Book Description

Ad Reinhardt is probably best known for his black paintings, whicharoused as much controversy as admiration in the American art world when theywere first exhibited in the 1950s. Although his ideas about art and life wereoften at odds with those of his contemporaries, they prefigured the ascendanceof minimalism. Reinhardt's interest in the Orient and in religion, his strongconvictions about the value of abstraction, and his disgust with thecommercialism of the art world are as fresh and valid today as they were when hefirst expressed them. ... Read more

Book Description

In this book, Michael Corris offers a comprehensive account of the life and work of the American artist Ad Reinhardt (1913_1967). He not only reexamines Reinhardt_s wide-ranging artistic and critical output, but also looks at his beliefs in relation to the American Communist movement and other political organizations on the left.

The book contains a wealth of new research on Reinhardt, including previously unpublished illustrations of his paintings, cartoons, and installations, as well as excerpts from his writings. Reinhardt_s practices of the 1950s and _60s are reconsidered in the light of the political, social, and cultural developments of his time, particularly the progressive destruction and repression of the left that marked the period of the Cold War.

Book Description

This digital document is an article from New Criterion, published by Foundation for Cultural Review on February 1, 1998. The length of the article is 1401 words. The page length shown above is based on a typical 300-word page. The article is delivered in HTML format and is available in your Amazon.com Digital Locker immediately after purchase. You can view it with any web browser.

Citation Details
Title: Talking at cross purposes: Piet Mondrian & Ad Reinhardt.
Author: Mario Naves
Publication: New Criterion (Magazine/Journal)
Date: February 1, 1998
Publisher: Foundation for Cultural Review
Volume: 16Issue: 6Page: 45(1)

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Reviews (1)

A good introduction
Aside from being rather expensive, this is an excellent introducion to Ad Reinhardt, perhaps the most irascible and independent of the (by their own description) irascible abstract expressionist artists of the 1940's and 50's. There are enough reproductions that you can see Ad's development, and they were done very well technically. This is an achievement because Reinhardt's late paintings, which relied on very subtle gradations of black, have to be among the hardest to reproduce in the history of art. (By the way, they are also good paintings to show to people who think abstract art does not take any skill.) The introductory essays are more readable than much of what has been written about modern art. However, the best writing about Ad Reinhardt's work was that of Reinhardt himself He was a very witty and idiosyncratic writer who fiercely defended his attitude about art and life in prose that is sometimes difficult, but always funny and ultimately enlightening. This book is comprehensive enough to be a mini-anthology of Reinhardt's writings. If you can possibly look at this book before you buy it, I would do so, since it is so expensive; if you like abstract art, however, I think you will find it beguiling. ... Read more