritual exploration"--and remarks, "Neither before nor after Schiele does one often encounter an artist who addresses such issues so directly." Unlike her more reserved predecessors, Kallir openly discusses every nuance of Schiele's personal, sexual, pictorial, political, and social development with subtlety and candor. And in the catalogue raisonné, she offers an essential work of scholarship. Filled with color plates, including the sexually controversial ones of pubescent children and copulating couples, this is the Schiele book that will last. --Peggy Moorman ... Read more

Reviews (5)

Pretty good.
Many color pictures. However the final quarter of the book is black and white. Still, this is the best book on the subject.

schiele in depth
i admire art books that are intelligently written, present a representative and rich survey of the artist's works, and are beautifully printed. kallir's book on schiele has all this and more.

after wading through the fatuous, abstract and self absorbed writing that passes for art criticism nowadays it is deeply refreshing to encounter an author like jane kallir, who knows her stuff down to the most intricate footnoted fact but presents the main story with verve, clarity, insight and sympathy. as a portrait of the artist and as a history of art trends in prewar vienna, kallir's telling is searching and well told.

the reproductions of several dozens of schiele's major works -- paintings and drawings -- are presented full page and full color, beautifully printed: it's possible to see the texture variations of schiele's line and the nuances of his color. browsing the work is a joy in itself. however, the real adventure is the catalog raisonne, which presents smaller format black and white images of every known work by schiele's hand (and even a few forgeries). though reduced in size -- six or so works are shown on each page -- the catalog images of the drawings are large enough to be easily legible, and the breakthroughs, variations, detours and consolidations in schiele's style are a fascinating visual story in themselves.

the price is high, but the book is big and heavy, and made to very high standards, so the price is fair. i'm very picky about books, and this book impressed me a lot.

Wonderful!
I used to go to the library for years just to look through this book (it was out of print for a while). It is a wonderful book chronicling all the works of Egon Schiele, and you get a chance to see his growth as an artist. I wish all the drawings in the catalog were printed a lot bigger than the 2"x2", but that would make the book too expensive for anyone but outright scholars because Egon Schiele was such a prolific artist. Still, the details are not completely lost and Jane Kallir is an authority on Egon Schiele's work. The Gallerie St. Ettiene is a wonderful gallery and I got the chance to see many of the drawings in this book there. To look again that the drawings in the book after seeing the real ones, one isn't really disappointed. It is wonderful to have all the works by an artist cataloged this way.

Egon Schiele The Complete Works
As an avid fan of the works of Egon Schilee I found the complete works to be the best thing I've picked up. Like stepping out of a dream the work of Schiele captures any reader. Thisd is a must for the serious persuer or any lover of art. It is simply delicious

Would be nice to get the book ( Poor Service)
Will review the book if I ever get one. Ordered the book a month ago and it hasn't been shipped. I can; however, comment on the service at Amozon. One Star. ... Read more

Amazon.com

Just as the Italian peninsula itself was a patchwork of widely divergent city-states up until the 19th-century risorgimento, so the art and artists of the Italian Renaissance differed according to the regions in which they flourished. If Florence is the city most often associated with Renaissance art, Venice runs a close second; and of all the artists associated with the Venetian style, Titian is arguably the greatest. In Titian's Women, art historian Rona Goffen examines the role of women in the great man's work. Whether painting a bride or a goddess, Titian brought a degree of respect and empathy to his portraits; though his models may have been prostitutes, Goffen argues, the finished subjects were indisputably ladies. Combining art history with a remarkable command of the period's social history, Goffen crafts a fascinating discussion of Titian's work, his times, and his particular genius. ... Read more

Reviews (1)

The utmost beauty.
In appreciation of beauty, perhaps the only difference between a layperson and an artist is that the latter can see and openly render that beauty. Unfortunately, sometimes "beauty is in the eye of the beholder." Beautiful paintings of women by this ingenius artist has been considered (by some) in the same class with eroticism, or even pornography.
Titian is noted for his radiant and sensual rendering of human flesh. The effects are achieved by painstaking efforts in glazing, scumbling, and manipulation of colors. As a lady's man himself, Titian "loves every woman he meets" (although he reportedly was heartbroken at his wife's death), recognizes their beauty (after all, beauty is indifferent to social bias in this artist's eye), and expresses maverlously their charm in his paintings.
The readers will get it all in this book and if social convention has a problem mistaking artistic appreciation with mundane eroticism, then so what is new? ... Read more

Book Description

One of the world's most beautiful cities is pictured here through the eyes of one of the world's best-loved artists. J.M.W. Turner's translucent, atmospheric paintings and watercolors of Venice have long been celebrated as among the most extraordinary creations of this popular artist's later career. Few other artists have responded with such imaginative inventiveness to the magical combination of water, light, and architecture that is Venice.

This beautifully produced book, which accompanies a traveling exhibition that comes to the Kimbell Art Museum this spring, features the largest selection of Turner's paintings and watercolors of Venice ever published, some reproduced for the first time. The texts include contributions by travel writer Jan Morris and historian David Laven, who bring their perspective to the city as it was when visited by Britain's greatest painter. ... Read more

Reviews (2)

4 opinions about Siqueiros.
The Centenary of Siqueiros' birth was in l996, and this book makes an outstanding contribution to a celebration of Siqueiros' life and works. It is a full political biography of the artist-citizen-socialist fighter, as well as an "art book" with 72 pages that present 134 photos and reproductions. These are discussed and explained in the text along with Siqueiros' theories about art and new realism. Philip Stein discloses for the first time the extensive FBI files meddling in the affairs of Mexican citizens. Siqueiros: His Life and Works has an extensive bibliography of the writings, exhibits and lectures of Siqueiros as well as background bibliography. (Reviewer's Bookwatch, January 1995). - "I am a citizen artist, not a Bohemian.I don't believe in a world where each artist is a little god, each one with his own philosophy, each one with his own little kitchen to fry his abstract ham and eggs. The only bad painting is the one dominated by the individual ego. Easel paintings whisper to the private few. Murals shout to the public." These words by Siqueiros embody the militant stance on art taken by one of the most forceful painters of the 20th century. Together with Diego Rivera and Jose Clemente Orozco, this triumvirate was the phalanx that led to the founding of the Mexican mural movement, the most significant advancement in art since the Italian Renaissance. This and much more is the subject of this book by Philip Stein an artist who spent a decade working with Siqueiros. It is a work of painstaking research and personal knowledge that is not only a biography of Siqueiros (l896-1974) but also a political history of the 20th century Mexican revolution and its aftermath. This book is a powerful argument for social commitment in art, a valuable source of education for all artists, yuoung and old. (Norman Goldberg, artist-critic). - This magnificent biography is a comprehensive study digging deeply into the historical roots and tempestuous conflicts that shaped Siqueiros into an agressive leader, including his Indian and Mexican heritage, union struggles, military action, political conflicts and his role in organizing cooperative groups of artists who would put their collective endeavors to the service of humanity. This biography is a remarkable work of art with a beautifully felt poetic prose. It is a wonderful restoration of the life of a complex artist. Documentation has a scholarly completeness, color photographs aid us in grasping some of the magnificence of his painting and mural accomplishments. This a biography of enormous importance and beauty, so rich one will go back to it again and again. (Anthony Toney, artist). Stein's marvellous book is a meticulous and inspiring study of a great artist. But more than that it is a cultural achievement in its own right. Throughout its pages Siqueiros is brought powerfully alive. Stein himself writes with the perception and sensitivity of an artist and presents a fascinating account of the artist's technique and methods. This is definitely not a "coffee table" book; nor is it aimed at the art expert. The style is always readable and accessible to the general reader. At times "Siqueiros" even has the pace and excitement of a novel. (Julian Holt, professor of literature, Lancaster, England).

About the legendary Mexican artist Siqueiros.
The Centenary of Siqueiros' birth is in 1996, and this book makes an outstanding contribution to a celebration of Siqueiros' life and works. It is a full political biography of the artist-citizen-socialist fighter, as well as an "art book" with 72 pages that present 134 photos and reproductions. These are discussed and explained in the text along with Siqueiros' theories about art and new realism. Philip Stein discloses for the first time the extensive FBI files meddling in the affairs of Mexican citizens.Siqueiros: His Life and Works has an extensive bibliography of the writings, exhibits, and lectures of Siqueiros, as well as background bibliography. (Reviewer's Bookwatch, January 1995) --"I am a citizen artist, not a Bohemian. Idon't believe in a world where each artist is a little god, each one with his own philosophy, each one with his own little kitchen to fry his abstract ham and eggs. The only bad painting is the one dominated by the individual ego. In Europe a private market has determined a private art. Here (Mexico) our art is for an audience of millions. Easel paintings whisper to a private few. Murals shout to the public." These words by Siqueiros embody the militant stance on art taken by one of the most forceful painter of the 20th century. Together with Diego Rivera and Jose Clemente Orozco, this triumvirate was the phalanx that led in the founding of the Mexican mural movement, the most significant advancement in art since the Italian Renaissance. This and much more is the subject of this book by Philip Stein, an artist who spent a decade working with Siqueiros. This is a work of painstaking research and personal knowledge. It is not only a biography of Siqueiros (l896-l974) but also a political history of the 20th century Mexican revolution and its aftermath. This book is a powerful arguement for social commitment in art, a valuable source of education for all artists, young and old. (Norman Goldberg,artist-critic). This magnificent biography is a comprehensive stiudy digging deeply into the historical roots and tempestuous conflicts that shaped Siqueiros into an aggressive leader, including his Indian and Mexican heritage, union struggles, military action, political conflicts and his role in organizing cooperative groups of artists who would put their collective endeavors to the service of humanity. This biography is a remarkable work of art, with a beautifully felt poetic prose, comprehensively organized. It is a wonderful restoration of the life of a complex artist. Documentation has a scholarly completeness. Black and white and many color photographs aid us in grasping some of the magnificence of his painting and mural accomplishments. This is a wonderful biography of enormous importance and beauty, so rich one will go back to it again and again. (Anthony Toney, artist). Stein's marvellous book is a meticulous and inspiring study of a great artist. But more than that it is a cultural achievement in its own right, and an act of solidarity with the artist and the working people who were his subjects. Put another way, it is itself a work of socialist realism. The biography is written with a moving affection for Siqueiros who is brought powerfully alive through its pages. Stein himself writes with the perception and sensitivity of an artist and presents a fascinating account of the artist's technique and methods, his pioneering experiments with new materials and the numerous practical problems posed by murals and frescoes of the size and complexity of Siqueiros' creations. This is definitely not a "coffee table" book; nor is it aimed at the art expert. The style is always readable and accessible to the general reader. At times, "Siqueiros" even has the pace and excitement of a novel. (Julian Holt, professor of literature, England). ... Read more

Book Description

Few individuals have had a greater influence on the development of Western painting than the celebrated sixteenth-century Venetian artist Titian (c. 1480–1576). His vibrant colors and masterful brushwork have made his work a constant inspiration to artists, from Rubens to the Impressionists and beyond. Every generation has found something new to admire in his astonishing technique, which enabled him to produce fresh interpretations of the most familiar religious and mythological stories as well as portraits and landscapes. Written by some of the world’s most renowned Titian scholars, this beautifully illustrated book accompanies a major exhibition devoted to the work of this extraordinary artist. Authoritative essays on Titian’s life and times, portraits, replicas, and technique provide the background for a detailed examination of over 40 of his greatest masterpieces—works that provide evidence of Titian’s genius as a stylistic innovator and supreme manipulator of paint. ... Read more

Reviews (1)

superb intro to titian
for its size, this is probably the best overview of titian available in english. the color reproductions are beautifully done, the sampling of titian's works is comprehensive yet compact. the historical essays on the epochs of titian's output and the commentaries to each painting are well written and highly informative. a few major works, such as the venus d'urbino, are reproduced in smaller format and discussed only in passing, as they could not be included in the exhibition. even so, only rona geffen's study of titian's women goes farther and deeper into titian's originality, humanity and genius. highly recommended. ... Read more

Book Description

This volume contains two early photographic series--"Bus Riders" and "Murder Mystery People"--by Cindy Sherman, shot in 1976, soon after she graduated from art school. It is accompanied by a CD of found sound-based music by The Glove Compartment, aka Gian Carlo Feleppa. ... Read more

Book Description

Egon Schiele (1890-1918) was one of the most influential and popular painters to emerge from the cultural ferment that characterized Vienna at the turn of the century. Yet despite the appreciation of his art, the "real" Egon Schiele has remained elusive. This biography, first published together with Abrams' catalogue raisonné of Schiele's work, offers fascinating insights into the artist's brief and sometimes troubled life.

Basing her text chiefly on firsthand sources, many of them previously unpublished, Schiele expert Jane Kallir provides a vibrant account of the artist's childhood and early adulthood, his turbulent encounters with Vienna's patron class, his sexual escapades and imprisonment on a morals charge, his ultimately disappointing marriage, and his premature death at the age of 28. Interwoven with the story of the artist's life is a balanced presentation of his art-the mature and relatively placid pieces together with the turbulent Expressionist work-lavishly illustrated with 94 full-color illustrations and 107 duotone plates. Printed on extra-fine paper with extraordinary reproductions, this beautiful volume stands as the definitive biography of Schiele the man and the artist. ... Read more

Reviews (1)

Beautiful
Great buy--Just trust me. If you like his work--you will have much to indulge in. Ah Schiele--the original tortured artist--"In the name of art I will endure to the end!" ... Read more

Reviews (1)

Just beautiful color and grand pictures.....
These are some of Sargent's most beautiful compositions and color galore. He was an amazing portrait artists and still, these landscapes are out of this world. His command of the painting media was genius........sheer genius. You'll love the beauty of these pictures. The more Sargent I see.......the more I have to rub my eyes to be sure anyone could be that good. ... Read more

Book Description

Considered one of the most significant American painters of the period between the two world wars, and founder of the precisionist school, Charles Sheeler (1883-1965) was also one of the pivotal photographers of the modernist movement in this country. His direct style can be likened to that of contemporaries Paul Strand, and Edward Weston. Sheeler is perhaps best-known for documenting the transformation of the American industrial landscape (in both painting and photography), and for an early series of photographs of his Doylestown, PA, house. A major retrospective dedicated to Sheeler's work is being organized by the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, and this book will serve as the catalog. ... Read more

Book Description

In this beautiful book, Trevor Fairbrother argues that viewing JohnSinger Sargent as a sensualist connects otherwise conflicting elements of his oeuvre andoffers a new interpretation of his life and work. The book is lavishly illustrated withexamples of the artist's oils, watercolors, and sketches, and it includes a little-knownseries of expressive charcoal drawings of male nudes, here published together in color forthe first time.Published in association with the Seattle Art Museum ... Read more

Reviews (3)

Fleshing out John Singer Sargent
The current re-evaluation of the contributions of John Singer Sargent to the art of the USA, as indicated by the impressive exhibition "Sargent And Italy" currently in Los Angeles, the steady flow of new books about his work, and the academic resurgence of emphasis on his importance in American art at the turn of the last century - this re-evaluation has been truly underscored by this very fine book by Trevor Fairbrother. Written with great style and zest, the author explores the sensual nature of an artist once considered a 'society portraitist', a good painter but one more concerned with reaping the wealth from his gifts than in painting for art's sake. Well, bury that prejudice, as Fairbrother reveals Sargent's preoccupation with the human body, not only elegantly clothed but sensually nude. A fine example is "Nude Study of Thomas E. McKellar" in which Sargent paints his favorite African American model in a beautifully erotic pose.

But the sensuality does not stop with the plethora of nude figure studies. Indeed, the author demonstrates how Sargent's compositions of landscapes and buildings as well as outdor and indoor groups of people are rendered with a sensual manipulation of light and pigment. And much time and discussion focuses on the famous painting 'El Jaleo' of a flamenco dancer barely visible in the artificial light of the stage, making her sensual movements of the hands and wrists ring like the music accompanying her.

This well written book is lavishly illustrated with excellent color reproductions and gifts us with a significant body of work at book's end - a folio of male nudes called "Album of Figure Studies" which alone is worth the price of this superb volume.
Highly recommended.

The Best Sargent Book Ever!
I'm a big Sargent fan. Fairbrother have done an unbiased work on Sargent. All his life, Sargent have always been attractive to the exotic, the bizarre, and the supernation and loved color and gaiety in his life. In his early paintings, he had painted many ethnic women including Rosina Ferrara, whom I've compared her to Chilli of TLC and I have two websites dedicated to both Chilli and Rosina Ferrara. He painted beautiful, lively gypsy women remininscent of Carmen, which was played around the same era as Sargent. His book is a wealth of pictures and sketches never seen before. Especially his book of nudes, which he had done when he wasn't busy painting wealthy patrons. Those sketches were realistic and, of course, very sensual for those with an open mind. It's a treat for those who are really interested in this brilliant artist.

a sensual book...
This is a wonderful book for any lover of Sargent's work. I have quite a few monographs on Sargent, and this one contains work which I have not seen before. It focuses on every aspect of his ouvre, from portraits, landscapes, genre, and figurative studies. Not only do the selected works represent the sensuality that eminates from Sargent's hand and mind, but the layout of the actual book reflects this also. The last section of the book is devoted to some of his male figure charcoal studies, which are incredibly inspiring. They are printed on laid paper (different from the rest of the book), and have a beautiful quality to them. Most of them are even different drawings than those reproduced in the "Sargent: Male Nudes" book. This is very refreshing to see, as the drawings bring us right into the studio with Sargent, almost looking over his shoulder while he renders the figure with unwavering power and finesse.... ... Read more

Book Description

This extravagantly illustrated catalogue--published in association with a major exhibition--evokes the romantic fascination with Italy that glimmers in the work of John Singer Sargent.

Sargent, heralded on both sides of the Atlantic, was one of the most creative American artists of the late nineteenth century. Born in Florence to American parents living abroad, he retained a deep and lifelong connection to the country famed for its ability to get "ineradicably in one's blood." Sargent vacationed frequently in Italy, and most of the works he created there were painted not for commission but out of his artistic passion for Italy's people, land, and culture. Often hauntingly powerful, they range from dramatically painted genre scenes of Italian peasants and saturated landscapes that celebrate the beauty of the Italian countryside to portraits of other Anglo-American expatriates and tourists, including Henry James and Edith Wharton.

The majority of works are of Italian sites, including well-known tourist spots but also the quieter, more isolated locales that Sargent sought out. His subjects include magnificent Italian gardens with their ancient and Baroque statuary, Rome's Neoclassical and Renaissance buildings, urban street scenes, the Italian Alps, and, of course, Venetian canals. Sargent found Venice particularly alluring, and the city well suited the watercolor medium in which he worked most often in Italy. His use of vivid colors, brushwork that varied from soft and fluid to bold and dashing, and an overwhelming sense of light and air characterize his Italian scenes--and rank Sargent as one of the finest watercolorists of all time. His later Italian works, some in watercolor and others in oil, reveal an artist who relished his materials and made art purely for art's sake. Both beautiful and informative, this lavish volume includes eighty-five color and fifty black-and-white images. It adds a new dimension to our appreciation of Sargent's art and will delight anyone who loves Italy, as Sargent so passionately did.

EXHIBITION SCHEDULE

Palazzo dei Diamanti, Ferrara
September 22, 2002-January 6, 2003

Los Angeles County Museum of Art
February 9-May 11, 2003

Denver Art Museum
June 28-September 21, 2003

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Reviews (3)

dissatisfied with reproductions
Ordered unseen and then attended exhibit. I was dissatisfied with color prints before exhibit and really disappointed afterwards. A graphic artist friend refused to buy the book after seing the color reproductions

reproductions are not what i expected
I just returned with a friend from the Sargent and Italy exhibit , and I had purchased this book before going and thought the repoductions lacked vibrancy and did little for me, and after seeing the exhibit my thoughts were confirmed and I was even more disappointed , and a friend of mine who is a retired graphic artist and attended the exhibit would not purchase the book based on the reproductions

Appeals to the Eye and to the Intellect
SARGENT IN ITALY does what many catalogues set out to accomplish but few achieve - document a magnificent exhibition while creating an art history book of great substance. The catalogue for the travelling exhibition SARGENT AND ITALY mirrors the elegance of the painter's touch, the intense infatuation and observation of the painter's favorite places (Venice in particular), and the intellectual atmosphere in which all of these works were created. Everyone knows of John Singer Sargent's finesse with the portraits of the wealthy and with figure painting in the studio and out on location, but few have the knowledge that Sargent found just as much life and senusality in the landscape as he did in the beautifully gowned patronesses of his career. Author Robertson is careful to include the treasurable quotes from the works of Henry James and other writers which flank many of the paintings in the exhibition and in the book. James and Sargent were close friends and colleagues, and that quality of shared observation helps make this show and this book the successes they are. The only minor flaw in the book is the quality of color reproduction which tends toward the muddy, dim side - hardly what this painter of light was all about. But the paintngs here are in other volumes where they are not as graced with the written word as they are here. A fine exhibition and a very fine catalogue/book. ... Read more

Reviews (1)

Tieopolo's Human Comedy
This is a beautiful book. It's rare to find such large reproductions of drawings, all in color! (Most drawings, if not all are done in pen and brown ink with brown wash over black chalk.)

Twenty-six drawings whose locations are unknown appear in an appendix in black and white at the back of the book.

The text appears on the opposite page from each drawing. The author provides a brief, but helpful interpretation of each scene. Many of Tiepolo's references are not immediately familiar to the modern non-scholar reader, so a little guidance really enhances the visual experience.

Best of all is Tiepolo's delightful rendering of the human comedy. His Punchinellos are ridiculous, loveable, pathetic and even heroic or tragic. This is one of my favorite journeys with an old master.

The text also provides information regarding provenance, bibliography, exhibitions and current ownership. ... Read more