david zwirner ny (509 risultati)

Trade paperback. Condizione: Very good. light shelfwear, Ekphrasis. Audience: General/trade.

Paperback. Condizione: new. Paperback. Translated into English for the first time, On Contemporary Art , a speech by the renowned novelist Cesar Aira, was delivered at a 2010 colloquium in Madrid dedicated to bridging the gap between writing and the visual arts. On Aira's dizzying and dazzling path, everything comes under question- from reproducibility of art works to the value of the written word itself. In the end, Aira leaves us stranded on the bridge between writing and art that he set out to construct in the first place, flailing as we try to make sense of where we stand. Aira's On Contemporary Art exemplifies what the ekphrasis series is dedicated to doing-exploring the space in which words give meaning to objects, and objects shape our words.Like the great writers Walter Benjamin and Hermann Broch before him, Aira operates in the space between ficiton and essay writing, art and analysis. Pursuing quesitions about reproducibility, art making, and limits of language, Aira's unique voice adds new insights to the essentia; conversations that continue to inform our undertanding of art. Shipping may be from multiple locations in the US or from the UK, depending on stock availability.

Paperback. Condizione: new. Paperback. Never before translated into English, Rainer Maria Rilke's fascinating Letters to a Young Painter , written toward the end of his life between 1920 and 1926, is a surprising companion to his infamous Letters to a Young Poet, earlier correspondence from 1902 to 1908. While the latter has become a global phenomenon, with millions of copies sold in many different languages, the present volume has been largely overlooked. In these eight intimate letters written to a teenage Balthus-who would go on to become one of the leading artists of his generation-Rilke describes the challenges he faced, while opening the door for the young painter to take himself and his work seriously. Rilke's constant warmth, his ability to sense in advance his correspondent's difficulties and propose solutions to them, and his sensitivity as a person and an artist come across in these charming and honest letters. Writing during his aged years, this volume paints a picture of the venerable poet as he faced his mortality, through the perspective of hindsight, and continued to embrace his openness towards other creative individuals. With a new introduction by Rachel Corbett, author of You Must Change Your Life: The Story of Rainer Maria Rilke and Auguste Rodin, this book is a must-have for Rilke's admirers, young and old, and all aspiring artists. Shipping may be from multiple locations in the US or from the UK, depending on stock availability.

Paperback. Condizione: new. Paperback. "Criticism is our censorship . . ." So begins one of the greatest invectives against criticism ever written by an artist. Paul Gauguin wrote "Racontars de rapin" only months before he died in 1903, but the essay remained unpublished until 1951.Through discussions of numerous artists, both his contemporaries and predecessors, Gauguin unpacks what he viewed as the mistakes and misjudgments behind much of art criticism, revealing not only how wrong critics' interpretations have been, but also what it would mean to approach art properly-to really look. His voice feels as fresh, lively, sharp in English now as it did in French over one hundred years ago. Through Gauguin's final piece of writing, we see the artist in the full throes of passion-for his work, for his art, for the art of others, and against anyone who would stand in his way. As the inaugural publication in David Zwirner Books's new ekphrasis reader series, Ramblings of a Wannabe Painter sets a perfect tone for the books to come. Poised between writing, art, and criticism, Gauguin brings together many different worlds, all of which should have a seat at the table during any meaningful discussion of art. With the express hope of encouraging open exchange between the world of writing and that of the visual arts, David Zwirner Books is proud to present this new edition of a lost masterpiece. Shipping may be from multiple locations in the US or from the UK, depending on stock availability.

Soft cover. Condizione: New. Condizione sovraccoperta: None Issued. 1st Edition. This is a New and Unread copy of the first edition (1st printing), This is one in a series from "ekphrasis" series issued by David Zwirner. Illustrated with full color plates.

Paperback. Condizione: new. Paperback. 28 Paradises is a rare book: it reveals not only the individual talents of the authors, Modiano and Zehrfuss, but also the depth of the couple's creative union. Sensitively translated into English for the first time by Damion Searls, 28 Paradises captures the exquisite sadness of waking from a beautiful dream. There are twenty-eight dreams in this book, or perhaps one dream in twenty-eight parts-visions of paradise imagined by Zehrfuss during a time of deep sadness. Captured first in Zehrfuss's brightly colored gouaches, each paradise was then refashioned as a poem by Modiano. Zehrfuss's paintings are Edens in miniature, and rather than describe them outright, Modiano dreams himself into these reveries in quiet, understated verse. The reader enters this shared realm in an experience less like paging through a book and more like slipping into a shared world. These paradises are wishes for moments when a painting, or a poem, or a lover-perhaps they are not so different-relieves the loneliness of being human. As Modiano writes with a touch of wistfulness, "The Lilliputian painted her paradises / And I / Next to her / Wrote a poem." A pure example of ekphrastic writing-poetry inspired by paintings- this book shows how writing and visual art can together create a unique emotional experience.First published by Editions de l'Olivier/ Le Seuil in 2005 Published in English for the first time, 28 Paradises is the marriage of prose and painting by Nobel Prizewinning author Patrick Modiano and his partner, the illustrator Dominique Zehrfuss. Shipping may be from multiple locations in the US or from the UK, depending on stock availability.

Paperback. Condizione: new. Paperback. In his 1989 book on Balthus-the storied and controversial artist who worked in Paris throughout the twentieth century-Guy Davenport gives one of the most nuanced, literary, and compelling readings of the work of this master. Reading it today highlights the change in perspectives on sexuality and nudity in art in the past thirty years.Written over several years in his notebooks, Davenport's distinct reflections on Balthus's paintings try to explain why his work is so radical, and why it has so often come under scrutiny for its depiction of girls and women. Davenport throws the lens back on the viewer and asks: is it us or Balthus who reads sexuality into these paintings? For Davenport, the answer is clear: Balthus may indeed show us periods in adolescent development that are uncomfortable to view, but the eroticization exists primarily on the part of the viewer.Arguing that Balthus's figures are erotic only if we make them so, and that their innocence is more present than anything pornographic in them, Davenport posits that the paintings hold up a mirror to our own perversities and force us, difficultly, to confront them. He writes, "The nearer an artist works to the erotic politics of his own culture, the more he gets its concerned attention. Gauguin's naked Polynesian girls, brown and remote, escape the scandal of Balthus's, although a Martian observer would not see the distinction." Davenport's critique helps us understand Balthus in our times-something we need more than ever as we crucially confront sexual politics in visual art. Shipping may be from multiple locations in the US or from the UK, depending on stock availability.

Paperback. Condizione: new. Paperback. Originally published in 1930 in an edition of 100 copies, Gertrude Stein's Dix Portraits pairs her singular literary style with original lithographs by Pablo Picasso and other artists in Stein's circle to create an exceptional artist's book exploring written and visual portraiture. Written between 1913 and 1929, revolutionary years in art history, Dix Portraits conveys the deep human engagement between an artist and her subject. The artist's book unites Stein's ten portraits in prose with sketches by five artists: Pablo Picasso, Christian Berard, Eugene Berman, Pavel Tchelitchew, and Kristians Tonny. Utilizing the interplay between word and image, Stein's writing and the artists' images provide nuance and depth, balancing humor and sincerity. With a new introduction by Lynne Tillman, Dix Portraits is an unforgettable artistic collaboration. The subjects represented include Pablo Picasso, Guillaume Apollinaire, Erik Satie, Pavel Tchelitchew, Virgil Thomson, Christian Berard, Bernard Fay, Kristians Tonny, Georges Hugnet, and Eugene Berman. Originally printed in an edition of 100 copies with the lithography, and now widely accessible for the first time, Dix Portraits captures Stein's legacy as a champion of artists and a pioneer of creativity. Shipping may be from multiple locations in the US or from the UK, depending on stock availability.

Paperback. Condizione: new. Paperback. From acclaimed poet and New Yorker writer Cynthia Zarin comes a deeply personal meditation on two cities, Venice and Rome-each a work of art, both a monument to the past-and on how love and loss shape places and spaces. Here we encounter a writer deeply engaged with narrative in situ-a traveler moving through beloved streets, sometimes accompanied, sometimes solo. With her, we see, anew, the Venice Biennale, the Lagoon, and San Michele, the island of the dead; the Piazza di Spagna, the Tiber, the view from the Gianicolo; the pigeons at San Marco and the parrots in the Doria Pamphili. As a poet first and foremost, Zarin's attention to the smallest details, the loveliest gesture, brings Venice and Rome vividly to life for the reader. The sixteenth book in the expanding, renowned ekphrasis series, Two Cities creates space for these two historic cities to become characters themselves, their relationship to the writer as real as any love affair. Shipping may be from multiple locations in the US or from the UK, depending on stock availability.

Paperback. Condizione: new. Paperback. Summoning Pearl Harbor is a mesmerizing display of linguistic force that redefines remembering. How do words make the past appear? In what way does the historian summon bygone events? What is this kind of remembering, and for whom do we recall the dead, or the past?In this highly original meditation on the past, renowned art historian Alexander Nemerov delves into what it means to recall a significant event- Pearl Harbor-and how descriptions of images can summon it back to life. Beginning with the photo album of a former Japanese kamikaze pilot, which is reproduced in this volume, Nemerov transports the reader into a different world through his engagement with the photographs and the construction of a narrative around them. Through its lyrical prose, Summoning Pearl Harbor expands what we traditionally associate with ekphrastic writing. The kind of writing that can enliven a work of art is also the kind of writing that makes the past appear in vivid color and deep feeling. In the end, this timely piece of writing opens onto fundamental questions about how we communicate with each other, and how the past continues to live in our collective consciousness, not merely as facts but as stories that shape us. Here, Nemerov's constant awareness of the power of language to make an experience - seen or remembered - become real reminds us that great ekphrastic writing is at the heart of every effective description. Summoning Pearl Harbor is a mesmerizing display of linguistic force that redefines remembering. How do words make the past appear? In what way does the historian summon bygone events? What is this kind of remembering, and for whom do we recall the dead, or the past? Shipping may be from multiple locations in the US or from the UK, depending on stock availability.

Paperback. Condizione: new. Paperback. Master sculptor Auguste Rodin's illuminating writings on cathedrals in France are especially relevant and significant following the recent fire at Notre Dame.In this volume, the writer and Rodin scholar Rachel Corbett selects excerpts from the famous sculptor's book Cathedrals of France, first published in 1914, just before the outbreak of World War I. Cathedrals were central to the way Rodin thought about his art: he saw them as visual metaphors for the human figure, among the finest examples of craftsmanship known to modern man, and as a model for how to live and work-slowly, brick by brick.Here, Corbett takes the fire at Notre Dame and the concerns over its restoration as an entry point in an exploration of Rodin's cathedrals. Rodin adamantly opposed restoration, as he felt it often did more damage than the original injury. (Many of the cathedrals that Rodin looks at in his texts were, in fact, bombed during the war.) But while he rails against various restoration efforts as evidence that "we are letting our cathedrals die," the book, with its tenderly rendered sketches and written portraits, is itself an attempt to preserve these cathedrals. The selection of texts in this volume is a reminder-as is the tragedy of Notre Dame-of why we ought to appreciate these feats of architecture, whether or not they are still standing today. Shipping may be from multiple locations in the US or from the UK, depending on stock availability.

Paperback. Condizione: new. Paperback. Never before translated into English, the text's original publication in Mercure de France in 1919, shortly after the artist's death, has been treated as an important account of the master sculptor at work. We know that Alice was writing under a pseudonym, but who the real person behind this account was remains a mystery - to this day nothing is known about her. Yet, the descriptions seem too accurate to be ignored, the anecdotes too spot - on to discount; even the dialogue captures the artist's tone and mannerisms. What is found in these pages is at times a woman's flirtatious recollection of a bizarre "artistic type" and at others a moving attempt to connect with a great, often tragic man. The descriptions are l impid, unburdened; the dialogue is lively and intimate, not unlike reading the very best kind of gossip, with world - historical significance. Here in these dusty studios, Degas is alive, running hands over clay, complaining about his eyes, denigrating the o ther artists around him, and whispering salaciously to his model. And during his mood swings, we see reflected the model's innocence and confusion, her pain at being misunderstood and finally rejected. It is an intimate portrait of a moment in a great arti st's life, a sort of Bildungsroman in which his model (whoever she may be) does not emerge unscatheded There are many myths about the artist Edgar Degas from Degas the misanthrope to Degas the deviant, to Degas the obsessive. But there is no single text that better stokes the fire than Degas and His Model, a short memoir published by Alice Michel, who purportedly modeled for Degas Shipping may be from multiple locations in the US or from the UK, depending on stock availability.

Paperback. Condizione: Very Good. The book has been read, but is in excellent condition. Pages are intact and not marred by notes or highlighting. The spine remains undamaged.

Paperback. Condizione: new. Paperback. The Arena Chapel in Padua was completed in 1303; Giotto, then considered the preeminent painter in Italy, was commissioned to paint it in 1306. The resulting fresco cycle, detailing the history, birth, life, and death of Christ, ranks among the greatest artworks ever created. John Ruskin helped redefine art criticism in the nineteenth century through his attention to detail, his playful and engaging prose, and the conviction with which he discussed the subjects that mattered most to him. Ruskin's ekphrastic writing became a way for readers to approach the experience of looking at great art without actually seeing it in person. Despite having written about Giotto on numerous occasions in Stones of Venice and Modern Painters, he never treated the Arena Chapel in its own right. Here Ruskin examines the panels and brings them life, describing their many hidden details, all the result of Giotto's unrivaled genius. As Ruskin says, "Giotto was.one of the greatest men who ever lived." Long out of print, the Arundel Society first published Giotto and His Works in Padua between 1853 and 1860. It stands as Ruskin's most compelling set of reflections on Giotto's masterpiece-an artwork that, in Ruskin's estimation, changed the very course of art history. Originally accompanied by a set of black and white woodcuts of the panels in the Chapel, this new edition presents each panel in vivid color photography, adding a useful visual aid to Ruskin's lyrical descriptions. The result is a book that serves not only as an introduction for students of art history, but also as a discussion of what it means to be a great artist, by one of most influential writers ever to tackle visual art. Shipping may be from multiple locations in the US or from the UK, depending on stock availability.

Paperback. Condizione: new. Paperback. A selection of texts on art and artists by the Belgian French novelist and essayist Marguerite YourcenarBest known for her seminal novel Memoirs of Hadrian (1951), an imagined autobiography of the Roman emperor, Yourcenar brings the same depth of inquiry and inventive speculation to her lyric prose on art and artists in this newest title in the ekphrasis series. In these five jewel-like essays, Yourcenar meditates on the decay of time, the desire both satiated and refused by art, and the imagery animating the lives, works, and dreams of Michelangelo, Duerer, and Piranesi. And in an intimate mediation on the historical novel, Yourcenar describes her own encounters with how language reveals the past. Together these exquisite essays explore that fundamental awe-perhaps even the terror-at the heart of an encounter with beauty. An introduction by John Knight sketches the life of this extraordinary writer and situates Yourcenar's unique criticism within her attempt to capture the great struggle required to make an enduring work of art. Subtle and learned, Yourcenar's essays are like stepping stones into the past and the shadowy business of artistic creation. Bringing back into print Yourcenar's seminal essay "The Dark Brain of Piranesi" in the poet Richard Howard's elegant English translation, conducted in collaboration with the author, this volume also collects texts from That Mighty Sculptor, Time (1983) into a particularly focused volume. Shipping may be from multiple locations in the US or from the UK, depending on stock availability.

Paperback. Condizione: new. Paperback. Virgina Woolf's collection of writings on visual arts offer a whole new perspective on the revolutionary author. Despite wide interest in Woolf's writings, her circle, and her relationship with the visual arts, there is no accessible edition or selection of essays dedicated to her writings on art. This newest edition in David Zwirner Books's ekphrasis series collects such essays including "Walter Sickert: A Conversation" (1934), "Pictures" (1925), and "Pictures and Portraits" (1920). These formally inventive texts examine the connection between the literary writer and the visual artist and are innovative in their treatment of ideas about color and modern art as experienced in picture galleries. In these essays, Woolf looks at the complex and interdependent relationship between the artist and society. She also provides sharp and astute commentary on specific works of art and the relationship between art and writing. An introduction by Claudia Tobin situates the essays within their cultural contexts. Shipping may be from multiple locations in the US or from the UK, depending on stock availability.

Paperback. Condizione: Very Good. Originally published in 1930 in an edition of 100 copies, Gertrude Steins Dix Portraits pairs her singular literary style with original lithographs by Pablo Picasso and other artists in Steins circle to create an exceptional artists book exploring written and visual portraiture. Written between 1913 and 1929, revolutionary years in art history, Dix Portraits conveys the deep human engagement between an artist and her subject. The artists book unites Steins ten portraits in prose with sketches by five artists: Pablo Picasso, Christian Berard, Eugene Berman, Pavel Tchelitchew, and Kristians Tonny. Utilizing the interplay between word and image, Steins writing and the artists images provide nuance and depth, balancing humor and sincerity. With a new introduction by Lynne Tillman, Dix Portraits is an unforgettable artistic collaboration. The subjects represented include Pablo Picasso, Guillaume Apollinaire, Erik Satie, Pavel Tchelitchew, Virgil Thomson, Christian Berard, Bernard Fay, Kristians Tonny, Georges Hugnet, and Eugene Berman. Originally printed in an edition of 100 copies with the lithography, and now widely accessible for the first time, Dix Portraits captures Steins legacy as a champion of artists and a pioneer of creativity. The book has been read, but is in excellent condition. Pages are intact and not marred by notes or highlighting. The spine remains undamaged.

Paperback. Condizione: new. Paperback. Long overlooked in Proust's posthumously published writings, Chardin and Rembrandt , written when he was only twenty - four years old, not only reemphasizes the importance of visual art to his development, but contains the seeds of his later work. Proposed in 1895 by Proust to the newspaper Revue hebdomadaire (it was rejected), this essay i s much more than a straightforward piece of art criticism. It is a literary experiment in which an unnamed narrator gives advice to a young man suffering from melancholy, taking him on an imaginary tour through the Louvre where his readings of Chardin imbu e the everyday world with new meaning, and his ruminations on Rembrandt take his melancholic pupil beyond the realm of mere objects. Published for the first time as a stand - alone volume and newly translated, this edition, part of the David Zwirner Books ekphrasis series, aims to introduce a wider audience to one of Proust's most important and influential works in Western literature . "For the true artist," as Proust writes, "as for the natural scientist, every type is interesting, and even the smallest mus cle has its importance." The same could be said of the author's own work - every essay has its own crucial place in the formation of his groundbreaking oeuvre. The afterword by renowned Proust scholar Alain Madeleine - Perdrillat , originally published in the French by Le Bruit du Temps, is an impassioned argument in favor of returning to the lost paths of Proust's early thinking. It sees, in the passage from Chardin's world of objects to Rembrandt's contemplative paintings, a move ment toward the radical interiority for which Proust would later become widely celebrated as a novelist. Written at the beginning of his literary career, Chardin and Rembrandt gestures back to some of Proust's earliest notes on art, while creating space fo r what was to come. Proposed in 1895 by Proust to the newspaper Revue hebdomadaire (it was rejected), this essay is a literary experiment in which an unnamed narrator gives advice to a young man suffering from melancholy, taking him on an imaginary tour through the Louvre where his readings of Chardin imbue the everyday world with new meaning. Shipping may be from multiple locations in the US or from the UK, depending on stock availability.

Paperback. Condizione: new. Paperback. In this exploration of contemporary photography, David Levi Strauss questions the concept that "seeing is believing."Identifying a recent shift in the dominance of photography, Strauss looks at the power of the medium in the age of Photoshop, smartphones, and the internet, asking important questions about how we look and what we trust.In the first ekphrasis title on photography, Strauss challenges the aura of believability and highlights the potential dangers around this status. He examines how images produced on cameras gradually gained an inordinate power to influence public opinion, prompt action, comfort and assuage, and direct or even create desire. How and why do we believe technical images the way we do?Offering a poignant argument in the era of "deepfakes," Strauss draws attention to new changes in the technology of seeing. Some uses of "technical images" are causing the connection between images and belief (between seeing and believing) to fray and pull apart. How is this shifting our relationship to images? Will this crisis in what we can believe come to threaten our very purchase on the real? This book is an inquiry into the history and future of our belief in images. Shipping may be from multiple locations in the US or from the UK, depending on stock availability.

Paperback. Condizione: new. Paperback. A teacher to Jacques Lacan, Andre Breton, and Albert Camus, Kojeve defined art as the act of extracting the beautiful from objective reality. His poetic text, "The Concrete Paintings of Kandinsky," endorses nonrepresentational art as uniquely manifesting beauty. Taking the paintings of his renowned uncle, Wassily Kandinsky, as his inspiration, Kojeve suggests that in creating (rather than replicating) beauty, the paintings are themselves complete universes as concrete as the natural world. Kojeve's text considers the utility and necessity of beauty in life, and ultimately poses the involuted question: What is beauty?Including personal letters between Kandinsky and his nephew, this book further elaborates the unique relationship between artist and philosopher. An introduction by Boris Groys contextualizes Kojeve's life and writings. Shipping may be from multiple locations in the US or from the UK, depending on stock availability.

Paperback. Condizione: new. Paperback. Published on the fiftieth anniversary of Marcel Duchamp's death, Duchamp's Last Day offers a radical reading of the artist's final hours.Just moments after Duchamp died, his closest friend Man Ray took a photograph of him. His face is wan; his eyes are closed; he appears calm. Taking this image as a point of departure, Donald Shambroom begins to examine the surrounding context-the dinner with Man Ray and another friend, Robert Lebel, the night Duchamp died, the conversations about his own death at that dinner and elsewhere, and the larger question of whether this radical artist's death can be read as an extension of his work.Shambroom's in-depth research into this final night, and his analysis of the photograph, feeds into larger questions about the very nature of artworks and authorship which Duchamp raised in his lifetime. In the case of this mysterious and once long-lost photograph, who is the author? Man Ray or Duchamp? Is it an artwork or merely a record? Has the artist himself turned into one of his own readymades?A fascinating essay that is both intimate and steeped in art history, Duchamp's Last Day is filled with intricate details from decades of research into this peculiar encounter between art, life, and death. Shambroom's book is a wonderful study of one of the greatest artists of the twentieth century. Shipping may be from multiple locations in the US or from the UK, depending on stock availability.

Paperback. Condizione: new. Paperback. The newest volume in the beloved ekphrasis series focuses on dance and poetry through the eyes of one of the twentieth century's greatest critics"I am interested at the moment in recalling to you how it looks when one sees dancing as non-professionals do, in the way you yourselves I suppose look at pictures, at buildings, at political history or at landscapes or at strangers you pass on the street. Or as you read poetry." Edwin Denby After starting his career as a dancer with companies and troupes in Germany and Switzerland, Edwin Denby moved to Manhattan, where he formed friendships with prominent members of the New York School, including Frank O'Hara and John Ashbery, and artists such as Rudy Burckhardt. In his critical writing, he brought his experience as a dancer to the page along with a poet's sensibility, distinguishing himself as an authority through delicate observation and illustrative prose. This collection of writings highlights Denby's interdisciplinary scope and range of expression, as well as his sharp, singular voice and empirical sensibility toward all works of art. This Still Moment pairs Denby's landmark essays on dance criticism and portraits of major performers, such as Vaslav Nijinsky, with selections of his poetry. The writer and editor Cal Revely-Calder further contextualizes Denby's life and work in his insightful introduction. Shipping may be from multiple locations in the US or from the UK, depending on stock availability.

Paperback. Condizione: new. Paperback. In The Critic as Artist, arguably the most complete exploration of his aesthetic thinking, and certainly the most entertaining, Oscar Wilde harnesses his famous wit to demolish the supposed boundary between art and criticism.Subtitled Upon the Importance of Doing Nothing and Discussing Everything, the essay takes the form of a leisurely dialogue between two characters: Ernest, who insists upon Wilde's own belief in art's freedom from societal mandates and values, and a quizzical Gilbert. With his playwright's ear for dialogue, Wilde champions idleness and contemplation as prerequisites to artistic cultivation. Beyond the well-known dictum of art for art's sake, Wilde's originality lays argument for the equality of criticism and art. For him, criticism is not subject to the work of art, but can in fact precede it: the artist cannot create without engaging his or her critical faculties first. And, as Wilde writes, "To the critic the work of art is simply a suggestion for a new work of his own."The field of art and criticism should be open to the free play of the mind, but Wilde plays seriously, even prophetically. Writing in 1891, he foresaw that criticism would have an increasingly important role as the need to make sense of what we see increases with the complexities of modern life. It is only the fine perception and explication of beauty, Wilde suggests, that will allow us to create meaning, joy, empathy, and peace out of the chaos of facts and reality. In arguably the most complete exploration of his aesthetic thinking, and certainly the most entertaining, Wilde harnesses his famous wit to demolish the supposed boundary between art and criticism. Shipping may be from multiple locations in the US or from the UK, depending on stock availability.

Paperback. Condizione: new. Paperback. An intimate testament to the power of friendship between two creative forces-available again in English after more than a century."I exaggerate, I sometimes make changes to the subject, but I still don't invent the whole of painting; on the contrary, I find it ready-made, but to be untangled, in the real world." - Vincent van GoghThe painter and poet Emile Bernard's firsthand account of the beloved Dutch painter Vincent van Gogh's life offers a close perspective into the difficulties the artist faced. First published in French in 1911, and presented here in English for the first time, Bernard details van Gogh's approach to painting, his tools, his style, his love of the medium. Moreover, he chronicles his attempts to have van Gogh's work recognized after his death, a sign of a true friend. Shedding light on the artistic community they were part of, Bernard also discusses notable figures such as Claude Monet, Paul Gauguin, and Emile Zola, in his storied account of his friend's life and work.Letters written by van Gogh to a young Bernard, some of which are included in this volume, further the import of the friendship between the two men. Van Gogh's words of advice to Bernard as well as ruminations on his own practice, inspirations, and creative struggles are revealed in these pages.Brought together and introduced by preeminent van Gogh scholar Martin Bailey, these texts present a sensitive and discerning portrait of van Gogh that goes beyond his reputation as a troubled genius. Shipping may be from multiple locations in the US or from the UK, depending on stock availability.

Paperback. Condizione: new. Paperback. A comprehensive and inspiring collection of essays by Larry Neal, a founder of the seminal Black Arts Movement."The Black Arts Movement is radically opposed to any concept of the artist that alienates him from his community. Black Art is the aesthetic and spiritual sister of the Black Power concept. As such, it envisions an art that speaks directly to the needs and aspirations of Black America." - Larry NealGrowing up in Philadelphia, Neal was surrounded by Bebop music and writing. He culled inspiration and teachings from Ralph Ellison, Langston Hughes, and the leaders of the Harlem Renaissance. After studying folklore at the University of Pennsylvania, Neal became a prolific poet and critic, and he served as the arts editor for the Liberator where he published many of his essays about art.Neal encouraged artists to produce work that was not only politically engaged but also unapologetically rooted in the Black experience, and this message reverberated through African American literature, theater, music, and visual arts. He probed the notion of the Western art historical canon and challenged Black artists and writers to reshape artistic traditions. Deeply invested in cultural and personal understandings of the artist's intentions and experiences, Neal argues that to properly create and critique a work of art one must invest in the history of the artist's culture.With an introduction by the writer and researcher Allie Biswas, this publication celebrates and memorializes the great writings of a powerful and influential activist and artist. Shipping may be from multiple locations in the US or from the UK, depending on stock availability.

Paperback. Condizione: new. Paperback. Best known for his iconic print Under the Wave off Kanagawa, also known as the Great Wave, Katsushika Hokusai was a revolutionary printmaker. His mastery of ukiyo-e in the nineteenth century has inspired generations of artists since, and his works exposed the world to the delicate beauty and power of Japanese woodblock technique. In addition to his remarkable artistic output, Hokusai was also a dedicated teacher who sought to pass down his deep understanding of color and painting to practicing artists through immensely detailed written tutorials. Here, for the first time in centuries, are excerpts from his manuals, many available for the first time in English. It is an invaluable insight into the psyche of a true master, and a rare personal account of an artist's life during a fascinating period in Japan's history.Connecting Hokusai's prints from the Edo period to manga, author Ryoko Matsuba foregrounds Hokusai's contributions to Japanese creative expression from the 1800s to today. Also included in this book: Vincent Van Gogh's letter about Hokusai's Great Wave and the contemporary artist Ikeda Manabu's concise observations about Hokusai's lasting influence. Shipping may be from multiple locations in the US or from the UK, depending on stock availability.

Paperback. Condizione: new. Paperback. Derek Jarman's Blue weaves a sensory tapestry that serves as both a political call to action and a meditation on illness, dying, and love. "For Blue there are no boundaries or solutions." Derek JarmanOriginally released as a feature film in 1993, the year before the acclaimed artist and filmmaker Derek Jarman's death due to an AIDS-related illness, Blue is a daring and powerful work of art. The film - and this highly-anticipated book's text - serve as iconoclastic responses to the lack of political engagement with the AIDS crisis. Written poetically and surrealistically, Jarman's text moves through myriad scenes, some banal, others fantastical. Stories of quotidian life--getting coffee, reading the newspaper, and walking down the sidewalk--escalate to visions of Marco Polo, the Taj Mahal, or blue fighting yellow. Facing death and a cascade of pills, Jarman presents his illness in delirium and metaphors. He contemplates the physicality of emotions in lyrical prose as he grounds this story in the constant return to Blue - a color, a feeling, a funk. Michael Charlesworth's compelling introduction brings Blue into conversation with Jarman's visual paintings as never before. Shipping may be from multiple locations in the US or from the UK, depending on stock availability.

Paperback. Condizione: new. Paperback. An intimate and unique collection of the work of John Ashbery-a prolific poet and art critic-pairing poetry and art writings with playlists of music from his personal library.This book places poetry by Ashbery (1927-2017), gathered from his later collections, in conversation with a selection of contemporaneous art writing. In addition, as Ashbery loved music and listened to it while writing, the "playlists" here offer representative samplings of music from these same years, culled from Ashbery's own library of recordings. Ashbery's poetry is frequently described as ekphrastic, though, rather than writing a poem "based on'' or "inspired" by the content of an artwork of or piece of music, he engages with how the experience of seeing it and the artistic strategies employed offer ways of thinking about it and through it. Many of the observations from Ashbery's art writing also offer keys to how we might read his poetry.Many of the recordings he listened to feature contemporary classical works that emphasize complex textures, disparate sounds, and disjunct phrases. Ashbery's poetry similarly plays with a diversity of poetic textures and sudden turns such that a reader might construct multiple narratives or pathways of meaning. He rarely offers linear stories or focuses on evocative descriptions of a scene or object. In exploring this ekphrastic book project, the reader is invited to discover how, for Ashbery, these three forms might illuminate and inform one another. Shipping may be from multiple locations in the US or from the UK, depending on stock availability.

Paperback. Condizione: new. Paperback. An openly lesbian, feminist writer, Vernon Lee-a pseudonym of Violet Paget-is the most important female aesthetician to come out of nineteenth century England.Though she was widely known for her supernatural fictions, Lee hasn't gained the recognition she so clearly deserves for her contributions in the fields of aesthetics, philosophy of empathy, and art criticism. An early follower of Walter Pater, her work is characterized by extreme attention to her own responses to artworks, and a level of psychological sensitivity rarely seen in any aesthetic writing. Today, she is largely overlooked in curriculums, her aesthetic works long out of print.David Zwirner Books is reintroducing Lee's writing through the first-ever English publication of "Psychology of an Art Writer" (1903) along with selections from her groundbreaking "Gallery Diaries" (1901-1904), breathtaking accounts of Lee's own experiences with the great paintings and sculptures she traveled to see. Ranging from deeply felt assessments of the way mood affects our ability to appreciate art, to detailed descriptions of some of the most powerful personal experiences with artworks, these writings provide profound insights into the fields of psychology and aesthetics. Her philosophical inquiries in The Psychology of an Art Writer leave no stone unturned, combining fine-grained ekphrases with high fancy and dense abstraction. The diaries, in turn, establish Lee as one of the most sensitive writers about art in any language.With a foreword by Berkeley classicist Dylan Kenny, which guides the reader through these writings and contextualizes these texts within Lee's other work, this is the quintessential introduction to her astonishing and complex oeuvre. Shipping may be from multiple locations in the US or from the UK, depending on stock availability.

Paperback. Condizione: new. Paperback. A selection from the memoir of Elisabeth Louise Vigee Le Brun, the renowned eighteenth-century French portraitist and one of the most important women painters in art historyIn her memoir, Elisabeth Louise Vigee Le Brun offers a candid and thoroughly enjoyable account of her life and art. She relates her encounters among the royalty and aristocracy she painted--including, most famously, her patron Marie Antoinette--and the effusive reception they extended to her across Europe. Forced to flee during the French Revolution, Vigee Le Brun traveled through Italy, Russia, Germany, and England, returning twelve years later to France under Napoleon I. These pages demonstrate her unflagging creativity during unstable times and her remarkable savvy. Her observations provide unique insight into the art world of eighteenth- and nineteenth-century Europe, a time when women were rarely allowed success. In her introduction to this volume, the scholar Anne Higonnet conveys Vigee Le Brun's unique position at a turning point in the art world, as well as the larger world beyond, and navigates in particular how one retroactively reconstructs a relationship to a world-changing revolution. Shipping may be from multiple locations in the US or from the UK, depending on stock availability.