by R. Tripp Evans (2010)
He claimed to be “the plainest kind of fellow you can find. There isn’t a single thing I’ve done, or experienced,” said Grant Wood, “that’s been even the least bit exciting.” Wood was one of America’s most famous regionalist painters; to love his work was the equivalent of loving America itself. In his time, he was an “almost mythical figure,” recognized most supremely for his hard-boiled farm scene, American Gothic, a painting that has come to reflect the essence of America’s traditional values—a simple, decent, homespun tribute to our lost agrarian age. In this major new biography of America’s most acclaimed, and misunderstood, regionalist painter, Grant Wood is revealed to have been anything but plain, or simple . . . R. Tripp Evans reveals the true complexity of the man and the image Wood so carefully constructed of himself. Grant Wood called himself a farmer-painter but farming held little interest for him. He appeared to be a self-taught painter with his scenes of farmlands, farm workers, and folklore but he was classically trained, a sophisticated artist who had studied the Old Masters and Flemish art as well as impressionism. He lived a bohemian life and painted in Paris and Munich in the 1920s, fleeing what H. L. Mencken referred to as “the booboisie” of small-town America.
Enrica Crispino
Traces the brief and troubled life of van Gogh: his birth in a Dutch village, his travels in Belgium and England, his arrival in Impressionist Paris and his discovery of the delights of the south of France, where he died at 37. Shows how, in spite of suffering mental crises and inner turmoil, van Gogh always continued to search for ways of painting that expressed the true essence of his subjects.
Annie Cohen-Solal
"Mark Rothko was not only one of the most influential American painters of the twentieth century; he was a scholar, an educator, and a deeply spiritual human being. Born Marcus Yakovlevich Rotkovitch, he emigrated from the Russian Empire to the United States at age ten, already well educated in the Talmud and carrying with him bitter memories of the pogroms and persecutions visited upon the Jews of Latvia. Few artists have achieved success as quickly, and by the mid-twentieth century, Rothko's artwork was being displayed in major museums throughout the world. In May 2012 his painting Orange, Red, Yellow was auctioned for nearly $87 million, setting a new Christie's record. Author Annie Cohen-Solal gained access to archival materials no previous biographer had seen. As a result, her book is an extraordinarily detailed portrait of Rothko the man and the artist, an uncommonly successful painter who was never comfortable with the idea of his art as a commodity"--
Suzanne Joinson
Years after photographer William Harrington participates in a 1920s project to redesign Jerusalem with British parks against a backdrop of growing nationalist unrest, his revelations about long-buried secrets transform the life of his former employer's daughter--
Barry Dawson
"In the city that never sleeps, New York's soul is on display around the clock. New York is the world capital of street graphics - a creative kaleidoscope of urban ephemera in the form of signs, graffiti, murals and advertising. Its innovative ideas, styles and mediums quickly become international trends. Street Graphics New York captures the rich visual patina of the city's cultural diversity - jazz age elegance, brash Sixties Pop Art, hip-hop graffiti, anarchic stencil and sticker art. New York's landmarks are appropriated for chic fashion advertising and iconic tourist souvenirs, and here is the city's 9/11 experience too, up on the walls in emotionally charged imagery." "Barry Dawson's visual themes excite, inform and surprise. New York's streets are acutely observed and presented in a designer's sourcebook and an urban explorer's inspirational guidebook."--Jacket.