The Charleston renaissance

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foreword by Leo Castelli

Jasper Johns, one of the most influential artists of our time, has been the subject of intense public scrutiny since his landmark first exhibition in 1958. Yet this book, published in conjunction with the 1996-97 exhibition "Jasper Johns: A Retrospective" at The Museum of Modern Art, is the first to present this very private figure in his own words. It brings together Johns's few written articles, key interviews, and the fullest selection ever of his sketchbook drawings and notes. Important parts of this material are published here for the first time; others have previously been unavailable in English. The provocative originality and subtlety of Johns's thoughts on art, and his well-known concern with precision in language, are evident throughout. This volume will be indispensable for the study of the artist, and will provide fascination and pleasure for all readers interested in contemporary creativity.

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David Bjelajac

Explores the diverse, conflicted history of American art and architecture within the United States--from the European voyages of discovery and colonial conquest to the present dawn of the new millennium.

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in chief, Joan Marter

Where is American art in the new millennium? At the heart of all cultural developments is diversity. Access through recent technology engenders interaction with artists from around the world. The visual arts in the United States are bold and pulsating with new ideas.

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Sharyn R. Udall

The Southwest has long beckoned the artist. But too often, art made by Euro-Americans drawn to this region has either "basked in the sunny celebration of the picturesque, the exotic, and the sentimental" or appropriated the myths and art of Native Americans. In this collection of essays, Sharyn R. Udall explores the work of some of the painters who have found stimulus in the ideas, people, and myths of the Southwest, among them Georgia O'Keeffe, Marsden Hartley, Page Allen, and Woody Gwyn. They saw the Southwest in new ways, drawing inspiration from the very light and topography of the region. Udall's goal is to open and enlarge the discussion by rejecting the "neat, circumscribed way of seeing" common to traditional art history. Thus, she declares, one is able to encourage a fresh look at these painters and their work, and at the larger relationships of nature and culture in the Southwest.