French painting in the Golden Age

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Matthew Simms

Cezanne's watercolours exhibit not only kaleidoscopic arrays of translucence but also very light graphite pencil lines that contrast strikingly with the soft watery touches of colour. These drawn lines have been largely overlooked in previous studies of Cezanne's work in this medium.In this ravishing book, Matthew Simms argues that it was the dialogue between drawing and painting - the movement between pencil and paintbrush - that attracted Cezanne to watercolour. The technique allowed Cezanne to express what he termed his "sensations" in two distinct modes that become a record of his shifting and spontaneous responses to his subject. Combining close visual analysis and examination of historical context, Simms focuses on the counterpoint of drawing and colour in Cezanne's work over the course of his career and as viewed in relation to his oil paintings. More than a tool for sketching or preparing for oil paintings, Simms contends, watercolour was a unique means of expression in its own right that allowed Cezanne to combine in one place the two otherwise opposed mediums of drawing and painting.

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Carol Clark

The first artist to record the scenery in the American West, the book documents his itinerary and working methods through his drawings, watercolors, diaries and letters; as well as writings from other members of his trips.

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Ernest Raboff

Briefly discusses the influences upon Dürer, the fifteenth-century German artist, and the outstanding features of some of his paintings.

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Jean Kennedy

"Although modern African literature and music have become well known in the West, through the contributions of such famous authors as Chinua Achebe and Bessie Head and such popular musicians as King Sunny Ade and Ladysmith Black Mambazo, the continent's vast body of modern visual arts has been little explored." "In New Currents, Ancient Rivers Jean Kennedy surveys African art of the last fifty years, offering an expansive perspective on the visual arts of the continent. Just as ancient rivers flow through the modern African landscape, so too do the rituals and traditions of the past run deeply through modern African art. The past is able to coexist in vibrant synthesis with the present largely because of a critical constant in African culture, the acceptance of change." "The culmination of twenty years' research, New Currents, Ancient Rivers is the largest survey of contemporary African art, presenting nearly 150 artists of sub-Saharan Africa, primarily from Nigeria, Senegal, Ethiopia, Sudan, Zimbabwe, and South Africa--painters, sculptors, fiber artists, printmakers, and filmmakers. As Kennedy examines their artistic development, she shows the many ways the artists meld elements from modern life, the legacy of colonialism, foreign technology, the natural world, and the past to create art that may be divorced from the original purposes of ritual but that still embraces traditional rhythms. The author also briefly discusses the influence of the oral and literary traditions on the visual arts." "New Currents, Ancient Rivers is a tribute to the vitality and diversity of a continent and its peoples. This progressive book recognizes individual artists, many of whom are virtually unknown in Europe and the United States."--Jacket.