Illustrated with examples of his work both in watercolour and oil, this volume documents the life and personality of the artist John James Audubon (1785-1851). He rendered wildlife directly from observations made on his travels throughout North America and is renowned for his scientific accuracy.
This book explores van Gogh's and Gauguin's conviction that the purpose of visual art in human culture is to communicate a spiritual understanding of existence comparable to the wisdom contained in the metaphors and parables of myths, religions, and literature. Monographic studies in the book, which entail many new interpretations of van Gogh's and Gauguin's imagery, reveal the ways in which their ideas and the specific events of their personal lives shaped their creation of meaningful symbolic motifs.
As we wander off with Edward Gorey into the next millennium our reasons for being here are far from clear. Nevertheless, the master craftsmen is at his best . . Ere the last guest was fin'lly gone. a va, h las, from bad to worse: Adieu to prose, all to verse. The Bahhumbug with lack of tact. Now called attention to the fact, Which made it feel to Edmund Gravel. He was already to unravel
Georges Seurat, one of the most popular and admired of post-Impressionist painters, has been the focus of much attention in recent years. This book by Paul Smith views the artist in a new context and explodes some of the myths that have grown up about him. Challenging the assumption that Seurat's work was scientific or that it expressed a serious commitment to anarchism, Smith instead traces the painters involvement with the various factions of the avant-garde and shows that he was perhaps the earliest exponent of Idealism in modern art.
Smith studies contemporary interpretations of Impressionism and analyzes how the groups surrounding Seurat constructed meaning from his art. From this investigation he creates a portrait of Seurat as one who was willing to accept, even encourage, interpretations of his art that he may not have intended. Smith shows, for example, that the "scientific" account of Seurat's color first developed by F lix F n on actually represents the theory and practice of Pissaro. He examines Seurat's involvement with anarchist critics and concludes that he merely posed as a painter with left-wing sympathies in order to benefit from the publicity these writers gave him. He explains that Seurat was sympathetic to Symbolism from its very inception and that he and his early Symbolist critics developed a theory of his art that was founded on Schopenhauer and Wagner's ideas on art. And he explores the ways that Seurat focused on the musicality of art and on incorporating certain "musical" features in his work. Beautifully illustrated and engagingly written, this book presents a convincing new interpretation of the work of a major artist.
Cassatt's luminous, observant, and innovative works-chiefly interiors with women and children-helped define Impressionism and have been compared to Raphael's paintings for their beauty and dignity. Frank Getlein, noted art critic and historian, has selected 72 of Cassatt's finest works, each reproduced here in full color. His accompanying text relates the intimate details of her life to her paintings while clearly defining her relation to fellow artists and her place in modern art.
The publication of this book marks the first time that so many of Cassatt's paintings and prints, some rarely seen by American audiences, have been made available at a popular price.
Traces the life and career of Ansel Adams, including his early years in San Francisco, his relationship with the Native Americans of Yosemite, and the influences on his photography and painting of western landscapes
edited by Marie-Laure Bernadac and Hans-Ulrich Obrist"Everyday you have to abandon your past or accept it and then if youcannot accept it, you become a sculptor."Since the age of twelve, the internationally renowned sculptor LouiseBourgeois has been writing and drawing;first a diary preciselyrecounting the everyday events of her family life, then notes andreflections. Destruction of the Father;the title comes fromthe name of a sculpture she did following the death of her husband in1973;contains both formal texts and what the artist calls"pen-thoughts": drawing-texts often connected to her drawings andsculptures, with stories or poems inscribed alongside the images.Writing is a means of expression that has gained increasing importancefor Bourgeois, particularly during periods of insomnia. The writing iscompulsive, but it can also be perfectly controlled, informed by herintellectual background, knowledge of art history, and sense ofliterary form (she has frequently published articles on artists, exhibitions, and art events). Bourgeois, a private woman "withoutsecrets," has given numerous interviews to journalists, artists, andwriters, expressing her views on her oeuvre, revealing its hiddenmeanings, and relating the connection of certain works to the traumasof her childhood. This book collects both her writings and her spokenremarks on art, confirming the deep links between her work and herbiography and offering new insights into her creative process.
The life and work of the great Italian Renaissance artist and scientist Leonardo da Vinci (1452-1519) have proved endlessly fascinating for later generations. Da Vinci is perhaps best known for his great works of art and his contribution to art theory. However as modern historians have discovered, the scope of da Vinci's achievement is immense -- his equally impressive contribution to science has been preserved in a vast quantity of notes that became widely known in the 20th century -- and cost even Bill Gates a noticeable part of his fortune when he bought the notebooks in a much publicized auction.
In his biography of da Vinci, National Book Award winner and world-renowned writer Sherwin Nuland explores the enormous breadth in this great man's lifelong pursuit of knowledge.
Examining the work of the American watercolourist, Charles Burchfield (1893-1967), this study traces his life and artistic output through scores of paintings, organized thematically rather than chronologically. It also looks at comparative works by his peers and mentors, and by present-day artists whose visions parallel his. Burchfield's achievements are considered in the context of the cultural and artistic environment in which he worked, and in a broad international context of landscape painting, with particular reference to turn-of-the-century Scandinavian landscapes.
"BY MIDWEST. 4to, 278 pgs. Full bound olive green cloth with orange stylized monogram on front board, orange title on spine. Beautiful full color reproductions of Burchfield's paintings along with an extended essay. Publisher's remainder mark (a tasteful stamped star) on tail of text block, else fine. Dust jacket is also clean and crisp. This is a solid, lovely book. [AUT] Hall, Michael D; Burchfield, Charles
This volume illustrates Monet's works from the last 40 years of his life at Giverny. It includes examples of the Haystacks, Poplars, Morning on the Seine, Japanese Footbridge and Water Lilies series, an account of Monet's life at Giverny and photographs of Monet and his house and garden.
